BIG BANG THEORY renewed for another three years

Quote: ams288

Once their contract is approaching its end, I wouldn't be surprised if the cast pulls a "Friends" and all re-ups for one more (possibly shortened) final season. They could probably get the highest per-episode payout in sitcom history.

Well, you can say that TBBT has already pulled a "Friends". The actors in Friends received a million dollars an episode for season #9 and they renewed at the same price for season #10. The cast of TBBT renewed for seasons #8, #9, and #10 for a million dollars per episode.

The price for a 30 second advertisement in 2015-2016 was
$603,000 Sunday Night Football Sunday 8 p.m.
$497,364 Empire Wednesday 9 p.m.
$464,625 NFL Thursday Night Football Thursday 8 p.m.
$348,300 The Big Bang Theory Monday 8 p.m./ Thursday 8 p.m.

At maximum they get 18-20 commercials in for a half hour slot. Empire is a 60 minute show. And some commercials are used to promote other CBS shows.

I mean they spend a quarter of a billion dollars making Captain America: Civil War, but it brings a billion dollars in gross box office within 24 days of it's May 6, 2016 release (with $2 overseas for every $1 in Northern America).

I know that they calculate all kinds of things like long term return from syndication, reruns, and boost to other shows that follow TBBT, but sooner or later there is only so much revenue. They can't pay these actors $2 million per episode apiece.

Can they?

Quote: Pacomartin

They can't pay these actors $2 million per episode apiece.

Not if they keep all the cast.

But whom do you remove?

I can see the show prosper if you remove Raj or Howard, but not both. And the show dies without Penny, Leonard or Sheldon.

Quote: Nareed

Not if they keep all the cast.

They will have to somehow create two half hour shows. Christine Baranski (Dr. Beverly Hofstadter) is available now as "The Good Wife" is finished. Laurie Metcalf (Mary Cooper) series on HBO, "Getting On" is seems finished, and Judd Hirsch (Dr. Alfred Hofstadter) series "Forever" is cancelled.

Judd Hirsch looks damn good for age 81.

Quote: Pacomartin

Judd Hirsch looks damn good for age 81.

81!!!

Damn. I saw him in the season finale and he didn't look anywhere close to 81!

Quote: Nareed

I can see the show prosper if you remove Raj

The Raj character has never been funny.
Having the running gag where he's too
shy to speak in front of a woman was
funny the first two times we saw it, then
it went on for whole seasons and just got
stupid. Sheldon's GF is funny if we see
her once in awhile, not in every show.

Quote: Nareed

81!!!

Damn. I saw him in the season finale and he didn't look anywhere close to 81!

The Odd Couple was last year's hit freshman sitcom because it was right after TBBT. Once it moves it became the bottom ranked sitcom that was renewed. I suspect the same thing would happen with "Life in Pieces".

I suspect that CBS is building up the cast for two shows. TBBT is the last remaining megahit sitcom on television. and I don't think CBS can afford to give up on it. As you said a sequel with Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Melissa Rauch, Mayim Bialik, and Kevin Sussman is going to fit the bill.

Maybe they can split it into two sitcoms with Leonard and Penny in one and Sheldon and Amy in the other. The other characters could do a lot of crossover guest appearances.

CBS will bring back three former sitcom stars next year in
"Kevin Can Wait" (Kevin James, King of Queens on CBS ended May 14, 2007),
"Man with a Plan" (Matt LeBlanc, Joey on NBC ended on March 7, 2006), and
"The Great Indoors" (Joel Edward McHale, Community on NBC ended April 17, 2014, but follow up episodes on Yahoo TV).

CBS Sitcoms
Big Bang Theory (renewed) 3.73 , 15.212 million
Life in Pieces (renewed) 2.00 , 8.686 million
Mom (renewed) 1.69 ,7.912 million
2 Broke Girls (renewed) 1.61 ,6.424 million
The Odd Couple (renewed) 1.41 ,6.736 million
Mike & Molly (cancelled) 1.53 ,7.262 million
Angel From Hell (cancelled) 1.42 .7.050 million

ABC's Modern Family 2.56 ,7.918 million
Eventually the salary requirements of this show will result in its cancellation. I'm surprised they renewed for next year.

NBC renewed only two relatively low rated sitcoms.

Quote: Pacomartin

The Odd Couple was last year's hit freshman sitcom because it was right after TBBT. Once it moves it became the bottom ranked sitcom that was renewed. I suspect the same thing would happen with "Life in Pieces".

I've seen neither.

Quote:

Maybe they can split it into two sitcoms with Leonard and Penny in one and Sheldon and Amy in the other. The other characters could do a lot of crossover guest appearances.

If you split Leonard from Sheldon, Leonard has literally nothing. This isn't a fault of the actor, but of the character. Penny can do well by herself, but I don't know if she can carry Leonard as well.

Maybe if they had to deal with Leonard's mother regularly... But then that's because Beverly can out-Sheldon Sheldon sometimes :)

Sheldon can do well solo, as he can creep out and exasperate anyone else. In fact, some of his funniest moments as a straight man are when he goes full Sheldon on an unsuspecting victim. See the ep when he tried to get a "menial" job.

Quote: Pacomartin

Eventually the salary requirements of this show will result in its cancellation.

Like I've said, it's not funny anymore. They've
done every Gay stereotype there is, every old
guy marrying trophy wife, every Phil the idiot
husband joke. All the kids are in college now,
grown up and have zero funny factor. The
Vietnamese girl is the worst child actor I've ever
seen, it's like she reads her lines off a teleprompter.
The show sharked out after season 6. Right now
season 1 is showing locally for me and every ep
is a gem, funniest season they had.

Quote: Nareed

I've seen neither.

I don't know if Mexico shows TV in the same order as the USA. Neither Sitcom is particularly good. But you would think that TV technology would have wiped out the leading show for the evening, but just as in the 1950's, people tend to leave a channel on from one show to the next. So it is important to kick off prime time with a high rated show at 8:00-9:00

CBS shows this fall 8:00-9:00
Mon: The Big Bang Theory & Kevin Can Wait
Tue: NCIS
Wed: Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X
Thur: NFL Thursday Night Kickoff

Follow-up after football is completed
Mon: Kevin Can Wait (10/24) & Man with a Plan
Thur: The Big Bang Theory (10/27) & The Great Indoors (10/27)

Quote: Pacomartin

I don't know if Mexico shows TV in the same order as the USA.

I have no idea, either. I tune in to Mexican TV only for NFL games, and on very rare occasions to the news (these days I'm more likely to look any news I'm interested in online anyway).

I watch cable channels, which are programmed for Latin America as a whole, more or less. These buy rights to TV shows without much regard of who owns what in the US, even though most of these channels are part of US media companies. The ones I watch most are called Warner, Sony, Fox, Universal and AXN. TBBT runs on Warner.