Image Credit: CBS
The just concluded season of The Big Bang Theory has mirrored Friends in some uncanny ways, especially the love triangle between Leonard (e.g. Ross), Penny (Rachel), and Priya (Emily). Thursday’s season finale, however, took the Friends-ifying to a whole new level, after Penny (Kaley Cuoco) and Raj (Kunal Nayyar) woke up in bed together after a night of red wine and personal confessions. (Hers: She never should have broken up with Leonard. His: He’s such a sad sack, he’s taken to spending his nights downloading “increasingly shameful pornography.”)
This development has proven to be quite controversial with Big Bang fans — or at least the ones on EW.com message boards. Some felt it was far too out of character for these two crazy kids to end up horizontal; others thought it made sense enough, and besides, it was funny! Really, though, what it all boils down to is this: Is Raj and Penny’s unexpected rendezvous more like Monica and Chandler’s surprise shenanigans at the end of Friends‘ fourth season? Or like Joey and Rachel’s abortive attempt at a relationship at the beginning of Friends‘ ninth season? Both pairings were surprises that at the time seemed to come out of nowhere (in Joey’s case, his feelings sprouted in season 8), but only one coupling ended up really making any kind of sense and working to the show’s advantage.
I’m not suggesting Raj and Penny would ever really go the distance. Penny seems pretty dedicated to her crush on Leonard, and Raj still has to work out his feelings for Howard’s fiancée Bernadette. I’m more interested in long-term plausibility. Chandler and Monica hooking up panned out like gangbusters, and fueled several more seasons of storylines for the two of them. If Penny and Raj fall into this category, Big Bang‘s fifth season could hold some juicy episodes as everyone figures how to deal with their one-night stand. On the other hand, Joey’s unrequited crush on Rachel was cute, but the notion of them in flagrante felt all kinds of wrong, like the writers hastily stretched to come up with some new relationship combination; they ultimately did away with the coupling pretty much before it started. Should Penny and Raj prove to be more like this pairing, Big Bang may end up lamely papering over the dalliance and pretending it never happened.
Then again, maybe there’s a horde of Rajenny ‘shippers tucked in some far corner of the interwebs that just had their very best week ever.
What do you think?
Read more:
‘The Big Bang Theory’ season finale recap: Strange Bedfellows
‘The Big Bang Theory’: Why is Leonard with Priya?
neither, more like chandler and rachel if that was possible. to quote phoebe, penny is leonard’s “lobster”. oh the similarities
Ugh, I can’t believe people watch this lowest common denominator laugh track crap.
And I’m sure you’re “that guy” that thinks that the only reason it has a laugh track is because it’s not funny and the show has to let you know when to laugh, right? It’s a different kind of comedy than a single camera comedy. Each funny, but aiming for different laughs and different styles of comedy. It if wasn’t the rapture today I’d take more time to explain!
I’m with you with the laugh track. I hate that they use the laugh track after every single line spoken, like every single line in the show is funny. Truth is that most of the kines are not.
The shows are filmed before a live studio audience. They may enhance the laughs with recorded laughter but the comedy is supposed to be over the top and aiming for constant laughs from the audience. If the laughs weren’t there it would be even more bizarre. Single camera comedies go for more subtle humor and they are not filmed before an audience so, in contrast, they would be a little silly with constant laughter. The 4 camera comedies are like filmed plays and it is the traditional sitcom format. They aren’t as prevalent now but that doesn’t make them no longer relevant or unfunny. Friends and Seinfeld are 2 of te greatest comedies in recent memory and both had live audiences/ laugh tracks. (oh yeah and screw the rapture I guess lol)
why did you click on this story anyway if you think it’s “crap” Does insulting the faceless masses for liking a tv show help bolster your already floundering self-esteem and make you feel like a “real man”?
They don’t. You are in a coma and this is all a dream. In the real world all TV shows are ones that meet your approval, and you have so much self esteem that you don’t even post on the Internet.
Thank you, Mike!
There’s no laugh track, you idiots. There is a live audience, just like your precious Seinfeld.
