This Kaley Cuoco Scene Should Have Never Aired (and Even TBBT Showrunner Agrees)
It's cringey at best.
The Big Bang Theory picked up quite a following almost as soon as the pilot aired. No one really knew where the story would lead, but the fundamentals were there. And one of those fundamentals was the ditzy blonde girl who lived on the same landing.
But showrunner Steve Molaro still cringes when he looks back at the pilot episode and the moment when the ditzy blonde says she's a vegetarian who likes steak.
In Jennifer Radloff's book The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series, Chuck Lorre stated that Penny was 'one of the most underwritten characters on the show early on'. He added that it was 'really obvious immediately that we hadn't developed the character beyond the pretty girl next door, and Kaley was certainly capable of doing a great deal more than what was asked of her.'
These kinds of stereotypical jokes did little to help Penny become more than just the dumb blonde next door.
As it was, they achieved their goal of making Penny 'more fully realized' and turning her into a character who had an 'intelligence about people, about relationships, and about reading a situation and understanding the dynamics of what's going on in a room.
The vegetarian joke is one that Molaro wishes had never aired. And with good reason. It was a cheap joke that added very little and could have made it harder for the writers to develop the character.
But it was probably the early realisation that this version of Penny wasn't going to work that allowed them to then subtly turn her into one of the most influential characters on the show. This decision did more than just improve the writing of the show. It also allowed Kayley Cuoco to really shine. And her performance helped elevate the show and make it what it became.
But isn't that part of what pilots are for? And can anyone really expect a show to run for 12 years and 279 episodes without a few regrettable moments? And if those regrettable bits are massively overshadowed by unforgettable moments, we can always just gloss over them and pretend they never really happened. At least we could, if it weren't for YouTube, box sets and streaming TV.
Source: The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series.