The Big Bang Theory is such a huge hit nowadays that it's easy to forget that "Bazinga" and "Soft Kitty" haven't always been staples of pop culture. The addition of Amy Farrah Fowler to the existing ensemble of nerds helped to elevate the comedy from the Season 3 finale onward, and she's become one of the funniest characters over the years. As it turns out, actress Mayim Bialik didn't even know what she was getting into with Big Bang Theory. In fact, all she really knew was that she had been referred to on the show as the really smart girl from Blossom. Bialik had this to say about her first impression of The Big Bang Theory:
I had never seen it. I had heard about it and thought it was a game show, 'cause someone told me I was mentioned on it, I think in the first season.
Mayim Bialik revealed that she thought The Big Bang Theory was a game show while speaking at the #BlogHer2016 Experts Among Us Conference (via DailyMail). It actually makes a lot of sense that she would mistake the sitcom for a game show after being told that she had been mentioned. Bialik was best known for starring in Blossom prior to landing the gig on Big Bang Theory, but she wasn't exactly a household name in the meantime. I can definitely imagine a question on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? or even Jeopardy about the name of the sitcom actress.
Interestingly, Mayim Bialik was mentioned as the girl from Blossom when the boys of Big Bang were discussing their version of a trivia competition. Raj mentioned her as a candidate for a physics bowl team in a Season 1 episode. Check it out!
Mayim Bialik does indeed have a PhD in neuroscience, which she earned from UCLA in 2007 after leaving showbiz for a spell. She only returned to acting because the end of her academic career meant the end of her health insurance, which in turn meant that she was an actress on the audition circuit with a neuroscience PhD on her résumé. No wonder she landed a role on The Big Bang Theory. Amy Farrah Fowler was still a character in development when Bialik auditioned, and Amy's career as a neurobiologist is directly influenced by Bialik's neuroscience PhD.
Season 9 of The Big Bang Theory was big for Amy Farrah Fowler as both a scientist and a woman. She spent time at a neuroscience convention that took her off-screen for a while and left boyfriend Sheldon in some serious Amy withdrawal. Their relationship had advanced in a big way earlier in the season when they reunited after a break and finally slept together. Not a whole lot of that happening on game shows. American ones, anyway.
The Big Bang Theory will be back for Season 10 on Monday, September 19 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. Check out our fall TV premiere schedule to see when your other favorite shows will return to the airwaves in the not-too-distant future.
