THE BIG BANG THEORY
Sunday and Monday at 8.00pm
THE BIG BANG THEORY
This funny series concerns two socially inept prodigies, theoretical physicists at Caltech, in their 20s who are living across the hall from a beautiful, socially adept girl who does not share their level of intellect.
Who's Who:
Leonard Hofstadter, PhD Portrayed by Johnny Galecki
Occupation Experimental physicist
Leonard is a physicist from Caltech who rooms with Sheldon in their apartment building, in which the elevator always seems to be out of order. He keeps a whiteboard in their living room on which he works on experimental physics. While Sheldon's genius seems to be focused primarily in math and science, Leonard is insinuated to be proficient in literature and history as well as the sciences; he is able to solve a crossword puzzle in seconds, the answers being mostly literature based, e.g. Vladimir Nabokov. It is also insinuated that Leonard's IQ is not as high as Sheldon's (173, as it is stated by Leonard that their combined IQ is 360 and, in a later episode, Sheldon reveals his IQ is 187); Sheldon scoffs at Leonard's white board theories as common enough to be "scribbled on the wall of any men's room at MIT." Leonard feels at home with his genius colleagues, but wants more socially. He is reluctant to let Penny know about his recreational activities (such as Klingon Boggle) as he doesn't like to be seen as a nerd. He also dislikes his friends' habit of rattling off different trivial facts, something to which all the other geniuses enjoy both listening and participating. Sweet but sarcastic, Leonard also seems to be the most well-adjusted one of the group; he is quick to try new things apart from his nerd friends and, between Sheldon and him, is the only one who feels that he "should do something" when Penny begins to recount her recent breakup. Despite his attempts to reject his nerd status, he certainly is one, with his Star Wars hygiene products and his ability to blurt out the wrong things in front of women, such as when he's trying to invite Penny to lunch and mentions that curry is a natural laxative. He falls head over heels for Penny within seconds of spotting her and while at first it seems like lust rather than love, by the end of the pilot episode he has already announced to Sheldon, "our babies will be smart and beautiful." Sheldon, however, is quick to add, "not to mention imaginary." He is named after Nobel prize winner Robert Hofstadter and actor/producer Sheldon Leonard.
Sheldon Cooper, PhD Portrayed by Jim Parsons
Nickname(s) Shelly
Specialty Science/Mathematics
Occupation Theoretical physicist
Family Mary Cooper (mother) Missy Cooper (fraternal twin sister)
Sheldon is Leonard's best friend, roommate, and colleague. Originally from East Texas, he's a theoretical physicist and like Leonard also keeps a whiteboard in the living room for scientific theories and has a Master's degree and 2 PhDs. His current area of research is string theory. Unlike Leonard, he embraces his genius fully and doesn't mind sharing details of his life that Leonard finds embarrassing, such as a common activity being Klingon Boggle until 1 AM. It's insinuated that Sheldon's genius is concentrated fully on science, although he does have a fairly extensive general knowledge as well, as shown by his comments regarding the introduction of the fork into Thailand, and that his IQ (of 187) is higher than Leonard's; he tends to question Leonard's theories. He was a child prodigy. When he was a child, he conducted experiments involving the height of stairs and deduced that if a step on a staircase is as little as 2 millimeters off, most people will trip (this resulted in his father breaking his clavicle). At age 14, he dabbled in lasers and this resulted in his being sent to boarding school; it is heavily implied in a CBS promotional clip that the government took Sheldon's laser away and hushed the college professor who witnessed the experiment. Sheldon graduated high school very early; he asks Penny, in complete disbelief, "It took you four years to get through high school?!" He told Penny he was eleven years old when he went to college. Sheldon also has some qualities commonly associated with being a prodigy, such as an inflated ego, social ineptness, and a lack of empathy. He worked as a visiting professor in Germany at age 15. He fails to understand not only the simplest sarcastic jokes made by Leonard, but also regards Penny's sadness over her break up with blatant confusion. That isn't to say Sheldon doesn't have a conscience; he's simply more likely to do what's scientifically ethical (not donate to a "high IQ sperm bank" because his sperm won't guarantee high IQ offspring) rather than morally and socially ethical (break into Penny's home to organize her things). Sheldon also remains unswayed by Penny's beauty, although he does acknowledge Penny's attractiveness (stating that no one can be that attractive and good at video-games at the same time). He refuses to sit anywhere other than his designated spot on the couch. He is calculating and cynical, believing that Leonard is only setting himself up for disappointment as he continues to have a crush on Penny.
Sheldon has a pronounced disdain for engineers, referring to them as both "semi-skilled labor" and "the Oompa Loompas of science." He is usually wearing a T-shirt over some sort of jumper.
