In our column that takes you inside the media, we reveal the bizarre episode of The Big Bang Theory that never aired, how racism was used to score political points by the MEAA and the big mistake journos keep making.
Last week there was a very intense exchange between ABC reporter Anushri Sood and Federal Opposition leader Peter Dutton.
Since then, things have gotten very bizarre, thanks to the behaviour of journalist union, the MEAA.
It all started at a press conference in Sydney last Tuesday when Sood asked Dutton why certain groups were listed as terrorist organisations and to respond to accusations of “hypocrisy” in the government’s attitude towards Israel.
That led to a very tense exchange with Dutton pressing Sood to ask the question she seemed to be back peddling from.
Dutton reminded the reporter that Australia officially considers to be a Hezbollah a terrorist group, whereas Israel is not.
The ABC was quick to distance itself from the question, telling The Australian the exchange was “not a piece of reporting” or a position taken by the ABC.
That position seems to have infuriated the MEAA, which has issued a statement in support of Sood, saying in part: “We are appalled by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s behaviour and ABC management’s response.
“Following its new commitment to protect staff of colour, the ABC failed to show the leadership and values needed to be a robust defender of truth.”
The union then doubled down saying: “The ABC’s public silence on the intimidation of their journalist, a woman of colour, further perpetuates the racism an internal review issued on the same day highlighted.
“This is a watershed moment for the national broadcaster, and Australia’s leaders, to recognise the role diverse media plays in the pursuit of transparency, truth and fairness.”
It’s a cheap shot by the MEAA to use race as an issue here. This is not a race issue, this is about the questions you ask as a representative of a media organisation.
The ABC has every right to say the questions asked were not part of its editorial stance. Considering the ABC often stands up for its reporters, the fact it is not doing so now most likely indicates they believe the line of questioning was wrong.
That does not equate to racism.
Just last week, the ABC was defending presenter Tony Armstrong against racial abuse on social media and reader comments in online news articles.
If the MEAA believes the reporter was in the right then by all means make that point, but trying to play the racism card in this instance is pathetic and insulting.
NICE THEORY, NO BANG
Sometimes it’s amazing to see how something so successful around the world was a complete stuff-up at first.
Take the case of the hugely popular show The Big Bang Theory.
I’ve come across the unaired pilot of the show, which was very different to the characters and tone we’ve come to know.
It doesn’t even have the opening title song we all know and love, instead it uses the song Weird Science – and it doesn’t work!
Here are the big takeaways which explain why the show was retooled (thank goodness):
Sheldon v Sheldon
One of the first things you will notice in this pilot is how much of a sexual being Sheldon Cooper is, even though both versions are portrayed by Jim Parsons. The character in this alternate universe is very different form the asexual character who slowly progressed to holding hands and kissing with Amy.
This Sheldon loves female backsides and has even had sex with a mutual friend of his and Leonard’s. In this version the boys have no money and are making a deposit at the sperm bank for some much-needed cash.
In the final TV version, they have money but need some extra for faster internet. It’s also worth noting in this unaired pilot they make the deposit but in the final broadcast they change their minds before doing so.
Leonard v Leonard
The character of Leonard we see here has pretty much the same personality as Leonard in the version that aired. He is kind, thoughtful and the same “crossword” joke is used in both pilots.
The receptionist was played by Vernee Watson in both and she would go on to appear in multiple episodes throughout the years as the receptionist at various medical facilities.
Katie v Penny
There’s no Penny here, instead we meet Katie (Amanda Walsh) on the street with nowhere to live.
Unlike in the aired pilot where Penny was moving in next door, in this version Leonard invites Katie to stay with them for the night after taking her out for a meal. While Sheldon and Leonard are both attracted to Katie, instant love does not appear to be the motive for his willingness to help.
This character is far more grittier, nasty and sexual than Penny ever was.
According to creator Chuck Lorre “the audience hated her”.
He went on to say to Entertainment Weekly: “We didn’t realise early on that the audience viewed them (Leonard and Sheldon) as children. They were very naive and childlike, regardless of how intelligent they were. They were very vulnerable, and the audience didn’t want a toxic presence around them. That’s why we rewrote Katie to become Penny (Kaley Cuoco) and made her much more charmed by the guys and kind to them, as opposed to a woman who would take advantage of them.”
The failure of this pilot and success of the TV version can be summed up right there.
Gilda v Howard & Raj
Our favourite astronaut and mute (around women) are nowhere to be seen in this pilot. Instead, we have a fellow scientist by the name of Gilda.
She’s a fun character who might have been a nice addition to the cast but she’s no replacement for Howard and Raj.
In this pilot we learn she has already had sex with Sheldon at a Comic-Con convention and now plans to develop a relationship with Leonard.
Unaired v Aired pilot
Even though the creators are embarrassed by this pilot, there’s still a lot to like and ideas that would become mainstays of the show. Although Sheldon doesn’t have a “spot” in the apartment, we do see early signs of his ‘spot’ concept at the local Indian Restaurant.
There are many jokes repeated or retooled for the broadcast version which work in both, including the main female lead coming out of the shower.
Bill Prady was quick to praise actress Amanda Walsh, even though CBS believed she was the problem.
The network showed interest in reshooting the pilot with a new actress, but the creators believed there were bigger problems, with Lorre saying: “No, I don’t think it was a casting problem, I think it was a writing problem.”
While that might be true, there’s no doubt the casting of Kaley Cuoco certainly helped the shows success.
It’s not surprising this version of the show wasn’t picked up, but the creators certainly learned from their mistakes and created one of the most-loved sitcoms of all time.
The Big Bang Theory is available on most streaming platforms.
The original idea for eating around the coffee table came from the non-broadcast pilot.
SAVING, NOT SAVINGS
Here’s one that a lot of people in the media industry get wrong and it’s one of the few things I become a pedant about.
With some states putting their clocks forward an hour, can I please ask presenters and journos to use the correct term – daylight saving time, NOT daylight savings time. According to thesaurus.com, despite what many people think, there is no ‘s’ at the end of saving.
And you also don’t need to capitalise the first letter of each word (i.e. it should be daylight saving time, not Daylight Saving Time).
Just to make matters a bit more complicated, thesaurus.com also uses hyphens (i.e. daylight-saving-time), although they seem to be in the minority. The Oxford dictionary doesn’t use the hyphen.
So, let’s assume we go without hyphens AND without the extra ‘s’!
Unfortunately, a few outlets missed my warning tweet last week and made the mistake.
On Saturday morning both ABC News Breakfast and Weekend Today got it wrong. Weekend Sunrise only had a brief mention but, thankfully, avoided the dreaded ‘s’.
By the time the nightly news bulletins had come around they all seemed to get it right, although the social media producer at 7NEWS Melbourne made the mistake, despite the weather presenter getting it right.
In print there were a few clangers with The Daily Mail, Yahoo, The Daily Telegraph, The Courier Mail and Herald Sun all adding an ‘s’ to saving. The Herald Sun rose to the top though for accidentally putting a graphic on page 2 saying: “DAYLIGHT SAVING HAS ENDED. Your clocks should have been turned back by one hour at 3am”.
The mistake was later rectified in the digital version of the paper.
So now, instead of the yearly debate on whether we should have daylight saving, we can all argue over how to say it and whether to add hyphens.
