The eighth season of The Big Bang Theory was confirmed on March 12, 2014, after a 3-season deal with CBS which renewed the series through its tenth season, meaning that it would run until at least 2017. The Big Bang Theory started on Mondays, in front of The Millers until October 20, due to the NFL's Thursday Night Football. It moved back to Thursdays on October 30, 2014 before Mom. The season premiere aired on September 22, 2014. The main focus of the season is on Penny's new career and the death of Howard's mother, Debbie Wolowitz.
On August 4, Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco each signed a three-year contract for one million dollars for each episode. Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar have also signed contracts for three seasons for more than $750,000 per episode. There were some contract issues between Galecki, Cuoco, and Parsons; however, these issues have been resolved.
On November 11, 2014, Carol Ann Susi, the actress who played the role of Mrs. Wolowitz, Howard’s mother, died after a brief battle with an aggressive form of cancer. In January 2015, it was announced that the character of Debbie Wolowitz would pass away in "The Comic Book Store Regeneration".
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Johnny Galecki as Leonard Hofstadter (24/24)
- Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper (24/24)
- Kaley Cuoco as Penny (24/24)
- Simon Helberg as Howard Wolowitz (24/24)
- Kunal Nayyar as Rajesh Koothrappali (24/24)
- Mayim Bialik as Amy Farrah Fowler (24/24)
- Melissa Rauch as Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz (24/24)
- Kevin Sussman as Stuart Bloom (7/24)
Recurring Cast[]
- Carol Ann Susi as Debbie Wolowitz (2/24)
- Laura Spencer as Emily Sweeney (6/24)
- John Ross Bowie as Barry Kripke (2/24)
- Brian George as V. M. Koothrappali (2/24)
- Stephen Root as Dan (2/24)
Guest Cast[]
- Regina King as Janine Davis
- Mike Massimino as himself
- Alice Amter as Mrs. Koothrappali
- Wil Wheaton as himself
- Laurie Metcalf as Mary Cooper
- Christine Baranski as Beverly Hofstadter
- Stephen Hawking as himself
- Kara Luiz as Jeanie
- Paul Wilson as Professor Sharp
- Angela Relucio as Hostess
- Max Adler as the Zombie
- Tate Ellington as Mitchell
- Matt Bennett as Josh Wolowitz
- Sara Erikson as Gwen
- Kelli Goss as Chelsea
- Billy Bob Thornton as Oliver Lorvis
- LeVar Burton as himself
- Nathan Fillion as himself
- Kevin Smith as himself
Episodes[]
| Episode (Series) | Episode (Season/Ep#) | Title | Original Air Date | Directed By | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 160 | 801 | The Locomotion Interruption | September 22, 2014 | Mark Cendrowski | Sheldon is robbed while on his train journey and Amy is miffed when he calls Leonard to come and get him instead of her. Penny interviews at Bernadette's company, and Howard is bothered by Stuart's friendship with his mother. |
| 161 | 802 | September 22, 2014 | Mark Cendrowski | Sheldon gets the promotion and must teach a class, which Howard signs up for. Bernadette is pushing Penny to study as her job approaches. | |
| 162 | 803 | September 29, 2014 | Mark Cendrowski |
Howard has been asked by NASA to throw out the first pitch at a Los Angeles Angels baseball game. Sheldon, Amy, Penny and Leonard get into an argument over which couple has the better relationship. | |
| 163 | 804 | October 6, 2014 | Mark Cendrowski | Emily meets everyone and takes a dislike to Penny since she had hooked-up with Raj. The guys think about investing in Stuart's comic book store. | |
| 164 | 805 | October 13, 2014 | Mark Cendrowski | The girls go to Vegas for the weekend, while the guys go on a 'physics retreat'. | |
| 165 | 806 | October 20, 2014 | Mark Cendrowski | Raj and Sheldon try testing themselves for a mining expedition and Leonard and Penny worry about money in their marriage. | |
| 166 | 807 | October 30, 2014 | Mark Cendrowski | One of Penny's clients who is a middle-aged doctor takes a shine to her and every woman he meets. | |
| 167 | 808 | The Prom Equivalency | November 6, 2014 | Mark Cendrowski | The girls decide to reenact their high school proms, especially since none of them except for Penny had memorable ones. |