He has an extremely attractive fraternal twin sister named Missy. He is named after actor/producer Sheldon Leonard.
Due to Sheldon's traits such as his cleanliness and organisation of the apartment, his lack of ability to understand sarcasm, his dislike of change, along with his purely logical state and mind and being a genius receiving a PhD at a young age would suggest signs of him having an autism spectrum condition.
Penny Portrayed by Kaley Cuoco
Occupation Waitress at The Cheesecake Factory
Penny is Leonard and Sheldon's new neighbor across the hallway and is, as described by Wolowitz, a "cheesecake-scented goddess." She is a beautiful waitress at the local Cheesecake Factory. She is also writing a semi-autobiographical story about a girl from Lincoln, Nebraska, who travels to Los Angeles to become an actress but ends up working at the Cheesecake Factory instead. When Leonard asks if the movie is autobiographical, she replies no because she's from Omaha, Nebraska. The reason Penny moved in next door is because she recently split with her boyfriend of four years, Kurt, and was thrown out of their place. She says she still loves him even though he lied and cheated on her. She first meets their friends Wolowitz and Rajesh when she comes out of the shower in nothing but a towel. She's either ignorant of or all too aware of her effect on the boys, because within minutes of meeting them, she asks Leonard to retrieve her television set from her ex-boyfriend's apartment, which he immediately sets out to do. During the course of the story, it is not known if Penny returns Leonard's affections. It is rather clear, however, that she at least seems to enjoy Leonard's company, and rather dislikes Sheldon. She does smile in The Hamburger Postulate, when she hears that things are not working out between Leonard and Leslie. She is messy and disorganized but appears to like it that way. She is not intellectually gifted but does have a lot of knowledge about pop culture. This makes her a great contrast to the rest of the characters who are academically gifted but socially awkward. Whenever Penny goes on a rebound relationship, she picks up an attractive man and then has 36 hours of meaningless sex over the course of a weekend; afterward, the relationship deteriorates. She is better at the video game Halo than Sheldon which aggravates him especially when Penny teases him about it.
Howard Wolowitz Portrayed by Simon Helberg
Nickname(s) Wolowizard
Occupation Engineer
Wolowitz is an engineer at Caltech's Department of Applied Physics who often hangs out at Leonard and Sheldon's apartment. He designed a satellite that is currently orbiting a moon of Jupiter taking high-resolution photos. He doesn't show signs of discontentment like Leonard, but rather is confident enough to try to woo Penny with his knowledge of foreign languages, of which he knows six - however, he just knows a few phrases from each. Most of the languages were revealed in only the matter of one episode; in revealed order, they are French, Mandarin, Russian, Arabic, and Persian. Hitting on Penny in different tongues has become a regular occurrence; one which angers Leonard (and annoys Penny) greatly. Wolowitz also knows Klingon because, as Sheldon stated, they all played Klingon Boggle together. Although he insists to the contrary, Wolowitz lives with his overbearing mother. Near the end of "The Cooper-Hofstadter Polarization", Wolowitz has a photo on his Facebook page captioned "Me and My Girlfriend," which depicts Penny sleeping on Wolowitz's shoulder during the fight between Leonard and Sheldon at the conference. Howard unlike Sheldon and Leonard doesn't have a Ph.D. However, he likes pointing out that he has a master's degree in engineering. Howard is also fond of unusual belt buckles -- they have included a Nintendo controller, a silver Batman logo, a 45-RPM record insert, and a Klingon communicator.
Rajesh Koothrappali Portrayed by Kunal Nayyar
Nickname(s) Raj
Koothrappali is Wolowitz's best friend and yet another genius. His area of expertise is astrophysics. He has a thick Indian accent and, like Wolowitz, a love for Stephen Hawking. He approaches women in the exact opposite way of Wolowitz: he is so shy that he is unable to speak to them. His social anxiety around women seems to be indicative of selective mutism. When Penny spoke to him once, he voiced a lengthy inner monologue, reminiscing of his native customs (although he dislikes Indian food) and singing. More often than not, though, he just stays silent. Alcohol appears to suppress his social anxiety, where he has prolonged conversations with women after drinking. It is worth noting that when he regained sobriety, he was again unable to speak to Penny. When Wolowitz got a new phone with voice dialing, Leonard spoke gibberish into the phone, prompting it to call him which he said was "...a little bit racist." In "The Bat Jar Conjecture", he says a few words to Penny (sober) but then clasps his hands over his mouth. An experimental anti-anxiety drug enables him to talk fluently to women, but has side effects on his motor controls and mannerisms, eventually wearing off at the wrong moment.
(character info from Wikipedia)
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