The Big Bang Theory is one of the best sitcoms of all time, and it remains a celebrated piece of work nearly a decade after its conclusion. Now, thanks to the oral history book and podcast, fans are continuing to learn BTS details of the beloved CBS hit. This now includes a montage involving Simon Helberg's Howard Wolowitz, which was apparently cut from an episode. And it would’ve been very wild.
A lot of changes were made to The Big Bang Theory, both before and throughout the show’s 12-season run. Naturally, scenes were cut from episodes, either because there wasn’t enough time or it just didn’t make sense. Director Anthony Rich shared on The Official Big Bang Theory Podcast that one scene that was cut was a wild montage centering on Simon Helberg’s Howard during Season 4, Episode 13, “The Love Car Displacement,” when Bernadette’s ex, Glenn (played by Rick Fox), came back into the picture:
There was a whole montage sequence that they had to cut out. It was Wolowitz fantasizing about what would have happened with [Bernadette] and [Glenn] and/or things that would have, like — it was a competition between him, and there was this one thing where Rick Fox is throwing Wolowitz up in the air like a baby.
The episode in question sees Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) running into an ex-boyfriend Glenn at a science conference, and Howard is immediately threatened by him. He and Bernadette end up arguing due to his jealousy. Given the narrative, a wild montage like the one Rich describes would've been great. I laugh just thinking about the notion of the very, tall Rick Fox throwing Simon Helberg up in the air.
I'm definitely feeling a bit of FOMO over this portion of the episode not seeing the light of day. On that note, though, i’s been so long since the episode was filmed that even Rich can't really remember if the montage was ever actually shot. Still, his pitch is making me wish it happened:
I don't remember if we shot it. I'm trying to remember if we shot it. But my pitch was I got one of those little round trampoline things, and so you don't see it in the shot…. So Simon would jump up and down as Rick kind of held him up, and they would slow-mo it so that it just, you know, he kind of [moved] into the shot and it just looked like he was tossing a baby up in the air, and it was hysterical. I do remember Chuck [Lorre] howling with laughter, and I feel like that was a run-through. I know we shot some of the montage stuff, I don’t know if we ever shot that.
Unfortunately, with a show that has 22-minute episodes, it’s hard to keep everything in, and Howard being thrown in the air like a baby was just a casualty of the limit. Rich even admitted that there were “so many funny things” in “The Love Car Displacement” that ended up getting cut. How many other scenes were actually shot or just pitched is unknown, but I'd love to know about the other deleted moments.
That being said, that Season 4 episode works as is, and the montage may have ended up feeling like fluff. Said installment also serves as a major chapter in the Wolowitz/Rostenkowski love saga. (Now, many consider Howard and Bernadette to have the best marriage on the show.) So I'm fine with how everything panned out, though I'd be lying if I said the mental image of Fox tossing Helberg up in the air won't stick with me for a while.
All 12 seasons of The Big Bang Theory are available to stream now with an HBO Max subscription. Fans can also use that membership to stream the franchise's latest entry, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe.
