Pilot (The Big Bang Theory)

The first episode of The Big Bang Theory originally aired on September 24, 2007. It was written by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, and directed by James Burrows. It marks the first appearance of all five main characters in the series, and also guest stars Brian Patrick Wade as Kurt.

Plot summary

Two brilliant young physicists, Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper, are the kind of "beautiful minds" that understand how the universe works (this episode reveals that Sheldon and Leonard have a combined IQ of 360 with Leonard having 173 and Sheldon having 187). But their Ph.Ds do not help them interact with people, especially women. All of this is about to change when a free-spirited newly single beauty named Penny moves in next door. When Leonard and Sheldon meet Penny, Leonard is immediately infatuated and hopes to date her, which Sheldon finds unlikely to happen.

Sheldon is quite content spending his nights playing Klingon Boggle with their socially dysfunctional friends, fellow geeks Howard Wolowitz, a wannabe ladies man, and Rajesh Koothrappali, who suffers from selective mutism, in particular when Penny is around. However, Leonard sees in Penny a whole new universe of possibilities. He is so infatuated with her that after letting her use their shower on account of hers being broken, he agrees to try and retrieve her TV from her ex-boyfriend, a tall, muscular man named Kurt. However, Kurt depantses Leonard and Sheldon, and they are unable to retrieve the TV. Feeling bad, Penny offers to buy them and their friends dinner. Sheldon realizes Leonard will continue pursuing Penny when Leonard says "Our babies will be smart and beautiful" to which Sheldon adds, "Not to mention, imaginary."

Unaired pilot

An earlier pilot was produced. CBS passed on the first pilot but liked the show enough to ask Lorre and Prady to produce a second pilot.^[1] The original unaired pilot did not have the character Penny, but instead had the character Katie (Amanda Walsh).^[1] Katie, like Penny, is a street-smart foil to book-smart Leonard and Sheldon; however, she is characterised as less nice and less sweet than Penny.^[1][2] She claimed to have slept with her stepfather before her mother married him.^[3] Moreover, in the original pilot the character of Sheldon is more sexual and libidinous.^[1][4] In fact, Sheldon is explicitly stated to have had sex, with his and Leonard's friend, Gilda (Iris Bahr), at a Star Trek convention.^[5]

Reception

Jim Chamberlin of IGN praised the episode, calling it "a great start for the series", and stating that the writing was "some of the best we've seen in a standard sitcom in some time".^[6] Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe, however, gave a negative review, saying that the show is "one of those laugh-track sitcoms that has exactly one comedy routine and just keeps hammering it home".^[7]

Cast

• Johnny Galecki as Leonard Hofstadter
• Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper
• Kaley Cuoco as Penny
• Simon Helberg as Howard Wolowitz
• Kunal Nayyar as Raj Koothrappali

References