Posted in: CBS, TV | Tagged: The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory: Helberg on Show's Lasting Success, Howard & More

Simon Helberg (The Audacity) on The Big Bang Theory pilot, playing Howard Wolowitz, the Chuck Lorre series's lasting success, and much more.

It might have been seven years since the last episode of CBS's The Big Bang Theory, but for Simon Helberg and everyone in that ensemble cast, it was a life-changer. The actor, who's since had roles on AMC's The Audacity, NBC's Night Court reboot, and Peacock's Poker Face, spoke to Variety about the surprise response he had to the pilot and success of the Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady sitcom as aerospace engineer, Howard Wolowitz, one of four friends at Cal Tech, who try to balance their secondary academic commitments to their socially awkward lifestyles, hitting all the appropriate check marks of nerd stereotypes with their shared love of pop culture. The series, which also starred Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Kunal Nayyar, Melissa Rauch, and Mayim Bialik, ran for 12 seasons from 2007 to 2019.

The Big Bang Theory Star Simon Helberg Reflects on Pilot, Success, and Growth as Howard Wolowitz

Helberg remembered being initially reluctant before taking on the pilot, and it becoming unlike anything he's ever shot before, "James Burrows, the god of sitcoms, was directing. I kept hearing these laughs going on and on and on," he said. "The audience laughed for a minute and a half, and he had to calm everyone down. When I entered the show, there was applause. It was so strange: 'Here he is, the guy from 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch'!' We were connecting with something people really wanted. It was hitting some nerve in the zeitgeist."

The actor discovered there are some tradeoffs in playing Howard, but saw the benefits and appeal of the series, "I remember thinking: 'This is over the top.' But he's peacocking! If you are wearing fluorescent jeans, it just has to work for you. I pass on turtlenecks now, but I still hide my neck. It's hideous over there," joked Helberg, adjusting his scarf. "He thought of himself as the center of attention, the leader of the pack, the funny one in the group, and a relentless lothario. That was not exactly who I was, but he was fun to play because he was very confident."

The biggest surprise might be that none of the dialogue was improvised, "A lot of people are shocked when I tell them, even in Hollywood. They assumed these were our jokes. Not a word of it. These writers knew the characters inside and out." TBBT saw growth in all the characters and even paired most of the initial core with Galecki's Leonard with Cuoco's Penny, Parsons' Sheldon with Bialik's Amy, and Helberg's Howard with Rauch's Bernadette, with the latter couple being the only ones to have children during the show's run. It's revealed that Leonard-Penny and Sheldon-Amy had kids after the series' run. "It's such a rare thing to get 12 years to tell a story," Helberg said. "This character started as a sleazy guy, so the writers wrote good sleazy jokes, then other writers decided to make it smarter and bring women in who added another dimension. It was the luxury of having almost 300 episodes."

When the series ended in 2019, "It was like graduating high school. I had a great experience there, but I didn't want to stay there! We felt like it was time," Helberg said. "There wasn't anything else to do with this world. We were good." The actor had a vocal cameo in TBBT's first spinoff in the prequel series Young Sheldon. It's unlikely he'll be involved in the franchise's second spinoff, Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage, which focuses on Montana Jordan and Emily Osment's title characters as Ian Armitage's Sheldon off to Cal Tech before becoming the Parsons' incarnation. There is no word if Helberg will appear in the upcoming HBO Max sequel spinoff, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe. For more on Helberg talking about The Audacity, you can check out the entire interview.

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