TV SERIES · 2007–2019 · USA
The Big Bang Theory
- Created by
- Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady
- Network
- CBS
- Seasons
- 12
- Episodes
- 279
- Studio
- Chuck Lorre Productions, Warner Bros. Television
40 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
Physicists Leonard and Sheldon find their nerd-centric social circle with pals Howard and Raj expanding when aspiring actress Penny moves in next door.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (40)
- #001
The Big Bang Theory premiered its pilot episode on September 24, 2007, and this was the second pilot produced for the series.
- #002
A different pilot for The Big Bang Theory was produced for the 2006–07 television season but never aired, and its structure differed from the series' eventual form.
- #003
The original unaired pilot of The Big Bang Theory included two female leads, Katie (played by Amanda Walsh) and Gilda (played by Iris Bahr), and used Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me with Science" as its theme song; test audiences reacted negatively to Katie but liked Sheldon and Leonard.
- #004
The Big Bang Theory's original pilot was not picked up, but its creators were allowed to retool it and make a second pilot, bringing in the rest of the cast and reshaping the show into its final format.
- #005
In the retooled version of The Big Bang Theory, the character Katie was replaced by Penny, played by Kaley Cuoco.
- #006
The unaired original pilot of The Big Bang Theory has never been officially released, though it has circulated on the Internet.
- #007
Chuck Lorre said the original Big Bang pilot was made about two and a half years earlier and "sucked", but that Johnny and Jim worked perfectly; the show was rewritten entirely and the team was then joined by Kaley, Simon and Kunal.
- #008
The Big Bang Theory's first and second pilots were directed by James Burrows, who did not stay with the series.
- #009
After the second pilot was reworked, CBS ordered 13 episodes of The Big Bang Theory on May 14, 2007.
- #010
The Big Bang Theory premiered on September 24, 2007, and CBS picked it up for a full 22-episode season on October 19, 2007.
- #011
Production of The Big Bang Theory was halted on November 6, 2007, because of the Writers Guild of America strike, and only 17 episodes were made for the first season.
- #012
The Big Bang Theory was renewed for a second season after a strike ended, and that season premiered on September 22, 2008 in the same time slot.
- #013
Rising ratings led to The Big Bang Theory receiving a two-year renewal in 2009 that carried it through the 2010–11 season.
- #014
The Big Bang Theory was picked up for three more seasons in 2011, and in March 2014 it was renewed for another three years through the 2016–17 season, the second such three-year renewal.
- #015
In March 2017, The Big Bang Theory was renewed for two additional seasons, bringing the series to a total of 12 seasons through the 2018–19 television season.
- #016
Johnny Galecki, Sara Gilbert, Laurie Metcalf and Meagen Fay all appeared on Roseanne before joining The Big Bang Theory. Metcalf plays Sheldon's mother Mary Cooper, while Fay plays Bernadette's mother.
- #017
Chuck Lorre wrote for Roseanne for several seasons before his work on The Big Bang Theory.
- #018
David Saltzberg, a physics and astronomy professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, reviewed scripts for The Big Bang Theory and supplied dialogue, mathematical equations and diagrams used as props.
- #019
According to series co-creator Bill Prady, Sheldon was assigned a real equation to work on across the first season of The Big Bang Theory, and its actual progress appeared on whiteboards in Sheldon and Leonard's apartment.
- #020
David Saltzberg, who holds a Ph.D. in physics, was the science consultant on The Big Bang Theory for six seasons and attended every taping.
- #021
On The Big Bang Theory, David Saltzberg read early script versions that required added scientific information and identified mistakes made by the writers despite their knowledge of science; he was usually not needed during a taping unless a lot of science, particularly the whiteboard, was involved.
- #022
Mayim Bialik, who holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience, was sometimes consulted by Saltzberg on the subject of biology.
- #023
The Big Bang Theory's theme song was written and recorded by the Canadian alternative rock band Barenaked Ladies, and its lyrics describe the history and formation of the universe and the Earth.
- #024
Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady asked Barenaked Ladies co-lead singer Ed Robertson to write a theme song for The Big Bang Theory after attending one of the band's concerts in Los Angeles.
- #025
Ed Robertson had recently read Simon Singh's 2004 book Big Bang and improvised a freestyle rap about the origins of the universe at the concert; Lorre and Prady phoned him shortly afterward to request the theme song.
- #026
Ed Robertson agreed to write The Big Bang Theory theme only after learning that Lorre and Prady had not asked anyone else, having previously been rejected for other films and shows when producers favored songs by other artists.
- #027
A full-length version of the song associated with The Big Bang Theory, running 1 minute and 45 seconds, was released commercially in October 2007.
- #028
The single's cover art gives the song's title as "Big Bang Theory Theme," though some unofficial pages call it "History of Everything."
- #029
A music video for the Big Bang Theory theme was released through the special features of The Complete Fourth Season DVD and Blu-ray set.
- #030
For the first three seasons of The Big Bang Theory, its three main stars Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco earned up to $60,000 per episode.
- #031
The pay of The Big Bang Theory's three main stars rose to $200,000 per episode in the fourth season, then increased by $50,000 in each of the next three seasons, reaching $350,000 per episode in the seventh season.
- #032
In September 2013, Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch renegotiated the contracts they had held since joining The Big Bang Theory in 2010.
- #033
Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch's new contracts doubled their previous pay of $20,000–$30,000 per episode, starting at $60,000 and rising steadily to $100,000 per episode by the end of the contract, which also added a year for both.
- #034
By season seven of The Big Bang Theory, Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco were each receiving 0.25 percent of the series' back-end money.
- #035
Before production started on The Big Bang Theory's eighth season, Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco sought new contracts of about $1 million per episode plus more back-end money. Their contracts were signed in the beginning of August 2014, covering an estimated $1 million per episode for three years with an option for a fourth.
- #036
Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar renegotiated their The Big Bang Theory contracts to a per-episode pay in the mid-six-figure range, up from roughly $100,000 each per episode in earlier years. They signed after the studio and producers threatened to write their characters out of the series if no deal was reached before season eight production began.
- #037
By season 10 of The Big Bang Theory, Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar reached $1 million per episode, matching Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco, through a clause in the deals they signed in 2014.
- #038
The pay cut left Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar at $900,000 per episode of The Big Bang Theory, while Parsons, Galecki and Helberg also secured overall deals with Warner Bros. Television.
- #039
By the end of April 2017, Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch had signed deals for The Big Bang Theory worth $500,000 per episode each, including a separate development component for both actors.
- #040
The new $500,000-per-episode deals for Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch on The Big Bang Theory were an increase from the $175,000–$200,000 the pair had previously earned per episode.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia The Big Bang Theory — Wikipedia
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