| 168 | 809 | The Septum Deviation | November 13, 2014 | Anthony Rich | Sheldon worries about Leonard when he goes into the hospital for an operation, while Raj worries about his parents who are getting a divorce. |
| 169 | 810 | The Champagne Reflection | November 20, 2014 | Mark Cendrowski | Howard, Raj and Leonard cleanup the life's work of a professor who passed away, Bernadette faces up to her bullying personality and Sheldon records the last episode of "Fun with Flags". |
| 170 | 811 | The Clean Room Infiltration | December 11, 2014 | Mark Cendrowski | Amy hosts a traditional Victorian Christmas Eve dinner while the guys are trying to shoo out a bird they accidentally let into the university clean room. |
| 171 | 812 | The Space Probe Disintegration | January 8, 2015 | Mark Cendrowski | Penny and Amy take their guys shopping while Leonard and Sheldon discuss their living arrangements. Raj is worried about how his experiment on a space probe is working. |
| 172 | 813 | The Anxiety Optimization | January 29, 2015 | Mark Cendrowski | Sheldon wants to increase his anxiety level to improve his work performance. Howard starts a game for everyone guessing whether Raj's random comments are about Emily or his dog. |
| 173 | 814 | The Troll Manifestation | February 5, 2015 | Mark Cendrowski | Sheldon and Leonard publish a paper based upon an idea by Leonard criticized by an internet troll. The girls start perusing embarrassing things from their pasts. |
| 174 | 815 | The Comic Book Store Regeneration | February 19, 2015 | Mark Cendrowski | Amy is helping Barry Kripke and doing experiments on her friends. Stuart reopens his comic book store, while Howard gets the news of the death of his mother. |
| 175 | 816 | The Intimacy Acceleration | February 26, 2015 | Mark Cendrowski | Penny and Sheldon conduct an intimacy experiment, while Leonard, Amy, Raj, and Emily do something fun, and the airline loses the ashes of Howard's mother after they return from her funeral. |
| 176 | 817 | The Colonization Application | March 5, 2015 | Mark Cendrowski | Amy and Sheldon take the next step in their relationship and get a pet while Sheldon announces that he is volunteering to go to Mars. Raj is snooping around Emily's bedroom. Leonard and Penny are trying sex painting. |
| 177 | 818 | The Leftover Thermalization | March 12, 2015 | Mark Cendrowski | A final dinner of Debbie Wolowitz's cooking is held when the loss of electricity defrosts her freezer. A magazine publishes an article on Sheldon and Leonard's theory without mentioning Leonard. |
| 178 | 819 | The Skywalker Incursion | April 2, 2015 | Mark Cendrowski | Sheldon and Leonard go to George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch; while the others are cleaning out Howard's old house which results in a ping-pong battle for Howard's TARDIS. |
| 179 | 820 | The Fortification Implementation | April 9, 2015 | Mark Cendrowski | Howard finds out that he has a half-brother, Sheldon and Amy have a sleepover and Penny gets an offer to audition for a movie. |
| 180 | 821 | The Communication Deterioration | April 16, 2015 | Mark Cendrowski | The guys split up into teams to work on a NASA project to communicate with aliens, while Penny considers taking a movie audition. |
| 181 | 822 | The Graduation Transmission | April 23, 2015 | Anthony Rich | Leonard gets an offer to make the commencement speech at graduation at his old high school in New Jersey. Raj goes out and buys a helicopter drone. |
| 182 | 823 | The Maternal Combustion | April 30, 2015 | Anthony Rich | Dr. Beverly Hofstadter and Mary Cooper visit Pasadena to see their sons get an award and get into a fight. Bernadette wants Howard and Stuart to do more around their new home. |
| 183 | 824 | The Commitment Determination | May 7, 2015 | Mark Cendrowski | Sheldon forces Penny to name a date for her wedding and has a major commitment change in his relationship with Amy. The Wolowitzes want Stuart to leave. Raj is thinking of breaking up with the twisted Emily. |
Trivia[]
- This season had the same number of 24 episodes, adding the total amount of episodes for the entire series up to 183. Next season will include the 200th episode. (Season trend). (S9E17) (200th episode)
Season 8 - IT'S A WRAP!!
