Wait . . . so Penny wasn't the original friendly neighbor in "The Big Bang Theory"? Here's how different the dynamic would have been if they'd kept the OG female lead.
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00:00Wait, so Penny wasn't the original friendly neighbor in The Big Bang Theory?
00:05Here's how different the dynamic would have been if they'd kept the OG female lead.
00:09Before The Big Bang Theory was a show about a group of nerdy guys and their friendly female
00:13neighbor, Penny, played by Kaley Cuoco, the show was about a group of nerdy guys and their
00:18mean new neighbor, Katie.
00:20Allow me to explain it to you in your language, nerdish."
00:24Katie, played by Amanda Walsh, was far less charmed by their geeky behavior and far more
00:34willing to take advantage of their maiden-less ways.
00:37As the show's co-creators Bill Prady and Chuck Lorre explained in a 2022 Entertainment Weekly
00:42interview, this dynamic played poorly with test audiences, and ultimately, Walsh had
00:47to leave the show because of it.
00:48Prady explained,
00:49"[The first pilot, the female character, is kind of rough, she's dangerous in a way,
00:53and wasn't very nice to the guys.]
00:55He recalled the first test screening reactions, saying,
00:57"'They hated her, but what was amazing was that they were defending Leonard and Sheldon
01:01so much.'"
01:02Lorre confirmed Prady's recollection, adding,
01:05"'Yeah, we didn't realize early on that the audience viewed them as children.
01:08They were very naive and childlike, regardless of how intelligent they were.
01:12They were very vulnerable, and the audience didn't want a toxic presence around them.'"
01:16He went on to explain,
01:17"'That's why we rewrote Katie to become Penny, and made her much more charmed by the
01:21guys and kind to them, as opposed to a woman who would take advantage of them.'"
01:25"'How about we buy you this robot, and then we all go home?'
01:30"'I want that one.'"
01:33Although they're both happy with how the change turned out, they both seemed to feel bad
01:36over how Walsh had to leave.
01:38Lorre said,
01:39"'She was terrific in the role, but the role was misconceived.'"
01:42Prady concurred, adding,
01:43"'She was actually a very sweet person, and it was a lot of work for her to become that
01:47rough character.'
01:48Afterward, she wanted to come back in for the new version of Penny, but she had been
01:51so identified as that first character that it wasn't able to happen."
01:55Although the showrunners believed that the problem with Katie was purely a writing problem,
01:59not an acting one, CBS, nevertheless, asked them to hire a different actor.
02:03The result is that we got to enjoy 12 seasons of Cuoco's Penny, a charmingly sympathetic
02:08character who helps bring the gang out of their insular lifestyles while also learning
02:12to appreciate the nuances of geek culture herself.
02:15"'Wait, wait, where are you going?'
02:16"'No, no, you're okay.
02:17If you run into crocodiles, just kick them with your boots.'"
02:20The good news for Walsh is that she's gone on to do perfectly well for herself.
02:23She starred in projects like Disturbia, Lost Girl, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency,
02:29and was a writer on two seasons of the hit sitcom Schitt's Creek.
02:32She's also spoken a bit about her experience with The Big Bang Theory, and has made it
02:36clear that although the news of her replacement definitely stung, it wasn't the end of the
02:40world for her.
02:41She explained to the author of The Big Bang Theory, the definitive inside story of the
02:45epic hit series, there were no hard feelings between her and the show's creator.
02:49She wrote,
02:50"...Bill was as nice as possible about the whole thing.
02:52And then I was really fortunate that a year later, director James Burroughs hired me for
02:56another pilot called The Mastersons of Manhattan, with Molly Shannon and Natasha Richardson.
03:01For me, that really validated the notion of, it's not you, because as an actor, you always
03:06question that."
03:07So, to get rehired by the same people for another big project was very, very validating.