# Could the Big Bang universe be bigger than we see on screen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 15, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229 "2018-05-15T17:42:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/1 "2018-05-15T17:42:24Z")
So I watched the two free episodes of Cobra Kai plus some clips of other episodes from the first season and really liked it so I looked up the IMDB page. I was shocked to learn that Daniel-san’s wife is also Shelly Cooper’s twin sister. I then recalled that I recently saw Leonard climbing through the window of an old girlfriend he apparently had a kid with at some point in his past (and she REALLY resembles Leslie Winkle- so perhaps Leonard still carries a torch for the violin [viola?] playing scientist that both he and Howard slept with). It made me wonder if other roles of the actors could be off screen reality in the BB universe (without going to the place where all of television is in the mind of an autistic child in Boston). I like to believe that Missy is separated from her husband because he is reverting into a teenager who brawls with his old rival and she can’t stand it anymore. In fact, that is why she hid her pregnancy from him. Leonard and Penny both have big secrets from each other; he has a child with a woman in his past—and all those trips to the arctic, and on research ships are really him sneaking away to ‘try again’ with the mother of his child. Penny is still acting and has a national travel commercial that runs frequently to pay for her shoes and the storage locker she stores them in. She deftly keeps Leonard from seeing the commercials by distracting him with science fiction or sex, which frustrates Leonard and drives him to think about his baby mama all the more. Could the Big Bang universe be bigger than we see on screen? ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/2 "2018-05-15T18:40:12Z")
Well, since Raj dated the original [Ann Veal](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003779/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t32), I imagine neither George Michael nor GOB Bluth would be happy about that, and there would have to be a confrontation at some point. I would definitely watch that crossover. ---
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/3 "2018-05-15T18:52:55Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Well, since Raj dated the original [Ann Veal](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003779/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t32), I imagine neither George Michael nor GOB Bluth would be happy about that, and there would have to be a confrontation at some point. I would definitely watch that crossover. Obviously, Raj made a horrible mistake. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/4 "2018-05-15T19:02:18Z")
> [@Temporary\_Name](#): > > I then recalled that I recently saw Leonard climbing through the window of an old girlfriend he apparently had a kid with at some point in his past (and she REALLY resembles Leslie Winkle- so perhaps Leonard still carries a torch for the violin [viola?] playing scientist that both he and Howard slept with). Holy Cow! I have zero recollection of this scene. Which episode? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/5 "2018-05-15T19:11:49Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > Holy Cow! I have zero recollection of this scene. Which episode? Episode 4. Of _Roseanne_. ---
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/6 "2018-05-15T20:05:51Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > Holy Cow! I have zero recollection of this scene. Which episode? > [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Episode 4. > > Of _Roseanne_. Exactly, at about the 1:47 mark of this clip: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8QDmZQYkCk) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/7 "2018-05-15T20:35:17Z")
Hmm. Could BBT be part of the Tommyverse?: [Tommy Westphall - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Westphall#The_Tommy_Westphall_Universe_Hypothesis) > [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Episode 4. > > Of _Roseanne_. :: golf clap :: ---
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/8 "2018-05-15T21:28:57Z")
Sheldon is recording an oral memoir of his childhood in Texas, and Kripke took a sabbatical last year (or two?) to reunite with his English wife and three kids, one of whom is disabled. The guilt of abandoning them causes a swight speech impediment that does not exist when he is with them. There is every possibility someone might film scenes to go along with Sheldon’s narration to document how a bright young man from Texas grew up. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/9 "2018-05-15T21:47:33Z")
I give you [Vernee Watson](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0914937/), who has played Nurse Althea Davis 6 times on the regular _TBBT_ as well as the original unaired pilot. She seems to move around a lot. Fertility clinic, ER nurse, floor nurse. Hmm. More on this later. She also played a Nurse Robinson on _Young Sheldon_. The name change could be due to marriage/divorce. More on this later. She has played a nurse many times: 23 listed credits on _General Hospital_, Nurse Smits twice on _House_. Also: _The Ant Bully_, _The West Wing_, _Home Room_, _The X-Files_, and _Angie_. Some list various nursing positions. She played an unnamed nurse, Nurse Lorna _and_ Nurse Phyllis on _Two and a Half Men_ over a span of 11 years. Hmm. More on this … now. Given the variety of nursing positions she has held and the various names used, there is something going on here. Perhaps, something (dum-dum-dum) … _evil_. Maybe she _has_ to move around from position to position, changing her name, etc. What is she, an Angel of Death or something? (And what would an Angel of Death at a sperm bank be doing? Cue _Every Sperm is Sacred_.) ---
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/10 "2018-05-15T22:17:13Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Hmm. Could BBT be part of the Tommyverse?: [Tommy Westphall - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Westphall#The_Tommy_Westphall_Universe_Hypothesis) > > :: golf clap :: > [@Temporary\_Name](#): > > . . . . .perhaps Leonard still carries a torch for the violin [viola?] playing scientist that both he and Howard slept with). > > It made me wonder if other roles of the actors could be off screen reality in the BB universe\*\* (without going to the place where all of television is in the mind of an autistic child in Boston). \*\* I like to believe that Missy is separated from her husband because he is reverting into a teenager who brawls . . . . That didn’t take long!! I know I embedded that reference deep in the middle of a paragraph about something else, and I knew someone would make the connection. I just didn’t think it would be one of the first responses! ---
