In 2017, two years earlier than “The Big Bang Theory” got here to an in depth after twelve years and the identical variety of seasons, two of the present's newer solid members kicked off negotiations over their pay. What ended up occurring? The remainder of the solid rallied behind them … and made certain that everybody within the ensemble could be paid pretty.
According to a report in Variety from that 12 months, earlier than the present's tenth season, the principle solid of the present — Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, and Kaley Cuoco, who play Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter, Raj Koothrappali, and Penny, respectively — all agreed to take a pay reduce in order that their huge paychecks could possibly be extra evenly distributed to Melissa Rauch and Mayim Bialik, the present's relative newcomers and the ladies behind the characters Bernadette Rostenkowski and Amy Farrah Fowler. The outlet says that the collection' unique 5 gamers had been all making about $1 million per episode on the time, however Rauch and Bialik had been solely (“only”) making $200,000.
Here's the factor: Even although the 5 unique principals all agreed to knock $100,000 off of their very own paychecks, Rauch and Bialik would nonetheless make manner lower than their colleagues with a per-episode price of roughly $450,000. So did all of it work out?
Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch weren't the primary Big Bang Theory solid members to negotiate for more cash
Just a couple of months later, Variety adopted up to announce that Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch would each obtain half 1,000,000 {dollars} per episode for 48 episodes — which made up the present's ultimate two seasons — and that Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kunal Nayyar, Simon Helberg, and Kaley Cuoco all dropped down to $900,000 to facilitate the change. This truly wasn't the primary time that two “supporting players” on “The Big Bang Theory” requested for a better paycheck; the present is a real ensemble, so in a simply world, each single performer would have obtained the identical outlandishly excessive price. Still, Nayyar and Helberg had to combat for their very own price again in 2014.
At the time, Deadline‘s Nellie Andreeva reported that Nayyar and Helberg accomplished negotiations for raises forward of the present's eighth season and that the “deal was closed with just minutes to spare.” Andreeva's insider data says that initially, Nayyar and Helberg would have obtained 25% lower than Cuoco, Galecki, and Parsons, however ultimately, a $70 million deal saved the 2 performers joyful and introduced them even with their co-stars. Again, we're speaking about fairly some huge cash right here, however nonetheless — Nayyar and Helberg's characters Raj and Howard are principally most important characters, so the concept they might make lower than the opposite three is fairly ludicrous.
After they joined the solid, Melissa Rauch and Mayim Bialik solely made The Big Bang Theory higher
Originally, Kaley Cuoco's Penny was the one female presence on “The Big Bang Theory” — and he or she did not even get a final title. Throughout the present's early seasons, the boys deal with Penny like an object — Leonard drools over her, Howard massively creeps her out, and Raj is so nervous he cannot even converse to her — and admittedly, it is not an ideal look for the present to simply have one “token” woman who's fairly and does not know something about science. (To be honest, Cuoco is nice as Penny, and even in these earlier episodes, she makes certain the character isn't one-dimensional.) Thankfully, Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch's Amy Farrah Fowler and Bernadette Rostenkowski joined the present in its third season — in visitor and recurring arcs, respectively — and got here on board full time in season 4, giving Penny two new mates and the entire present a stable enhance.
It's greater than okay that Penny is not a scientist like the opposite characters — in actual fact, it helps her function a type of proxy for viewers members with out PhDs in physics — however bringing two ladies in STEM onto the collection actually did not harm. Not solely do Bernadette and Amy pair up with two of the collection leads, Howard and Sheldon, however they're additionally each good of their respective fields; Bernadette will get her PhD in microbiology throughout her storyline and scores a profitable job in prescribed drugs, and Amy is an achieved neurobiologist. “The Big Bang Theory” still has some problems regarding its female characters (particularly, the way in which the boys deal with them), however including Amy and Bernadette to the combo made the present a lot better … so it is a rattling good factor they bought paid extra for their performances.
