Studio immortalizes ‘Big Bang Theory’ as series nears its end
BURBANK, Calif. — Champagne briefly replaced scripts Thursday for a ceremony renaming the nondescript Stage 25 on the sprawling Warner Bros. production lot after the sitcom “The Big Bang Theory.”
Still television’s most popular comedy, the show will exit the airwaves and the studio it has called home for 12 years this spring.
Actors Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Mayim Bialik and the rest of the comic ensemble ran through lines for an episode that will air in early March before studio brass joined them to unveil a plaque.
“We’re going to be miserable when this is over,” series creator Chuck Lorre told the cast and assembled crew. “I’m so sad.”
Lorre said it wasn’t his call to end the series, but that now that it’s been made, the time feels right.
The cast rehearsed an episode that hints at some upcoming transitions with barely a flub. It’s not an unfamiliar ritual: They will have made 279 episodes by the time it all ends in May.
Only four other studios at Warner Bros. have a similar plaque for the series that filmed there, with others named for “Two and a Half Men,” “ER,” “Friends” and “Ellen.”
Given that he was also behind “Two and a Half Men,” it’s the second such honor that Lorre is responsible for. One of the most successful comedy producers of all time, Lorre also produces “Mom” and “Young Sheldon” for CBS.