Kaley Cuoco's Favorite The Big Bang Theory Episode Features A Crowd-Pleasing Moment
"The Big Bang Theory" ran for a really long time — 12 years and seasons with 279 episodes in all, to be really precise — so it seems a little hard to believe that the cast members have favorite episodes. Still, during an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2012, several of the main cast members — Johnny Galecki, Mayim Bialik, Melissa Rauch, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, and Kaley Cuoco, who played Leonard Hofstadter, Amy Farrah Fowler, Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz, Howard Wolowitz, Raj Koothrappali, and Penny — mentioned episodes they particularly loved, and Cuoco's pick was really sweet.
”My favorite episode will always be the Christmas episode when Penny gives Sheldon a napkin signed by Leonard Nimoy," Cuoco told the outlet, referencing Jim Parsons' main character Sheldon Cooper. "Sheldon is so overwhelmed with emotion he proceeds to hug Penny for the first time ever! I think Jim and I had our own set of secret tears flowing.” This particular moment happens in the season 2 episode "The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis," where the stubborn and often inconsiderate Sheldon tries to find a Christmas present for Penny and ends up buying several baskets of bath-related items, determining that he'll give Penny whichever one is the closest financial equivalent to the gift he receives. Penny has a surprise up her sleeve, though.
Penny hands Sheldon a napkin from her job at The Cheesecake Factory, and when Sheldon is confused, she reveals that Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy, used it while eating at the establishment. "Yeah, he came into the restaurant," Penny tells Sheldon. "Sorry the napkin's dirty — he wiped his mouth with it." Sheldon, overwhelmed, freaks out and hugs Penny — but interestingly, the initial idea for this scene was different, and honestly not quite as funny.
Penny's gift was originally a little different — but writer and producer Steve Molaro had a better idea
According to Jessica Radloff's 2022 book "The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series," executive producer, writer, and eventual "Big Bang Theory" showrunner Steve Molaro said that while this moment is a great one in the show's history, it was originally different ... and maybe not quite as special. "It's actually not the best episode, which people tend to forget, but it is one of the best moments and scenes of all time," Molaro said bluntly before revealing the initial concept. "The plan was Penny would give Sheldon an autographed picture of Leonard Nimoy. I changed it to a napkin because I knew we could up the stakes."
Molaro's explanation for this was pretty sound, which is that an autographed picture is simply easier to procure — and less interesting. "An autographed picture — something you could get on eBay — kind of bummed me out," he said. "I was like, 'We have to be able to do better than this.' We wound our way to a napkin, and [writer Adam Faberman] suggested it was smudged because Leonard Nimoy wiped his mouth on it. As soon as I heard that, I knew it was his DNA." Unfortunately, as Molaro told Radloff, showrunner Chuck Lorre didn't like when things changed without his knowledge — which was the case here — so Molaro was nervous, and true to form, Lorre, according to Molaro, started getting frustrated, saying, "I thought it was supposed to be an autographed picture." Molaro insisted his idea was better, and Lorre and his co-creator Bill Prady sat down to look at the revision. So what happened next?
Steve Molaro's version of the scene was great — and Jim Parsons wholly agreed
"So Chuck and Bill read the scene, and Bill starts laughing when he was reading the part about 'You gave me the DNA of Leonard Nimoy,'" Molaro recalled, singling out one of Sheldon's reactions to the gift before noting that fellow writer Eric Kaplan lent him a crucial assist. "And I looked at Eric, and Eric goes, 'All I need is my own healthy ovum and I can make my own Leonard Nimoy,' and Chuck burst into laughter. It was just magic from the first time it happened. And that napkin scene was a turning point for me." Both of those lines made it into the episode, and even Jim Parsons knew just how important that moment was when he filmed it.
Parsons, who also spoke extensively to Jessica Radloff for the book to discuss his years playing Sheldon Cooper, essentially said this scene was a gift for an actor. "The scenes leading up to it didn't flow as well as the rest did," Parsons admitted. He elaborated:
"But once we arrived at the gift exchange, I couldn't believe my good fortune in being given such a scene. It was one of those classics that you almost immediately know when you read it out loud at the table read. It has to do with really crackerjack comedy ideas coming from the most passionate character-based places. One of the things that gives me chills in a good comedy is when a character — in this case, Penny — is the unlikely person to deliver such a meaningful moment to Sheldon. There's nothing on paper that says that should be happening, so when it does, there's something very moving."
Penny and Sheldon's friendship would progress into one of the series' very best relationships throughout the show's run; Penny is often one of the only people who can comfort or mollify Sheldon, and in the series finale, Sheldon even calls her his best friend. It's pretty impressive that this friendship started with a napkin, even if it was "touched" by Leonard Nimoy. "The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis," along with the rest of "The Big Bang Theory," is streaming on Max now.