The Big Bang Theory
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Big Bang Theory | |
 Title card for The Big Bang Theory |
|
| Format | Sitcom |
|---|---|
| Created by | Chuck Lorre Bill Prady |
| Starring | Johnny Galecki Jim Parsons Kaley Cuoco Simon Helberg Kunal Nayyar Sara Gilbert |
| Opening theme | "History Of Everything"[1] by Barenaked Ladies |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 37 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Chuck Lorre Bill Prady Lee Aronsohn |
| Producer(s) | Steve Molaro Mike Collier Faye Oshima Belyeu |
| Editor(s) | Peter Chakos |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 21 minutes (without commercials) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV) |
| Original run | September 24, 2007 – present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
The Big Bang Theory is an American situation comedy created and executive produced by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, which premiered on CBS on September 24, 2007.[2]
It concerns two male Caltech prodigies in their twenties, one an experimental physicist (Leonard) and the other a theoretical physicist (Sheldon), who live across the hall from an attractive blonde waitress with show-biz aspirations (Penny).
Leonard and Sheldon's geekiness and intellect are contrasted with Penny's social skills and common sense for comedic effect. Two equally geeky friends of theirs, Howard and Rajesh, are also main characters. The show is produced by Warner Bros. Television and Chuck Lorre Productions.[3][4]
Contents |
[edit] Main cast
- Johnny Galecki as Leonard Leakey Hofstadter, Ph.D.
- Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper, Ph.D.
- Kaley Cuoco as Penny
- Simon Helberg as Howard Wolowitz, M.Eng.
- Kunal Nayyar as Rajesh Koothrappali, Ph.D.
- Sara Gilbert as Leslie Winkle, Ph.D. (recurring since season 1)[5][6]
- Sara Rue as Dr. Stephanie Barnett (recurring for season 2)[7]
[edit] Episodes
[edit] Production history
 |
This article needs reorganization to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. There is good information here, but it is poorly organized; editors are encouraged to be bold and make changes to the overall structure to improve this article. (February 2009) |
The show was first developed for the 2006/2007 television season, but it was fundamentally different to the show we see today. Only Jim Parsons & Johnny Galecki were part of the original pilot, and the character now played by Kaley Cuoco was much meaner to the geeks. CBS did not pick the show up, but gave Bill Prady and Chuck Lorre a second chance. They brought in Kaley Cuoco, along with Simon Helberg & Kunal Nayyar, and retooled the show.[8]
The second pilot of The Big Bang Theory was directed by award-winning director James Burrows, who decided not to stay with the show. This reworked pilot led to a 13-episode order by CBS on May 14, 2007.[9] Prior to its airing on CBS, the pilot episode was distributed on iTunes free of charge. The show premiered September 24, 2007, and was picked-up for a full 22-episode season order on October 19, 2007.[10]
Production on the show was halted on November 6, 2007 by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.[11] As the strike ended, the show was picked up for a second season along with eleven other shows for the 2008-2009 television season.[12]
The show returned on March 17, 2008 with an earlier time slot[13] and nine new episodes.[14] The second season premiered, in the same slot, on September 22, 2008. During the course of this season, the show bucked the trend of many other returning shows and saw its ratings grow, leading to a two-year renewal through what would be the 2010/11 season.[15][16]
David Saltzberg, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles, checks scripts and provides dialogue, math equations and diagrams used as props. He says he's more consultant than contributor.[17] Executive producer/co-creator Bill Prady said, "In fact, we're working on giving Sheldon an actual problem that he's going to be working on throughout the [first] season so there's actual progress to the boards ... We worked hard to get all the science right."[18]
[edit] Theme song
Barenaked Ladies wrote and recorded the theme song, which describes developments the universe has undergone since the dawn of time. On October 9, 2007, a full-length (1 minute and 45 second) version of the song was released.[19]
[edit] DVD releases
| DVD Name | Release dates | Ep # | Additional Information | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | |||
| The Complete First Season | September 2, 2008 | January 12, 2009 | December 9, 2008 (AR),[20] April 1, 2009 (NZ), June 3, 2009 (AU) | 17 | The three disc box set includes all 17 episodes. The only extra feature is an 18 minute short entitled Quantum Mechanics of The Big Bang Theory: Series Cast and Creators on Why It’s Cool to Be a Geek. Running Time 374 minutes. |
[edit] Ratings
[edit] U.S. standard ratings
In the following summary, "rating" is the percentage of all households with televisions that tuned to the show, and "share" is the percentage of all televisions in use at that time that are tuned in. "18-49" is the percentage of all adults aged 18-49 tuned into the show. "Viewers" is the number of viewers, in millions, watching at the time. "Rank" is how well the show did compared to other TV shows aired that week. The season's highest was episode 7 gathering a total of 9.68 million viewers.
