BIG BANG THEORY renewed for another three years

Quote: ams288

I never watched it, but I know she was on Sons of Anarchy.

And, of course, she has already played Kaley Cuoco's mom on 8 Simple Rules...

Sagal was about the best thing on SoA, a series that had some really weak seasons IMO. I watched from beginning to end, and she was a very strong female lead, totally believable in the role.

I saw most of Sons of A, but it got so
bad and so stupid towards the end
that I have yet to see the final season.
The season before that was bad enough,
over top not believable. Sagal was good
in the first few seasons, but they turned
her character in into a cartoon for last
couple, it was disappointing.

The Big Bang Theory premiered to 15.82 million viewers, the lowest ratings for a premiere in 4 years. But considering the state of sitcoms on network television (Modern Family premiered to 8.24 million viewers, the lowest premier in all 8 years of the show). TBBT should finish out their 10th year firmly in first place for sitcoms.

NCIS premiered their 14th season to 15.99 million viewers. Bull starring former NCIS star Michael Weatherly premiered to 15.56 million viewers.

For the first three seasons, Galecki, Parsons and Cuoco, the three main stars of the show, received at most $60,000 per episode. The salary for the three went up to $200,000 per episode for the fourth season.

They then received a 3 year renewal contract and their per-episode pay went up an additional $50,000 in each of the following three seasons, culminating in $350,000 per episode in the seventh season. By season seven, the three were also receiving 25% of the series' back-end money.

Before production began on the eighth season, the five main stars looked to renegotiate new contracts, with Galecki, Parsons and Cuoco seeking around $1 million per episode, as well as more back-end money. Contracts were signed in the beginning of August 2014, giving the three principal actors an estimated $1 million per episode for three years, with the possibility to extend for a fourth year.

So it is looking like TBBT may be able to run one more year (their 11th) on the current contract. If they receive another 3 year contract they will tie with "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" at 14 years for the longest sitcom in US television history. Of course Ozzie averaged 31 episodes per year, while TBBT never goes over 24 episodes.

Quote:

Bull starring former NCIS star Michael Weatherly premiered to 15.56 million viewers

I just watched 3 trailers for Bull. What a truly
awful looking show. It's like watching Tony
DiNozzo from NCIS put on a pair of glasses
and play a lawyer. It's so bad I was wincing.
And the production values are non existent.
Everything about it really stinks, I bet it
doesn't last till January.

Quote: Pacomartin

So it is looking like TBBT may be able to run one more year (their 11th) on the current contract.

That will depend on cost and expected ratings. It might be cheaper for the network to end the show.

While I understand this, then they need to end it well. Not rush to the ending as happened with Cheers. Compare that to how the ending for Friends was built up in the last season.

I saw the season premiere Monday (that's when it aired here). It was a good ep, though it tired to do too much with three story lines.

Two things stuck out: 1) how striking Katey Sagal looks, and 2) Penny's brother was awesome. He's a combination of cleverness and naiveté, and delivers the most preposterous lines with disarming innocence. In fact, I think you can get the three actors who played Penny's family, have them play those characters, and easily build a sitcom around them. I could even envision a Penny & Leonard spinoff set in Nebraska.

As it is, I bet we never see those three characters together ever again.

Quote: Nareed

Penny's brother was awesome. He's a combination of cleverness and naiveté, and delivers the most preposterous lines with disarming innocence.

Jack McBrayer has been working that routine for 15 years. In a sense he is like Bob Newhart, in that he will probably play a variation on a theme for his whole life.
His longest appearance was as Kenneth Parcell, the page on 30 Rock (2006). In his role in the 2008 film, "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" he delivers some really vulgar lines with that same wide eyed naiveté.

If the actors really have a clause that obligates them to renew next year at basically the same salary, perhaps they will try and split the show into two shows by then. I can't remember a sitcom lasting for 10 years without a spin off or at least a sequel. We had Joey, Rhoda, The Jeffersons, Mork and Mindy, Three's a Crowd, Frasier, AfterMash, Joanie Loves Chachi, Mr. T and Tina, and The Golden Palace.

A show you probably didn't know existed features Radar O'Reilly that only lasted on episode
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS8Vd1vVqXc

Quote: Pacomartin

If the actors really have a clause that obligates them to renew next year at basically the same salary, perhaps they will try and split the show into two shows by then.

That's a terrible idea. Remember "The Ropers"?

Quote:

I can't remember a sitcom lasting for 10 years without a spin off or at least a sequel. We had Joey, Rhoda, The Jeffersons, Mork and Mindy, Three's a Crowd, Frasier, AfterMash, Joanie Loves Chachi, Mr. T and Tina, and The Golden Palace.

I'm sure when it ends there will be a spinoff. After the premiere this year, I thought: suppose Penny is offered a position in a Nebraska office of the drug company, with better pay and more responsibilities. after the usual multi-episode argument to help close off the show, Leonard agrees to the move. Sheldon, naturally, will be devastated; leaving Amy to fix things (sure). then the spinoff can proceed with Penny's family, and Leonard will take a job at a vastly inferior university ("Now my work really is what Sheldon thought it was all these years"), but where he'd be the superstar in the physics department.

Almost certainly, too, one or more of the actors will try to do a show of their own, playing different characters unrelated to TBBT at all.

I wonder what is the riskier move? Even john Ritter took a long time finding a new hit show after "Three's Company." And we know what happened when he finally did...

Quote:

A show you probably didn't know existed features Radar O'Reilly that only lasted on episode
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS8Vd1vVqXc

I'd no idea.

Did they only film one or only air one? Some shows are only the pilot ep. Others get cancelled mid-season with eps unaired. But it's unusual to have more than one ep filmed and only have one of them air.

Quote: Nareed

Did they only film one or only air one? Some shows are only the pilot ep. Others get cancelled mid-season with eps unaired. But it's unusual to have more than one ep filmed and only have one of them air.

The pilot was not picked up by CBS as a series, and typically those pilots are never aired. But in this particular case it was shown on July 17, 1984 but to only half the nation on East and Central time zone.

The Paul Reiser show got a contract for 7 episodes based on his strong performance in Mad About You (164 episodes), but the ratings on the pilot were terrible and they dropped for thw second show. So they didn't show the other five
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcD4v0IxlFM

I used to like Time Tunnel when it aired for one season in the 1960's at the same year as Star Trek began. I think I was age nine. Fox did a pilot episode for a remake in 2002 which I thought was pretty decent, but it never aired.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mETHT5npqOI

Quote: Pacomartin

I used to like Time Tunnel when it aired for one season in the 1960's at the same year as Star Trek began. I think I was age nine. Fox did a pilot episode for a remake in 2002 which I thought was pretty decent, but it never aired.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mETHT5npqOI

I didn't know that.

I recall seeing it in the 70s. Looking back, it was amazing how often and how much they screwed with the timeline. There was a joke here about Jesus being dumbfounded at counting 2 extra people at the table, until someone says "Oh, the other two are Tony and Douglas."

IMO Quantum Leap had a very similar premise. Sam was also lost in time, jumping from period to period without regard of geography (though not to the future), people in his time could watch and talk to him, and if he managed to return he couldn't stay. Though Sam had a specific mission, even when he rarely knew off the bat what it was, while Tony and Douglas more or less kept waiting for the folks back homewhen to do something.

I haven't seen it in decades. I wonder what it would look like to me now...