Watch the extras on the season 3 combo and you’ll realize that although this show claims to be filmed in front of an audience, it doesn’t point out that the audience is people who work on the show who just pop in to watch scenes filmed over the week of filming. Other sitcoms “recorded live in front of a studio audience” are set up more like plays- rehearsed through the week and then acted out all at once over the course of several hours in front of an invited audience seated in a studio. Those shows had sets that had to be set up in the same location. “The Big Bang Theory” sets are fixed in various places around the studio, and their “audience” just watches when there is a taping occurring. And despite the “live audience,” the soundtrack is definitely augmented with recorded laughter. I’m cool with all this because I’m a big fan of the show; just have to point out that the laugh-track complainers aren’t as off as a lot of fans think they are.
“Watch the extras on the season 3 combo and you’ll realize that although this show claims to be filmed in front of an audience, it doesn’t point out that the audience is people who work on the show who just pop in to watch scenes filmed over the week of filming.”
Having been to a taping at Warner Bros. Studios, which is where they film Big Bang Theory, I can tell you that that is unequivocally false. Oh, I’m sure some people who work there go to some of the tapings, but the larger part of the audience tends to be tourists and locals who don’t work there.
They also made a VERY big deal about the fact that they do not use canned laughter. And having watched the episode after seeing the taping, I doubt they do anything to augment the laugh track. Live comedy draws in plenty of laughs in comparison to a filmed scene.
I think the writers may have erred to the point of unfixable. That should never have happened.
Leonard is just a boring white guy – plain, tries too hard to be the “cool” one if the group – Raj is funnier, better looking, and would be far more interesting with Penny, TV should showcase more interracial relationships, and not just a white guy with a minority but a minority male with a white girl
Stupid of you to make it political. It’s about lines you don’t cross, like sleeping with your ex’s friends.
I think it’s interesting to make it about race. It shouldn’t actually be a big deal either way, but calling it stupid is kind of rude.
I think Penny and Raj would be interesting. Raj definetly has some kind of charm . I must say that I would be more open to a Penny & Raj relationship if she hadn’t dated Leonard first. I’m thinking nothing really happened between them.
It will be hard to sustain a relationship when Raj is unable to speak to Penney without being drunk.
I don’t think that anything happened between them.
i don’t either. I really think it’s not what it looks like.
I think they would know easily with the semen residue
I can see Sheldon suggesting something along that line.
That’s exactly what I thought. People seem to just assume they had sex when there isn’t any proof yet it actually happened. I don’t think they’ll go there. The difference between Chandler and Monica is they were unattached friends whose one night stand blossomed into a great love. That certainly wont happen with Penny/Raj.
please let it never have happened: Sheldon felt whimsical, penny and raj were just really out of it and never did the deed, anything other than a rendezvous.
In my opinion, Raj and Penny was just a fluke. Raj still has to overcome his fear of talking to women before he can ever be able to have a real relatuionship with a girl. Penny breaking up with Leonard had to happen to keep the show going. His fling with Priya is just that, a fling. Raj needs to have a little more to do on the show,he has been overlooked for a while now. It’s time to bring him out of his shell.
All they have to do is have Leonard “wake up” at the start of next season and tell Pria he had the “craziest” dream about Raj.
That would be a perfect idea, if the writers decided that making Raj and Penny’s one night stand, a stupid mistake. I personally think it was stupid, but it was a nice change from having yet ANOTHER episode centering on the Leonard/Prya/Penny love triangle
It made for a good cliffhanger for sure, but if the writers are smart there will be no relationship. It will be more interesting to explore the fallout with Leonard, which I hope they do not gloss over. It doesn’t have to be super dramatic(after all this is a sitcom), but has to communicate a sense of betrayal.
Thank you Kevin, I think your option is pretty much the best of all mentioned. Even if they had sex, its not actually a betrayal (Hey Everyone: Leonard is LIVING WITH PRYIA!!!) although you can see how Leonard would feel that way. I think we should all relax, it was a ONE NIGHT STAND, and there is obviously NO intention to make Raj & Penny like Chandler & Monica…..OR even like Joey & Rachel.
Loved it! So funny!!
Only morons watch these Chuck Lorre garbage shows.
Ok mr sheen. Nice new nickname!
It’s Charlie Sheen.
Only a moron who hates Chuck Lorre shows would bother to read an article about one & then take the time to comment on it.
Totally Katrinka!
Good one. Katrinka!
I hated it. I hope it turns out nothing happened between the two of them.
I loved it, raj nailed the white girl – all the white people in the country are aghast and mortified – Hahahahaha!!!!!
don’t be dense. I’m not white and I am against it because it makes no sense in the story.
Imagine penny hooking up with Howard. How would that make sense?
