Big Bang Theory

[JasonEvans]

Note: the below post was from another thread and has been moved to a new thread which will be only about Big Bang Theory.


What are the odds that all four guys on The Big Bang Theory end up in relationships at the end of the show?

About 100%. We are 3/4 of the way there and Raj is too loveable for the show not to give him a happy ending.

The current contracts for the actors and creative team behind the show go through the end of this coming season (2013-14). Johnny Galeki (Leonard), Jim Parsons (Sheldon) and Kaley Cuoco (Penny) will each make $350k/episode this coming season. Simon Helberg (Howard)and Kunal Nayyar (Raj) are in the $125-$150k per episode range as is Mayim Bialik (Amy Farah Fowler). Melissa Rauch (Bernadette) is just under $100k per episode.

My point in writing that is to note that all of the contracts will be up for re-negotiation after this coming season and you can bet they are going to want more. This coming season is the 7th one for Big Bang and, at a certain point, the salary of the actors will make it hard to continue making the show. That is what happened to Friends (the production company that made Friends actually lost money on the final 2 seasons of that show, though they have made it back through syndication). I suspect we will get no more than maybe 3 more seasons of Big Bang before it simply becomes tiresome for the writers/producers/actors and becomes too expensive for everyone else.

So, with that kind of time frame in mind, I bet Penny and Leonard get married at the end of the 2014-15 season and they move in together. Raj becomes Sheldon's new roommate. But, after a season of dealing with Sheldon, Raj will move out and Sheldon, in a shocking move to everyone, will invite Amy to move in with him as their relationship actually starts to become physical. The final season, 2016-17, will conclude with Sheldon and Amy at the altar getting ready to get married when a very pregnant Penny goes into labor with Leonard's baby. Sheldon won't understand why the baby can't wait and Amy will be distraught over her big day being ruined, but they will rush through the vows so they can all get to the hospital to greet Penny and Leonard's new baby. A new baby means Penny and Leonard moving into a house. Howard will be given a big job with NASA or the government that requires him to move to Houston or DC. Raj is offered a teaching position at Harvard or MIT that he simply cannot turn down. And the show will conclude with Amy and Sheldon awkwardly laying in bed. Amy asks Sheldon when they are going to have babies and he says, "when pigs fly!"

-Jason "at least that is my Big Bang theory" Evans

[JasonEvans]

Wow, looks like my salary info on the supporting players was way wrong. Sorry about that. It turns out that Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch were each making around $30k per episode. They have just today (http://www.deadline.com/2013/09/big-bang-theory-mayim-bialik-melissa-rauch-pay-raises/) re-upped for something in the neighborhood of $60k per episode. That figure will increase each season and will eventually reach $100k per episode, probably around season 9 or 10. The word is that the producers hope to get everyone on board for three more seasons after this one, which would get them to season 10.

When you think about how little Bialik and Rauch are sometimes in an episode, sometimes they have less than 5 lines, that's a pretty darn good living!

By the way, Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, and Kaley Cuoco (who are currently at $350k per episode) are all but assured of going to $500k per episode in their new contracts. It ain't Friends territory (the 6 Friends stars each made a cool $1 mil per ep for the final season of their show), but it is pretty hefty, especially when you consider that a season of Big Bang generally consists of 24 episodes.

-Jason "of course, the really big money isn't in per episode dollars, it is getting a piece of the syndication action -- that's what made Seinfeld crazy rich!" Evans

[matt1]

Wow, looks like my salary info on the supporting players was way wrong. Sorry about that. It turns out that Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch were each making around $30k per episode. They have just today (http://www.deadline.com/2013/09/big-bang-theory-mayim-bialik-melissa-rauch-pay-raises/) re-upped for something in the neighborhood of $60k per episode. That figure will increase each season and will eventually reach $100k per episode, probably around season 9 or 10. The word is that the producers hope to get everyone on board for three more seasons after this one, which would get them to season 10.

When you think about how little Bialik and Rauch are sometimes in an episode, sometimes they have less than 5 lines, that's a pretty darn good living!

By the way, Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, and Kaley Cuoco (who are currently at $350k per episode) are all but assured of going to $500k per episode in their new contracts. It ain't Friends territory (the 6 Friends stars each made a cool $1 mil per ep for the final season of their show), but it is pretty hefty, especially when you consider that a season of Big Bang generally consists of 24 episodes.

-Jason "of course, the really big money isn't in per episode dollars, it is getting a piece of the syndication action -- that's what made Seinfeld crazy rich!" Evans

Those are pretty high, but isn't Jason Segal making over $1 million an episode to play Marshall on How I Met Your Mother this year?

[Blue in the Face]

Those are pretty high, but isn't Jason Segal making over $1 million an episode to play Marshall on How I Met Your Mother this year?
No, he makes about $225K per (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/20/actors-salaries_n_3785074.html).

[Reisen]

Wow, looks like my salary info on the supporting players was way wrong. Sorry about that. It turns out that Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch were each making around $30k per episode. They have just today (http://www.deadline.com/2013/09/big-bang-theory-mayim-bialik-melissa-rauch-pay-raises/) re-upped for something in the neighborhood of $60k per episode. That figure will increase each season and will eventually reach $100k per episode, probably around season 9 or 10. The word is that the producers hope to get everyone on board for three more seasons after this one, which would get them to season 10.

When you think about how little Bialik and Rauch are sometimes in an episode, sometimes they have less than 5 lines, that's a pretty darn good living!


I saw that article this morning, and thought of this thread. I have to be honest, $20-30k per episode (the range I saw) sounds very low for Bialik and Rauch.

Don't get me wrong, it's still great money, but for Bernadette to get less than 10% of what Penny gets seems pretty low. She's still a character with a fair amount of screen time.

[JasonEvans]

I saw that article this morning, and thought of this thread. I have to be honest, $20-30k per episode (the range I saw) sounds very low for Bialik and Rauch.

Don't get me wrong, it's still great money, but for Bernadette to get less than 10% of what Penny gets seems pretty low. She's still a character with a fair amount of screen time.

I bet if you totally up their screen time, Bernadette is only on screen about 10% of the amount of time Penny is on screen. Right around the marriage we saw some episodes that would have lots of Bernadette in them and had scenes where she and Howard were on screen without any of the other characters, but -- for the most part -- nowadays Bernadette is only on when Penny is also in the scene. It is not uncommon for an entire episode to feature no more than 5 or so lines with Bernadette. Sometimes more, but quite often, she is no more than a small, bit player.

Amy FF is different. She is becoming a larger character because she often does scenes with Sheldon where Penny is not included. It is incredibly rare for Bernadette to be in a scene that does not also feature Amy and Penny, but Amy has a growing number of scenes on her own. Plus, as her relationship with Sheldon is still growing, I could see her playing a larger role in the show going forward. Unless Bernadette gets pregnant or (god forbid) goes through marriage troubles with Howard, I don't see her playing a large role in the show very much in the future.

And, bottom line, the show can most assuredly go on without Bernadette or Amy. If you lose Sheldon, Penny, or Leonard then the show must undergo a major transformation.

-Jason "Sheldon is the most indispensable character, though if the show was only about him it would become very annoying, very quickly" Evans