Wolowitz may have come back down to Earth, but The Big Bang Theory keeps its numbers flying high.
The Big Bang Theory brought in the highest ratings of the season with Thursday night’s episode. “The Re-Entry Minimization” was watched by 15.73 million viewers, making significant gains from last week’s episode and bringing the show in first in its time slot once again.
In “The Re-Entry Minimization,” Howard’s long-awaited return from the International Space Station proved hilariously disappointing as his friends and family were too preoccupied with common colds, randy dentists and comic book store owners named Stuart, to roll out the red carpet.
Meanwhile, the rest of the gang waited out Wolowitz’s return with an increasingly violent game night, which certainly served as a “Don’t Ask Sheldon” refresher-course for Leonard. The evening culminated in a pie-eating contest so intense and epic, even lonely Howard was scared away.
On her blog for Kveller.com, actress Mayim Bialik shared a few behind-the-scenes notes on the pie-eating scene. “The goal of the scene was to have our faces coated with pie, not to actually eat the pie,” Bialik writes. “This means mushing one’s face all over rather than consuming any pie.” She admits, “It was pretty nasty.”
The direction not to swallow also left the actors’ mouths and noses clogged with kosher, vegan blueberry mush. “It’s hard to breathe when you’re not swallowing pie,” Bialik observes. Pie-eating contests, she concluded, are not an experience she would like to repeat, but she adds, “I still love my job, despite not liking pie-eating contests.”
Next week, The Big Bang Theory is back with the Halloween-themed “The Holographic Excitation,” in which astronaut Buzz Aldrin is set to guest star. CBS says:
The gang celebrates Halloween at Stuart’s comic book store. Meanwhile, Leonard seduces Penny with science.