The first season of the American television

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady for CBS. It aired from September 24, 2007, to May 16, 2019, running for 12 seasons and 279 episodes. The show originally centered on five charact ...

'' aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

from September 24, 2007 to May 19, 2008. The Season 1 DVD came without a

gag reel A blooper, or gag reel, is short clip from a film, television program or video production, usually a deleted scene, containing a mistake made by a member of the cast or crew. It also refers to an error made during a live radio or TV broadcast or ...

and is, so far, the only ''The Big Bang Theory'' DVD set not to have one. The reissued

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

, which was released on July 10, 2012, includes a gag reel that is exclusive to the set. The episodes on Blu-ray are all in remastered surround sound, whereas the DVD version had stereo. Two of the main characters, Sheldon and Leonard, are named after actor, director, and producer

Sheldon Leonard Sheldon Leonard Bershad (February 22, 1907 – January 11, 1997) was an American film and television actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. Early life Sheldon Leonard Bershad was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of middle-class ...

. Although this season received mixed reviews from critics,

Johnny Galecki John Mark Galecki (born April 30, 1975) is an American actor, In television, he played Leonard Hofstadter on ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019) and List of Roseanne and The Conners characters#David Healy, David Healy in ''Roseanne'' (1992–1 ...

and

Sara Gilbert Sara Gilbert (born Sara Rebecca Abeles; January 29, 1975) is an American actress best known for her role as Darlene Conner on ''Roseanne'' (1988–97; 2018), for which she received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and its sequel, ''The Co ...

both selected the episode " The Hamburger Postulate" as a

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

submission for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, respectively, at the

60th Primetime Emmy Awards The 60th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 21, 2008, at the newly opened Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California to honor the best in U.S. prime time television. The ceremony was hosted by Tom Bergeron (who was also hostin ...

, but both ended up not receiving a nomination.

Jim Parsons James Joseph Parsons (born March 24, 1973) is an American actor. From 2007 to 2019, Parsons played Sheldon Cooper in the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory''. He has received various awards, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstandin ...

selected the episode " The Pancake Batter Anomaly" as a

submission for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series at the

, but he ended up not receiving a nomination.

Production

The series' initial pilot, which was developed for the 2006–07 television season, was substantially different from its current form. From the later series, only

and

were in the cast, and their across-the-hall neighbor Katie was envisioned as "a street-hardened, tough-as-nails woman with a vulnerable interior". Katie was played by actress

Amanda Walsh Amanda Walsh is a Canadian actress, writer, and former VJ for the Canadian television station MuchMusic. Early life Walsh was born in Rigaud, Quebec. She went to Hudson High School, in Hudson, Quebec. Career Walsh began working as a profession ...

. They also had a female friend called Gilda, who was played by

Iris Bahr Iris Bahr () is an American actress, comedian, director, writer, author, producer public speaking, and performance coach. She is best known for her recurring role as Rachel Heineman on ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', Perla on ''Hacks'', her solo show ...

. The series' original theme music was also different, using

Thomas Dolby Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher. Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including "She Blinded Me ...

's hit "

She Blinded Me with Science "She Blinded Me with Science" is a song by the English musician Thomas Dolby, released in 1982. It was first released as a single in the United Kingdom in October 1982. It was subsequently included on the EP ''Blinded by Science'' and the 1983 re- ...

". The series was not picked up, but the creators were given an opportunity to revise it, bringing in the remaining leading cast and retooling the show to its current format. The original unaired pilot has never been released on any official format, but copies of it have circulated online. The second pilot of ''The Big Bang Theory'' was directed by

James Burrows James Burrows (born December 30, 1940), sometimes known as Jim "Jimmy" Burrows, is an American television director. He has received numerous accolades including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards and five Directors Guild of America Awards. He was honored ...

