I think Kaley Cuoco was more famous than Johnny Galecki.
Galecki was a recurring minor character on a hugely popular sitcom over a decade before BBT.
Cuoco was the title* character on a middle-of-the-pack sitcom that ended its run in 2005, and they got extra exposure when John Ritter died early in production of the second season.
*She was the “teenage daughter” in “8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter.” There were technically two daughters, but many of the early-season jokes were about how the rules were for the hot daughter, not the bookworm.
Sitcoms usually follow one of two formulae, a wacky main character surrounded by normal people (I Love Lucy, Home Improvement), or a relatively normal main character interacting with wacky supporting characters (Taxi, Newhart). Galecki may have been cast first, and was pivotal to the show, but it’s hard to stand out as the straight man. The wacky characters are the ones that audiences notice, and can be the breakout stars.
Johnny Galecki was shown the idea for the show and was asked to play Sheldon. Galecki said he would rather play Leonard, so he was cast as him. The show’s creators then held auditions for other parts in the original pilot. They were so blown away by Jim Parsons that I suspect that they changed some of the character’s habits to fit him better. They then cast Kunal Nayyar and Simon Helberg, I think. They made the original pilot after casting a few more characters. They showed the original pilot to the network. The people at the network weren’t satisfied with it and told the show’s creators to completely redo it. The actress who played the equivalent of Penny was let go and the character was completely rewritten. The backgrounds of Sheldon and Leonard were rewritten too. They cast Kaley Cuoco into the rewritten part of the girl. They made a new pilot that was quite different from the original pilot and sold it to the network. The show’s creators, I suspect, originally thought of Leonard as the more central character, but Parsons proved to be so popular that the show gradually became more about him. Other aspects of the show have evolved over its course to be different from the original ideas, I think.
I, for one, had never heard of Kaley Cuoco before. The only actor I was familiar with was Johnny Galecki… from Roseanne. I know he was originally supposed to play Sheldon, but I can’t imagine him in that role.
Googling, the original female lead was played by Amanda Walsh (who played “Katie” instead of Penny). I wonder if she contemplates where she could be today if the role hadn’t been recast.
Sheldon doesn’t think his friends will be at the ceremony, then he looks into the audience and sees them cheering him on. As he contemplates this turn of events he has an epiphany about the nature of friendship.
It was actually an outstanding bit of wordless acting from Jim Parsons.
I think the answer is pretty assuredly “yes, of course she does” but at the end of the day it’s just one of the hundreds of jobs she didn’t get.
I watched the unaired pilot. Looks like they dehumanized Sheldon, ratcheted down Katie/Penny’s nastiness and gave them separate apartments. ISTM, those were instrumental changes leading to the show’s success.
I’d amend that slightly Sheldon doesn’t think his friends will be at the ceremony, realizes that a) he cares that they won’t be there, and b) that his behavior is responsible for their absence - thus leading to his change of heart when he sees them there (Buffy was a bonus). Agree about the acting.
Disagree. ISTR (can’t find a cite right now) Mayim Bialyk has said she had to interview for the part of Amy, just like every other actress in Hollywood. I believe her exact words were something like, “Being a star of a teenage sitcom 20 years ago doesn’t open as many doors as you’d think.”
Galecki and Parsons were cast, then Cuoco, and things just happened.
I heard that the producers were auditioning people for the main characters of Lenny & Penny, and both Galecki and Parson came in to audition for the role. But Parsons insisted he’d be a better Sheldon. When he did his Sheldon audition, the producers made him come back the next day and do it again because they thought it was a fluke. “Nobody could be that good twice.” He did, got hired, and the rest is TV history.
ETA: Chuck Lorre is amazing when it comes to spotting young talent. Montana Jordan was a background character of young Georgie in the first few episodes of young Sheldon, but he dominated every scene he was in. That kid has the potential of being a major star.
Galecki was also Rusty Griswold in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”.
Overall, outside of TBBT, it looks like Galecki has the larger, more prominent resume, but Cuoco was more popular at the time TBBT started, as she was coming off the end of “8 Simple Rules” shortly beforehand.
but at least i called it.