This Friday, I'm moderating the Big Bang Theory panel at Comic-con. The entire cast will be in attendance, as well as series creators Bill Prady and Chuck Lorre. We only have an hour, which always goes by faster than we think, so I'm going to start out with a handful of my own questions before I invite questions from the audience.
While preparing my questions, I've talked to some friends of mine who are fans of the show, and I also thought that I had a unique opportunity to reach out to a larger audience, right here on my blog.
So: If you could ask the cast and creators of The Big Bang Theory something about the show, what would it be? What are you interested in knowing from them?
Ask your question in a comment here, and I'll take some of them with me to the panel this Friday.
Edited at 8:52am 7/22: Wow, over 200 questions and comments! Awesome. I used your questions to get some idea of what fans of the show (well, this is a small sample size, but you're the ones who responded, so you get to speak for the entire audience) wanted to know. I picked out a couple of specific questions from some of you, too.
You can keep commenting here, but any questions you ask I won't be able to use, because I have to get on the road in about 15 minutes, and my questions are now chosen and locked in. But, sincerely, thank you for taking the time to contribute here; I feel more confident and secure about moderating this panel now than I did 24 hours ago.
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This may sound silly, but I’m part of a group of BBT fans on a website called Ravelry (for people who knit and crochet) and the group would like to know shoe sizes for the cast members, because they would like to knit socks like these for the cast members: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2721/4300746225_ac9e4d68e4.jpg
What the actual IQs of the cast and crew are.
What’s up with the under-utilized and occasionally magically disappearing ladies on this show?
I know I’m not the only one who’d like to see the writers come up with a way to include women (geeky and not) as more than Mom of the Week, Hookup of the Week or Penny NoLastName-NotMuchBackstory.
They have done some episodes where they are doing geeky/nerdy things at the Comic Book store, or the Bowling Alley, or Stargazing, where these are all sets made from scratch. When will they go to an ACTUAL Geeky Event/Place, where the film crew is on location, and do an entire episode from there? Like ComicCon, or Star Wars Celebration V? There has to be enough money in the budget for that by now.
When do they show it in Germany (again)?
Ask if the cast members have some sweet dance moves.
Can you comply a list of the questions you will ask?
And will the panel be youtube’d or something for us who aren’t local?
If these guys are such nerds, why is it that the only pen and paper RPG we’ve ever seen them talk about is D&D? Surely they’d delve a little deeper and play some less obvious games. Say DC Adventures, Mutants & Masterminds, or Dragon Age to pick some random examples. 🙂
Which comics are framed above Sheldon’s bed?
Throughout the seasons, Sheldon’s sense of humor has developed from virtually non-existent to now actually having his own VERY personal sense of humor.. will this keep developing until he actually learns how to interact with “average” humor, or can we rest assured that Sheldon will always be very Sheldon?
One of the things that I’m curious about (because I’m geeky like that) is that the writers continually intertwine Star Trek & Star Wars references. Most hard-core syfy geeks make a conscious choice between the two, but they seem to geek-out about both equally. Which one does each cast member prefer & why?
Nerdiest question, but I’ve been wondering why they showed World of Warcraft then Age of Conan from Season 1 to 2.
Question:
In Season 1, World of Warcraft was often shown as the boy’s game of choice; what process did you have to go through with Blizzard to mention the show by name as well as the video of the gaming running on Howard’s Laptop? Did you switch to Age of Conan in Season 2 because it was easier put on national television?
Why haven’t you done anything with musical Tesla Coils yet? I would love to see that
The evolution of Penny’s character has been interesting to watch. What considerations do you make when introducing another female into the mix–like Bernadette, or worse, Dr. Elizabeth Plimpton?
That’s awesome!
Oh and by the way someone has to put this up on youtube as soon as it’s done ^^
Have we seen the last of Bernadette
Will we see more of Mayim Bialik ?
Where does the science dialog come from and what kind of research goes into a typical episode (it seems intense!)?
Thx Wil!
It seems that, especially in the most recent season, Raj and Howard have been reduced to quipy one-liners. Will we see the characters develop more in the next season?
Why must they use a damn laugh track?! It’s so annoying.
My question would simply be: “Please explain Wolowitz’s alien pins!”
I also want to ask something similar to what Fledge brought up. What’s going on with Sheldon & Penny? There’s some chemistry with these characters…yes?
