UPI is reporting that our beloved Penny, Kaley Cuoco, has been signed to serve as the host of the 2011 Teen Choice Awards, which will be held next month in Los Angeles. Notes the story, "Cuoco is best known for her work on the TV sitcoms 8 Simple Rules and The Big Bang Theory. The Teen Choice 2011 Awards are to be presented Aug. 7. OneRepublic and Selena Gomez & the Scene have been booked to perform on the show, which will air live on Fox. Justin Bieber, Cameron Diaz, Chris Hemsworth, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Victoria Justice, Ed Helms, Lucy Hale, Shaun White, Rose Byrne, Paul Wesley, Tom Felton, Kat Graham, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Shane West are also scheduled to appear at the ceremony, Fox said on its Web site."
BIG BANG NEWS
July 28, 2011
November 02, 2009
JIM PARSONS INTERVIEWED ON MSNBC
In article appearing on MSNBC.com, it was discussed whether or not Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper actually suffered from Asperger's, given the fact that he can't seem to help but view things one way and voice whatever comes to mind.
"In his mind, it has nothing to do with being rude or polite, it has to do with, 'This is who we are, this is how we deal with it,'" actor Jim Parsons said. "Sheldon is not doing it to be mean, it's based in fact. You have to call out each fact as you would in the lab, as you would on paper... Nine times out of 10, I don't think there's a nefarious or bitchy edge to what he's saying. That's just how he calls it. That's what keeps the edge from being too sharp a lot of times."
KATEE SACKHOFF DOES "THE BIG BANG THEORY"
Today's USA Today had an article about Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff appearing on the November 23rd episode of the series, in which she'll play herself — as a figment of Wolowitz' imagination.
Explains co-creator Chuck Lorre, "The story is about how Wolowitz has this wonderful woman in his life, but he can't recognize what's right in front of him because he's mesmerized by fantasies about women from sci-fi. The scene is his mental image of Katee, but she's telling him the truth, that he's missing out on real life." Sackhoff says she would love to recur on the series as Wolowitz's "Number Six," an idea Lorre wouldn't have a problem with. "That would be terrific,"he concurred. She could definitely be Number Six in Wolowitz's head -- his muse, the magnificent woman who tells him the truth. We should all have a conscience that looks like Katee Sackhoff."
November 30, 2008
BIG BANG IN REVIEW
Back on November 20th, the Canwest News Service offered up an enthusiastic review of The Big Bang Theory. Noted Alex Strachan, “It just might be the most clever, crisply written sitcom on TV right now. Jim Parsons’ irritating science savant Sheldon and Johnny Galecki’s forgiving, slightly less nerdy Leonard make the perfect TV couple: best friends/roomies who get along despite their constant quarrels over science theory, the mysteries of the universe and whose turn it is to clean the dishes that night. In less capable hands, Penny….would be a wafer-thin caricature – a one-dimensional cartoon character whose only reason for being is to be the butt of easy jokes. Instead, Penny is the glue that holds Sheldon and Leonard together and, more importantly, keeps viewers engaged in the show. The Big Bang Theory not only makes us laugh; it makes us care about its characters’ lives… As with most things to do with TV, it’s not the idea that counts, but how that idea is realized that separates formulaic shows from the special kind. The Big Bang Theory isn’t special in the Seinfeld sense, but it’s one of the funniest comedies on TV right now. That may not be saying much, but it’s saying something.”
HONOREE CHUCK LORRE
Big Bang co-creator Chuck Lorre joins NBC’s co-chairman Ben Silverman, Disney Media Networks and President Co-Chair Anne Sweeney, and House of Payne’s Tyler Perry as honorees at the 2009 Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Awards, which will be held on January 26, 2009 in Las Vegas at the annual NATPE conference. Offers NATPE President and CEO Rick Feldman, “Chuck, Tyler, Anne and Ben all exhibit extraordinary passion, leadership, independence and vision in the process of creating television programming and in evoking the spirit of Brandon’s generosity. We’re delighted to be able to honor these special individuals at the sixth presentation of the Legacy Awards.” The late Tartikoff, of course, was the innovative former programmer at NBC that launched the network to the top of the ratings during his time there.
