I think the story was cobbled together for Bob’s appearance, and Penny was generally out of character. But she wasn’t really part of the story, just there to set up some punch lines. It’s an episode worth watching because you don’t get to see Bob perform much anymore, but that’s pretty much it. However reports are he’d like to guest again in the future, and maybe we’ll see more of Professor Proton Jr. in other episodes also.
Was it a flaw in the script or a flaw in Sheldon when he called Arthur “Mr.” instead of “Dr.?” He has a PhD, you know.
Maybe her IQ is inversely proportional to her H[sub]2[/sub]O[sub]2[/sub] consumption?
Yeah, that really annoyed me. Why is it no one on TV can just not want kids? It always has to be that they want them but can’t have them, or they get their minds magically changed, or their character is already a douchey selfish ass so not wanting kids is just one more way to show that… feh.
Le sigh. The vast VAST majority of married couples end up having kids. This is not some plot by the TV lords to make the Childfree-By-Choice 
morons feel bad. It’s a reflection of reality.
The second any character on that show gets knocked up, thinks about getting knocked up, or tries to get knocked up is the second I stop watching it for good.
Would you suggest trying to hook it up to a pacemaker? It just seemed out of character to me. She’s not that dumb.
Bazinga!
When it comes to Howard and Bernadette having kids, I smell a spin-off. They don’t even have to separate from the main show, just deal with their parenthood in it’s own format.
An interesting thought, Howard and Bernadette could end up with some really smart short kids, Sheldon and Amy could end up with some really dorky geniuses, but Leonard and Penny’s kids will just be kind of average.
From reading different reports about the episode: Chuck Lorre decided not to announce Newhart to the live audience beforehand and he asked “What if they don’t remember me?” When he came out he got a two minute standing ovation.
Then the DJ started playing the theme song from his old show. Newhart started crying, then “Leonard” started crying.
Rumors are he may have a recurring role.
I would like to watch this spin-off as long as they live with Howard’s motha.
I am fine with Penny’s “dumbness”, because it was all related to the one concept (potato-tricity) which she clearly didn’t get. If she was being blindingly stupid over multiple things that would be annoying.
I liked the line where Sheldon asked Professor Proton if he remembered signing the picture and Proton responded with, “I wear a bracelet with my address on it.”
I wouldn’t necessarily count on it. I don’t think I even heard of a potato clock until this episode. I do recall, however, something to do with a couple of lemons and a voltage meter or LED or something. But I don’t t remember doing it in school.
While I am of course familiar with the potato clock and how it works, it is one of those things I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen myself. Certainly no science class I was ever in actually did it.
I thought that was going to be a set up for Howard getting all excited that she’d finally changed her mind and then in the end she just wants to get a dog.
While I’d prefer she be allowed to simply not want kids, that boat already sailed when they couldn’t just let her not want them but had to have her actually dislike them. I don’t want kids and never have (and made sure I never will) but I don’t have any issue with them.
I quite liked Newhart’s performance and it was worth some Woody-level stupidity from Penny for his stunned silence and simple “no” in response.
That almost made me cry. 
I did too. I have always loved his delivery and his timing was great. What a classic show.
Exactly. It seemed inconsistent to me that he would roll his eyes at someone not understanding the concept. Bob Newhart’s character was supposed to be a guy who does that experiment regularly to explain science concepts.
Maybe the point was to show that he was jaded and tired but it came off as petty disdain for what I thought was a valid question from Penny. For a fleeting moment I thought we might see Penny actually become interested in science, in the same way and from the same guy as Sheldon. Alas, they missed that for a cheap “yer stoopid Penny” joke.
The key being that the does this for 8 year olds. There are lots of questions that I’d find completely reasonable from an 8 year old that would flabbergast me from a 32 year old.
Bob’s clearly short of energy these days, but that tart, deadpan delivery is still perfect and it was a treat to see him again.
The script? Don’t worry about it; it was a one-off written around Bob, not the characters.
Maybe you just hang around smarter people than I do, but I remember explaining the concept of how to make electricity from lemons to a rather incredulous friend of mine who was an incredibly intelligent and talented English barrister and writer. Leagues ahead of Penny’s intelligence as portrayed, but somehow he either forgot that class or it wasn’t covered in his studies. I don’t find Penny’s dialogue to be particularly “dumb” or evidence of her getting any dumber.