Unless otherwise cited, the overnight rating, share, 18-49 and viewing information come from Your Entertainment Now.[21] The weekly ranks come from The Programming Insider,[22] unless otherwise referenced.
[edit] Season 1
| # | Episode | Air Date | Timeslot | Rating | Share | 18-49 | Viewers | Weekly Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Pilot" | September 24, 2007 | 8:30 P.M. | 6.0 | 9 | 3.7/9 (#3) | 9.57 (#3) | #37 |
| 2 | "The Big Bran Hypothesis" | October 1, 2007 | 5.5 | 8 | 3.4/8 (#2) | 8.58 (#2) | #44 | |
| 3 | "The Fuzzy Boots Corollary" | October 8, 2007 | 5.3 | 8 | 3.4/8 (#2) | 8.36 (#2) | #44 | |
| 4 | "The Luminous Fish Effect" | October 15, 2007 | 5.4 | 8 | 3.2/8 (#3) | 8.15 (#4) | #49 | |
| 5 | "The Hamburger Postulate" | October 22, 2007 | 5.6 | 8 | 3.5/9 (#2) | 8.72 (#2) | #44[23] | |
| 6 | "The Middle-Earth Paradigm" | October 29, 2007 | 5.7 | 8 | 3.6/9 (#2) | 8.92 (#2) | #45 | |
| 7 | "The Dumpling Paradox" | November 5, 2007 | 6.1 | 9 | 3.8/9 (#2) | 9.68 (#2) | #38 | |
| 8 | "The Grasshopper Experiment" | November 12, 2007 | 5.9 | 9 | 3.8/9 (#2) | 9.39 (#2) | #36[24] | |
| 9 | "The Cooper-Hofstadter Polarization" | March 17, 2008 | 8:00 P.M. | 5.5 | 9 | 3.7/11 (#2) | 9.11 (#2) | #23 |
| 10 | "The Loobenfeld Decay" | March 24, 2008 | 5.3 | 9 | 3.4/10 (#2) | 8.63 (#2) | #28 | |
| 11 | "The Pancake Batter Anomaly" | March 31, 2008 | 5.5 | 9 | 3.1/9 (#2) | 8.68 (#2) | #33 | |
| 12 | "The Jerusalem Duality" | April 14, 2008 | 4.7 | 8 | 2.9/8 (#2) | 7.69 (#3) | #34 | |
| 13 | "The Bat Jar Conjecture" | April 21, 2008 | 4.7 | 8 | 2.9/8 (#2) | 7.51 (#4) | #42 | |
| 14 | "The Nerdvana Annihilation" | April 28, 2008 | 5.0 | 8 | 3.0/9 (#2) | 8.16 (#4) | #34[25] | |
| 15 | "The Pork Chop Indeterminacy" | May 5, 2008 | 4.7 | 8 | 2.8/9 (#2) | 7.56 (#3) | #44 [26] | |
| 16 | "The Peanut Reaction" | May 12, 2008 | 5.0 | 8 | 2.9/9 (#3) | 7.88 (#3) | #38[27] | |
| 17 | "The Tangerine Factor" | May 19, 2008 | 4.7 | 8 | 2.7/8 (#3) | 7.36 (#3) | #52[28] |
[edit] Season 2
Season 2 began airing on Monday, September 22, 2008 at 8:00 p.m.[29][30]
On November 10, the show scored series-highs in total viewers in the 18-49 and 18-34 demographics, crossing the 10 million mark. On November 24, the show recorded series highs once again, this time against the Dancing with the Stars finale. On February 9, 2009, the show won its time slot in households while delivering its largest audience ever.[31] The episode with the highest rating this season, so far, is episode 15, with a total of 13.11 million viewers.
