Rules The Big Bang Theory Cast Had To Follow On Set
Being on a hit TV show may come with fame and fortune — but stars are also required to act a certain way while filming. From not ad-libbing their lines to being clean-shaven, "The Big Bang Theory" cast had a pretty tight script to follow on-set.
Transcript
00:00Being on a hit TV show may come with fame and fortune, but stars are also required to
00:05act a certain way while filming. From not ad-libbing their lines to being clean-shaven,
00:10the Big Bang Theory cast had a pretty tight script to follow on set.
00:14Though their styles somewhat evolve over the course of 12 seasons, the characters of The
00:18Big Bang Theory ultimately maintain their looks throughout the show's entire run. This
00:22means that for over a decade, certain cast members were forced to don restrictive clothing
00:27for the sake of their craft.
00:29Oh, this is nice.
00:32It's only one color."
00:35In Jessica Radloff's The Big Bang Theory, the definitive inside story of the epic hit
00:39series, Simon Helberg recalled needing assistance and some butter on his legs in order to pull
00:44up Howard's ultra-tight jeans. But the pants weren't the only aspect of Howard's look that
00:49caused Helberg discomfort. He said,
00:51"...and then to get all those sharp belt buckles, so close to so many vulnerable parts, plus
00:56the tight pants and the pin on my turtleneck that would jam into my neck, I was always
01:00trying to get used to being smothered by my own wardrobe."
01:03Another cast member who suffered through a bothersome wardrobe was Mayim Bialik, who
01:07played Amy. On the show, Amy was known for her bulky, buttoned-up layers, knee-length
01:11skirts and tights. Bialik told Radloff,
01:14"...I was always sweating because Amy had so many layers on and didn't really have a
01:18sense of different seasons. It was always sweater weather for her, even when everybody
01:22else was in short sleeves or tank tops."
01:25Many of the actors who starred in The Big Bang Theory rock beards in real life, though
01:29their characters were clean-shaven. Therefore, if they grew one between seasons, it was shaved
01:33upon returning to set to maintain continuity. The only exception came when preparing to
01:37shoot the first episode of Season 3, in which the guys return from a three-month-long expedition
01:42at the North Pole with massive beards. They were actually asked to grow out their facial
01:46hair over the break, but fake beards ended up being used.
01:49It was also preferred that they didn't do anything crazy to their hair, with the styles
01:53established in Season 1 becoming synonymous with the characters. Audiences came to know
01:57and love Howard's Beatles-esque dew and Penny's long blonde locks, for example. However, before
02:02they started shooting Season 8, Kaley Cuoco did the unthinkable. She chopped her hair
02:07into a pixie cut without telling anyone. She told Radloff,
02:10"...something needed to shake up. I was bored and sick of the hair."
02:14The show's creator, Chuck Lorre, was shocked when he saw Cuoco's new hairstyle. For him,
02:19Penny's long hair was part of who she was. He explained,
02:21"...the audience had become infatuated with the character, and not just the character's
02:25behavior and flaws and strengths, but in how the character looked. They became iconic,
02:29and to disregard that audience attachment was a mistake, and I witnessed it firsthand."
02:34"...I think Hara's hair grows back. It's not a big deal."
02:38Lorre also banned the cast from pulling pranks, after one that was attempted by Johnny Galecki
02:43and Cuoco went horribly wrong.
02:46While filming a dinner scene for Season 6, Episode 16, the two planned to pull a prank
02:50that involved Galecki fake-punching Cuoco and her falling off her chair. When she got
02:54up from the floor, however, Cuoco was met with horrified looks, rather than the laughter
02:58she anticipated. Cuoco recalled the incident in Radloff's book, telling the author,
03:03"...I came up from the table saying, how fun was that, only to realize I had blood coming
03:07down my face, as if I was in a boxing match."
03:10Turns out Cuoco accidentally got hit in the head by the chair, which certainly wasn't
03:14part of the prank. As a result, she had to visit a plastic surgeon to receive stitches.
03:18She went on to add,
03:19"...The next day on set, there were all these signs saying things like, no more jokes, no
03:23more roughhousing. I mean, we thought it was so funny, but no one else did."
03:27Director Mark Sandrowski had to strategically film Cuoco from a certain angle so that her
03:31injury wasn't visible on camera.
03:34While the actors on sitcoms like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia were encouraged to add
03:38lip lines, this wasn't the case with The Big Bang Theory. Melissa Rauch, who played
03:42Bernadette, told HuffPost Live,
03:44"...Big Bang is very tightly scripted. Because we shoot in front of a live audience, it's
03:48basically like doing a filmed piece of theater, really."
03:51Plus, she and her castmates didn't often feel the need to put their own spin on things,
03:55as they believed the scripts were already top-notch. Rauch added,
03:58"...I love it so much, but you don't want to mess with what they write because it's
04:02almost like this beautiful concerto that you don't want to mess up one note of."
04:07Because The Big Bang Theory was tightly scripted, and because he had the most scientifically
04:10dense monologues to memorize, Jim Parsons, who played Sheldon, wrote down every single
04:15line on index cards, which he always had with him. He told Radloff,
04:19"...there wasn't a set piece that didn't have my scripts or note cards in it."
04:23It was only on a few rare occasions that dialogue was changed by writers during a taping. One
04:27such instance came while shooting a scene between Bob Newhart, who played Professor
04:31Proton, and Cuoco. When one of Newhart's lines wasn't landing with the studio audience, he
04:36suggested Cuoco say it instead. It was a move that proved successful.
04:41From quantum mechanics to super-asymmetry, many of the conversations on The Big Bang
04:45Theory often revolve around science. However, the actors were largely clueless as to the
04:50meaning of the words in the script. Still, they had to make it sound believable. This
04:54was especially difficult for Parsons, with Sheldon having the largest amount of jargon-packed
04:58monologues.
