riginally, the lead character of Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons on “The Big Bang Theory,” was supposed to be asexual — but that particular identity changed when the character of Amy Farrah Fowler was introduced at the end of season 3. Played by former “Blossom” star and actual neuroscientist Mayim Bialik, Amy is a match for Sheldon in every way, even though she’s much more interested in pursuing the physical aspects of their relationship than he is. To that point, Bialik said that a season 5 episode where a distraught Amy asks Sheldon to cuddle with her is her favorite moment between the couple and a career highlight for her overall.
“With Jim, I get to play a lot of subtlety,” Bialik said in a behind-the-scenes video about the season, following her take on the relationship between Amy and Kaley Cuoco’s Penny, which is … less subtle, to put it lightly. “I think the cuddling with Sheldon scene was my favorite, though, and really one of my favorite moments as a performer in general.”
That cuddling comes about in the episode “The Isolation Permutation,” where Amy feels left out after her two girlfriends, Penny and Bernadette Rostenkowski (Melissa Rauch), go shopping for bridesmaid dresses for Bernadette’s upcoming wedding and don’t extend an invite to Amy. Understandably, this hurts Amy’s feelings, and after she goes radio silent for a while, she asks Sheldon to console her with some cuddling, and the ensuing scene is just as physically awkward as you can expect (considering that Sheldon Cooper is involved). Ultimately, it’s a sweet scene … and proves that bringing Amy into the “Big Bang Theory” universe was the right call.
Bringing Amy into the world of The Big Bang Theory as Sheldon’s partner was a big risk — but it paid off
In Jessica Radloff’s 2022 book “The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series,” writer and executive Steve Molaro shared something interesting: adding Amy into “The Big Bang Theory” was a little complicated, largely because she was originally intended to just be “Sheldon, but girl.” According to Molaro, the key was that they just let Bialik play Amy and see where it all went. “We, in the writers room, were into it, but we didn’t know where it was going to go,” Molaro said of this vital addition to the show’s central cast. “But we went into it like we do with all additions to the show and all the characters: We’re hopeful and trying to do our best to make it grow into something better and interesting; that was one of those that obviously did. But it took a little while to shake off the ‘female Sheldon’ description and let her become her own person.”
“There was some negative attention when I joined the cast because some people held Sheldon very near and dear to them and didn’t want him to change or become a cheesy boyfriend,” Mayim Bialik clarified to Radloff. “To me, there was never a chance of that, and I think our writers actually handled that arc of him becoming more interested in romance very, very well.”
In fact, Bialik — and Amy — became so beloved on set that Jim Parsons said he would do basically anything to keep both the actress and character on board. “I know at the audition they said they needed a female version of Sheldon, basically, but that’s untenable long-term. There was no choice but to involve the character,” Parsons shared. He continued:
“And at some point in season 4 — I don’t know if something caused it or not — I remember saying to [Parsons’ husband Todd Spiewak], ‘I will not let this character go without a fight.’ That was notable for me, only in that I almost never disagreed with the writers. But at some point I felt a certain way about working with Mayim that was like, If for whatever reason we seem to be weaning her off of this show as a character, I would go and talk to them. I said this years ago, but I believe it even more now that one of the smartest things that the writers room ever did was introduce Bernadette and Amy at a point where, as far as interests and storylines go, we did not need them yet […] They plugged these people in to see what was going to work and how it would work, and I thought it was genius.”
Another big milestone for Sheldon and Amy has a hilarious real-life backstory
Later, in the eighth season of “The Big Bang Theory,” Amy and Sheldon experience a landmark first in that season’s premiere episode, “The Locomotion Interruption.” This moment ended up being just as special as that awkward cuddle, but here’s the inside story on this other major relationship milestone: their first kiss. This episode, which takes place after Sheldon “ran away” on a train — leaving Amy dejected — features the couple’s first legitimate kiss, because I’m not counting the one where Amy is drunk and throws up right after the smooch. According to Jessica Radloff’s book, though, it was a bit challenging to film this for one specific reason … Jim Parsons was really, really sick.
“I was sick with something, like a bad respiratory cold,” Parsons recalled. “And it was ironic because I always took care of myself, and here I am sick during one of the very rare times I have to kiss her. And kiss her several times because I knew we’d have to do several takes. I was like, This is unbelievable! I felt bad about it, I really did. Mayim is always very game and never one to worry about those things too much, although she did have some sort of a thing that she was gargling every time we did a take.” Steve Molaro did go ahead and confirm something about that gargling: “Yep, Mayim was pounding Listerine between every kiss. Jim was really sick.”
Parsons was apparently visibly sweating and feverish, so Bialik rinsed her mouth out with peroxide in between every kiss, every scene, and every take, to keep her from also getting sick. “It’s such a great scene, and it turned out so great, but it was a really hard night,” she added.
“To think of all the work that went into it, I’m so glad it was so sweet,” Bialik went on. “I really loved it. Oh, and I did not get sick.” Pretty much all of Sheldon and Amy’s relationship milestones on “The Big Bang Theory” were exciting on and off screen, and you can experience them on HBO Max, where the full series is streaming.
