After months of high-stakes negotiations, The Big Bang Theory has secured a two-season, 48-episode renewal at CBS, the network announced Monday. The pact ensures that TV’s No. 1 comedy — currently in its 10th season — will stick around through Season 12.
Late last month it was reported that a renewal deal between CBS and producer Warner Bros. hinged on cast members Mayim Bialik (Amy) and Melissa Rauch (Bernadette), both of whom were seeking salary parity with their much higher paid co-stars. While Jim Parsons (Sheldon), Kaley Cuoco (Penny), Johnny Galecki (Leonard), Simon Helberg (Howard) and Kunal Nayyar (Raj) had been pocketing a cool $1 million per episode, Bialik and Rauch were pulling in “just” $200,000 an episode. Per Variety, Parsons, Cuoco, Galecki, Helberg and Nayyar each volunteered to cut their per-episode fee by $100,000 to free up money to give Bialik and Rauch a raise.
Apparently, Bialik and Rauch still have not finalized new deals, but both are expected to do so imminently (with each commanding roughly 500K an episode, vs. $900K for their co-stars).
CBS CEO Les Moonves teed up the renewal during an investor gathering earlier this month, declaring that a deal was “on the two yard line.”
The two-year-pickup comes on the heels of CBS’ straight-to-series order for Young Sheldon, a prequel spinoff starring Big Little Lies breakout Iain Armitage as Parsons’ pubescent doppelganger. It’s believed that the offshoot will land the coveted post-Big Bang time slot on Thursdays next fall.
