Joining a show midstream can be tougher than jumping into a speed game of schoolyard double dutch. But actress Mayim Bialik has not only entered “Big Bang Theory’s” inner sanctum in less than one season, her character Amy Farrah Fowler has already been given the ultimate “BBT” seal of approval: her own storyline.
Tonight we’ll find out what it’s like when Sheldon’s “girlfriend” actually develops romantic feelings … and how Sheldon handles the fact that those warm fuzzies aren’t for him. In anticipation of tonight’s episode I rang up Mayim Bialik to talk about joining season four of “Big Bang Theory” — a show, I found out, she previously believed was a science game show.
PopWrap: Did you have any idea that 10 second gig in last year’s finale could result in a recurring gig?
Mayim Bialik: I’m not a big TV person, but it doesn’t take a brilliant person to realize that would be a huge tease to not have some sort of payoff the following season [laughs]. But if I wasn’t what they wanted, for whatever reason, one scene in the season opener of me throwing up on Sheldon would have taken care of Amy.
PW: Well, obviously they are loving what you bring to the show.
Mayim: It’s a very interesting set, but it’s not a very “ooh, you’re so fantastic, we can’t wait for more.” It’s very much like “you’re doing well, keep doing well. Here’s your script.” I’m not saying they test you but there’s a lot of healthy creative pressure.
PW: How so?
Mayim: In terms of, “this isn’t working, lets futz with it in front of the entire audience. Try this new speech.” You really have to be able to run with the big boys on that set.
PW: But you had a lot of experience with live studio audiences, right?
Mayim: I appreciate the notion that I had experience, and true I was on “Blossom” for five years, but it was such a different experience to have a show crafted for you as a teenager versus joining a show where you perform against an amazing Emmy Award winner. It’s a different kind of humility and learning.
PW: Is it weird coming onto a fully formed set?
Mayim: It was very much like coming into a new high school three weeks into the semester when everyone already has their cliques. You feel like a goonball who plays trumpet. It’s a different experience.
PW: Amy is a generally awkward person — does feeling that way in real life help to bring her to life?
Mayim: Yea, but that just makes it look like I’m a strange character to most people [laughs]. I wouldn’t say that I’m like her any more than I’d say Jim [Parsons] is like Sheldon. I mean, Johnny Galecki is a really cool guy. I’ve known him since I was 13 years old and he was wearing leather jackets and riding a motorcycle. I wouldn’t hang out with him in high school, I would be way too gooney to hang out with him. So I think there’s a social dynamic, even as actors doing out jobs.
PW: Well at least you don’t have as much of a verbal hurdle with the dialogue given your science background.
Mayim: True, but linguistically I got tripped up at my thesis defense – it happens. But honestly I’m amazed at what Jim can do. I think he might be the kind of guy who looks everything up, because he totally sounds like he knows what he’s talking about when reciting all those scientific terms.
PW: In recent weeks Amy has been getting more involved with Penny and Bernadette — that has to be a nice change up.
Mayim: I think it was Jim who said, if they let you go out on your own it means you’re really one of us. So it’s really flattering but also very intimidating. Kaley [Cuoco] is such a skilled comedian and Melissa [Rauch] is too. We have so much fun together despite being very, very different – both in the purpose we serve on the show and as performers. So I think that’s what is fun about it. On show’s like “Friends” you get a group of girls together and there are subtle differences. But with these three, you really see the vast difference in the female experience.
PW: Speaking of, this week’s episode tackles the concept that Amy could actually be sexually attracted to a guy.
Mayim: Yes, a “concept” [laughs]. I think the idea is that for people who don’t live in those emotions and engage in popular cultures notions of what’s attractive or acceptable in terms of behavior, these ideas can be very startling. The first time I saw an iPad, I literally felt like my parents stepping off the boat from Poland. I think the same is true of emotions with Amy. It makes no sense to her.
PW: What about to Sheldon, does he register any sort of reaction?
Mayim: The episode explores what it looks like for Sheldon to have a reaction to something. What does it look like for Sheldon to be in this situation. What does he feel? Can he feel?
PW: Do you think we’ll ever see them kiss?
Mayim: I don’t know, I don’t even know if I would get an answer from the powers that be if I asked. I think it would have to involve a lot of medication, and a lot of physical barriers to deal with the issues in play. It does not seem like it would be in line with how we see Sheldon and Amy. But tonight, I have to say, is my favorite episode — and that’s not just because I dissect a brain. It was cool to use some of my past neuroanatomy experience.
PW: Was the show’s subject matter at all behind your desire to be on it?
Mayim: Oh no, I wish I were that picky in life. Honestly, I never heard of the show. Well, I had heard about it, but I thought it was an intellectual science game show [laughs]. Right now I go out for whatever I’m sent on audition for. I was told by my manager “oh, you’re going to love it, the show’s about a bunch of physicists.” Which I thought was weird. But then I saw the show and realized how bright it was. I think the fact I am a scientist is helpful – and if I run into any of my thesis professors I can say, “see I am using my degree!”
“Big Bang Theory” airs Thursdays at 8pm on CBS
Photo: CBS