Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady’s 2007 sitcom “The Big Ban Theory” was hotly contested when it was on the air. In the early 2000s, certain kinds of “geek” interests moved from the cultural fringe directly into the mainstream, and previously derided niche interests like “Dungeons & Dragons,” comic books, long-form video games, astronomy, trivia, and fantasy in general all became widely accepted as a new entertainment zeitgeist. New kinds of kid-acceptable pop artists came to be canonized. The geek ecosystem was widespread and easily available to any curious takers.
“The Big Bang Theory,” however, was lambasted by some viewers for its inaccurate portrayals of modern-day geeks. The characters on “Big Bang” were all scientists or intellectuals, and they all loved “Star Wars,” comic books, and RPGs, but they didn’t talk the way geeks talked, nor did they organically celebrate geek culture. “The Big Bang Theory” relied too heavily on outdated “dweeb” stereotypes left over from 1984’s “Revenge of the Nerds,” and didn’t do enough to update its own ethos to match reality.
But, despite the criticism, the show was hugely successful. Like, HUGELY successful. Successful enough to retain high ratings for 12 straight seasons. And, accurate or not, certain legitimate giants of the geek world appeared on the show for cameos, usually just to make the main characters squirm in excitement. Stan Lee, Stephen Hawking, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Steve Wozniak, Nathan Fillion, George Takei, Leonard Nimoy, Wil Wheaton, LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner, Carrie Fisher, James Earl Jones, and Buzz Aldrin all appeared.
Mayim Bialik played the character Amy Farrah Fowler on “The Big Bang Theory” starting in its third season, and she had the honor of working with most of the above celebrities. Bialik, in an article she wrote for Grok Nation in 2019, admitted that she could play it cool for most celebrities, but nearly broke down when a “Lord of the Rings” star came to the set. It seems she was a big fan of Sean Astin.