Is 'Big Bang Theory' Cast Like Their Characters?
With The Big Bang Theory now in the final stretch of its sixth season, the cast is now well familiar with one another. As the show was being honored, ET got the cast to dish on if their co-stars were anything like their characters.
As part of this year's PaleyFest, which celebrates the best television series, Big Bang was celebrated on Wednesday night and participated in a panel hosted by NCIS actress Pauley Perrette.
"It's great," said Kaley Cuoco, who plays "Penny" on the sitcom, of being honored. "Going into our seventh season, it's nice to be honored for anything. We've been on for a while now and for people to keep noticing us, it means a lot."
Getting noticed hasn't been much of a problem for the sitcom, as its ratings have increased substantially in all but one of its six seasons. Now averaging nearly 19 million viewers per episode, the show has become the No. 1 sitcom on network television.
"I'm very grateful. You never expect this. You work real[ly] hard but you never expect this kind of a reception from an audience," said creator Chuck Lorre of the show's success. "It's humbling; it's wonderful; and it's really thrilling to see fans that care that so much about what you're doing."
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As Big Bang's fans continue to stay glued to their television sets, the cast speculated on why the show has accumulated and maintained such a plentiful audience.
"I think we've never seen these characters before, which is what drew me to the show before I was on it," evaluated Melissa Rauch ("Bernadette"). "It's a group of underdogs and I think we can all relate to being an underdog at some point in our life. Even if we're not necessarily a science nerd, I think we all have a side of us that is nerdy in some way."
Although their quirky characters have helped make the show the No. 1 sitcom, the cast wasn't too eager to associate themselves with their characters on a personal level—except in jest.
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"I don't know if that'd be a compliment to anyone," said Kuoco when asked which member of the cast most resembled their character, "So, I'm going to say me."
Jim Parsons—who plays a character ("Sheldon") with master's degrees in both science and arts, two doctorate degrees, and doctorate of science—says that the cast has proved to further distinguish themselves from their characters as the seasons have gone along.
"It was more fun to answer 'Who's most like their character?' early on," he said. "The longer we've gone on, the more I feel like nobody is like their character anymore, which is kind of funny 'cause you think you'd become more like your character."
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The Big Bang Theory airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on CBS.