| # | Episode | Air Date | Timeslot | Rating | Share | 18-49 | Viewers | Weekly Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Bad Fish Paradigm" | September 22, 2008 | 8:00 P.M. | 5.7 | 9 | 3.6/10 (#2) | 9.36 (#2) | #34 |
| 2 | "The Codpiece Topology" | September 29, 2008 | 5.4 | 8 | 3.3/9 (#2) | 8.71 (#2) | #32 | |
| 3 | "The Barbarian Sublimation" | October 6, 2008 | 6.0 | 9 | 3.7/10 (#2) | 9.32 (#2) | #26 | |
| 4 | "The Griffin Equivalency" | October 13, 2008 | 5.8 | 9 | 3.6/10 (#2) | 9.36 (#2) | #23 | |
| 5 | "The Euclid Alternative" | October 20, 2008 | 5.8 | 9 | 3.5/9 (#2) | 9.28 (#2) | #34 | |
| 6 | "The Cooper-Nowitzki Theorem" | November 3, 2008 | 5.9 | 9 | 3.7/10 (#1) | 9.90 (#2) | #28 | |
| 7 | "The Panty Piñata Polarization" | November 10, 2008 | 6.2 | 9 | 3.9/10 (#1) | 10.01 (#2) | #28 | |
| 8 | "The Lizard-Spock Expansion" | November 17, 2008 | 6.1 | 9 | 3.8/10 (#2) | 9.76 (#2) | #33 | |
| 9 | "The White Asparagus Triangulation" | November 24, 2008 | 6.1 | 9 | 3.9/10 (#2) | 10.03 (#2) | #24 | |
| 10 | "The Vartabedian Conundrum" | December 8, 2008 | 6.5 | 10 | 3.7/10 (#2) | 10.80 (#2) | #18 | |
| 11 | "The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis" | December 15, 2008 | 6.8 | 11 | 4.2/11 (#1) | 11.42 (#1) | #15 | |
| 12 | "The Killer Robot Instability" | January 12, 2009 | 7.2 | 11 | 4.4/11 (#1) | 11.81 (#2) | #18 | |
| 13 | "The Friendship Algorithm" | January 19, 2009 | 6.5 | 10 | 4.0/10 (#2) | 11.10 (#2) | #21 | |
| 14 | "The Financial Permeability" | February 2, 2009 | 6.7 | 10 | 4.1/10 (#2) | 10.89 (#2) | #22 | |
| 15 | "The Maternal Capacitance" | February 9, 2009 | 9:30 P.M. | 8.1 | 12 | 4.6/10 (#1) | 13.11 (#1) | #15 |
| 16 | "The Cushion Saturation" | March 2, 2009 | 8:00 P.M. | 6.7 | 10 | 3.9/10 (#2) | 10.94 (#2) | #21 |
| 17 | "The Terminator Decoupling" | March 9, 2009 | 5.8 | 9 | 3.6/10 (#3) | 9.46 (#3) | #31 | |
| 18 | "The Work Song Nanocluster" | March 16, 2009 | 5.9 | 9 | 3.7/11 (#3) | 9.76 (#3) | TBA | |
| 19 | "The Dead Hooker Juxtaposition" | March 30, 2009 | 6.0 | 11 | 3.8/11 | 9.77 | TBA | |
| 20 | "The Hofstadter Isotope" | April 13, 2009 |
[edit] Future Seasons
The Big Bang Theory was renewed for a third and fourth season on March 18th, 2009.[32]
[edit] Seasonal ratings
Seasonal ratings based on average total viewers per episode of The Big Bang Theory on CBS:
| Season | Timeslot (EDT) | Season Premiere | Season Finale | TV Season | Rank | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monday 8:30 P.M. (September 24 – November 12, 2007) Monday 8:00 P.M. (March 17 – May 19, 2008) |
September 24, 2007 | May 19, 2008 | 2007–2008 | #59[33] | 8.31[33] |
| 2 | Monday 8:00 P.M. (September 22, 2008 – present) | September 22, 2008 | TBA | 2008–2009 | #37 (so far) | 10.25 |
[edit] UK distribution and ratings
The show made its UK debut on Channel 4 on February 14, 2008 bringing in an average audience of 1.0 million viewers. The second episode, shown the following week, also received 1.0 million. For the third episode an average of 1.1 million tuned in. The show is also shown as a 'first-look' on Channel 4's digital offshoot E4 the preceding evening, and brings in 400,000 viewers on average. The 5th episode received 880,000 viewers. After the first 5 episodes, the average number of viewers continues to hover around the 1 million mark. Episode 13 was watched by 1.3 million viewers and was the most watched episode.[34]
In December 2008, Virgin Media made the first nine episodes of the first season available to watch on its TV Choice On Demand service, and the rest of Season 1 was made available in January 2009.
