There are very few sitcoms that keep the audience tied till the very end of the series and The Big Bang Theory is one of such sitcoms. We love this show for many reasons such as the friendship, the love, the humor, the character developments, and also the science they used in the show, though very few of us actually understood all of it yet all of us enjoyed every bit of it. From the first time, Penny asked Sheldon “why can’t I sit here on your spot?” to her explaining to Bernadette “Why nobody can sit on Sheldon’s spot”, the show had many memorable scenes that the audience fell in love with.
Many of such scenes were actually unscripted improved and unexpected, even by the writers themselves, and yet became the audience’s most favorite scenes of the show. We’ve prepared a list of such scenes from The Big Bang Theory, so let’s take a look at them.
1. Penny’s Tears:
Who knew that our strong and powerful Penny is actually the most emotional person among the cast. Yes, you heard it right. She’s the most emotional one among the cast, sounds quite an ironic right? We thought the same. Kaley Cuoco, who played Penny’s role in the show, was the big crier on set. She would tear up by laughing at jokes as well as in the emotional scenes. So, when we saw tears in Penny’s eyes, they were most probably real, and they kind of added charm to her character.
2. Unwritten Laughs:
So we talked about Penny’s cries now let us discuss the laughs. You also must have noticed the cast laughing and smiling as a reaction to many of the jokes cracked by other characters. Well, that part of the show was not scripted at all. But this turned out to be the cherry on the cake. Though jokes were funny in themselves other characters genuinely laughing while reacting to it made it more genuine and enjoyable.
3. Wil Wheaton Showing Up In Star Trek Costume At A Star Wars Premiere:
Remember when guys invited Wil Wheaton to go to a Star Wars movie premiere and Wil showed up in Spock’s costume and everyone in the cinema hall started booing at him? It was as surprising for the cast as it was for us. Wil showing up in Spock’s costume wasn’t scripted and neither were the cast made aware of it. The reaction they give to Wil’s costume was an improv though it turned out to be one of the hilarious scenes from the series.
4. The Spanking Scene:
Sheldon spanking Amy as a “punishment” for lying to him is one of the most hilarious moments of the whole series. But did you know that Jim Parsons actually didn’t know that the scene would be shown in actual broadcast? Yes. Jim Parsons was told that they’ll show the smoking monkey’s clip with the background of him spanking Amy, in the actual broadcast. It was a shock for him also when he saw the episode. He even said in an interview “Damn it, if I’d known about it, I would have been practiced”.
5. Penny’s Promotion From Waitress To Bartender:
In season 4 of the series, when Sheldon goes to the Cheesecake Factory in order to flush out his heart to a bartender, Penny was the one. Didn’t you wonder that Penny was portrayed as a waitress but now was serving drinks as a bartender to Sheldon? After this episode, they always showed Penny as a bartender. The main reason behind the promotion of her character was Kaley Cuoco’s broken leg, which happened unexpectedly, so they had to change the script. For this reason, she was also missing from the 5th and 6th episodes of season 4 and after these episodes when they showed Penny, they hid her bottom half behind the table.
6. Stuart Saying “I love you” To Penny:
Can you recall the moment when Penny and Leonard entered the comic book store in order to find Sheldon there and once Leonard and Penny left the counter Stuart mumbled “I love you” to Penny? This part of him mumbling the phrase was not in Stuart or anyone’s script and that’s why Kaley Cuoco did not react at all when he mumbled that sentence after she left the counter The actor who played Stuart’s character thought it would suit the scene, so he just said the lines. After this moment they made Stuart’s character more of a “moving back in his career” because it suited him completely.
7. Parsons Using “Bazinga”:
Sheldon used his “Bazinga” in the finale of the second season. But the phrase was not scripted. There’s a story behind this word coming into the series. Stephen Engel used to play pranks on the set and say “bazinga” at the end of the prank. So the first “BAZINGA” was spontaneous as Jim thought it would improve the scene and decided to go for it. So this is how bazinga became a legendary catchphrase and gave us many hilarious bazinga scenes throughout the series.
8. Amy’s Character Being A Neuroscientist:
When writers visualized a character made for accompanying Sheldon they did not think of it being a neuroscientist. Mayim Bialik who played Amy’s character has an actual doctorate in Neuroscience and thus, the writers thought of making the character a neuroscientist, so she can help them while writing the scientific facts if they write about neuroscience. So in short, the actor of Amy’s character was cast even before they finalized the role.
9. Bernadette’s Voice:
When Melissa Rauch began appearing as Bernadette in the show, her voice was way different than it later became. Bernadette’s squeaky voice was not scripted by writers, but Melissa thought it would suit her character better, so she just started making her voice squeaker, and writers, as well as the audience, did not mind it. So the squeaky voice of Bernadette, for which she’s famous among the fans, isn’t the actual voice of Melissa Rauch. Surprising, isn’t it?
