Throughout its 12 seasons, The Big Bang Theory certainly featured some missed opportunities in terms of storylines. Simon Helberg was such an underrated part of the show, especially watching Howard’s growth throughout the seasons and how he was able to evolve. However, fans took exception to a particular story involving Howard. Looking back, fans generally view this as the worst storyline in Big Bang Theory history. For the most part, this is due to the fact that the story had so much potential, and was expected to last multiple episodes.
Let’s recap what took place, and what happened to Matt Bennett, the actor who played Howard’s half-brother on the show.
Matt Bennett Played Howard’s Brother For One Episode, And Completely Disappeared
We turn the calendar back to 2015 for this moment. THR announced Victorious alum to play as Howard’s brother on The Big Bang Theory. The news of Matt Bennett caused lots of hype, and fans expected the storyline to be something of the long-term nature. Even showrunner Steve Molaro had big plans for the story with the passing of Mrs. Wolowitz. It opened things up creatively, though at the time the showrunner was still unsure over the details. Molaro told THR at the time, “It has not happened yet, but it’s absolutely something that we think about,” Molaro said about showing Howrd’s family. “At some point, I’m interested in looking further into [it]. I don’t think it would even happen this season … [but] it’s hard not to think about: Does he know this even happened? It’s a very legitimate question that I don’t have the answer to yet.”
Molaro added that Howard’s mom passing away was going to play a big role on his feelings moving forward. “The ways that we touch on her passing are pretty interesting,” Molaro added. “It’s too soon for me to talk about it, but it can’t help but affect his life in ways that I don’t think he even expects. I find it interesting that the ways it creeps back up and affects him are ways that he wasn’t even thinking about when it happened.”
The end result certainly wasn’t what fans had in mind with Bennett involved… When fans on Reddit were asked about the worst storyline in TBBT’s history, this one kept coming up. “Howard is reunited with his half brother in one episode and is never seen or heard from again,” the statement with the most upvotes reads. A user adds, “This, so much wasted potential.”
We’re not exactly sure what took place, but the actor and character completely disappeared after a one-off episode. It must’ve been a major bummer for Bennett himself, getting such a role and seeing it end after one taping.
Wasted potential without a doubt, as over 1 million viewers tuned in on YouTube to watch the moment back. Truthfully, this was far from the only wasted or forgettable storyline that took place in the series throughout its 12 season run.
The Howard’s Half Brother Storyline Was Far From The Only Regrettable Storyline
Other stories were so bad that the showrunner Steve Molaro spent his entire time off thinking of ways to undo them… Season 4 ended with a major cliffhanger as Penny and Raj hookup. Chuck Lorre was the advocate for this moment, but Molaro really hated the impact it might have on the group’s dynamic. He was adamant about changing it, and was able to come up with a solid cover up. “I really did not like that season finale ending,” Molaro admitted. “I spent the entire hiatus being upset about it… I went upstairs to [Lorre’s] office right when we got back to work [on Season 5] and said something like, ‘This is really bothering me. I think I have a way that we can… get out of it and preserve the characters as they are.’ He didn’t love it, but he knew it was important to me to the point that he conceded.”
The stars of the show weren’t fans of other moments regarding their characters either. Kunal Nayyar was not pleased with the number of lines he had throughout the seasons alongside the opposite sex. It wasn’t until season 6 that the actor finally saw the show drop Raj’s mutism.
Nayyar revealed, “It was definitely frustrating because there were episodes where I knew I could contribute in ways [but] I was handicapped by the character’s issue,” he tells TV Line.
“There were a lot of scenes where I would sit and sit and sit and then I would have to whisper something and Simon got to tell the joke. And then, after a while, I would open scripts and see if I was in scenes with a female character,” at which point he knew he wouldn’t have much to do. “After a while, the freedom to be able to speak without that was really nice, just from an acting point of view.”
With 279 episodes shot, there were bound to be issues behind the scenes with certain storylines. Thankfully, the good outweighed the bad.