[edit] International broadcast
The show is also broadcast in:
Argentina — Warner Channel (since November, 2007)
Australia — Nine Network (Originally broadcast Early 2008 during the rating season, however due to low viewership the show was put on hiatus to be broadcast in the off season starting of November 19, 2008. As of February 2009 it has been removed and there are no plans for its return)
Belgium — La Une (since August 31, 2008)
Bolivia — Warner Channel (since November, 2007)
Brazil — Warner Channel (since November, 2007)
Bulgaria - Nova Television (since November 5, 2008)
Canada — CTV (2008–present), A (2007–2008)
Chile — Warner Channel (since November, 2007)
El Salvador — Warner Channel (since November, 2007)
Colombia — Warner Channel
Costa Rica — Warner Channel
Czech Republic — Prima COOL (since April 7, 2009)
Denmark — 6'eren (Since January, 2009)
Dominican Republic — Warner Channel
Ecuador — Warner Channel
Fiji - Mai TV
Finland — Sub (since September 8, 2008)
France — TPS Star (since October 18, 2008)
Guatemala — Warner Channel
Honduras — Canal 5
Iceland — Stöð 2 (since August 19, 2008)
India — Zee Cafe
Ireland — RTÉ Two (since July 11, 2008)
Israel — yes stars Comedy (since July, 2008)
Italy — Steel (since January 19, 2008)- Latin America — Warner Channel
Malaysia — ntv7
Mexico — Warner Channel
Netherlands — Veronica (March 2 2009)
New Zealand — TV2 (since September 17, 2008)
Norway — TVNorge
Panama — Warner Channel
Paraguay — Warner Channel
Peru — Warner Channel
Philippines — Jack TV
Poland — TVN Siedem (since November 20, 2008) as 'Teoria wielkiego podrywu'
Portugal — SET and RTP2 (since July 14, 2008)
Slovenia — Kanal A (since February 23, 2009) as Veliki pokovci (The Big Bangers)
South Africa — M-Net
Spain — Antena.neox (since June 12, 2008)
Sweden — Kanal 5
Thailand — True Series (since May 26, 2008)
Trinidad and Tobago — TV6 (since 2008)
Turkey — CNBC-e[35] (since September 9, 2008)
Ukraine - Inter channel
United Kingdom — Channel 4 , E4 and also available to watch on Virgin TV on demand
Uruguay — Warner Channel
Venezuela — Warner Channel
It will also soon be broadcasting in:
[edit] Viewing online
Warner Brothers Television, which supplies the show to CBS, asked the network to pull full-length episodes from its web site. The thinking is that they were potentially too hurtful to old-fashioned syndication sales to television stations down the road.[37] Only short clips are available on cbs.com and hulu.com. In international markets the show is available online though, with episodes sold on iTunes & Channel 4's VOD service, 4oD, in the United Kingdom.
[edit] References
- ^ "As sold on iTunes Music Store". http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=266467780&id=266467749&s=143455. Retrieved on 2008-10-10.
- ^ The Big Bang Theory Cast & Details — TVGuide.com. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
- ^ "Details, Artwork & Press Release for 1st Season". TVOnMedia.com. http://news.tvonmedia.com/tvom_news_by_show/Big-Bang-Theory-Complete-1st-Season-DVD.shtml. Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
- ^ Pierce, Scott D. (2007-09-22.). "Yes, it's a 'Big Bang.'". Deseret Morning News. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20070922/ai_n20521689/pg_1. Retrieved on 2008-12-13.
- ^ http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/01/big-bang-theory.html
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004960/
- ^ Matt Mitovich (2008-11-06). "Exclusive Details: Sara Rue Wooed by Big Bang's Leonard". TV Guide. http://www.tvguide.com/News/Big-Bang-casting-35410.aspx. Retrieved on 2008-11-07.
- ^ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?date=05/26/06&id=7165
- ^ "CBS PICKS UP 'BANG,' 'POWER' PLUS FOUR DRAMAS". The Futon Critic. 2007-05-14. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=7387.
- ^ CBS (2007-10-19). Breaking News — Cbs Gives Freshman Comedy "The Big Bang Theory" And Drama "The Unit" Full Season Orders. Press release. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20071019cbs02. Retrieved on 2008-12-13.
- ^ "Production Stops on at least 6 Sitcoms". http://tv.yahoo.com/back-to-you/show/41055/news/urn:newsml:tv.ap.org:20071106:hollywood_labor. Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
- ^ "CBS Picks Up 11 Series". The Futon Critic. 2008-02-15. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20080214cbs04. Retrieved on 2008-02-15.