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/11 "2018-05-15T22:48:05Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I give you [Vernee Watson](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0914937/), who has played Nurse Althea Davis 6 times on the regular _TBBT_ as well as the original unaired pilot. > > She seems to move around a lot. Fertility clinic, ER nurse, floor nurse. Hmm. More on this later. > > She also played a Nurse Robinson on _Young Sheldon_. The name change could be due to marriage/divorce. More on this later. > > She has played a nurse many times: 23 listed credits on _General Hospital_, Nurse Smits twice on _House_. Also: _The Ant Bully_, _The West Wing_, _Home Room_, _The X-Files_, and _Angie_. Some list various nursing positions. She played an unnamed nurse, Nurse Lorna _and_ Nurse Phyllis on _Two and a Half Men_ over a span of 11 years. Hmm. More on this … now. > > Given the variety of nursing positions she has held and the various names used, there is something going on here. Perhaps, something (dum-dum-dum) … _evil_. > > Maybe she _has_ to move around from position to position, changing her name, etc. > > What is she, an Angel of Death or something? > > (And what would an Angel of Death at a sperm bank be doing? Cue _Every Sperm is Sacred_.) You are on to something here. Without even bothering to check, I am going to assume she is the one who asked Howard if he had unplugged his robot hand, and who also asked where the rest of the robot was during THAT particular trip to the ER. When Howard told her he only built the arm and hand, she deadpans: “Cause that’s all you needed, huh?” If she is not an angel of death, I am going to assume she was recuted by the Bartlett White House to spy on various suspicious situations. In fact, I bet Ron Butterfield caught her in the act as an ‘Angel of Death’ and notified the president who consulted with Leo McGarry and they turned her into a domestic spy. In this case she is keeping tabs on a potential terror cell that builds weapons for the Air Force, used stolen rocket fuel to blow up their elevator, and nearly spilled classified secrets to a hot North Korean spy. Some dopey menu designer called in a warning they were shooting lasers at the moon trying to blow it up, but when they investigated it turns out one of them got the Mars Rover stuck while trying to impress a woman in his lab. Her reports to the CIA/NSA/Homeland Security suggests they are most likely users of psychedelic drugs as one of them insists dislocated shoulders are caused by …’adhesive ducks’? ---
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/12 "2018-05-15T23:42:35Z")
> [@Temporary\_Name](#): > > Obviously, Raj made a horrible mistake. Sorry, I totally mis-remembered the line: Raj made a HUGE mistake ---
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/13 "2018-05-16T04:19:13Z")
Leonard was trying to write a joke for a speech he was giving, and made a whole list of ‘A Priest and a Rabbi walk into a bar’ jokes. Eventually he had a complete file of these jokes and he accidentally included it in a segment he wrote and submitted for the next installment of Cosmos. The TV people assumed it was a pitch for a new show and shopped it around. It became **Living Biblically** and they gave Leonard an Executive Producer credit (under a pseudonym to protect his scientific career). It is obviously him, look at the picture of the guy. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/14 "2018-05-16T13:34:38Z")
And when she was being investigated, she worked temporarily at the DMVm but quit after a run-in with Shledon Cooper. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/15 "2018-05-16T13:36:47Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > And when she was being investigated, she worked temporarily at the DMVm but quit after a run-in with Shledon Cooper. She? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/16 "2018-05-16T13:41:49Z")
?Big Bang’s resident nurse. And does anyone really know what her name is? ---
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/17 "2018-05-16T14:23:07Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > And when she was being investigated, she worked temporarily at the DMVm but quit after a run-in with Shledon Cooper. Oh yes, forgot about that one. Good catch! I still think she is a government spy tasked with keeping an eye on our heroes. When Sheldon was searching driving websites they assigned her work at the DMV, and they made sure he was at HER window so she could interact with ‘her principal’ suspect. When Howard called for help about the robot arm, the agents had her at the ER in nurses uniform before Howard, Raj, and Leonard arrived. She has a dozen passports and drivers license’s, all with different names and occupations attached. Didn’t Kripke end up with the government contract when all was said and done. They are probably a team tasked with keeping the scientists under surveillance. Sure Kripe drifts away for two years while on assignment overseas (yes, I realize this contradicts my previous narrative for him), but at least he can remember his cover name. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/18 "2018-05-16T15:25:34Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > ?Big Bang’s resident nurse. And does anyone really know what her name is? Her name was mentioned above–it’s Althea Davis, played by Vernee Watson. She never worked at the DMV, however. That was [Octavia Spencer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavia_Spencer). ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/19 "2018-05-16T15:34:45Z")
Cosmologists have been speculating about how much bigger the entire universe is, when compared with the Observable Universe, ever since big bang cosmology was invented. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229/20 "2018-05-16T15:35:00Z")
Now that I think about it, one could build a pretty bizarre conspiracy world around [Yeardley Smith](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0810379/), too. She was the employment agency clerk in “The Einstein Approximation” episode. Also did _Mad Men, Mom, Fresh Off the Boat, Sports Night, City Slickers_, etc. Obviously all part of the same universe.😉 There’s something about that voice that suggests … a robot, an alien? Something out of _Herman’s Head_? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-big-bang-universe-be-bigger-than-we-see-on-screen/814229.md?page=2)