The VERY Weird Version Of Big Bang Theory You Never Saw

fortunately i stumbled across a magazine that featured women with large buttocks and by stumble across you mean removed from your sock drawer and brought with you this is the big bang theory you've never seen it you can't stream it anywhere but it exists and it's very very weird but more importantly it's very bad i've looked at a few unaired pilots for this channel and this well this is an entirely different show and it doesn't work at all to the point where even after enjoying parts of the pilot a network required an entire rework of the show pitch but what this also is is an interesting lesson in the realities of traditional tv and how to identify what's wrong with something before it becomes a much bigger issue so this is a look at what happens when pilots go bad on why the original version of penny was fired and replaced and how one of television's most iconic characters was originally kind of a mess what you're about to see is a version of the big bang that was passed on by every network it was taken to during the o6 pilot season oh and the pilots a black mark for the network and can only be found in standard def so that's what you're getting here he's just acting on his evolutionary imperative to protect a fertile female in jeopardy oh good i was afraid it might be something creepy this is the original version of penny in the big bang theory she is borderline unwatchable in this pilot the high level structure here is kind of the same the guy started the dna bank then young woman is long meets two nerdy guys and moves into the building what's this problem this isn't where we normally sit we sit at that table over there that's our table hey i cannot impose on you guys thank you so right up front we'll just sit for three days a week talk except here she comes to stay in the guy's apartment and the problems start from there for starters katie who would obviously be turned into penny in the final show is just plain mean in fact in audience testing creator chuck lore would later say that the biggest feedback was that audience members wished and i quote that the mean lady would stay away from the sweet boys this version of penny doesn't care about the guys she's manipulative angry and frankly unenjoyable to watch it doesn't help that amanda walsh the actress playing katie who is quite good has absolutely no chemistry with jim parsons and johnny galecki you're asking me to dinner yes why and that's a problem when you're going to have your character who in this pilot spends a bunch of time making fun of the guys for their inexperience with women in fact penny's presence here plays more like a screen test than a pilot it doesn't work lesson here in casting you hear about chemistry a lot in film and tv and probably have a hard time identifying when it works and that's because it's working there is chemistry when you cast actors who don't play well off of each other especially in sitcoms however the timing becomes an issue jokes don't land emotions don't come across the easiest way to spot this is actually to watch movies like alvin and the chipmunks or hop or even transformers watch how detached the actors seem from their cg counterparts or how much they have to over act to make up for the fact that there's usually nothing but rubber balls in front of them on set and they're not playing off of anything and so a lot of things are either flat or incredibly overacted but mostly flat if you get the same feeling from characters on a sitcom that's how you know there's a chemistry issue in casting when it feels like they could be engaging with rubber balls when it feels like there isn't a human in front of them and that's present here penny isn't charming or funny she almost plays like a villain but she's not the only character that feels off we were in costume of course he was doing such an effective job of portraying a vulcan caught up in the pon farm mating fever i couldn't say no where things really take a turn for this pilot isn't just how dramatically they had to change sheldon cooper after it this is a perfect depiction of misunderstanding character in the original pilot sheldon was a mess of ideas some of which were diametrically opposed to one another inconsistency and character here sheldon is actually kind of a dog for example at that donation bank he says that a magazine with a big behind on it helped him complete his process and then argues about how totally normal that is another character we'll talk about in a second talks in the episode about how her and sheldon's nighttime encounter a while back was filled with role play and when he sees vulnerable katie on the street he cares nothing for her just like the final version of sheldon but instead of continuing that indifference this sheldon appears to show some physical interest in her yeah that's right the original version of big bang has a sheldon cooper that was stifled but much more advanced in one specific department to the point where sheldon and leonard would have been vying potentially for pennies and a character we'll get to in a second romantic attention simultaneously why doesn't this work well when you pit two main characters against each other for the affection of a third main character not only is your conflict too obvious but once it's resolved once you split the audience with that decision team x or team x more importantly here sheldon isn't written particularly well they try to combine social confusion with that kind of physical intent that's only played for comedy and so you get something that plays well like there's just two versions of leonard good cop bad cop and written as he is here when you overtly and immediately give sheldon physical desire he plays like a physically frustrated outcast instead of a guy that simply struggles with communication and human connection but let's get to that character i keep mentioning let's put our cards in the table shall we right now leonard and i are doing research together it's casual professional a couple of months from now there'll be a transition hey how about a cup of coffee there are no howard and raj here the original version of big bang didn't have a howard and raj they were created in response to gilda this woman right here you might notice a similarity to someone else once again but we'll get there gilda was the pilot's response to katie or original penny she was her exact opposite it take no prisoners cutest for kids style character that was meant to act as a competing romantic interest for the leonard and sheldon of the show so instead of a group of five friends hanging out in an apartment like the final show had become a tried and true sitcom trope by the way what you had was two stifled and nerdy 20-somethings competing for the attention of two more dominant women gilda was an uncomfortable presence in the pilot she confused a simple storyline but she's also dry uninteresting and a burden to the place both her and penny are not well-written characters this two-guy true girl sitcom style could have only ended one way but by removing gilda keeping and reworking penny and adding two more guys they solved that problem so who is gilda anyway here because my mother and i have agreed that i will date at least once a year interesting my mother and i have the same agreement about church well let's talk about what for this pilot actually ended up making it back in the show or at least the final pilot penny's abandoned in a lone storyline obviously would make for the same plot as the final pilot so with the guys going and starting their day with the donation gilda would three full seasons into the show later become the template for amy farah fowler they're essentially the same character down to their wardrobe and hairstyle oh and the original theme song [Music] yep blinded by science so i guess that would change but hey still a science-friendly song look the big bang theory is obviously a polarizing show and topic on the internet but regardless of its quality it's hard to appreciate what chuck lore and team accomplished here they took a risk they made their own pilot for a show outside of the studio system using their own money and it was bad it failed but instead of being defiant and saying they just don't get the genius of my thing or we're just not talking to the right people if we find them they'll understand our show they swallowed their pride took the feedback went back to the drawing board and turned one of television's worst failed pilots into one of the most successful sitcoms in tv history whether the big bang is for you or not it is one of the finest examples of course correction in the industry so if you think your thing sucks if you're being told that a problem might exist in your work your writing your art take another look at it the feedback could be wrong it could be misplaced but you the artist will always be the last person to know for sure but it's always better to be the last person to find the problem than it is to never find it at all well guys that is it for this episode of nerd soldier if you enjoyed the video as always press that like button down below if you haven't hit subscribe do that as well i'll just make sure you you know get all the videos that come to this channel and hopefully on your screen right now are two more episodes of nerd soldier you can click on either of those to stay right here and see what else i've talked about recently and hopefully i'll see you guys in the next video

Channel: Nerdstalgic

Views: 1,160,247

Rating: 4.9143114 out of 5

Keywords: Big Bang Theory, Big Bang Theory Penny, Big Bang Theory Sitcom, Big Bang Theory TV Show, Big Bang Theory NBC, Big Bang Theory Reunion, Big Bang Theory TBS, Big Bang Theory Finale, Big Bang Theory Fired, Big Bang Theory Best Of, Big Bang Theory Season 9, Big Bang Theory Farewell, Big Bang Theory News, Big Bang Theory History, Big Bang Theory Facts, Big Bang Theory Community, Big Bang

Id: dXejBIaL9xg

Length: 9min 3sec (543 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 09 2021