05:00"...fundamental problem with elementary quantum mechanical formalism is that the Fourier transform
05:04extends to minus infinity in time."
05:07An anxious person, Parsons recalled in Radloff's book that he gave up drinking for the first
05:11nine years of filming to give his full focus to perfecting his intricate lines. He said,
05:16"...it's not that anything got out of hand, but I knew that there was work ahead and I
05:20wanted to be ready for it."
05:21Cuoco said that Parsons' role required a lot of intense focus, adding,
05:25"...I can't imagine the stress, I'm sure, the show put on him. Because there was so
05:29much riding on his shoulders and so much to memorize. It was such a specific character
05:33that I can kind of see why he needed to put drinking aside. That's a lot to take on."
05:38Later in the series, when Sheldon begins dating Amy, Parsons had less scientific dialogue
05:42to memorize, much to his relief. He said,
05:44"...I had relationship stuff to talk about, and while Sheldon might do it awkwardly, it
05:48wasn't always a science hoop to jump through verbally."
05:52Aside from Galecki, who starred in Roseanne, and Cuoco, who was a cast member on Eight
05:56Simple Rules, the rest of the original cast members of The Big Bang Theory were virtually
06:00unknown in Hollywood. So when the show quickly took off and fans were clamoring to see them
06:04at their very first Comic-Con appearance, it was a mind-blowing taste of fame. In fact,
06:09the experience was so intoxicating that it briefly went to the head of Kunal Nayyar,
06:13who played Raj. Co-creators Lori and Bill Prady made it their mission to ensure that
06:17everyone stayed humble, calling Nayyar into their office for an important conversation.
06:23In Radloff's book, Lori said,
06:24"...the point of the meeting was to say, breathe, slow down, don't make any big decisions right
06:28now, and to remind him that the ensemble was everything. I said, listen, God willing, this
06:33is a long journey, and the journey is one that should be made as an ensemble, not as
06:37here's my solo career."
06:39The cast also helped keep each other grounded by escaping the hustle and bustle of Hollywood
06:43together. They enjoyed regular getaways at San Ysidro Ranch, located in the foothills
06:47of Montecito. Parsons told Radloff,
06:50"...we were able to do things like that as a group, and not cause a lot of attention
06:53and just enjoy each other's company."
06:55They also bonded over their shared love of ping pong, which they played on set during
06:59breaks.
07:00"...mainly I met so many wonderful people here that will be my friends for life."
07:06The cast of The Big Bang Theory had to promote their project via talk shows, junkets, conventions,
07:10and more — a requirement of any actor on a popular television show. Oftentimes, especially
07:15when they were asked to travel internationally, these press tours were a ton of fun and didn't
07:19feel like work.
07:20Galecki, Helberg, and Neher have particularly fond memories of their promotional trip to
07:25Brazil. In Radloff's book, Neher said,
07:27"...they figured out which hotel we were in, and hundreds of people showed up. We went
07:31out on our balcony and waved at everyone and said a few words. It was like being the Queen
07:35of England. I couldn't believe it. I found it very heartwarming."
07:38Still, as nice as it was to feel love from fans of the show, doing press wasn't always
07:42so enjoyable. Galecki admitted to Radloff that he often felt nervous speaking in front
07:47of people as himself and not having the fictional shield of Leonard to hide behind. He said,
07:52"...I wouldn't sleep for two weeks before I had to do Letterman. I always loved it after,
07:56because he's such a hero of mine, but that was especially nerve-wracking."
08:01Though many TV sitcoms have stopped using laugh tracks, roars of laughter can be heard
08:05during certain scenes on The Big Bang Theory, because it was filmed in front of a live studio
08:10audience.
08:11"...it's still a lot of fun."
08:12On one hand, having a crowd present was helpful because instant feedback was received if something
08:17wasn't working. However, having fans present for certain iconic moments, such as when Sheldon
08:21smacks Amy's behind as punishment for pretending to be sick, added stress. Originally, the
08:26scene was supposed to take place off-camera. In Radloff's book, Bialik said,
08:30"...I was very relieved, because doing that in front of people is so awkward. I think
08:34my mom might have been there, as well as my dad."
08:37At the very last minute, it was decided that the entire scene should take place on-camera,
08:42in front of the audience. Parsons spoke about it in a discussion with the Paley Center for
08:46Media.
08:47"...It was, I would say, one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, because I found
08:54it tremendously amusing."
08:56He was also somewhat annoyed because he had no time to practice his facial expressions
08:59throughout the week. Director Mark Sandrowski told Radloff,
09:03"...Jim and Mayim could not believe they were doing this, but they were so funny together,
09:07and the audience went nuts."
09:09When Cuoco and Galecki began dating in 2008, the two made a self-imposed rule to keep their
09:14status private from the public, at least for a little while. They explained to Radloff
09:19that they didn't want to ruin viewers' image of Leonard and Penny, who weren't an official
09:23item at that point. Given the fact that the rapid-fire dissemination of news on social
09:27media wasn't what it is today, they were able to fly under the radar. However, after some
09:31time, their self-imposed rule began to take a toll. Galecki told Radloff,
09:35"...I think one of the things that created a chasm between us was my strict policies
09:39of privacy, and Kaylee being very, very open about her life. I was very uncomfortable with
09:44being public about it, and I think that hurt Kaylee's feelings a little bit, and I can
09:47understand that."
09:49They ended things after two years with nothing but mutual respect for one another, and remained
09:53friends throughout their time filming The Big Bang Theory and beyond. Galecki even attended
09:57Cuoco's wedding to Carl Cook in 2018.