November 26, 2008
BIG BANG NEWS ARCHIVE: SEPTEMBER 2007
In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on September 9th, Jim Parsons discussed the characters making up the show, explaining, "Everyone is very sincere. There are not any hidden motives or agendas, nothing nefarious; everyone is just open to each other. They let Sheldon say some of the most off things in that openness that someone with a knowledge of how you should talk in social situations should not let themselves say... It's a pleasure to see someone put themselves out there and make a huge social gaffe. It's endearing, maybe not for the person doing it, but to observe." Added co-creator Chuck Lorre, "The comedy is in their inability to deal with everything that we take for granted," which co-creator Bill Prady used as an opportunity to compare those characters to real-life people he knows, including his father-in-law, a pediatric rheumatologist who wrote "the protocol for treating lupus in adolescents." Said Prady, "He has an unbelievable mind, but doesn't understand that discussing my wife's cycle at the Thanksgiving table is socially incorrect. I'll say, 'Graham, maybe that's not the kind of thing that's appropriate,' and he'll say, 'But it's a natural human function, just like eating, which we're doing here at this table.'"
On the 20th, Daily Variety reviewed the show: "The Big Bang Theory doesn't conjure up many big laughs, but its collidng elements do generat enough little ones to become another promising addition to CBS' Monday sitcome linup. Less Revenge of the Nerds than a grown-up Malcolm in the Middle, the series boasts appealing leads in Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons and actually builds jokes around the notion of being smart, albeit socially backward....As directed by James Burrows, there's a sweetness to Sheldon and Leonard's awkwardness, and given a samping of their friends, they might be the cool ones in the group. That said, there are some qualms surrounding how long the producers can mine the Leonard-Penny aspect of the show, a shallow vein if there ever was one. More promising is the interaction among the key duo and their Mensa-worth friends." We're happy to say that Variety was wrong about the former, and correct regarding the latter.
In USA Today's September 24th review, the paper opined, "The solid if well-worn setup is that of the 
beauty among the beasts, or in this case, geeks...Penny moves in next door and Leonard invites her over for lunch -- and the equation of their lives changes. If Bang is going to win you over, it will happen soon after that invitation, when Penny plots onto Sheldon's favorite spot on the couch. Everything that works best in Bang is right there: Cuocco's slighly confused, sweetly bemused response; Galecki's mix of longing and exasperation; and Parsons' fresh, show-stopping take on socially out-of-whack brilliance. As you'd hope for a show about smart people, Bang makes a host of smart decisions, including the introduction of two other characters who make Leonard seem suave in comparsion. It's also wise enough to turn much of the half-hour over to Parsons, who gets most of the best lines and makes them even better..."
November 22, 2008
BIG BANG NEWS ARCHIVE: JULY - SEPTEMBER 2007
One of the things The Big Bang Blog will do is chronicle media coverage of the show in different installments, going as far back as July of 2007 and gradually working our way up to the present.
JULY 2007
On July 19th, Mediaweek made mention of The Big Bang Theory, describing t as follows: “Two brainy best friends (Jim Parsons and former Roseanne star Johnny Galecki) and the remaining members of their ‘geek squad’ try to fit into the social world at the coaching of their sexy new neighbor (Kaley Cuoco of 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter). Chuck Lorre (Two and a Half Men) is the creator. In that same piece – reporting on the TCA panel for the show – Lorre was asked whether Kaley’s character ran the risk of being “the next Crissy Snow” from Three’s Company. He responded, “As we get more into developing the series and the characters, we’re going to learn that her character is extremely capable. She grew up on a farm. She can fix a tractor. She can birth a calf, and she can do just about damn near anything that these guys can just sit around and talk about and complicate. So she’s an extraordinary character in her own right, but in a different world than theirs.” Of the show itself, the mag enthused, “What might sound like a generic bore was actually a laugh-out loud riot in the pilot with flawless casting, strong chemistry and potential for long-term storytelling....”