When will they storm Craig Ferguson’s show en masse?
Let’s see…
When will we see Penny in a bathing suit?
Could we possibly have some behind-the-scenes podcasts or blogs from the cast members as the filming progresses (to be released when the episode in question appears)?
For that matter, do any of the cast members have a blog?
Can anyone talk CBS into giving them even more episodes each season?
Will – will this session be recorded and posted online somewhere?
When will Drew Curtis get a cameo?
It has been documented that Indian men have the worlds smallest peepees. (to lazy for citation, look it up yourself). What are the possibilities of Raj discovering this, hope fully from the mouth of a sexy female in a bar?
Where do I send my resume to apply to be Jim Parson’s personal assistant?
I’ve tried watching The Big Bang Theory several times and I just can’t get passed the ugly stereotypes of nerds & geeks being socially inept. I know awesome people like Wil have said you’re laughing with us, not making fun of us, but I haven’t seen that on screen yet. What can someone like me, a geek that actually has a wife, children, and friends (just like “normal” people), find in your show that isn’t a throw back to “Revenge of the Nerds” era marginalization? In other words, what am I missing? How am I not getting it?
Has any thought gone into a bit (ala Superman jokes), where Leonard removes his glasses and suddenly women are ferociously attracted to him? I have seen some veeeeery flattering pictures of Johnny Ggalecki sans-lenses, and I would love to see this played up on screen.
I don’t know how smart the cast members actually are, but I know that I don’t always immediately understand all of the science and maths jokes on the show (I’m okay with the humanities though! :D) So, without implying that the cast is as ignorant as I am, I would like to know whether they have ever learned anything new just from having to research the lines in their scripts?
And to the writers, on average, how often do you have to kill dialogue you’ve written because you realise too few people would get it?
Since you’ve already had Stan Lee, and, of course (in a Stewie Griffin voice)Hwil Hwheaton, who would you like to have guest star?
More seriously…. any chance of the writers playing more into Joss Whedon references/content?
We know that Jim had a problem understanding how to do the Vulcan Mind Meld last season; what other “geek” things stumped the cast in crew when reading the scripts and prepping for the show?
Also – how much say do the actors get in decorating their characters’ rooms on the set (posters, action figures, models, etc…)
What is the best pie?
My question would be:
Why did the cast decide to take on these roles?
Would they consider an episode where the guys play RPGs against the stars of The Guild.
Will all the science and game references; how come no love for mass effect? Seriously that game and possible or improbable science concepts would be a bit of a science joke gold mine.
My question would be: When are they going to make your character, the nemesis to Sheldon, at least a semi-regular character who appears in more episodes? Your character is funny (much better than the wooden kid in STTNG) and could shake things up a bit.
They have to get Penny and Leonard back together, there is no way he would score that far out of his league and then be able to be friends afterwards. Oh, and definitely more Raj storylines.
Are Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki really dating in real life? I’d read that they were and now it seems like that story has quietly disappeared.
Which character would they say they are most like?
Are we even going to find out more about Penny than the fact that she’s hot and makes poor dating decisions? I’m sure that plenty female viewers would like her to be a character with depth and solid characterization. Sadly, Penny is not the only female character to be short-changed in this way.
Please ask them: “Why no love for the ladies?”
In a battle of the brains… Who’s head would implode first? Sheldon’s? Or Spock’s?
And has there Ever been any talk of pitting Sheldon and Mr. Nimoy in the same room? Or can humanity handle that much logic?
After all, they did have Sheldon remaster the children’s game: Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock. It would be a gut-ripper to see them on air together.
Has Howard ever had heat stroke from all those mock turtlenecks? Or Raj with all the layers?
I always feel bad about that.
This television thing intrigues me. It’s kind of like the internet, but with a kind of gatekeeper for the content. How does one go from being “just anyone” to a television star? And is it worth it?
I’m going to second this one.
Seriously, if ANY show attracts a demographic of people who would like to be able to watch episodes online, BBT would be high on that list.
and yes I know that the voice of Ashley Williams from the game is the voice of Harold’s voice recognition dialing from season one. I mean the game as a whole….please?
What do the cast members/creators “geek out” about in real life? Also, when will full episodes appear online?
I want to know when the rest of the Roseanne cast is going to turn up 🙂