Hit CBS comedy 'Big Bang' takes quantum leap to Thursdays

One of television's top shows is moving to its new night with a bang. Consecutive repeats of last season's last four episodes mark the relocation of the hit CBS sitcom "The Big Bang Theory" from Mondays to Thursdays on Sept. 16.

The saga of nerdy physicists and apartment mates Leonard and Sheldon (played by Johnny Galecki and recent Emmy winner Jim Parsons) and their comely neighbor Penny (Kaley Cuoco) has done well from the start, but its ratings explosion of late convinced CBS to have it in place to open a different night when its fourth season begins Thursday, Sept. 23.

"The Big Bang Theory" ended the 2009-10 season as the highest-rated scripted show in the pivotal demographic of viewers 18 to 49 years old. If that doesn't make a network do all it can to support a series, nothing will. Ask the comedy's stars (including Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar as Wolowitz and Raj) how they see its popularity, though, and "astonished" aptly describes their reactions.

"I think it's always surprising when anything works out, to be honest," says Cuoco, who first starred on "8 Simple Rules" and joined "Charmed" later. "Maybe I've become a little jaded, but it is such a blessing every time we get picked up. I don't think any of us takes one moment of this for granted. It's just been incredible. You can't wrap your brain around it."

That evidently goes for a brain as large as Sheldon's, too. Now confirmed by his Emmy, Parsons has become the breakout star of "The Big Bang Theory," a big factor being the amusingly complex dialogue that he delivers so skillfully ... and that the creative team clearly loves to keep giving him. (More of it is likely in the season premiere, in which Sheldon goes on his very first date.)

"It's a surprisingly unthoughtful process for me," Parsons maintains. "It's literally more some sort of weird mouth workout, but I try to do more of that boring work before Tuesday nights when we tape, and then it's easy for the most part. Except for 'Rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock.' That was never easy."

Chuck Lorre - executive producer and creator of "The Big Bang Theory" along with Bill Prady, with Lee Aronsohn the third executive producer - says he believes the reason for the show's success is, "We kept trying. We didn't give up. It was a very torturous path, because the writers strike interrupted the first season. I think we aired eight episodes before we shut down for four months.

"Then, when we came back, they moved us to 8 (p.m. Eastern time on Mondays). This fall will be the fourth slot in four years. It's been a great journey. It's working out fine. It's not what we anticipated, but we're just glad we're still here."

"The Big Bang Theory" took a gamble last season by putting Leonard and Penny together romantically. They have broken up, but Lorre likes how the story played out. "They're very different, so it was built into their characters that it would be a difficult relationship," he says. "It seemed natural that the relationship might come together, then fall apart. Maybe it might come together again. We don't know."

Weeknight syndication is on the horizon for "The Big Bang Theory," since TBS and local stations across the country will begin running repeats next fall. And those repeats have set a record price for an off-network series: Warner Bros. Television will earn more than $2 million per episode, between all the outlets that have bought the show. Prady isn't worried that such ample exposure might harm the comedy's ratings on CBS, since, he recalls, "One of the things that happened during the writers strike is that we had shot only the first eight episodes, and they ran them over and over again. And the ratings were going up. There seems to be something about this that bears up under repeated viewing."

Lorre takes a philosophical view in forecasting how "The Big Bang Theory" will fare on Thursdays.

"It's not my job, and nobody asked my opinion," he says, "but one assumes they've given (the move) a lot of thought and that it's a good thing for the show. Given where we are now after three seasons, I'd be crazy to argue with the choices that CBS has made along the way. If they think this is a good call, that's great."