One Sheldon Scene Felt So Wrong, TBBT Creators Had to Cut It
Chuck Lorre had the very first scene of The Big Bang Theory's pilot pulled from a TV version, and both Jim Parsons and fans agree that it didn't fit with the character of Sheldon we have come to know and love.
In the original pilot, we see Sheldon and Leonard come to a high-IQ sperm bank to donate their sperm, hoping to make some quick cash to upgrade their internet.
However, Sheldon says it feels wrong, and not for the reasons you might imagine. No, this Sheldon has no problem with donating his DNA, but he doesn't agree with the whole concept of a high-IQ sperm bank because there's no guarantee that his sperm will produce a high-IQ offspring.
This argument causes the scientists to leave the sperm bank and never mention it again. So when the show's creator, Chuck Lorre, decided to cut this scene from syndicated reruns, there were no consequences for the show.
The reasoning behind Lorre's decision largely coincides with the opinion of Big Bang Theory fans and Jim Parsons, who played Sheldon throughout all 12 seasons of the show.
Jim Parson said that although the sperm bank scene fit the pilot at the time it was filmed, over time and with new episodes, Sheldon's character had changed a lot and the scene was "out of place". Fans of the sitcom agree that the sperm bank scene seems out of character for Sheldon.
"Rewatching it now after years of watching Sheldon be quite averse to sexual behavior, it took years for him to have sex with Amy, I have to find it very out of character for him to ever entertain the notion of jizzing into a cup," one fan wrote on Reddit.
Another reason the scene couldn't happen in the show is that Sheldon actually had money to upgrade the internet, he didn't have to go to such extreme measures for extra cash.
"Sheldon needing extra money doesn't make sense, because another episode showed him lend Penny money, something he had a lot of stashed around the apartment, that he basically called extra money," a fan of the sitcom explained.
All in all, everyone agrees that the pilot scene happened while the writers were still working out exactly who Sheldon was, and it is not a good scene to introduce the character we know now. Lorre noted that the show didn't really start until Leonard and Sheldon awkwardly said hello to Penny while she was unpacking. And that is the perfect opening scene for the beloved sitcom.