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UPDATED: Simon Helberg will have a lot more money to buy those bright-colored turtlenecks. The Big Bang Theory co-star has just landed a big raise from the series’ producer Warner Bros. TV. I hear Helberg’s new salary is in the range of $100,000-$125,000 an episode, up from the roughly $40,000 he is currently making. Helberg and fellow co-star Kunal Nayyar entered salary re-negotiations shortly after series’ leading trio, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, and Jim Parsons finished theirs in September, netting identical salary increases from about $60,000 last season to $250,000 in 
Season 5, $300,000 in Season 6 and 350,000 in Season 7, in addition to a piece of the CBS series’ backend. With Helberg set, Nayyar remains the only Big Bang cast member who has not reached an agreement with Warner Bros. for a new higher salary. I hear such deal is expected and, just like with Parsons, who held out for more money before accepting the terms of the studio’s final offer that Galecki and Cuoco had agreed on, if he doesn’t, his re-negotiations may be tabled until the summer. That would leave Nayyar at the current salary of about $25,000 per episode. It is not clear if Warner Bros. offered Helberg and Nayyar “favored nations”-type deals with equal financial terms the way it did with Galecki, Cuoco and Parsons. While not featured as prominently as Galecki, Cuoco and Parsons early on, Helberg has grown into a key cast member and a regular scene stealer. In a testament to his character’s increased importance on Big Bang, Melissa Rauch, who plays his character’s girlfriend, was recently upped to a regular on the show.
Big Bang, now in its fourth season, has successfully relocated to Thursday where it has ranked as the top program of the night in adults 18-49 for the past five weeks. In May, the ensemble comedy landed a blockbuster syndication deal that netted Warner Bros. $2+ million per episode.
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Good for them. The entire cast contributes to the working humor. They deserve proper pay, especially if CBS is throwing MILLIONS at a drug addicted hot head who’s laughably unreliable (Charlie Sheen) for his show that’s only a fraction as funny as Big Bang, which also gets higher ratings.
2 1/2 is much funnier, more about the family dysfunction than Charlie Parker alone.
Sheen is worth every single dime on that show.
Totally agree. I see why there’s the backlash against him, but the show is seen as hilarious by a LOT of people.
Totally agree. No one would watch without Sheen, who is a deadpan delight in this show.
It’s Harper, not Parker.
This show is so not funny it’s painful. What a huge waste of money. Try watching this show without the laugh track even worse, ears and eyes bleed.
They don’t have a laugh track.
That “Big Bang Theory minus laughter” clip (which ruins the timing by taking out the audience laughter) is sort of a test of viewer sophistication, since a viewer who thinks it’s “not funny without the laugh track” doesn’t understand comedy, timing, or the classic appeal of putting a performer in front of an audience and trying to make them laugh.
Some shows spoon-feed the viewer with music, reaction shots and talking heads. And some assume that the audience knows when to laugh without those artificial enhancers. When you hear the audience laughter on a traditional sitcom you’re hearing a show that trusts its ability to make real people laugh, while “Community,” though funny, thinks we need to be spoon-fed by someone telling us that this was a reference to something.
Big Bang is a fun show but they aren’t very friendly to the WB tours. WB Tour Guides should be on any 100 most influential people in Hollywood. The tour guides single-handedly kept CHUCK going. Miami Medical? Ignored it. Mentalist? Mentioned on every tour. See how that works Galecki?
Pancho,
Kindly contact my office and let us know what difficulties you are having with the production.
Bill Prady
Executive Producer
“The Big Bang Theory”
I think Billy WIlder is in heaven and looking down at “Big Bang” and muttering, “They call THAT mess comedy? The nerve of ‘em! If that’s funny, so is my damn elbow!”
Never did get the appeal of Big Bang. I used to remember when TV had truly funny shows that were genuinely well-written, shows such as “NewsRadio” and “Frasier” and “Just Shoot Me”….
Sigh. The good ole days.
An addendum:
Does anyone really think “Big Bang” out funnies “Community” ??? I think “Community” might just be the smartest comedy on television in several years.
Geez Bobby, “Community” should have been cancelled by its first commercial break.
Yes, Big Bang is funnier than Community. You are confusing “snark” with “smart”.
I totally agree. While I don’t dislike Big Bang Theory by any means, Community is one of the best/most creative 30-minute comedies I’ve seen in a long time. Why BBT theory has a giant audience and Community next to none has always seemed off to me.
All three of the shows that you listed down there i thought were complete crap. Frasier annoys me. Newsradio never made me laugh. The only one i was able to watch was Just Shoot me and the laughs were too far apart for me to enjoy it.
Big Bang Theory>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>All 3 combined
While the laught track certainly is putting-off, The Big Bang Theory remains funniest CBS comedy, although that’s not saying much. It’s not as good as NBC’s Thursday comedy block, and not even as good as most of ABC’s Wednesday one. But it’s much much better than every other ‘comedy’ on CBS.
It is an ensemble cast they should all be paid the same. Honestly they couldn’t lose Helberg and Nayyar as too much Sheldon would be annoying. The cast should have stuck together like the Friends cast did.
Absolutely!! Well said Shageen. The show would not be the same without any of them – they should get the same pay.
We love the show but do agree they should lose the laugh track.
Helberg was consistently excellent on “Studio 60″, so it’s nice to see he’s landed in another role that suits him well and that he’s being rewarded for his efforts.
Aww man, I miss Studio 60. Where are shows like that these days?
I agree with the Studio 60 comments, I loved Helberg’s impressions of Nicolas Cage, especially the cookery one. Well worth buying the S60OTSS box set for that alone.
