‘The Big Bang Theory' Co-Creator Chuck Lorre Calls Kaley Cuoco's Penny ‘Sadly One-Dimensional' Early In Sitcom: 'Took A While To Figure Out'
The Big Bang Theory may be defying the laws of TV mechanics with its storied success, but there's one thing co-creator Chuck Lorre said the series 'missed' early on with regard to Kaley Cuoco's character Penny.
In the first episode of The Official Big Bang Theory Podcast opposite former Warner Bros. Television Group chairman and CEO Peter Roth, Lorre — who also co-created Two and a Half Men — discussed the failed unaired pilot of the sitcom and being given a 'do-over' following penning a 'sh—-y' script alongside collaborator Bill Prady.
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The original inaugural episode featured two female main characters, Katie (Amanda Walsh) and Gilda (Iris Bahr), before Kaley Cuoco eventually stepped in as the lead following a rewrite and retaping of what would become the second and aired pilot a year later.
'The magic of Kaley was, Kaley's character — as we figured this thing out on the fly — was amused by [Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki's characters], was not critical. If she got angry, it wasn't harsh. The audience really responded to that,' Lorre explained.
He added, 'She was never judgmental about these characters. She was bemused by them, in fact. They brought more judgement to her than she did ever of them. And I thought that was also an important difference between the character of what Penny brought versus the character of what Katie brought in the original unaired pilot.'
Despite the dynamic element and heart Penny brought to socially inept brainiacs Sheldon Cooper (Parsons) and Leonard (Galecki), Lorre admitted that he didn't fully grasp Penny's complexity from the get-go.
'Even after the second pilot, we had so many episodes to go before we started to understand that there was a brilliance to Penny's character that we had not explored,' he said, adding that early episodes depicted her as a 'goofy blonde who says foolish things.'
The prolific TV writer/producer continued, 'It's a cliched character: the dumb blonde, and we missed it. We didn't have that right away that what she brought to this story, this series, to these other characters was an intelligence that they didn't have. A kind of intelligence that was alien to them, an intelligence about people and relationships and family.'
In concluding, he said, 'She brought a humanity to them that they were lacking. And that took a while to figure out. Certainly, in the beginning she was sadly one-dimensional in many ways, but the gift of a TV series that starts working is you get time to learn.'
Lorre's comments seem to allude to discussions around the show's misogynistic tone in certain moments, which have percolated for years. However, for her part, Cuoco said last year that she would 'absolutely reprise' the character. She stated, 'I spent 12 years playing that role, and it really set off my career. I owe a lot to that character, to that show, to Chuck Lorre. It was some of the best years of my life, and some of the most fun I've ever had.'
With 10 Emmys in tow, the popular CBS sitcom — which ran for 12 seasons from 2007 through 2019 to become the longest-running multi-cam series in television history — has spawned equally beloved offshoot Young Sheldon, focusing on Sheldon Cooper's youth with Iain Armitage in the role, which ended in early 2024 after seven seasons. Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage, featuring Montana Jordan and Emily Osment in the title roles, premiered on CBS in October, from Chuck Lorre Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, where Lorre is under an overall deal. A Max spinoff — with Lorre at the helm — is also beginning to take shape as original series alumni Kevin Sussman, Brian Posehn, Lauren Lapkus and, most recently John Ross Bowie, signed talent-holding deals with WBTV with the intention to star in the forthcoming show. However, the project remains in early development and is still without a greenlight as the script is still being completed.
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