Breaking its biggest Sheldon rule 16 years ago changed The Big Bang Theory forever. Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady’s nerd-centric sitcom premiered in 2007, following CBS’s order of a reworked pilot that added Kaley Cuoco’s Penny, Simon Helberg’s Howard, and Kunal Nayyar’s Raj. At the center of its storytelling, however, remained Jim Parsons’ Sheldon and Johnny Galecki’s Leonard, and their odd friendship. Despite technically being an ensemble series. It’s no secret that The Big Bang Theory did put more focus on the socially-inept genius, which made sense, considering he was the most striking player from the bunch.
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Throughout its 12-season run, The Big Bang Theory had several evolutions. Most of them were intentionally done, including Howard’s gradual change from being a sex-crazed man to a devoted family man, as well as Penny’s growth in terms of her professional pursuits. Other changes, however, were totally unexpected, as they unfolded while Lorre, Prady, and their writing team were figuring out how to move the story of The Big Bang Theory forward without making it stale. That was when the comedy started incorporating new characters into its storytelling, such as Kevin Sussman’s Stuart Bloom and Melissa Rauch’s Bernadette Rostenkowski.
Out of all the additional characters that the CBS series eventually introduced, no one was as important as Mayim Bialik’s Amy Farrah Fowler. Introduced in The Big Bang Theory season 3 finale, “The Lunar Excitation,” which was released on May 24, 2010, the character was presented as the female version of Sheldon. After Raj and Howard put all of their friends’ information on a dating site, they were given Amy as a suitable match. What they and even the creative team of The Big Bang Theory didn’t know then was that Bialik’s introduction would change the show forever.
How Amy’s The Big Bang Theory Arrival Changed Sheldon & The Show
When Sheldon was introduced, Lorre had the idea of him being asexual — something that was reflected in the earliest seasons of The Big Bang Theory. While Leonard hopelessly pined over Penny, and Howard and Raj went on endless pursuits of female companionship, Parsons’ character could not be bothered to even entertain the idea of being in a romantic relationship. Every woman that came across him was either a friend or a rival, or sometimes both, depending on the situation. In fact, even when he met Amy, it took him a while to understand that there was a clear love potential between them.
Sheldon approached his relationship as merely being friends. However, as he spent more time with her and he learned more about what it meant to be romantically attracted to someone, he slowly turned around and eventually admitted that they were a couple. The Big Bang Theory did a good job gradually fleshing out this change in Sheldon, which made the payoff so much more satisfying.
It’s worth noting that Bialik was supposed to only play Amy in a single episode of The Big Bang Theory. Her initial interaction with Sheldon in “The Lunar Excitation” was meant to also be her last. That said, upon seeing the immediate chemistry between her and Parsons, not to mention the positive response from viewers, CBS changed its mind and promoted her to be a series regular when The Big Bang Theory returned for season 4.
What The Big Bang Theory Could Have Looked Like Without Amy
At the start of The Big Bang Theory‘s run, stories tend to involve everyone, hence why it was able to easily establish the group’s dynamic, which became the backbone of the series. That said, as the cast grew bigger, the CBS comedy started to split the group into two, often telling an A and B plot every week. It’s worth noting that aside from Bialik’s Amy, The Big Bang Theory season 4 also saw Rauch’s Bernadette becoming a series regular, which meant that the ensemble had a significant expansion, meriting the storytelling format change.
Beyond that, the arrival of Amy also started to humanize Sheldon. Not that his friendships mattered less compared to his romantic arc, but having a love interest allowed The Big Bang Theory to truly track the character’s progression. The drawback, however, was that CBS had the tendency to prioritize this aspect of the story, leaving some aspects of its storytelling behind. After his wedding to Penny, Leonard’s personal The Big Bang Theory story was stagnated, as he was utilized more as a supporting player than one of the leads. Despite the downside, arguably, bringing in Amy as a regular in the show changed it for the better
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