Fans of The Big Bang Theory will know that Kaley Cuoco’s Penny was a very important part of the series since its very first episode, though looking back, co-creator Chuck Lorre feels that it took some time for the writers to really figure out how best to use the character for the show.

On March 17, The Official Big Bang Theory Podcast was launched, kicking off what will be a companion podcast for every episode of the hit sitcom. The first episode featured Lorre as a special guest alongside former Warner Bros. Television Group chairman Peter Roth, who joined host Jessica Radloff to discuss the original unaired pilot. One major difference with that pilot is that Cuoco hadn’t yet been cast, with two other female characters featured with Johnny Galecki’s Leonard Hofstadter and Jim Parsons’ Sheldon Cooper. The plans were changed to have Penny replace the two women, and the way Cuoco played her helped make the character more relatable for viewers.

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“They could be as obnoxious, or for Sheldon, as off-putting as possible, but you forgave them, because there was this kind of childish naivete,” Lorre explained (via People). “The magic of Kaley was, Kaley’s character — as we figured this thing out on the fly — was amused by them, was not critical. If she got angry, it wasn’t harsh. The audience really responded to that.”

Roth added, “[Penny] was never judgmental about these characters. She was bemused by them. In fact, they brought more judgement to her than she did ever of them. And I thought that was also an important difference between the character of what Penny brought versus the character of what Katie brought in the original unaired pilot.”

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“There was a sweetness,” he continued, “an endearment that she felt towards them that I think the audience — I think Chuck said it exactly right: The audience wanted to protect these two boys, these two men, these two innocents, and [Cuoco] honored that.”

The First Episode Is Still Flawed Per Chuck Lorre

Lorre noted that while Penny coming into the show helped get the formula of the series right, there was still a learning curve in how to best utilize the character. He said that early episodes of the show presented Penny as a “goofy blonde who says foolish things,” noting, “Even after the second pilot, we had so many episodes to go before we started to understand that there was a brilliance to Penny’s character that we had not explored.”

Of course, the Leonard and Sheldon characters are highly intelligent in many ways, but both of them greatly struggle when it comes to how to properly interact with other people. This was the big advantage Penny had over the two, as this was something she excelled in. That helped create the right balance for the show in a way that resonated with viewers.

“It’s a cliched character: the dumb blonde,” Lorre continued. “And we missed it. We didn’t have that right away that what she brought to this story, this series, to these other characters was an intelligence that they didn’t have. A kind of intelligence that was alien to them, an intelligence about people and relationships and family.”

He added, “She brought a humanity to them that they were lacking. And that took a while to figure out. In the beginning she was sadly one-dimensional in many ways, but the gift of a TV series that starts working is you get time to learn.”

The Big Bang Theory is streaming on Max.

Source: The Official Big Bang Theory Podcast

The Big Bang Theory

Created by

Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady

First TV Show

The Big Bang Theory

First Episode Air Date

September 24, 2007

Cast

Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar

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