Has the landlord ever shown up? Evidently there were only minor repercussions from the elevator being disabled by an explosion. It should have been obvious which floor it was on when it was destroyed.
“Abandoned”? … what exactly is the story? I’m sure they could come up with a symapthetic story-line explaining his absense.
Howard has mentioned a few times that his father left the family when he was very young with no explanation (or at least, none he was ever given). In the most recent episode I think he even mentions sitting by the window as a boy hoping his father would finally come home.
As the Fresh Prince example already mentioned shows, there is no way to make this kind of story a happy-fun-sitcom event.
The other night Mrs. Homie and I were talking about this. I envisioned a flashback to Howard at, say 12. A young actor (who looks like Simon Helberg) portrays Howard, sitting in his room playing with his Star Wars [del]dolls[/del] action figures. Off-screen, you hear his father, in the same gravelly voice as Mrs. Wolowitz, yell something like “Howard! Let’s go! It’s time for Shabbas!”
How about he went crazy from his wife’s yelling and wandered off by accident only to snap out of it 30 years later.
Nope, still not funny. Because we’ve got multiple episodes of Howard mentioning how sad it made him.
It could be done. Some strotyline where Howard finally meets his dad, realizes that his life has moved on from needing either of his parents, and he settles down with Bernadette and lives happily ever after. I can see it as one of the last episodes before they hang it up.
I think “strotyline” should be a new element that Howard discovers, finally winning him some measure of approval from Sheldon.
I’d like to see Howard win a Nobel prize. Hilarity ensues.
He’s not crazy. His mother had him tested.
“Oh, he’s not crazy, I had him tested when he was 6. Though I do wish I had followed up with that specialist in Houston”
—Mrs. Cooper
I would love to see a flashback to Sheldon’s childhood, with his father George played by John Goodman.