Sure, that can handwave away the “stargazing from a roof in Pasadena” part, but why pick Mercury? Why not use Uranus and get another 3 minutes of comedy out of it?
Actually, it’s Sheldon* who has a problem with the roof. Penny has always been pretty cool about it.
-
- Something to do about a dirty sock. Or birds.
I didn’t mean that Penny has an issue with going on the roof - just that she didn’t appear particularly excited to go up there for star-gazing. It appeared she was there because Leonard thought it was cool.
It’s a comedy so jokes take priority but couldn’t one character (Amy maybe?) have had a token line abut being happy for Stuart’s success? I feel for the dude 
Are they still paying a Science Advisor to go over their scripts? Because he sure isn’t earning his salary.
As for Denise - I hope she ends up with Stuart. That dude needs some love. Although by the flash-forward 20 years (shown a couple of seasons ago for a cheap joke)he doesn’t seem to ever get any.
You could hand wave that one as Stuart showing up to see his old friends, and leaving his love interest at home because she didn’t know/like them.
Yeah, it’d be nice for Stuart to find some happiness. Denise is his employee, though. Would it be a problem to see him abusing his position of authority over her?
Of course. That way they have “comedy with a message” for a couple of episodes. Or she quits so she can date him. Something like that. But the dude seriously needs to get laid soon.
Tell me about it.
Remember when Stuart was the successful Nerd who had his shit together and dated Penny?
It reminds me of how there is one episode of the Simpsons where Homer is the straight man and Marge is a drunken sloppy mess.
I have a feeling that Stuart’s experience with Penny kinda “broke” the poor guy.
Remember, he fell apart during that episode - he argues with Sheldon rather than going to Penny’s apartment for “coffee.”
The thing that broke him for good was the next episode, when Penny called out Leonard’s name while she and Stuart were making out.
The least Penny should have done was to fix him up with one of her slutty friends. Or the one with Daddy issues. Anything. But that ship sailed long ago.