News culture She was supposed to be the star of The Big Bang Theory but was fired after the pilot episode
Before the final start of a series, there usually has to be a pilot episode that lays the foundation for the program. And it sometimes happens that there is a gap between the pilot episode and the final series that airs on the screens. An actress had the bitter experience…
The Big Bang Theory, the cult series
The simple mention of The Big Bang Theory is enough to bring back a lot of memories. Born in 2007 and broadcast for more than a decade, the 279-episode series has conquered an extremely wide audience. The show tells the misadventures of four scientific friends with very different temperaments: Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki), Howard Walowitz (Simon Helberg) and Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar). Sheldon and Leonard live together and regularly entertain their classmates. Across the street from her apartment lives the beautiful Penny, a waitress at the Cheesecake Factory who dreams of becoming a singer.
The series’ geeky and completely uninhibited humor collides with Penny’s common sense and intelligence, resulting in a completely unique sitcom. References to video games, science and other areas of technology are numerous and we are amused by the antics of the quartet, at the head of which is a Sheldon who will die of laughter. The other characters are also colorful (with Raj having a pathological fear of talking to women) and we have a wonderful time watching this show. The series aired for the last time in the USA in May 2019 and left a big hole in the hearts of fans after twelve years of audience success.
A series that could have been completely different
It’s been five long years since The Big Bang Theory series, and although it left a gaping hole in the world of television and sitcoms, it almost never saw the light of day! As Allociné rightly points out, CBS rejected the original episode entirely because it felt it did not fit into its editorial programming line. Without the motivation of producers Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, The Big Bang Theory would have boomed before it first aired. Specifically, the two men fought for CBS management to give them the opportunity to film a second pilot episode to improve on all aspects of the original pilot. And in fact, this original pilot, which we rediscovered on YouTube, shows that the series had a very different tone and didn’t feature the same characters!
In fact, the original pilot of The Big Bang Theory featured Sheldon and Leonard playing opposite…Katie. The much more haughty and rude character ultimately did not meet the producers’ expectations. There was a tone that didn’t fit with the whole thing, especially given the antics of the duo and their cronies. Bill Prady and Chuck Lorre then made the difficult decision to oust the actress who played Katie: Amanda Walsh. It was a shock for the latter, who had appeared in Smallville and Veronica Mars, but she managed to bounce back in another series. But what makes the story funny is that Kaley Cuoco, who plays Penny in the last series, auditioned for Katie! You will have understood, the two producers made a U-turn and rushed to call back Kaley Cuoco, who could be a perfect match for Penny. Pretty funny, right? Allociné also recalls that the series underwent other major changes, such as the elimination of another character (Gilda) or the change in Sheldon’s personality. The series is available to stream on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
