On screen, Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons are a couple of science geniuses, but don’t expect to get right answers on your physics homework when you come across the two in the street.
“I couldn’t do long division if you paid me,” Johnny Galecki, who plays lovestruck physicist Leonard on CBS’ The Big Bang Theory, said. “I can’t read or think about physics for 25 minutes without having an anxiety attack.”
Even the white boards where Leonard and fellow physicist/roommate Sheldon (Parsons) work out various quantum physics problems is the work of a consultant for the show. Consequently, all the elaborate work on the boards is correct.
“We have a consultant who is a physicist and astrophysicist at UCLA, who came in and drew our boards for us,” The Big Bang Theory co-creator Bill Prady says. “We’re working on giving Sheldon an actual problem that he’s going to be working on throughout the season so there’s an actual progress to the boards. We worked hard to get all the science right.”
Although much effort has been exerted in order to ensure the accuracy of the science in the show, The Big Bang Theory is also a story of love, as Johnny Galecki’s character becomes enamored with their new neighbor, Penny, played by Kaley Cuoco (8 Simple Rules). Penny, in turn, helps the two geeks learn about the one subject they are clueless about: women.
Of her character, Kuoco said, “She is a country girl, very capable, very independent. She works in Pasadena at the Cheesecake Factory and is writing a screenplay. She does not need these guys. She wants to be around them.”
Actors Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar, who play fellow scientists Howard and Rajesh, respectively, serve as comic foils, but the show clearly revolves around Penny, Sheldon and Leonard. Out of the three, co-creator Chuck Lorre admitted it is Penny with whom he most identifies.
“She speaks to the real world,” Lorre says.
The Big Bang Theory airs Monday nights at 8:30pm on CBS.
-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: The Journal Gazette
(Image Courtesy of CBS)
Staff Columnist, BuddyTV
