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Within the penultimate episode of “The Big Bang Theory,” titled “The Change Fixed,” all the pieces modifications for Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler — the married, science-minded couple performed by Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik — after they came upon they’ve gained the Nobel Prize in physics for his or her shared work in tremendous asymmetry. (Additionally, after literal years, their constructing’s elevator will get mounted.) After seeing footage of herself on-line that she does not like, Amy, aided by Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar), will get a reasonably modest and barely modernized makeover … however because it seems, Bialik wasn’t a giant fan of this plotline.
In Jessica Radloff’s 2022 guide “The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series,” Bialik advised the author that she did not know if Amy actually wanted a makeover, although she acknowledged that she benefited from it on a private degree. “It is a case the place I do not know that I agreed with our writers, however I even have final religion in them, and that is a part of being a crew participant on a present,” Bialik admitted.
“I liked that I received to put on some nicer garments, and it was actually a thrill to have my hair lower after having the identical [style] for all these years. It was straightened [all those years’, which damaged my hair in ways it may never recover from, which is fine, because now I have short hair and I’ve stopped trying to see if it can ever be healthy again. But honestly, it was so exciting that I didn’t have to wear it straight anymore, and I could have some more character to my hair and my face.”
“So it felt really good that people could see me that way, but in some ways, it did feel like a betrayal of our Amy,” Bialik continued, name-dropping a department store that actually shut down in 2018. “We didn’t go crazy and have her dressing in ways that completely didn’t look like her. She still wore kind of sensible things — like what you’d get at Loehmann’s.” Changing Amy’s appearance was still something Bialik had a major conflict about. “I thought it would be, ‘Let’s dress Amy up and take her out for the night!’ I didn’t think it would be like, ‘Here’s her new normal!” (What Bialik means by that is Amy maintains her “new style” during the Nobel ceremony, though she does add a very personal, very “Amy” touch … a tiara.)
Executive producer Steve Holland said he understands
Executive producer and writer Steve Holland also spoke to Jessica Radloff extensively for her book, and while he acknowledged that Mayim didn’t love this storyline, he felt like it made sense for the narrative. “I think this was one of those moments where the story in the script wasn’t exactly the way Mayim had pictured it,” Holland revealed. “We felt that the storyline was really honest, because oftentimes, when people see themselves on TV or in pictures all the time, it can make you really self-conscious. It felt real in a way that we thought was interesting, but I don’t know if Mayim ever completely came to terms with that storyline.” He continued:
“We were honest about where we were coming from and why it was okay that Amy can be complicated and not really care about her appearance that much, but on some level, it was something that we had talked about as writers who are not on camera a lot; you go to things like the Emmys and you start getting pictures taken and it makes you have respect for actors who have to see themselves all the time. You get very self-conscious about things you’ve never thought of before. Like, ‘I don’t care what I look like — I’m wearing a T-shirt and jeans!’ Doesn’t matter. And then I see pictures, and I’m like, ‘Why didn’t I put on a nicer shirt?’ So it felt very human and real to us for Amy.”
Still, as Holland said, Bialik’s disagreement didn’t fully stop her from doing her job as a performer. “But to Mayim’s credit, even though I don’t think she 100 percent agreed, never for a second was she like, ‘Well, I don’t want to do it,'” Holland clarified. “She voiced her opinion and we had a discussion about it, and she was like, ‘Okay, here we go.”
Some rougher jokes were cut from the scene where Raj suggests a makeover for Amy on The Big Bang Theory
Still, as Steve Holland said, Mayim Bialik did give some feedback about the scene between Raj and Amy where he finds her crying over the “unflattering” shots of her in the bathroom, and he took her quite seriously. In the final version of the scene, Raj does make some light jokes — after telling Amy she’s a beautiful woman, he says, “By the way, if you are not happy with those pictures, then make some changes. Get a haircut, new clothes, new glasses, bigger glasses, no glasses. Then you won’t be able to see those pictures.” Still, he encourages her to tap into her inner beauty and appreciate herself, and it sounds like the original scene might have veered away from that.
“Also, the scene where [Raj] finds Amy crying within the lavatory initially had some jokes in there that veered on the imply facet, and Mayim precisely pointed that out,” Holland acknowledged. “We had been like, ‘You are proper, these are too imply. We’re gonna lower these out.’ Generally you will get misplaced; you are in a writers room, you are making an attempt to get a joke, it will get a giant snicker, and generally that may blind you to the very fact till you see it onstage. We tried to be good safeguards to that and the solid, who had been additionally actually protecting of their characters, as they need to be.” Clearly, all of it labored out ultimately … and no less than Bialik actually liked her haircut, even when she additionally later admitted she did not even like watching the present all that a lot.
“The Big Bang Theory,” together with “The Change Fixed,” is streaming on HBO Max now.
