While many shows are exclusively streaming these days, a lot of the best sitcoms around started on network TV, and The Big Bang Theory is no different. The bingeable science-based comedy, which centers around awkward physicist best friends Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter and co., ran for 12 seasons on CBS. What fans might not remember is that the sitcom actually went on an extended hiatus early on in Season 1. Now, series alum Jim Parsons is recalling how it changed the course of the whole show.
Though Parsons has built up quite a resume outside of the long-running sitcom, Sheldon Cooper remains his most well known (and awarded) role. With that, Parsons is often still asked about his Big Bang stint as well as his experience narrating the wildly popular spinoff, Young Sheldon. So, while he has been associated with the popular Chuck Lorre franchise for nearly two decades now, the Home actor told Us Weekly one of his most memorable moments on the show was actually during Season 1 of Big Bang, when the cast was told the show was off the air indefinitely:
I remember our first season, after about seven or eight episodes, the writers went on strike and they told us we were going to go off. We wouldn’t be doing any more until it was over. And we were all so upset by it. And it certainly wasn’t the stereotypical, and rightfully to feel like, ‘Oh God, my job,’ it wasn’t that. It was that we were already so enjoying this show and really felt we had something, and it scared us and we thought that it could mean an early end to the series.
For those who don't remember, the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike was initiated by the desire for a new contract that would allow writers to receive increased residuals from new forms of media like DVDs and even the very beginnings of online streaming (crazy concept right?). The strike started in early November 2007, not even two months after The Big Bang Theory aired its first episode on September 24, and lasted for 100 days.
At the time, Jim Parsons and his Big Bang co-stars couldn’t have known that their sci-com series would last well over 10 seasons on the air. According to Parsons, the cast knew they had potential, but a writers strike that early and that long could detrimentally slow the momentum of a show with audiences and possibly even lead to a cancellation. For a lot of them, like Kunal Nayyar who had one year left on his visa when he landed the role of Raj, this was their big break.
I have to say, had the Big Bang Theory come out in the current age of streaming domination and faced a writers’ strike, I’m not sure it would have made it. Many shows didn’t pull through the WGA strike of 2023, which was very reminiscent of the 2007-2008 work stoppage.
Thankfully, this wasn’t the case for Big Bang Theory, and Parsons revealed that being on network TV during the strike actually helped the series:
It ended up working very much in our favor. More people got to watch us in reruns and [when] we came back to [it], it became a bigger thing, but we didn’t know that at the time. And I think back on that because like I said, seven episodes in or whatever it was, all of us knew in our hearts that we were part of something that could be, it was special, and it could be to go on and it felt like the, whatever you call it, the peculiarities of the business and the way it goes might be, could have derailed it, and it could have. We got very fortunate.
Personally, I'd like to believe the handful of episodes they’d filmed and aired were enough to get people hooked. They feature enough momentum and character establishment to leave people wanting more. It seems that after watching the same reruns for months, fans were eager for new content once the strike ended. From there, the show only continued to grow, and now with two successful spinoffs and a third sister show in the works, it clearly wasn’t a fluke!
While it seems Parsons is ready to retire his beloved character after the Young Sheldon series finale, I’ll believe it when I see it. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few OG Big Bang vets pop up in the upcoming Stuart Fails To Save The Universe, starring the returning Kevin Sussman as Stuart Bloom in his familiar comic shop. Regardless, I'm glad Parsons and co. were able to remain on the air and ultimately cement their places in pop culture.
Ahead of the Stuart-led spinoff's premiere in 2026, stream all 12 seasons of The Big Bang, which are available to stream with an HBO subscription. Jim Parsons won multiple Emmys for his work as Sheldon, and his performance alone makes the show worth a watch.
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