| No. in Series | Episode Title | Original Air Date | Brief Description | |:---:|---|---|---| | 1 | "Pilot" | Sep 24, 2007 | The genius physicists, Leonard and Sheldon, meet their new neighbor Penny, and Leonard is immediately smitten. | | 2 | "The Big Bran Hypothesis" | Oct 1, 2007 | An obsessive Sheldon sneaks into Penny's apartment at night to organize her messy home. | | 3 | "The Fuzzy Boots Corollary" | Oct 8, 2007 | Leonard, feeling down about his romantic prospects, tries to break up with a woman he hasn't even dated. | | 4 | "The Luminous Fish Effect" | Oct 15, 2007 | After being fired, Sheldon's eccentric behavior leads Leonard to call his formidable mother, Mary Cooper. | | 5 | "The Hamburger Postulate" | Oct 22, 2007 | Leonard is invited by his fellow physicist, Leslie Winkle, for a casual encounter with no strings attached. | | 6 | "The Middle-Earth Paradigm" | Oct 29, 2007 | The gang attends a Halloween party dressed as characters from The Lord of the Rings , where Penny's ex-boyfriend causes trouble. | | 7 | "The Dumpling Paradox" | Nov 5, 2007 | Howard's promiscuous friend couch-surfs with him, causing tension when she seduces Raj, who then can't bring himself to kick her out. | | 8 | "The Grasshopper Experiment" | Nov 12, 2007 | Raj's parents set him up on a blind date, and in a surprising twist, he discovers he can talk to women only when he's drunk. | | 9 | "The Cooper-Hofstadter Polarization" | Mar 17, 2008 | After the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, Sheldon and Leonard are asked to present their joint research, but Sheldon refuses to share credit. | | 10 | "The Loobenfeld Decay" | Mar 24, 2008 | Sheldon's elaborate, multi-layered lie to get out of seeing Penny's terrible one-woman show about her life spirals out of control. | | 11 | "The Pancake Batter Anomaly" | Mar 31, 2008 | When a highly contagious Sheldon gets sick, Leonard and the gang flee to a Planet of the Apes marathon to avoid his insufferable, clingy behavior. | | 12 | "The Jerusalem Duality" | Apr 14, 2008 | The guys are depressed after meeting a 15-year-old physics prodigy who is smarter than all of them put together. | | 13 | "The Bat Jar Conjecture" | Apr 21, 2008 | Sheldon is kicked off the university's physics bowl team for being insufferable, so he forms his own rival team to exact revenge. | | 14 | "The Nerdvana Annihilation" | Apr 28, 2008 | Leonard uses his savings to buy a time machine prop from the classic film, angering Penny who declares they need to grow up. | | 15 | "The Pork Chop Indeterminacy" | May 5, 2008 | Leonard competes with his nemesis, Howard, for the affection of Sheldon's stunning twin sister, Missy (guest star Courtney Ford). | | 16 | "The Peanut Reaction" | May 12, 2008 | The guys plan a surprise birthday party for Leonard, but Penny ends up kidnapped and forced to participate. | | 17 | "The Tangerine Factor" | May 19, 2008 | After Penny's breakup, Leonard finally musters the courage to ask her out on a date, and both turn to Sheldon for advice on dating the other. |
The first season of (2007) was the genesis of a cultural phenomenon, introducing the world to the lovable, socially awkward physicists Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper , and their vibrant new neighbor, Penny . The Core Dynamic
By looking back at the first 17 episodes, we can see how the show established its unique comedic rhythm, developed its core dynamics, and captured the cultural zeitgeist of the late 2000s. The Premise: When String Theory Meets Server Etiquette big bang theory s01
Penny: (smirking) Well, you’re welcome to the whole couch if you want. I’ve got cookies.
Several episodes in the inaugural season stand out as definitive benchmarks for the series: | | 3 | "The Fuzzy Boots Corollary"
The first season introduces the central dynamic that would carry the show for 12 years: high-IQ physicists Leonard and Sheldon's awkward attempts to navigate "normal" life after an aspiring actress named Penny moves in across the hall. Sheldon Cooper
Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) are brilliant physicists living together in Pasadena, California, working at Caltech. | | 6 | "The Middle-Earth Paradigm" |
Season 1 of The Big Bang Theory aired from September 24, 2007, to May 19, 2008 , consisting of 17 episodes