, who did not continue with the show. This reworked pilot led to a 13-episode order by CBS on May 14, 2007. Prior to its airing on CBS, the pilot episode was distributed free of charge on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

. The series premiered on September 24, 2007, and was picked up for a full 22-episode season on October 19, 2007. Production on the series was halted on November 6, 2007 due to the

2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike From November 5, 2007, to February 12, 2008, all 12,000 film and television screenwriters of the American labor union Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), and West (WGAW) went on strike. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike primarily so ...

. ''The Big Bang Theory'' was replaced by a short-lived sitcom, ''

Welcome to The Captain ''Welcome to The Captain'' (previously known as ''The Captain'') is an American sitcom television series created, executive produced and directed by John Hamburg. Andrew Reich and Ted Cohen also serve as executive producers. The show is about ...

'' on February 4, 2008. The series ended up returning on March 17, 2008 in an earlier time slot.

David Saltzberg David Paul Saltzberg is an experimental particle physicist and a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who is known for his science consultancy work on various television shows and films, such as ''The Big Bang Theory'', ''Manh ...

, a professor of

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

and

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

, checks scripts and provides dialogue, math equations and diagrams used as props. Clips from the first season finale, " The Tangerine Factor", gained popularity on the Chinese video-sharing website

Tudou Tudou, Inc. () is a Chinese video-sharing website headquartered in Shanghai, China, where users can upload, view and share video clips. Tudou went live on April 15, 2005 and by September 2007 served over 55 million videos each day.Johnny Galecki John Mark Galecki (born April 30, 1975) is an American actor, In television, he played Leonard Hofstadter on ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019) and List of Roseanne and The Conners characters#David Healy, David Healy in ''Roseanne'' (1992–1 ...

as Dr. Leonard Hofstadter *

as Dr. Sheldon Cooper *

Kaley Cuoco Kaley Christine Cuoco ( ; born November 30, 1985) is an American actress. She starred as Bridget Hennessy on the ABC sitcom '' 8 Simple Rules'' (2002–2005), Penny on the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019), and as the title ch ...

Penny A penny is a coin (: pennies) or a unit of currency (: pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. At present, it is ...

Simon Helberg Simon Maxwell Helberg (born December 9, 1980) is an American actor and comedian. From 2007 to 2019, he played Howard Wolowitz on the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019), and won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Support ...

Howard Wolowitz Howard Joel Wolowitz, M.Eng. is a fictional character and one of the protagonists on the 2007–2019 CBS television series ''The Big Bang Theory'' created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady and portrayed by actor Simon Helberg. Among the four main mal ...

Kunal Nayyar Kunal Nayyar (, ; born 30 April 1981) is an actor. He gained recognition with his portrayal of Raj Koothrappali on the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019), and voiced Vijay on the Nickelodeon animated sitcom '' Sanjay and Craig'' ( ...

as Dr. Rajesh "Raj" Koothrappali

Recurring cast

Brian Patrick Wade Brian Patrick Wade (born June 9, 1978) is an American actor and physical trainer, best known for his television roles as Capt. Craig Schwetje in the mini-series '' Generation Kill'', as Kurt (Penny's former love interest) in ''The Big Bang Theo ...

Kurt Kurt is a male given name in Germanic languages. ''Kurt'' or ''Curt'' originated as short forms of the Germanic Konrad/Conrad, depending on geographical usage, with meanings including counselor or advisor. Like Conrad, it can also a surname an ...

* Vernee Watson as Althea *

Leslie Winkle The American television sitcom franchise ''The Big Bang Theory'', began with the multi-cam laugh track sitcom of the same name created and executive produced by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, which premiered on CBS on September 24, 2007, and end ...

Laurie Metcalf Laura Elizabeth "Laurie" Metcalf (born June 16, 1955) is an American actress and comedian. Known for her complex and versatile roles across the stage and screen, she has received various accolades throughout a career spanning more than four d ...

as Mary Cooper *

Mark Harelik Marcus Frank Harelik (born June 5, 1951) is an American television, film, and stage actor, and playwright. Early life Harelik was born in Hamilton, Texas. In 1909, Harelik's Russian Jewish grandfather, Haskell Harelik—upon whom Harelik's ...

as Dr.

