SHELDON & JIM
August 09, 2009
June 01, 2009
JOHNNY & JIM INTERVIEWED BY LOS ANGELES TIMES
Today's Los Angeles Times had an interview with Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons, which was conducted by Margaret Wappler. Among the revelations, while the two actors can struggle with their lines, co-star Kaley Cuoco apparently has no problem whatsoever. "I don't know how she does it," Jim said., "but she always has every single word memorized," to which Johnny added, "She never makes a mistake."
Elsewhere in the interview, Johnny explained that he wanted to make Leonard just a bit cooler. "I'd watch the show," he said, "and see moments where I worked some gesture too much or overemphasized my walk. But I realize now that I can just relax into it. It's all muscle memory now."
As the author reports, "By all accounts, The Big Bang Theory is a harmonious set. In addition to group trips to Comic-Con and the like, the actors will sometimes get together or go to see a movie. But Galecki points out that since they got the two-year thumbs up [for renewal], they're not hanging out with the same frequency. 'We've been through the honeymoon period,' he says. 'We'll be riding this wave together for a while.'"
March 05, 2009
December 07, 2008
JIM PARSONS' WATERLOO INTERVIEW
In the November 29th edition of the Waterlook Region Record, staff writer Joel Rubinoff ruminated on the appeal of Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory.
Of Sheldon, as played by Jim Parsons, Rubinoff offers, “He’s a cross between Mr. Spock and a perpetually befuddled turtle, he’s the first sitcom character since Seinfeld’s George Constanza whose anti-social eccentricities have thrust him on the pantheon of pop-cult infamy… And as he spews out vast stretches of scientific garble with the comic precision of a young Lenny Bruce, he’s the one thing about this nerdific sitcom you can’t take your eyes off…. What makes him unique – and in a bizarre way, admirable – is his utter confidence in his own superiority despite a world that places him on the same dysfunctional plane as Rain Man and Forrest Gump.”
As to the character’s appeal, he notes, “With the exception of football jocks and people who drop out of high school to become loan sharks, there’s probably a little Sheldon in all of us, an inner need we desperately try to suppress, but can never completely extinguish… There’s something oddly endearing about this androgynous pit bull who figures – with deft sociopathic flair – there’s no problem, dating or otherwise, that can’t be solved through a combination of quantum mechanics and heterotic string theory. The fact that he’s right more than he’s wrong only makes us worship him more.”
December 06, 2008
November 19, 2008
MEET JIM PARSONS & SHELDON COOPER
JIM PARSONS' television credits include a recurring role in the series "Judging Amy," on CBS and a guest starring appearance in "Ed." His feature film credits include "Garden State," "Heights," "On the Road with Judas," "Gardener of Eden," "10 Items or Less" and "School for Scoundrels."
Parsons graduated with a BA in theater from the University of Houston, during which time he helped create a not-for-profit theatre company. He acted in productions there including "Endgame," "Guys and Dolls" and "The Balcony." Parsons loves to play the piano and also enjoys watching sports, especially tennis, baseball and basketball. He was born and raised in Houston and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. His birth date is March 24.
SHELDON COOPER, PhD: Sheldon is Leonard's best friend, roommate, and colleague, who appears to have Autism spectrum disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. He's a physicist like Leonard and also keeps a whiteboard in the living room for scientific theories and has a Master's degree and 2 PhDs. Unlike Leonard, he embraces his genius fully and doesn't mind sharing details of his life that Leonard finds embarrassing, such as their main weekend activity being Klingon Boggle tournaments until 1 AM.
It's insinuated that Sheldon's genius is concentrated fully on science and that his IQ is higher than Leonard's; he tends to question Leonard's theories and has a larger background full of behavior common to child prodigies. When he was a child, he conducted experiments involving the height of stairs and deduced that if a step on a staircase is 2 millimeters off or more, a person is always likely to trip (this resulted in his father breaking his clavicle).
At age 14, he dabbled in lasers and this resulted in his being sent to boarding school; it is heavily implied in a CBS promotional clip that the government took Sheldon's laser away and hushed the college professor who witnessed the experiment. Sheldon graduated high school very early; he asks Penny, in complete disbelief, "It took you four years to get through high school?!" He told Penny he was eleven years old when he was going to college. Sheldon also has common qualities associated with being a prodigy, such as an inflated ego, social ineptness, and an inability to identify emotionally with others.
He fails to understand not only the simplest sarcastic jokes made by Leonard, but also regards Penny's sadness over her break up with blatant disgust. That isn't to say Sheldon doesn't have a conscience; he's simply more likely to do what's scientifically ethical (not donate to a "high IQ sperm bank" because his sperm won't guarantee high IQ offspring) rather than morally and socially ethical (break into Penny's home to organize her things). Sheldon also remains unswayed by Penny's beauty. He sneaks in during the night and cleans it up because he can't stand being in the same hallway with something so disastrous. Also, he refuses to sit anywhere other than his designated spot on the couch. He is calculating and cynical, believing that Leonard is only setting himself up for disappointment as he continues to crush on Penny.
