The end of the big bang
After 12 seasons, The Big Bang Theory will end its run this May on a high note.
The decision to end the series come from Jim Parsons’ decision to leave the series after season 12. CBS attempted to negotiate Parsons to stay with the show for two more years. If Parsons had, he would have stood to make $50 million dollars between seasons 13 and 14, according to an article on Entertainment Weekly’s website.
Yet, Parsons has earned the right to walk away, especially after winning four Emmys and a Golden Globe with a voice-over role on the spin series of Young Sheldon.
When the negotiations failed, it was decided that it would be best not to continue the series after the current season.
As a fan of the series since season six, I couldn’t be happier for the decision to end the series at the end of the current season.
One reason why: if the series tried to continue without the character Sheldon Cooper, the series wouldn’t be the same, mainly because Sheldon’s lack of understanding of social norms is often a good source of entertainment.
The other reason why, and possibly the biggest personal reason, is because I feel that the series has run through all of the storylines that they could do.
The only storyline that hasn’t been resolved prior to the current season is Raj’s love life. Throughout season 12, we’ve seen Raj finally embrace the idea that an arranged marriage might be the way to find someone to marry — something that Raj attempted in season five, but didn’t work out at the time.
The only frontier that is left for the series, otherwise, is seeing how The Big Bang Theory characters react to being parents, and we’ve already seen how Howard and Bernadette react to having two children. With Parsons’ departure from the series, The Big Bang Fandom would miss out on what would be an interesting parenting style of Sheldon and him not knowing how to nurture. To be honest, having The Big Bang Theory turn into a series of quirky parents would have ruined the legacy of the series.
Although other series like Grey’s Anatomy have tackled the transition of the working professional becoming parents, it was more of a natural fit that didn’t shift the focus the show. Rather, as in the case of Grey’s Anatomy, it added value to the show.
The Big Bang Theory, however, has always been about nerds trying to fit into the non-nerd culture, in regards to finding significant others and having long term relationships.
With the end of the series only months away, it sounds like show-runner Steve Holland is excited about the series finale, although it hasn’t been written yet.
This is the power of knowing in advance when a series is going to end.
The show-runner and series writers have plenty of time to write and plan out the series finale. By having time to plan out the finale, the writing staff can find ways to tie up loose ends and insert jokes and references from earlier seasons, and this will give the series the amazing send-off it deserves.
