Howard’s letter, Penny’s declaration of love, as well as Sheldon and Amy’s big step forward, highlight a season filled with watershed mom
The Big Bang Theory wrapped up its sixth season with a breakthrough for Raj. Overcoming selective mutism was one of scores of watershed moments the CBS comedy celebrated under first-year showrunner Steve Molaro.
While the writer/executive producer has been with the series since season one, Molaro says this year the characters — because the audience knew them so well — were in a place where the series was ready to go deeper and “tell stories where things really happen to them and things matter more.”
“I’m really proud of season six; it’s been really satisfying and fun to see how we’ve been able to go deeper and push these characters,” Molaro says. The Hollywood Reporter was on set for the season finale and polled the cast on their favorite moments from the season that helped propel the series to become TV’s No. 1 scripted comedy on TV.
JIM PARSONS (Sheldon)
“I did really enjoy the episode where Amy was sick. Her lassoing Sheldon into taking care of her goes to my point of Sheldon doing almost anything that is justified in the name of science or reason. In that case, she was sick enough that she needed to be bathed; she needed to have something rubbed on her bare chest; and by the end, she’d done so wrong that when Sheldon found out that she’d lied that she needed to be spanked. The young lady gets exactly what she wants by a young man who’s doing it for different reasons. It’s really brilliant.”
MAYIM BIALIK (Amy)
“The spanking episode. That was fun largely because it was supposed to be off-camera, and at the last minute, Chuck Lorre decided to film it. That was really fun and awkward, right in front of the audience letting it come alive.”
JOHNNY GALECKI (Leonard)
“Penny telling Leonard she loves him is pretty big. We didn’t play it as a watershed moment. It was played as if she’s always known this. It was touching. I also love the moment when Leonard says, ‘I know I propose a lot,’ and then promises that he won’t. It’s one of my favorite Leonard lines to say. To put his own desire aside and say, ‘You tell me when you’re ready, despite what I want in my life right now and with you right now.’ That’s unconditional, selfless love
KALEY CUOCO (Penny)
“When Penny said, ‘I love you’ to Leonard. It took her more than five years to say it. That’s why now you know with Penny that whatever she does is real. You know when she said it she truly meant it. That’s why now Leonard is OK with going away and knowing that they’re going to be OK. We did that in one take. Steve came out and said, ‘We’re really happy with that. Do you want to do it again?’ We didn’t want to; it felt perfectly right. I told Johnny: ‘It was so weird — I became Penny in that moment.’ There was no audience, just Leonard and Penny. It was a moment I’ll definitely never forget.”
