CBS Makes Big ‘The Big Bang Theory’ Announcement – Sort Of, And Will There Be A ‘Shamy’ Spinoff?
CBS made an announcement on the future of The Big Bang Theory on Wednesday morning, although the announcement amounts to nothing you didn’t already know.
With the fall TV season wrapping up, as ongoing shows broadcast their season finales and canceled shows broadcast their series finales, this is the time of year when networks try to get their audiences excited about their upcoming fall schedules. And as E! News reports, CBS’s Kelly Kahl was trying to do just that Wednesday morning, during a conference call with the media.
However, the topic on everyone’s minds seems to be the future of the most popular comedy on network TV. The cast is signed through one more season, its 12th, and Kahl was asked about the future of the show beyond that.
“We are hopeful there will be more. As long as [Chuck Lorre] and his team, [Steve Molaro] and those guys think they have stories to tell, we’ll take it for as long as they want. We certainly hope to get a few more years out of it. It’s not slowing down.”
Of course, there will be more to the story than that. As an unofficial Big Bang Theory Twitter fan account makes abundantly clear, the cast, in addition to the producers, will also have a say in whether or not there will be a Season 13 or beyond.
The bottom line for the future of The Big Bang Theory based on the CBS announcement this morning: CBS wants to keep the show going for more seasons after season 12, but it will be up to the cast and producers whether they still want to keep making the show. #BigBangTheory
— Jimmy (@jimmy722) May 16, 2018
And, of course, it goes without saying that money will play a huge issue in contract negotiations. CBS is already paying dearly for the show, and after the cast’s current contracts end, it’s all but guaranteed that Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Mayim Bialiak, and the rest, will want lots of zeroes on their new deals.
The #BigBangTheory EPs #SteveMolero and #SteveHolland reflect on #StephenHawking‘s impact on the show: https://t.co/hqIIgnTzQl pic.twitter.com/AMSQbUOW1D
— The Big Bang Theory (@bigbangtheory) May 14, 2018
There’s also another complication, and you may have noticed it if you were paying attention to last week’s The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon season finales. Both shows basically telegraphed the possibility of a spinoff: Sheldon and Amy spoke of how they’ll raise “the kids,” on TBBT, and adult-Sheldon-as-narrator mentioned relationship contracts with “[his] own children” on YS.
In other words, as “Jimmy” puts it, there could be a Sheldon and Amy (and the kids) spinoff show. That allows CBS to continue the franchise while cutting costs in the process.
Just a theory based on CBS Boss saying “Sheldon and Amy together many stories to tell” If the entire cast of TBBT does not want to continue CBS may spin off Amy and Sheldon and cut the costs by paying Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik big bucks and putting a cheaper cast around them.
— Jimmy (@jimmy722) May 16, 2018
Of course, this is all speculation about things that will take place months in the future, if at all. Unless and until CBS brings the principal cast of The Big Bang Theory for Season 13 (and beyond) contract negotiations, fans will just have to accept that Season 12 will be the end of TBBT.