10. Jim Parsons Being Sheldon:
When Jim Parsons auditioned for Sheldon’s role, he was actually so great that Chuck Lorre, one of the creators of the show, though it was actually a coincidence that he fitted perfectly in the role. So, expecting Jim to fail at the second audition, they invited him again for auditioning and Jim nailed it again. They were so shocked about his performance and even happier for finding their Sheldon.
11. Johnny Galecki Playing Leonard:
It’s a very famous tale that at first writers wanted Johnny Galecki to play Sheldon’s role but Johnny refused to do so. He was so fed up with being the sidekick and best friend and wanted to have some romance while playing the character, so he suggested playing Leonard’s role, and the makers approved of it. Can you guys even imagine Leonard as Sheldon? For me, it’s beyond my visualizing capabilities and I can’t even think of anybody else like Leonard.
12. Jim’s Kissing Scenes:
The way Sheldon thought of a kiss as scary and uncomfortable physical activity, Jim thought about it the same. He was very scared at the beginning of the kissing scenes, but the way Sheldon changed his mind about kissing, so did Jim. He said in an interview that he enjoyed the kissing scenes a lot. So when we saw Sheldon enjoying the kiss, it was enjoyed by Jim too and this genuine enjoyment of Jim added an extra spark to the kissing scenes.
13. Unexpected End Of The Series:
As we move towards the last season of the show, Jim started having many problems in his personal life including one of his favorite dogs becoming dangerously ill and wanting to have some personal time and space which continuing the show wouldn’t allow him. So Jim did not even care about the huge amount creators were paying and decided to leave the show. When the rest of the cast became aware of this, though it was shocking for them also, yet they supported Jim completely and refused to go ahead without him. The Big Bang Theory without Jim seems a little bit impossible, so eventually, the makers decided to call it the end.
14. Penny’s Tasty Spaghetti:
We all know that Sheldon LOOOVEEESS spaghetti with a little hot dog piece on it. And when Penny made it for Sheldon, their friendship became even stronger. The spaghetti makers gave the stars for the shooting was actually so tasty that Kaley and Jim almost forgot their lines, and they stopped acting and continued eating it. So when Jim was acting as Sheldon about Spaghetti being tasty, it became even easier for him to act because it really was tasty which none of us would have even thought of.
15. Penny And Leonard Dancing In Their Underpants:
When Leonard and Penny had the whole apartment to themselves for the first time, they could do literally anything they wanted in Sheldon’s absence and what did they decide to do? They decided to dance in their underpants to full music. This scene was hilarious in itself and the fact that Kaley and Johnny who played Penny and Leonard really danced in their underpants, with music in front of the entire studio filled with a live audience. And the background laugh and hooting we heard was the actual audience laughing in the background.
16. Science In The Show:
Who would expect that science used in 24 episodes per season for 12 seasons long was no blabbing and just talks and thoughts in the air but actual science with accurate facts and terminologies. All the calculations written on the boards and all the science talks were completely accurate and creators even took the help of a professor from California University for all the science stuff. Though many of us never understood what they were talking about nor did the actors but whatever they were talking about, it was real.
17. Stuart Becoming One Of The Important Minor Characters:
We already discussed Stuart’s mumble above. Now let us make you aware of how this one sentence changed the complete importance of Stuart’s character. We saw less of Stuart in the beginning seasons but after the above-mentioned scene when he added his own charm in that mumble the writers changed their mind. They started having him back more often in the series and turned his character from a talented artist to a reverting and demanding poor person, and it completely added extra charm to his role and also gave an impulse to his career.
18. Leonard’s Glasses:
I bet none of you had actually focused on Leonard’s glasses while watching the series. The glasses were used to reflect the camera and lights which was a headache. So in order to hide the cameras and lights, Leonard wore glasses without lenses. Though It solved their problem, now I feel dumb not to notice.
19. Too Much Blabbing In The Show:
You must have noticed Penny blabbing and mimicking Sheldon while talking science right? So did we. But were you aware of the fact that the cast used to forget their scientific dialogues and blabbed in the middle of the running dialogues and everyone would laugh? As we already know the science used in the show was accurate, so they had to go through scenes, again and again, to get the scene right.
20. Roommate Agreement’s Page Landing On Sheldon’s Shoulder:
Once when Leonard and Penny pretended to be a couple just to please Penny’s dad, poor Sheldon stayed awake the whole night to create a new roommate agreement which included Penny under these special circumstances. As soon as he completed creating the agreement in the morning, Leonard informs him that he and Penny are over again. So Sheldon threw all the papers in the air and one of the pages landed on his shoulder which, obviously, was not scripted, but it made Sheldon’s “Do you care about other’s feelings Leonard? Do you?” more hilarious than it could be.
Despite many things being unexpected or unscripted, the show eventually turned out to be one of the most beloved sitcoms of the audience and also won many awards including Emmys. I know all of us cried in the end but the show managed to gather our love for 12 years.
