The Big Bang Theory Creators Revealed Their Favorite Moments, And They're Perfect

"The Big Bang Theory" ended after twelve seasons back in 2019, but after all this time, you might be wondering — what moments do the show's creators love the most? In 2022, they revealed some of their favorite scenes, and you won't be disappointed.

In conversation with Entertainment Weekly, the sitcom's co-creators Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady opened up about the show's unaired original pilot, how Kaley Cuoco's Penny unlocked something important throughout the series, and, most importantly, what moments stood out to them across twelve seasons and nearly 300 episodes. For Lorre, his favorite moment came from the reshot pilot, where Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) lays claim to one particular "spot" on the couch in the apartment he shares with Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki) as their new neighbor Penny comes to visit for the first time. The monologue Sheldon delivers about precisely why he needs to sit in that spot is pretty great, according to Lorre.

"Jim Parsons' speech about why he sits in that particular spot on the couch in the pilot episode," Lorre mused. "I think we all watched that and understood something remarkable was happening. There were no real jokes in the speech, it was just a worldview that was so precise, and he brought it to life. It was an astounding moment I'll never forget."

So what did Bill Prady say when asked about moments that stand out to him from "The Big Bang Theory?" His answer actually led to an interesting pivot — namely, the fact that Penny helps multiple characters evolve throughout the series. Prady starts off mentioning a different plotline, though — specifically, one where Leonard is dating Priya Koothrappali (Aarti Mann), Raj's (Kunal Nayyar) sister.

"I love the episode where Sheldon doesn't like that Leonard is dating Raj's sister," Prady recalled. "She was a lawyer and kept finding loopholes in the roommate agreement [between Sheldon and Leonard] and was using it against him. Sheldon gets so mad that he ends up threatening to tell her parents she was dating Leonard and uses the 'Star Trek' self-destruct sequence to do it. To me, that was this great nerd explosion." That's when Prady gets to the Penny of it all: "Then there's the incredible moment with the Christmas gift where Penny gives Sheldon a napkin with Leonard Nimoy's DNA on it."

"That's when he hugged Penny," Lorre responded, realizing what an enormous milestone this is for the high-strung, touch-averse Sheldon. "It was the first time he laid a hand on her. That was a big character breakthrough moment, he was so alienated up to that point."

Later in the Entertainment Weekly interview, Bill Prady and Chuck Lorre were asked if they'd ever reunite the cast of "The Big Bang Theory" for a reunion special of some kind, which just led to both co-creators singing the praises of the show's series finale, "The Stockholm Syndrome."

"I know that people do get characters together for reunions and things like that, but it's hard to imagine what you would see after the finale because I found the finale was one of the most beautiful and satisfying episodes," Prady said of the show's last-ever episode, which he clearly loves. "The closure it brought was astonishing. It's hard to imagine reopening the story after that." Lorre added, "I agree, I don't think we left anything undone. That was as close to a perfect finale as we could have ever dreamt of doing. I loved it."

"The story for that finale really starts about four episodes before," Prady continued, marveling over the show's final run of episodes. "The last four or five episodes are actually just one giant story. But would I like to stand on a stage someplace and watch those characters again? Yes, absolutely. Can I imagine a way to do it? I can't. But, personally, would l like to go to Stage 25 and see that set and those costumes and those people? Yeah, I get choked up just thinking about it. But I don't know how we'd do that."

"The Big Bang Theory," including Prady and Lorre's best moments and that great series finale, is streaming on Max now.