- ^ The Futon Critic; CBS (2008-02-20). "The Big Bang Theory" And "How I Met Your Mother" to Swap Time Periods. Press release. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20080220cbs01. Retrieved on 2008-02-20.
- ^ "CBS Sets Series Return Dates". http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-cbsreturndates,0,7656374.story. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.
- ^ "Big Bang Theory: Deal Is Done for Two More Seasons!". http://uk.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b103928_big_bang_theory_deal_done_two_more.html. Retrieved on 2009-11-03.
- ^ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i43b2ec4937929a5062699bf1c78a3a51
- ^ Gary Strauss (2007-04-11). "There's a science to CBS' Big Bang Theory". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-11-04-big-bang_N.htm. Retrieved on 2008-11-07.
- ^ Scott D. Pierce (2007-10-08). "He's a genius". Deseret News. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695216156,00.html?pg=2. Retrieved on 2008-12-11.
- ^ Barenaked Ladies. "Big Bang Theory Theme". Amazon Digital Services, Inc.. http://www.amazon.com/Big-Bang-Theory-Theme/dp/B000XKMQZY/.
- ^ http://www.avh.com.ar/detallepelicula.aspx?id=5636 (spanish)
- ^ "Your One Stop Shop For All Things Entertainment". http://entertainmentnow.wordpress.com/. Retrieved on 2007-10-05.
- ^ Berman, Marc. "Weekly Results (The Programming Insider)". http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/34110412. Retrieved on 2007-10-05.
- ^ ABC Medianet (2007-10-30). WEEKLY PROGRAM RANKINGS (WK OF 10/22). Press release. http://www.abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=103007_06. Retrieved on 2008-12-12.
- ^ ABC Medianet (2007-11-20). WEEKLY PROGRAM RANKINGS (WK OF 11/12). Press release. http://www.abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=112007_06. Retrieved on 2008-12-13.
- ^ ABC Medianet (2008-05-06). WEEKLY PROGRAM RANKINGS (WK OF 4/28). Press release. http://www.abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=050608_02. Retrieved on 2008-12-13.
- ^ ABC Medianet (2008-05-13). WEEKLY PROGRAM RANKINGS (W/O 5/5). Press release. http://www.abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=051308_06. Retrieved on 2008-12-13.
- ^ ABC Medianet (2008-05-20). WEEKLY PROGRAM RANKINGS (WK OF 5/12). Press release. http://www.abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=052008_05. Retrieved on 2008-12-13.
- ^ ABC Medianet (2008-05-28). WEEKLY PROGRAM RANKINGS (WK OF 5/19). Press release. http://www.abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=052808_05. Retrieved on 2008-12-13.
- ^ "IMDb— "The Big Bang Theory" (2007)". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898266/episodes#season-2. Retrieved on 2008-12-13.
- ^ "Bad Fish on ‘Big Bang’ in One Month". Comedy Centric. http://www.comedycentric.com/2008/08/22/bad-fish-on-big-bang-in-one-month/. Retrieved on 2008-09-23.
- ^ "THE BIG BANG THEORY" AND "HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER" OPEN THE NEW YEAR WITH RECORD RATINGS, "The Futon Critic", January 13, 2008
- ^ "CBS renews 'Two and a Half Men' and 'The Big Bang Theory'". http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2009/03/cbs-renews-two.html. Retrieved on 2009-03-19.
- ^ a b ABC Medianet (2008-05-28). SEASON PROGRAM RANKINGS (THROUGH 5/25). Press release. http://www.abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=052808_06. Retrieved on 2008-12-13.
- ^ "Overnights 2008-02-14". Channel 4 Sales. 2008-02-15. http://www.channel4sales.com/audience_data/overnights?thedate=2008-02-14. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ "KARŞIT DÜNYALAR ÇARPIŞINCA...". http://www.cnbce.com/dizi.asp?ID=64. Retrieved on 2008-12-13.
- ^ Ruoff, Markus (2008-03-25). "«Aliens in America» & «Bang Theory» bei ProSieben". Quotenmeter.de. http://www.quotenmeter.de/index.php?newsid=26241. Retrieved on 2008-04-05.
- ^ Barnes, Brooks (2008-11-22). "«For a Thrifty Audience, Buying DVDs Is So 2004»". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/business/23steal.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-05. ""
[edit] External links
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Big Bang Theory |
- The Big Bang Theory at the Internet Movie Database
- The Big Bang Theory at TV.com
- The Big Bang Theory on CBS.com
- Official Site for The Big Bang Theory on DVD
- The Big Bang Theory at EpGuides.com
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