Fans of The Big Bang Theory, do you remember when DJ Qualls appeared on the series? It’s fine if you don’t, it was only a lone Season 1 episode, long before he was gaining attention from shows like Z Nation and The Man in the High Castle. However, getting the opportunity to star in that one episode of one of the best sitcoms of all time has majorly paid off for Qualls because of a specific benefit that comes with a network TV show.
During his conversation with Joe Vulpis, host of the Lightweights Podcast, Qualls was asked if he gets residuals from The Big Bang Theory, which aired on CBS from 2007 to 2019. The actor shared that the payment he still gets from his time on “The Loobenfeld Decay” is pretty sizable, saying:
So that is a dope residual. It was network… but also, it was a time when shows hit 22 episodes. CBS is one of the only networks that still does 22-episode series. Everybody does 12 or 8.
Originally airing on March 24, 2008, “The Loobenfeld Decay” saw Sheldon crafting an increasingly intricate cover story to cover for Leonard after he lied to get out of the two of them seeing Penny perform in Rent. This included recruiting DJ Qualls’ Toby Loobenfeld, a research assistant who double majored in Physics and Theatre, to play Sheldon’s drug-addicted Leo to help sell the story. Nearly 20 years after this Big Bang Theory episode aired, Qualls still gets decent residuals from it. That’s in part because of The Big Bang Theory’s larger episode count per season, which allows for the residuals to be bigger.
Perhaps more importantly, however, is the fact that The Big Bang Theory is still being syndicated, which is now a rarity in the TV world. When Joe Vulpis brought up how HBO’s The White Lotus only has eight episodes each season, Qualls responded:
It’s a single platform show. So it’s not going anywhere. You’re not earning any residuals off that off platform. The reason why you made decent residuals on other things is because when they syndicate, they go other places. It goes away from CBS. It goes to a Fox affiliate, wherever it goes. But these shows don’t do that. And so it’s just a different landscape.
Although The White Lotus can be viewed with an HBO Max subscription (which is also how you can watch the entirety of The Big Bang Theory), actors don’t get residuals from every time episodes of a show are streamed on a platform. Combine that with how The White Lotus isn’t being shown on any other conventional TV channels, and the residuals are nonexistent. The Big Bang Theory, on the other hand, was one of CBS’s most successful programs and can still be found if you’re channel-flipping, so it’s no wonder DJ Qualls is pleased about the residuals he’s still getting from his episode.
The Big Bang Theory franchise continues to chug along on two fronts. Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, which spun out of Young Sheldon, returns for its second season on CBS in the fall, and can also be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription. Then there’s Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, which is being made for HBO Max and will see Kevin Sussman, Lauren Lapkus, Brian Posehn and John Ross Bowie reprising their respective TBBT roles.
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