Over 12 seasons, “The Big Bang Theory” put all of its main characters through the wringer at one point or another. Many of these complications were romance-related, some of them heartbreakingly so, but some of them were nothing more than straight-up sitcom shenanigans. Sure, we might’ve related to Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and the gang on a human level at times, but what kept viewers tuning in for over a decade was the prospect of sheer silliness.
It’s hard to say if anyone got it worse than the others, but it certainly feels like Penny (Kaley Cuoco) got a tad more than her share of abuse. As a young woman from Omaha, Nebraska seeking stardom in the wilds of Hollywood (who was almost an android in an early iteration of the series), Penny has to deal with manipulative producers and gatekeeping casting directors. It’s hard out there for a Cornhusker in the Golden State. But it’s downright excruciating when you find yourself stuck in the sequel to the awful, unreleased horror movie that you’d prefer your friends not know about.
And while this was rough for Penny, it proved to be a horrendous ordeal for Cuoco.
Serial Apeist was a hairy situation for Kaley Cuoco
In the season 7 episode “The Friendship Turbulence,” Penny turns down an offer to appear in “Serial Apeist 2: Monkey See, Monkey Kill,” the sequel to the godawful “Serial Apeist.” Expensive car trouble ultimately forces her to reconsider, and she soon finds herself in a cage, coated in hair and dealing with the horror that is Wil Wheaton.
Penny hates it in the episode, and Cuoco loathed the experience in real life. As she told TV Line:
“The worst experience was filming ‘Serial Apeist’ and getting covered in f***ing hair from head to toe. I was like, ‘Really, you guys? This is what’s happening?’ And Chuck just thought it was so funny. He loved it. I never understood why.”
It’s probably cold comfort to Cuoco – actually, it might make the situation worse — that Lorre admits to not caring for the “Serial Apeist” arc himself. So why did he put his star through such a trying experience? Per Lorre:
“We wanted Penny to have some small success in her from of being a successful actor, but it’s not my favorite episode. Doing a show within a show — writing the ‘bad’ scenes that she’s in an otherwise good show — was not our finest moment. The goal was legitimate, which was to put her in a bad movie and see her struggling to make something work.”
That seems incredibly not worth it (especially since, from title to concept, “Serial Apeist” just isn’t funny on any level), but it’s hard to argue with a man who’s produced some of the most successful sitcoms of the 21st century. Nevertheless, Cuoco deserved much better from the producer who wouldn’t have had a long-running hit without her brilliant performance. At least we know the experience hasn’t put her off revisiting Penny somewhere down the road.