- Penny got a new haircut based upon Kaley's new hairdo. Sheldon had problems with it. (Season trend)
- This marks the only season where Penny has a short haircut from the premiere to the finale. In all other seasons, her hair had a variable length, starting with a shoulder-length hairstyle and ending with long hair.
- Penny's Mother didn't show up, though the Lenny wedding is in the air. Lisa Kudrow was still Kaley's choice to play her mother, though no official casting has been announced.
- Emily became a recurring cast member this season. (Season trend)
- According to the production staff, Penny did, at least during her break from acting, become a pharmaceutical representative or salesperson at Bernadette's company. This caused relationship problems between Leonard and Penny and between Bernie and Penny. She then developed confidence and finally made a respectable income. (Season trend)
- Stuart moved into the Wolowitz house. (Partial season trend)
- Tensions heated up between Sheldon and Amy, though they resolved their problems later. (S8E01)
- Sheldon got appointed to a Junior Professor post. (S8E02)
- The comic book store got rebuilt. (S8E04)
- Reopened in S8E15.
- Emily meets Leonard and Penny; she began to dislike the latter since she crawled into bed with Raj three years before. (S8E04)
- Sheldon finally told Amy that he loves her, just before she could say it to him. (S8E08)
- The girls dressed up their men and re-did their proms on the roof of the building, which is the same place where they did their laser experiment and where they had Howard and Bernadette's wedding. (S8E08)
- The gang met a middle aged Howard Wolowitz type who fell for Penny and all of the girls. (S8E07)
- Leonard had a minor Septum surgery. (S8E09)
- Raj's father visited the gang at Christmas time. Last season it was rumored that his parents might visit him. (S8E11)
- Sheldon agreed to let Leonard move out and move in with Penny gradually. (S8E12)
- Mrs. Wolowitz passed away while visiting her sister in Florida. (S8E15)
- Amy revealed that she once wrote a Little House on the Prairie fan-fiction about a fictional version of herself and Sheldon. (S8E14)
- Leonard got Penny a Valentine's Day gift, but no major Valentines Day themed episode happened in 2015. (S8E17)
- Howard's younger half-brother Josh was introduced this season. (S8E20)
- Amy and Sheldon had a G-rated sleepover. (S8E20)
- Penny got a chance to audition for a movie. (S8E21)
- This is the only season of the show where Wil Wheaton appears but doesn't share scenes with Sheldon. Wil Wheaton only appeared in 1 episode (S8E21).
- Lisa Kudrow was Jim Parsons' choice for the actress he wanted to work with on TBBT. Kaley wanted her to play Penny's Mother, though no official casting has been announced just yet.
- Bernadette was talking about redecorating the Wolowitz family house so they can move in. (S8E20)
- Leonard gives a high school commencement speech. (S8E22)
- Both Dr. Beverly Hofstadter (Christine Baranski) and Mary Cooper (Laurie Metcalf) appeared together and clashed in an episode. (S8E23)
- Stuart was living with Howard and Bernadette. (S8E23)
- It's revealed that Sheldon owns an engagement ring that has been in his family for generations, while Amy "breaks up" with him. (S8E24)
- Penny wanted to elope with Leonard. (S8E24)
- In the last four episodes of the season (starting with "The Communication Deterioration"), Amy's role was reduced to only cameo appearances, usually only showing up in one scene at the beginning then inexplicably disappearing for the rest of the episode or appearing in one scene some time into the episode before the end of it. This was due to Mayim Bialik taking time off to mourn her father's passing. In "The Communication Deterioration", Amy appeared only in the penultimate scene, in "The Graduation Transmission" and "The Maternal Combustion", she only appeared in the first scene (the pre-intro scene) and in the season finale ("The Commitment Determination"), Amy only appeared at the beginning and end of the episode, although she only physically appeared at the beginning.
- In "The Maternal Combustion", it was also unexplained as to why Amy was absent during the visit of Leonard and Sheldon's mothers.
