‘The Big Bang Theory’, ‘Modern Family’ and ‘Two and a half Men’ : All 3 comedy series that won hearts around the world ran for years entertaining all of us
Chuck Lorre is the Producer for ‘Two and a Half Men’ followed by ‘The Big Bang Theory’ which was co created by Bill Prady and ‘Modern Family’ was created by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd.
The Big Bang Theory
The Introductory Episodes did not have same Actors:
The Big Bang Theory is remembered for its characters Leonard, Penny, Sheldon, Raj, Bernadette, Amy and Howard.
However, the Pilot Episode which is technically the first episode had only Leonard, Sheldon and 3 female actresses.
None of these 3 female actresses were repeated in the later shows. In fact, one of the 3 played the role of Penny which was replaced with Kaley Couco who won hearts of the audience along with Leonard’s.
The Pitch with 2 Pilots-first time ever:
The Big Bang Theory had 2 pilot episodes as the first did not get a positive response from the channel CBS.
So the Producers Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady made the second Pilot Episode which got a green signal and go ahead from the Channel.
The belief is all that matters:
Unlike other TV shows which are made with proper scripting, vision for the show, actors in place, budget etc , ‘The Big Bang Theory’ was first shot and then presented to the television Channel for approval.
And after the presentation of the second Pilot Episode as mentioned above, it was accepted to be funded as Season 1.
The real Scientist:
The character of Amy Farrah Fowler played by Mayim Bailik is a real life Neuroscientist with a PhD.
She entered the show in the final episode of Season 3 and then became the integral part of the main characters going forward and the script was made introducing her as a Neuroscientist in the show as well.
The show had a real life Ph.D Professor as Science Consultant:
No doubt Sheldon and Leonard sound like real life scientists because the team of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ made sure they have a real life Professor of Physics and Astronomy as a Consultant to the show and as a technical Director to ensure all that is spoken and written on the show related to science is True.
David Saltzberg was the person responsible for the job. He is a Ph.D. in physics from University of Chicago. He also has been a consultant to other shows like ‘Manhattan’.
Wil Wheaton is as real as it can get:
The very famous Wil Wheaton who played Wesley Crusher in Star Trek series: ‘Star Trek The Next Generation’ once tweeted how much he liked ‘The Big Bang Theory’.
He was invited to the show by the team after the tweet and was given a role in the series in which he played the role of Wil Wheaton only.
Highest Paid Star Cast:
While many Actors earn a lot of money even in the TV series as individual actors, the popularity of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ made the cast earn the title of one of the highest paid cast of TV series in the world with an average of $9,00,000 per episode to Jim Parsons (Sheldon), Kaley Couco (Penny), Jhonny Galecki (Leonard), Kunal Nayyar (Raj) & Simon Helberg (Howard).
This is the average. Some of them were paid lesser when the series started and kept earning more as the popularity increased.
What’s in the Name:
It is usual trend to name every episode in a TV series after the a dialogue or a character or a stage at which the story is proceeding.
In case of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ every episode is named after Fake Scientific Theories like ‘The Hamburger Postulate’, ‘The Pancake Batter Anomaly’, ‘The Terminator Decoupling’ , ‘The Pants Alternative’ and others.
What was Penny’s surname:
‘The Big Bang Theory’ is so popular that the Roles played of Sheldon Cooper, Raj Koothrappali, Leonard Hofstader , Howard Wolowitz,Amy Farrah Fowler & Bernadette Rotenkowski are all remembered with their surnames.
What is surprising is that the most popular actor of the show Penny doesn’t have the surname mentioned anywhere in the 279 episodes spread over 12 seasons and 12 years from September 2007 to May 2019.
This doesn’t cross your mind unless you read this fact.
Modern Family
Modern Family created by Steven Levitan nd Christopher Lloyd ran 11 seasons from September 2004 to April 2020.
The show with established stars:
Modern Family started with some known faces from the film and television fraternity.
Sofia Margarita Vergara and Ed O’Neil.
Sofia was star in Latin America and Ed is known TV and Film face in the United States of America.
Her name is long and cute, Sofia Margarita Vergara Vergara (this is not a mistake, its actually like this).
She has been the highest paid Actress on American Television Series from 2013 to 2020. Her annual income was anywhere between $25 million to $45 million.
Ed O’Neil has been associated with Acting since 1979 and has been in multiple Hollywood movies and TV shows.
He is remembered for his acting as Al Bundy in the television series ‘Married….with Children’ that ran 11 seasons from 1987 to 1997.
Luke is not the same in real life:
Nolan Gould played the role of Luke Dunphy who is shown as hyper active and sometimes dumb kid is actually a genius who has an IQ of 150 and is registered member of MENSA International since the age of 4.
Mensa International is the oldest high IQ society in the World which is a non profit organization. To be a member of MENSA one has to have 98 percentile or higher standardized supervised IQ.
All are Same:
The Cast and the entire crew of Modern Family decided from the first episode that none would be highlighted as the lead actor or actress of the show to give everyone a level playing field.
And it actually remained like that and you realize the same after watching all the seasons and episodes that every character is given equal footage and opportunity.
The very famous Dunphy House:
The Dunphy House exterior shot is the shot of a real house which was vacant for many seasons and later bought by someone.
The Producers started paying the family after it was bought for shooting the exteriors. The house is situated in Cheviot Hills of Los Angeles and was bought at $2.15 million.
The interiors were not from the same house, it was all shot inside a studio.
Modern Family is Modern:
Modern family has bunch of families and a Mega family putting all these families together.
A Gay Couple who adopted a daughter and later a son, A husband and wife with 3 kids and this wife’s father is married to a Latin American lady who is younger than her and has a very young kid same as hers.
The show not only displays the modern culture of people living in the USA but also portrays the diverse culture of the country.
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is focused on lives of 2 brothers and a young son of the younger brother living with them.
They knew their Roles and strength of performance:
Charlie Sheen was supposed to play the role of Alan Harper and Jon Cryer was supposed to play the role of Charlie Harper.
They switched the roles and rest is history as Charlie Sheen played the role of Charlie Harper & Jon played the role of Alan Harper with full conviction & the audience simply loved the show for it ran 12 seasons from September 2003 to February 2015.
Charlie Sheen had it coming:
Charlie Sheen was doing very well in terms of love from audience and his constantly increasing fee every season but he blew it at the 8th season of the show by making derogatory remarks about the channel CBS where the show was broadcasted from and the creator of the show Chuck Lorre.
Charlie Sheen was replaced with Ashton Kutcher from the next season.
They are almost same age:
Jon Cryer plays the younger brother of Charlie Sheen in the show however he is older than Charlie Sheen by 6 months. And he is the only person who has appeared in every episode of Two and a Half Men.
This could be Huge with Hugh:
Hugh Grant was signed to replace Charlie Sheen but he backed out realizing he cannot commit for such a long series. It would have been interesting to see him as Charlie Harper.
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