I get the impression that most of the time his image is simply composited into a frame with Sheldon and his voice is dubbed in. As to whether he actually records his dialogue, I don’t know, but I don’t suppose it would be difficult for him to phone it in.
I get the impression that, as a matter or respect, he actually “reads” and records his lines. IIRC, Pink Floyd’s Division Bell liner notes implies Hawking’s direct involvement.
Yeah, I’m inferring a lot.
Or download it.
I think my favourite guest is Billy Bob Thornton. His character was a creepy potential glimpse into the future for anyone of the guys. But I guess that is the writing. Same with Bob Newhart, the writers were able to use his Newhartian schtick to perfection.
I like Penny’s family - Keith Carradine (3x), Katey Sagal and Jack McBrayer (once each). They all brought so much subtext to familial dysfunction.
Also Judd Hirsch as Leonard’s father. I don’t understand why Leonard and his father aren’t closer, they seem to suffer from many of the same issues. Or perhaps the one issue.
As for Bob Newhart, sorry, but I got tired of his one-note schtick back in the 80s. The writers gave him some good lines that really suited his style, and I think he gets too much credit for that. Not to be a sourpuss or anything.
The weird thing about Penny’s mother was that once sour old Sheldon had threatened Penny with fatness, by saying: “I’ve seen pictures of your mother.”, which dampened Penny’s appetite.
And when we see her not just not fat, but never had been fat.
They even used the same “hugging machine”.
Penny’s family is a hot mess, both as characters and acted. Love Carradine. Hate the other two.
That’s not the only continuity problem with her family (or maybe Penny was afraid of suddenly growing taller). And we still don’t know their last name!
Yeah. She’s got a sister and a nephew, and her sister shot her (the sister’s) husband once. She also went into labor at her wedding, and the nephew was like 11 by season 2, so the sister is significantly older than Penny, plus Penny mentions having a “little” nephew who can’t understand how she got his nose, and that was in season 3 or 4, so it sounds like the sister has at least two children, and probably stayed married to the husband after she shot him.
So many greats to pick from – but I gotta go with Bob Newhart! James Earl Jones, Adam West, and Billy Bob Thornton come next.
Sheldon’s assistant Alex. Leonard should have dumped Penny like a hot potato, and lived happily ever after.
Yeah, happy, but written out of the show. No conflict, no story.
That’s a win-win. No more Leonard, which is great because he is an asshole. I’m not seeing a downside here.
Kate Micucci. A thousand times.
C’mon, is that fair? Pretty much everyone else we’ve ever seen interested in Leonard has been a better fit than Penny.
Alex was ideal for Leonard. The fact, unlike Penny and his mother, she didn’t harbour a lot of resentment towards him would have been a plus.
On the other hand I’ve had a flashback to the auteur’s other creation, Alan Harper; maybe they have the same dark energy:
“Given enough time, any woman will grow to loathe you.” as Charlie sympathetically tells him.
That was a great line!
Laurie Metcalf. Plus whoever played that new upstairs neighbor who got Penny all jealous. She was hot.
The James Earl Jones episode is in my top five. Who knew he was such a good comedic actor (I like Star Wars too).
Brent Spiner hasn’t been mentioned yet, but his line “Remember when we used to pose these things like they were masturbating?” was a great delivery.
Keith Carradine is always good. And Laurie Metcalf as Sheldon’s mother is wonderful.
They should try really hard to get John Goodman and Estelle Parsons. Raj should date Sarah Chalke AND Lecy Goranson.