2020 was quite a different year for Mayim Bialik, with The Big Bang Theory having wrapped up its final season the year before. She definitely still maintained a TV presence on shows such as Celebrity Show-Off and LEGO Masters, and she even reprised her Big Bang role of Amy Farrah Fowler for a voiceover moment in CBS' Young Sheldon. Bialik now has her own new show, however, in Fox's new sitcom Call Me Kat, for which she reteamed with Jim Parsons behind the scenes as executive producers. But will audiences ever see Parsons pop up for a cameo role in Call Me Kat?
Ahead of Call Me Kat's January 3 premiere, Mayim Bialik, Jim Parsons, show creator Darlene hunt and more spoke with press during Fox's Television Critics Association winter press tour panel, where they talked about the show's origins, its fourth-wall-breaking approach, and Call Me Kat's musical sensibilities. (It's also where Bialik explained to me why this series is the best job she's ever had.) But more pertinent to the topic at hand, Parsons was asked if Big Bang Theory fans could expect to see him appear alongside his former co-star in the new comedy. Here's how he answered:
I just wanted to say that I don't know – I say 'Never say never about a cameo.' But because you asked, I do want to point out what makes one so hungry to possibly join a show like this is. It was so interesting to hear Mayim talk about what a well-oiled machine Big Bang was when she joined because I felt very similarly when we watched the first run-through that they did for this show at a rehearsal, and I felt extremely similarly when I watched the first episode cut together and being taped. I kind of couldn't believe, and I still don't fully understand how it's possible, that things seem to be running as smoothly as they are. I should knock on wood. . . . Seriously, they make something look very easy, this group of people, that is very difficult to make look that easy, and I guess they are just really good.
Jim Parsons was obviously pretty noncommittal with his answer, and it seemed clear at the time that the creative team hadn't had any serious conversations with the actor about bringing him into Kat's life and her kitty café. That could have potentially changed in the meantime, but without any outside confirmation from Parsons or Fox at any point, we'll currently have to slot a Parsons cameo into the "possible and plausible" folder.
Hopefully Jim Parsons' complimentary follow-up there is indicative of his actual desire to take part in Call Me Kat's smooth-running operation. Had he not chosen to heap such praise onto Darlene Hunt and everyone else who brings the episodes to life, it might be easier to assume that he would be just fine not going beyond his role as executive producer. But it sounds like the sitcom vet might very well enjoy taking a quick jaunt back to multi-camera comedy with Mayim Bialik.
In fact, Jim Parsons later directly talked about how much he personally enjoys Call Me Kat with a Big Bang Theory comparison, while also acknowledging that his opinions obviously aren't going to match up with everyone else's. In his words:
I can't speak for what's going to work for the rest of people watching, but I know, when I'm watching something good – I felt the same way about Big Bang before it premiered. I didn't know if anybody was going to watch it, but I was there. And I was, like, "This is working." And I feel the same way about this. I'm watching the rehearsals. I'm watching the tapings. I'm watching the shows. And I'm, like, 'This works.' I don't know if thousands or millions of other people will like it as well, but I know it's good.
To be sure, Jim Parsons also spent part of that same TCA panel talking about auditioning for Greg Daniels' The Office port, and not really understanding why an office-based comedy in the U.S. would be a good idea. So his critical finger clearly isn't always on the pulse of pop culture, which he's the first to admit, but we'll have to wait and see how viewers feel about Call Me Kat after its first week on the air.
Call Me Kat hit Fox with its series premiere on Sunday, January 3, but its normal time slot will be Thursday nights on Fox at 9:00 p.m. ET, where it will serve as the lead-in to Tim Allen's final season of Last Man Standing. While waiting to see whether or not Jim Parsons will rejoin Mayim Bialik on the small screen, head to our Winter and Spring 2021 TV premiere schedule to see what other new and returning shows are on the way.