Actually LJ it does kinda make sense. For one thing, THEY WERE DRUNK and none of the BBT characters have been averse to a one night hookup (save Sheldon of course). Also, Penny thinks Howard is skeevy (but has also recently realized how much she thinks of him as a friend!!) but she’s always been curious about Raj since he can’t speak around her unless drunk. Also, Penny is vulnerable and now she’s had trouble dating guys who are less smart than Leonard, (but Raj is NOT less smart). Plus lets face it, Raj is pretty hot, and he comes off as very sweet. I’m not in any way hoping for a Raj/Penny coupling but I think it makes some very good complications to sort out in the future.
Has anyone noticed how the women are taking over this show? Love it!
I miss when the geeks were alienated from the normal world
I was very disappointed in the way the season ended, especially since the last few episodes leading up to it were some of the best. The one with Bernadette and Howard having dinner with Priya and Leonard had me rolling. “IT WAS AN ARCHITECT!”
The women have def. become a big part of the show and their story lines are very funny in and of themselves. Great show.
All us guys know that no matter how much beer you drink, games you play and jokes you laugh at, it ain’t a night unless women were involved.
It works for a one nighter. But come on, he can’t even talk to her the morning after when he’s sober. It was just another of Penny’s bad judgements with men if she’s been drinking. Now I liked that Penny and Raj really connected in terms of a friendship. But alchol was involved for Raj. I don’t think they could work. Monica and Chandler were friends for years, and neither had found the “one” yet. It was a experiment sure, and it worked on Friends. But Raj and Penny, no thank you. I just would like if he could talk to her while sober. And they could be friends. But Penny is still in love with Leonard. This storyline should be interesting with Leonard looking hurt, jealous and on top of it looking like it’s over with Priya. This could be interesting. I think it was just one time event.
Why???? Leonard is boring, at least Raj has a sense of humor, I have noticed for the past two seasons Leonard has been increasingly reproachful of the rest of the group -trying to deny the nerd he is – in short he is a phony, I love the quirks Raj has, Leonard has no personality And just gets off making fun of Sheldon’s odd habits – if it were not for Sheldon, Leonard would not have anything to contribute
I kind of agree…Leonard is kind of boring. I am firmly in the Sheldon/Penny camp. Not a big AFF fan.
Exactly. Leonard just serves to reflect them all quirky ones, I like him, but I found him a douche with Penny, and now it’s worse because he isn’t even with her. The bad thing is that the writers believe LP is a genius pairing, when people found their drama boring enough to prefer other shows over TBBT. The thing is, we are getting tired over this storyline being dragged out. LP is boring.
The BBT shares this problem with other Chuck Lorre shows. People sleep with each other at will, relationships come in and out….and nothing ever happens. Yes, even the geeks like Leonard sleep with women at will, and unattractive men get hotter women.
Honestly, how could Leonard EVER talk to Raj or Penny if this happened? This is a deal breaker in real life, except Chuck Lorre shows….
I like the BBT, but this Lorrenian flaw may have killed it
I could mention at least a dozen shows of people sleeping with other people “at will”. Classics like Seinfeld, Sex & The City, soaps operas. This is not just a Chuck Lorre phenomenon. And I know in real life in some circles real people do the same thing.
Comic fodder for sure! This will keep the pot stirring for episodes to come. Just hope the writers do it cleverly and don’t cheese it up.
this whole show mirrors friends, thats ok with me though, its awesome, but ive noticed ALOT of story lines that are exactly like some friends episodes!
I think it’s more like Will and Jack at the end of season 5, and beginning of season 6 of “Will & Grace”. You know, they end up in bed together, naked, but nothing happened.
I didn’t really like it, but I can see how it kind of makes sense for two drunk, lonely people to hook up. It’ll create unpleasant complications, but I don’t know…I always kind of liked Joey and Rachel together. I thought they had far more in common than Rachel and Ross ever did, though of course I preferred Ross/Rachel. Still, I never found Joey and Rachel as offensive as so many people seemed to. So anyways, Raj and Penny (if we’re going to give them the portmanteau treatment, I’m gonna go with “Paj” instead of “Rajenny”) might work out okay. It’ll depend on the actors’ chemistry and how well the show can flesh out Raj in the meantime, since he’s probably the character who’s gotten the least attention over the years. I mean, it’ll probably end up that he and Penny would be horrible together, but I don’t know if I can get mad about a one-time hook-up.