Chuck Lorre noted on one of the end-of-show vanity cards that:
“…Belarus does have a bustling TV production industry. One of their most recent hits is a sitcom about four nerdy scientists who live next door to a beautiful blonde waitress. The characters are named Sheldon, Leo, Hovard, Raj and Natasha, and the show is entitled, The Theorists. Each episode begins with a rapid-fire montage of images which takes us from the dawn of time to the present moment. Keeping with that theme, the montage is scored with what is probably the worst piece of recorded pop music since the dawn of time. And finally, each episode appears to be a Russian translation of a Big Bang Theory episode.”
The unlicensed Russian-language version of TBBT did not last long. The actor playing "Leonard" led a cast walkout, claiming they had been deceived about rights, legal standing of the show, and other important issues of trust. He not unreasonably said he had ambitions of working in the USA some day and would prefer to attempt it without being involved in a blatant act of piracy of a US Television show.