“Big Bang” is pure laughs for me — perhaps because I appreciate characterization and timing and Jim Parsons certainly handles both beautifully. And the cast as a whole works very well together.
No, I am not associated with the show or the network.
While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, the FACT is that a lot of people do find this show funny and the ratings are high. This show is SUCCESSFULL no matter how much some of you want to bad-mouth it.
ALL shows use some sort of a laugh track,well those that have laughs do. It’d be impossible not to. Lucille Ball used to refer to it as “sweetening.” This means if the audience is distracted by something technical or there’s a retake the laugh isn’t there or it isn’t as great the second time around. So they need to put the laughs back in.
“Two and A Half Men” is nothing but toliet humour. Every other joke releateds to a bodily function. This is funny if you’re in preschool but otherwise getting laughs by mentioning excretions is the lowest of lowbrow.
BBT is the highlight of my week. Fabulous ensemble cast, great comedic timing, editing and writing. 2.5′s toilet humor has become unbearable to me, can’t sit through it anymore.
Amen.
Two and A Half Men is televisions TOP rated sitcom currently on air. So hilarious and all the actors work extremely well with each other.
Big Bang Theory has a specific audience base and is restricted in its material.
Two and A Half Men is widespread in its audience base and has a broader viewership for all age demos with Evelyn Harper and Berta to Charlie and Alan and then to Jake. More family oriented and inclusive. Just the best, for sure.
Big Bang Theory is really limited and will probably never cross over and reach certain groupings that the script/writing will not be able to accomodate. It is doing OK in its new time slot.
I have appointment viewing with Two and A Half Men and then I get to the Monday Night Football game.
Thursday I am connected to The Office and 30 Rock and then it is reading for awhile or watching some of my Daytime shows via DVR.
Hey everyone,
Stop hating on Charlie Sheen.
He needs all that money to pay for his lawyers and his whores.
BBT is an awesome show, but I find Nayyar’s character jokes old now. Ok, he needs to be able to speak to girls now, seriously, this is stupid. I could really do with out his character.
I also do not like Sheldon’s girl “friend” so not funny. I would have been funnier to get a “genius” level HOT model type to like him and he not return her affections. This would drive Lenard and Howard NUTS. she could befriend and move in with penny. Now that would be funny.
For the 2 1/2 men lovers/haters. It is definitely at the end of it’s run. I really enjoyed it for the first few seasons. But it has now become tired-just as the old classics (like seinfeld/friends/all in the family) ultimately did. It will limp along now till the contracts run out (or a certain star ends up being unable to finish out the contract). This season has bean a big drop in quality.
On the other hand, TBBT is definitely the best show on the big 4 networks now.
I avoided watching this show for the first three seasons. What an idiot I was. I started watching season four. and promptly purchased seasons one two and three. It is a rainy day in Houston and me and my family are enjoying our very first The Big Bang Theory-athon. And loving it. Thank you for making it and thank the stars for being great.
Richard
Television is not an actors’ medium, it belongs to the writers. What are they making?
Agreed! Until Big Bang started, I’d almost given up on network television completely. I think the reason alot of people don’t like it is because they don’t understand it. One’s perception of comedy is limited by their own experiences and understanding. Some people like slap stick. Some like crude or gross comedy. These types of “comedy” aren’t satisfying to someone who craves intelligent comedy. The Big Bang Theory provides entertainment to intelligent people who aren’t amused by such simple comedy.
Ditto. Amen. (x 100) = Totally Agree.
I too had given up on network comedy completely. Found BBT by accident one night and I’ve been watching ever since. I think the whole cast is wonderful. I also think Simon Helberg’s timing is right up there with the big-boys, such as Robin Williams and Richard Prior (also known for their innate, ace-perfect timing).
MHO….
The Big Bang Theory, and Two and A Half Men are the funniest shows on television. Thank Goodness Sheen is gone. He was a one note and his voice is irritating to listen to. I deplored Chelsea, she couldn’t act her way out of a paperbag. I only watched the show because of Jon Cryer and the rest of the cast. Kudos to Mr. Lorre, the cast of Big Bang and Two and A Half Men.
Richard Barlow and Jenny S said it all ………WIth my DVR tuned to FOX and TBS i have stored enough BBT for many marathon nites that have been really enjoyed by most of my friends…Maybe because we are /were nerds and have academic backgrounds it has moved to the top of many of our all time favorite sitcoms list……including Seinfield, Curb Your Enthusiasm, 30 Rock….The writing is so tight…… The timing delivery among the characters so precise …The absolute genius of Jim Parsons….
Its hard to believe that Two and a Half Men came from the same source…I find that show unbearable to watch
I accidentally found this show when it started on TBS and now it is MUST-SEE-TV, as they used to say in the old days. Soooo funny, and the cast is fantastic. I must admit that Wolowitz has become my favorite character and that was a HUGE surprise, considering. Simon Helberg is perfect in the role. I really think a lot of other actors could play the other roles (yes, even Sheldon), but NOBODY could play the hell out of Wolowitz like Helberg does. I am not related to or know Mr. Helberg; I just think he is the best thing on TV right now. Maybe a spinoff someday? I’m just sayin’.
Also, does anybody know where you can find a collection of Chuck Lorre’s closing credits – you know, those long stories he tells at the end of his shows. I don’t watch 2.5 anymore but I’d like to read those and also the ones from BBT. Are they somewhere online? Thanks!
I discovered big bang theory in november and for christmas i got the boxset i watched it cover to cover within 3 days i love the show its different from the humor in other shw and i feel an almost friendshp with the characters and that should be celebrated
Big Bang is going down the toilet of all sex jokes, all the time.
Simon Helberg is this generation’s Robin Williams. Robin W was more than Mork. Simon H is more than Howard.