The Big Bang Theory enjoyed major success, however, like other shows, there were a few regrettable moments along the way. Like for instance, the showrunners knew putting Raj and Penny together was a bad idea, so they quickly decided to back track. Kunal Nayyar also wasn't a big fan of not being able to talk to women for a huge chunk of the show.
Carol Ann Susi's passing was an emotional one for the show, and The Big Bang Theory decided to pay homage, by not showing the children as well.
However, the show went back on this decision, and we'll reveal why this was done. Chuck Lorre was a major reason for the change, and it was one nobody opposed.
Let's take a look at how it all went down, along with taking a look at difficulties involved shooting the finale.
Mrs. Wolowitz's passing was a tough one for the show, given how great the actress was to everyone behind the scenes. Ultimately, the show pondered to replace Mrs. Wolowitz, however, the correct decision was made to pay homage to her character on the show, during an emotional episode dedicated to her passing.
In order to pay homage towards Carol Ann Susi, showrunner Steve Molaro revealed alongside TV Line that the show decided to avoid putting the children on-screen. This also made it easier in terms of production.
"She is a loving tribute to her grandmother — this is a nice way for us to keep [Mrs. Wolowitz] alive," Molaro explains. "It also means we don't have to have a baby on the set, so it solved lots of problems."
Mollaro would also discuss the reason behind Halley's name on the show.
"They're all scientists and we decided to stay in the science and space arena," he explains. "And since Howard was an astronaut and had been to space, we all just really liked [Halley]."
Despite the decision to keep them off camera, it seems like Chuck Lorre was the one who decided to change things up.
So why were the kids finally revealed? According to showrunner Steve Holland, it was a last minute call made by Chuck Lorre just prior to shooting the scene.
"That was also Chuck's idea," he said. "That wasn't even in the original breaking of the finale. When we got to the scene, Chuck said, "Why don't we just do it? Why don't we put them in?"
According to Holland, nobody made a big deal about it, and it turned out to be a neat little Easter egg for the show.
Holland tells EW, "We didn't need to make a big deal of it. It was intentional to leave them out before so we didn't have to deal with working with small children on set for all these years. It seemed like a fun little Easter egg to put them in at the end."
It proved to be the right call as fans enjoyed the emotional moment. However, the finale wasn't the easiest shoot for the cast, saying goodbye after 12 seasons.
There were lots of emotions involved when it came to shooting the final episode. For the show, it was important to keep the focus on the main cast, without bringing in too many guest stars.
"We knew we wanted Kevin Sussman (Stuart Bloom) to be part of the finale because he's such a part of the show. But we really wanted it to be focused on the main cast. This was our chance to say goodbye," Holland revealed.
The showrunner also stated that a separate taping was done of the finale, without an audience given how emotionally challenging it all was for the cast.
"This was one of the few episodes that we actually shot everything already and did it once again in front of the audience because the cast was emotional, we were emotional."
In addition, the finale script was hardly altered.