Eric Gablehauser The American television sitcom franchise ''The Big Bang Theory'', began with the multi-cam laugh track sitcom of the same name created and executive produced by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, which premiered on CBS on September 24, 2007, and end ...

Carol Ann Susi Carol Ann Susi (February 2, 1952 – November 11, 2014) was an American actress whose career spanned 40 years. Her best known roles were probably her first and last; she debuted as the recurring character of semi-competent but likable intern Mo ...

as Mrs. Wolowitz *

Brian George Brian George (born 27 July 1952) is a British actor. He is known for his roles as Pakistani restaurateur Babu Bhatt in ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998), the Indian gynecologist father of Raj Koothrappali in ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019), th ...

as Dr. V.M. Koothrappali *

Alice Amter Alice Amter (born 11 May 1966) Mrs. Koothrappali

Guest cast

Brooke D'Orsay Brooke D'Orsay (born February 17, 1982) is a Canadian actress, best known for voicing the character of Caitlin Cooke on the Teletoon animated series ''6teen'' (2004–2010) and Brooke Mayo in the 2005 movie '' King's Ransom''. For American audie ...

as Christy *

James Hong James Hong (born February 22, 1929) is an American actor, producer and director. Known as one of the most prolific character actors of all time, he has worked in over 400 productions in U.S. media since the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1950s. ...

as Chen *

Sarayu Rao Sarayu Rao (born March 7, 1975), also known as Sarayu R. Blue, is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her recurring role as Angela on the Fox sitcom ''Sons of Tucson'', as well as Dr. Sydney Napur on David E. Kelley's ''Monday Morni ...

as Lalita Gupta *

DJ Qualls Donald Joseph Qualls (born June 10, 1978) is an American actor. He is best known for his television roles as Citizen Z on the Syfy horror series ''Z Nation'' (2014–2018) and Ed McCarthy on the Amazon Prime Video series ''The Man in the High Ca ...

as Toby Loobenfeld * Austin Lee as Dennis Kim * Andrew Walker as Mike *

Courtney Henggeler Courtney Healy Henggeler ( born December 11, 1978) is an American former actress known for her starring role as Amanda LaRusso in the Netflix comedy-drama television series ''Cobra Kai''. She is also known for playing Sheldon Cooper's twin siste ...

as Missy Cooper

Episodes

Reception

''The Big Bang Theory'' initially received mixed reviews, receiving a 59% "rotten" score on review aggregator site

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

based on 29 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10 and with the site's critics consensus reading: "''The Big Bang Theory'' brings a new class of character to mainstream television, but much of the comedy feels formulaic and stiff." It also received a 57-point score on review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, indicating "mixed or average" reviews, based on 23 reviews.

Tom Shales Thomas William Shales (November 3, 1944 – January 13, 2024) was an American writer and television critic. He was a television critic for ''The Washington Post'' from 1977 to 2010, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1 ...

of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' gave the show a positive review, saying "''Big Bang'' is the funniest new sitcom of the season". Robert Bianco of ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' also gave the show a positive review, saying "This may not be the sitcom breakthrough for which we've all been hoping, but Lorre has produced a first episode that leaves you eager to try the second". David Bianculli of ''

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

'' criticized the dialogue, particularly when the male characters explain jokes, writing that "People tuning in to ''Big Bang'' may not all be Mensa members, but they won't all be idiots, either", Henry Goldblatt of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' criticized the premise and plot of early episodes, writing that "To call this a one-joke sitcom would be a stretch", and Tim Goodman of ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' criticized the stereotypes presented in the characters, and wrote that "the writing here is so moronic and the situations so forced and mundane".

References

;General references * * *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Big Bang Theory, The The Big Bang Theory seasons 2007 American television seasons 2008 American television seasons