0/5

Big Bang production delayed (…send smelling salts to Nine pronto)

Big Bang cast, holding out for that pay raise, miss first day of production.

2014-07-31_1103We could be in for a whole lot more Big Bang Theory reruns on Nine.

Production on the next seasons was due to resume this week but contract negotiations have not yet been settled for stars Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar.

All 5 are understood to be vying for a big salary increases.

Parsons, Galecki and Cuoco, who currently earn $325,000 per episode, are seeking up to $1 million per episode with a share of the show’s backend profits, something that creator Chuck Lorre has acknowledged he would like to see happen.

Helberg and Nayyar are negotiating together while co-stars Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch previously secured big raises.

The Hollywood Reporter notes the first table read scheduled to take place today did not take place, surprising the studio that believed the cast would turn up, with or without a contract.

“Due to ongoing contract negotiations, production on The Big Bang Theory — which was originally scheduled to begin today — has been postponed,” Warner Bros. TV said in a statement.

The cast was also no-show at Comic-Con, where for the second year in a row, but Jim Parsons appeared the day before the show’s panel for DreamWorks Animation’s Home, in which he has a voice role.

However Deadline also reports “I hear the postponement is for one day, and the situation would be evaluated day by day as the two sides continue to negotiate and are close to deals, something that could happen as early as today.”

10 Responses

  1. @aesthethic I have wondered this for ages. It was a very funny show for most of it’s life. Does anybody know why Will & Grace is not on offer atm?

  2. I have decided I would like to become a sitcom actor, so I can work for twelve hours a week reading words somebody else wrote, make a funny face, pause for fake laughs, and get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars per week.

    Who do I talk to about this?

  3. The irony of actors via managing agents trying to sell themselves for what they think/know their drawing power is worth, to an industry that use their drawing power to sell us goods from advertisers who sell us goods, mostly not for what they are worth, but what they think/know what the market will bear.

  4. $1m/ep + a back end is a lot of money for 66 episodes. They will negotiate till the last moment.

    The show couldn’t exist without Parsons or Cuoco-Sweeting. Galecki was originally the everyman lead but adapted well to playing a supporting role to both of those too. The others are all supporting roles.

    Give its 18-49 numbers they can ask a lot. The show even managed to get The Millers to renewal.

  5. Are these sheanigans not all part and parcel of the bargaining process? I am sure this happened a few times with ‘Friends’ and more recently a few years back with the ‘Modern Family’ cast?

  6. [In March 2014] “The Big Bang Theory, TV’s top-rated sitcom, will remain on the air through at least 2017, CBS announced.”
    They created the situation. But there is a part of me that thinks when a sitcom gets into the 8th season something needs to be done to get attention. This may well be it? Will there be a Live! episode like Will & Grace in the pipeline?

  7. This should have been sorted months ago when the show was signed for 3 more seasons.

    I agree they deserve more as the studio and network will be making a mint from this show now. IMO the 5 original cast members should be paid the same rate.

Leave a Reply