Geek Heaven: 28 Things You Never Knew About The Big Bang Theory

FLASHBACK: Here's a look back at one of the shows featured at the 2009 Paley Festival.

The Big Bang Theory, the hit CBS science geek comedy, was fêted on April 16 as part of the annual PaleyFest, honoring the best in television. The cast and creative team gathered at the Cinerama Done in Hollywood for a panel discussion about the series and its growing popularity.

Among the things revealed:

1. The show was originally called “Lenny, Penny and Kenny."

2. Creators Chuck Lorre (pictured right) and Bill Prady never formally pitched the show to the network. They just wrote some scenes and had one of the writers from Two and a Half Men (Lorre’s other show) perform them for CBS officials.

3. The original premise had next-door neighbor Penny as a hard partying girl. But test audiences didn’t like that Penny; they wanted to protect the innocence of Leonard and Sheldon from her.

4. Even though that original pilot didn’t work, the network recognized the chemistry that Jim Parsons (Sheldon) and Johnny Galecki (Leonard) had. So they let them redo the pilot with a different concept for Penny.

5. Kaley Cuoco tested for the part of the hard partying Penny, but didn’t get it because she wasn’t dark and dangerous. However when they changed the concept of Penny to soft and sweet, Cuoco was perfect for the role.

6. Johnny Galecki worked with Lorre on Roseanne (Galecki played a teenaged David). When Lorre approached him about the show, he had him in mind for Sheldon. However, Galecki was more interested in the Leonard part since the possibility for a romance with Penny was there.

7. When Jim Parsons’ agents told him about a new Chuck Lorre comedy, Parsons didn’t immediately recognize the name Chuck Lorre. He confused him with game show host Chuck Woolery and said, “Oh, I didn’t know he wrote.” But since his agents were so excited about the role, Parsons reluctantly went on the audition and was surprised to learn it had nothing to do with a game show.

8. Lorre and Prady were so impressed by Parsons’ audition, they figured it had to be a fluke. So they called him back for a second audition and he did an even better job than the first time. They quickly signed him as Sheldon.

9. Johnny Galecki can’t imagine anyone but Jim Parsons in the role of Sheldon, saying, “You see Jim do it, who else could possibly play Sheldon?”

10. Regarding the perfect casting of each of the five main characters, Lorre said, “We caught lightning [in a bottle] 5 times.”

11. Simon Helberger, who plays Howard Wolowitz, believes the show is resonating with the public because “there aren’t that many cool people in the world. Everyone has an inner nerd. Everyone knows what it’s like to try and fit in and not succeed.”

12. Prady concurred with Helberger, saying, “We’re all the outsiders. We all think someone else has it figured out. Here are the smartest guys in the world and they don’t have it figured out.”

13. The character of Howard is based one of Lorre’s friends who has absolutely no standards for women; his policy is to proposition every woman he meets.

14. Producers have no plans to ever have the character of Howard’s gravely-voiced mother, Mrs. Wolowitz, appear on screen. She’s voiced off screen by Carol Ann Susi. But the producers think it’s better that viewers never see a face, to just let them form their own image of her from her voice.

15. The producers have approached Ringo Starr about playing Howard’s father in an episode.

16. Kunal Nayyar got the part of Raj Koothrappali just weeks after moving to Los Angeles. However, at the time, the character was named Dave Koothrappali. When Nayyar asked that they find a more authentically Indian name, producers let him pick the character’s first name.

17. Penny has no last name, but at the point when the script calls for her to have one, Cuoco will get pick it.

18. The characters of Sheldon and Leonard were named for TV producer Sheldon Leonard, best known for his work with Make Room for Daddy, The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Andy Griffith Show.

19. Each script comes with a glossary containing proper pronunciations for the scientific terms that the actors must say. For the “Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock” episode, the script came with hand directions for how to make each of the symbols.

20. The show shoots on Tuesday nights because Lorre’s other show, Two and a Half Men, shoots on Friday nights.

21. While on a plane, a physicist who serves as one of the show’s science advisors discovered, to his amazement, that “if you have a script, women will talk to you.”

22. The network was not in favor of having a theme song, but Lorre and Prady insisted. The network relented, saying it would come out of the show time each week rather than ad time. They got the Bare Naked Ladies to come up with the song.

23. The show is the only sitcom ever to be reviewed in Science magazine.

24. When renowned physicist George Smoot (who devised the scientific concept of the big bang theory) did a cameo appearance on the show, he was anxious to have his photo taken in the guy’s apartment. He sat in Sheldon’s spot on the sofa.

25. The producers like bringing in family members for the cast members as it gives further insights into the characters. Lorre commented, “After meeting Leonard’s mother [played by Christine Baranski], you realize why he’s roommates with Sheldon. He’s still trying to work that all out.”

26. When asked which of the actors is most like their character, no one said anything, but all looked toward Parsons, who then said, “I’m from Texas and Sheldon is from Texas. Other than that I don’t see any similarities.”

27. A few minutes later, Parsons inadvertently proved exactly how much like Sheldon he is. When a fan gushed about Cuoco’s performance as Penny, Cuoco started crying and thanked her for the kind words. Parsons turned to her and said, “Kaley, did you think they were going to throw rotting fruit at us? They’re here because they’re fans of the show. They paid money to be here.”

28. On the question of whether Sheldon will ever have a love interest, Lorre said, “We’re pretty clear on the fact that Sheldon’s passion lies elsewhere. Sheldon’s passion is science.” All photos by James F. Mills