Behind the scenes, Chuck Lorre and the rest of The Big Bang Theory crew faced several tense moments. Among them, included possibly continuing on with Jim Parsons.Early on, Chuck Lorre also had to fight for Kunal Nayyar and his future on the show, as the network wanted him gone following the pilot. A different type of stress would take place for Chuck Lorre and his team, after Carol Ann Susi lost her battle with cancer. As we'll reveal throughout the article, the show had many options creatively. Among them, was writing her off the show, or simply replacing her voice. Ultimately, the showrunners decided to pay homage to Susi, by honoring her character on the show. We'll take a closer look at the emotional episode and how hard it was to write and shoot.
Carol Ann Susi Was A Blast To Work With On The Big Bang Theory
Ask the entire cast on The Big Bang Theory about Carol Ann Susi, and not a single person would have a bad thing to say about her. Kunal Nayyar raved about Mrs. Wolowitz, in disbelief that she never had a car during her time in Hollywood.
"She's the only person I know in Los Angeles who didn't drive," Nayyar said. "For 30 years, she didn't drive a car. She would take the bus to work at Big Bang!" Showrunner Steve Molaro credited this to Susi's New York mindset and way of life.
Molaro would further reveal alongside Yahoo Entertainment that Susi was adored by the cast.
"Carol Ann Susi was a lovely lady and a member of our family that we cared about very much. So it was important to us to come up with a way of honoring her that reflected how much we care about her."
He continued, "She was just a truly funny, very sweet, very interesting lady. She reminded me of your favorite crazy aunt, who you loved getting to visit with."
Turns out, writing Mrs. Wolowitz off the show was not an easy process and one the writers and creators struggled with behind the scenes.
The Writers On The Big Bang Theory Considered All Creative Angles Following Her Carol Ann Susi's Passing
There were several options on how to handle the passing of Mrs. Wolowitz. At the start, many scenarios were considered, including having her move away.
However, the creators felt as though this would not be authentic towards the show.
"We talked about all the possibilities. It was public information that Carol Ann had passed away, so having Mrs. Wolowitz move away felt, I think, potentially like a cheat."
Molaro further revealed that bringing in another voice to replace her just wouldn't be fitting or right.
"The thought of having another actress do the voice just didn't seem like an option for us. I don't think we could have brought ourselves to actually do it. That left dealing with the reality of it. We tried to find a way to do that which let the show still remain a comedy, but deal with this very difficult moment in these characters' — especially Wolowitz's — lives."
As expected, the process was not an easy one for the writers when it came to finally inking the script for the episode.
Writing The Episode Of Mrs. Wolowitz's Death Wasn't Easy But Necessary
When it came to shooting the episode itself, honesty was the best way to go about it. According to Molaro, other things in the episode that had nothing to do with her passing also helped things along, and added comedic relief.
Molaro said, "I had never been involved in writing an episode like this before. There are a lot of other things going on in this episode that have nothing to do with [her death], and that, I think, helped a lot. When the moment comes, we just tried to handle it as honestly as we could, certainly not try to force jokes in where they didn't feel like they would belong. I think we managed to do it."
The cast shed tears when Chuck Lorre announced her passing to the entire Big Bang Theory crew. However, everyone was able to rally during such an emotional episode.
