The show premiered September 24, 2007, and was picked up for a full 22-episode season on October 19, 2007.
Prior to its airing on CBS, the pilot episode was distributed on iTunes free of charge. This reworked pilot led to a 13-episode order by CBS on May 14, 2007. The second pilot of The Big Bang Theory was directed by James Burrows, who did not continue with the show. The original unaired pilot has never been released on any official format, but copies of it are on the internet with various collectors.
The program was not picked up, but the creators were given an opportunity to revise it, bringing in the remaining leading cast and retooling the show to its current format. The program's original theme music was also different, using Thomas Dolby's hit " She Blinded Me with Science". They also had a female friend called Gilda (played by Iris Bahr). Katie was played by actress Amanda Walsh. Only Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons were in the cast, and their across-the-hall neighbor Katie was envisioned as "a street-hardened, tough-as-nails woman with a vulnerable interior". The program's initial pilot, developed for the 2006/07 television season, was substantially different from its current form. It is so far the only season not to feature John Ross Bowie as the recurring character Barry Kripke and Kevin Sussman as Stuart Bloom.įurther information: The Big Bang Theory § Production Rajesh first learns that he can talk to women, but only when he is drunk, and Penny and Leonard finally go out in the season finale. Rajesh "Raj" Koothrappali, who will not speak to her as he is too shy to talk to women (a case of selective mutism), unless intoxicated in which case he becomes a smooth talking yet highly overly aggressive womanizing flirt.ĭuring Season One, Sheldon loses his job for insulting his new boss, finds his ego bruised by a child prodigy, becomes unable to bear being part of a lie that Leonard has told, and is always attacking the world with a relentless need to assert his supremacy.
Leonard begins to become hopelessly enamored of Penny, while she feels only platonic affection for him as a result, she finds herself putting up with his closest and ever-present friends: his roommate, Sheldon, who appears borderline obsessive-compulsive engineering whiz Howard Wolowitz, a desperately sex-crazed mama's boy who thinks that his 1960s-style clothing and hairstyle give him an air of cool hipness and Dr. Sheldon Cooper are shaken up when an attractive young aspiring actress from Omaha, Nebraska named Penny moves into the apartment across the hall from theirs.
Jim Parsons selected the episode "The Pancake Batter Anomaly" as a Primetime Emmy Award submission for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards, but ended up not receiving a nomination. Johnny Galecki and Sara Gilbert both selected the episode "The Hamburger Postulate" as a Primetime Emmy Award submission for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, respectively, at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards, but both ended up not receiving a nomination. Two of the main cast, Sheldon and Leonard, are named after actor, director, and producer Sheldon Leonard. The episodes on Blu-ray are all in remastered surround sound, whereas the DVD version had stereo. The reissued Blu-ray, was released July 10, 2012, and includes a gag reel that is exclusive to the set. The Season 1 DVD came without a gag reel and is, so far, the only Big Bang Theory DVD set not to have one.
The first season of the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory was originally aired on CBS from September 24, 2007, to May 19, 2008, over 17 episodes.