The Little Bang

The Big Bang Theory has been TV's top comedy for almost a decade.  But, as fans know, it went through big changes before airing on CBS.

Creator Chuck Lorre shot a pilot that the network rejected.  But they asked for another if he'd make changes.  And now I see that original pilot is on YouTube.

Here's the opening:



Here are the rest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1os-EXeeiJw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNs75J4s7j4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ72y3ixaRA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWf34WJy0uQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOh8NoI6Hjs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6aUCrgZL60

Johnny Galecki as Leonard and Jim Parsons as Sheldon are there, but very little else is what we know as The Big Bang Theory.

As it is, Sheldon and Leonard are different.  Sheldon in particular is much more normal--he's even had sex (and the first thing we see is his returning from making a deposit in a sperm bank).

But at least the two actors are game, and work well together.  They meet a rough girl on the street named Katie (Amanda Walsh).  The pilot is about how she comes to live with these nerds.

This plot doesn't really work, and, I assume, is why the network rejected it.  The guys don't have much chemistry with Katie, even though she's set up as Leonard's love interest.  And she's too mean.  She seems to be playing them, treating them as patsies. (I'm sure her vulnerable side would have come out more if the show went to series.)

There's one more regular, Gilda (Iris Bahr), a sort of Zelda Gilroy type who's a friend of the guys--a fellow nerd who is smart, open and honest, and meant to end up with one of them.  Perhaps she could have worked, but we'll never know.

Congratulations to CBS for demanding a reworking, rather than junking the project.  And congratulations to Chuck Lorre for going back to the drawing board.  How much difference did the tweaking make?  About a billion dollars worth.