SEPTEMBER 2007
Maclean’s offered a profile of Chuck Lorre and his show. What follows are excerpts from the article: “The secret of Lorre's success is that his angry streak endears his work to audiences that don't want good-natured shows like Friends. In the Jack Bauer era, darkness sells, even on a sitcom. Lorre told Maclean's that "there's a difference between charming and amusing and clever and truly funny," and he doesn't let his shows display too much charm, focusing instead on the comedy of humiliation. The Big Bang Theory is about scientists who are socially retarded and make fools of themselves over a new female neighbor (‘We take great intellect and slam libido into it,’ Lorre says). Two and a Half Men started with a painful divorce and features a hero (Charlie Sheen) described by Lorre as ‘debauched.’ Characters aren't rewarded for being good; the uptight brother on Men (Jon Cryer), Lorre says, ‘plays by the rules with a passion, and he's punished for it.’ If the men on Lorre's shows don't have a great time, the women come off even worse. Men blames the heroes' problems on their mother, and made vicious fun of a woman with a crush on Charlie. Lorre says that he and co-creator Bill Prady want the heroine of The Big Bang Theory to be the ‘voice and eyes and ears of the audience,’ but in the pilot, she comes off as an airhead for the heroes to lust after. But this kind of thing may be an advantage when hits like Entourage and Rescue Me are out-and-out misogynistic. And Lorre points out that his shows have plenty of appeal for their majority-female audience: ‘We generally punish Charlie mercilessly for his cavalier attitude toward women and sexual relationships,’ he says.”
On September 4th, the VNJ Entertainment Newswire announced, “Sara Gilbert will reunite with her Roseanne hubby Johnny Galecki on Galecki's new comedy series, CBS' The Big Bang Theory. Gilbert is set to do a multiepisode arc on the Warner Bros. Show, which revolves around Leonard (Galecki) and Sheldon (Jim Parsons), two socially inept physicists who befriend their new pretty neighbor (Kaley Cuoco). Gilbert will play a love interest for Leonard. She is a fellow physicist who works with him, and the two attempt to date. On Roseanne, Gilbert and Galecki's characters, Darlene Conner and David Healy, had an on-again, off-again relationship until tying the knot in the penultimate season's finale. Gilbert's role on the long-running ABC sitcom earned her two Emmy nominations. Gilbert, who gave birth to a girl a month ago, has been recurring on NBC's veteran medical drama ER.
On September 5th, Diane Kristine of Blogcritics.org reviewed, “Galecki and Parsons are nebbishly adorable -- Parsons in particular seems to be having a lot of fun as uptight, wouldn’t recognize fun if it was embedded in a mathematical equation, Sheldon. The boys and their friends represent various species of nerd varieties, including Howard (Simon Helberg), the nerd who thinks he’s a ladies man, and Rajesh (Kunal Nayyar), the nerd who can’t talk to women. They speak Klingon and wear pocket protectors and glasses... But as the object of Leonard’s desire, Kaley Cuoco is too bland in a role any number of young actresses could have better filled. My biggest problem with her character is that she is given nothing to do but be a bimbo in skimpy clothes. She is written and acted with no charm or sweetness that could make his yearning justified as anything other than the premise for a sitcom that already feels stretched thinner than a singularity by the end of the first half hour. It all adds up to an intellectually lazy sitcom about intellectually gifted people, by writer/producers Chuck Lorre of Two and a Half Men and Bill Prady of Good Morning Miami. Directing the pilot is James Burrows, who was involved with the actually intelligent sitcom about intelligent people, Frasier... [But given the] truth about pilots that they’re never as good as the eventual series they spawn, I have some hope that if it doesn’t rely so heavily on the unrequited lust, and relies instead on the charm of the two physicists -- yes, I said charm and physicists in the same sentence – The Big Bang Theory’s potential success might not even make my brain explode....”
Obviously The Big Bang Theory has surpassed Ms. Kristine’s expectations.
