As CBS’ hit comedy The Big Bang Theory was about to end its run, Chuck Lorre came up with the idea for a spin-off. Not “Young Sheldon.” Its first part had already aired and had Gangbusters. No, Laure had something more fanciful in mind.
“I had this weird idea that there was a portal in the back of a comic book store that led to another dimension, and Kevin Sussman’s Stuart could lead us into this action-adventure-comedy-sci-fi mashup,” he told Variety.
But here’s the problem. “No one liked the idea,” he admits. It’s hard to believe that someone like Lorre would face network and studio rejection, especially coming from one of the most successful television comedies of all time. But Rohre said programming executives were looking for something a little more traditional and a little more unconventional. It was whatever Mr. Lorre came up with.
“Everyone wanted a ‘Big Bang Theory’ spinoff,” he says. “They wanted to play with the main players, which is understandable. I didn’t want to do a spin-off with the main players. I wanted to do something completely different, something challenging, something we’ve never done before. That’s certainly what we’re doing now.”
What they currently have is 10 episodes of “Stuart Couldn’t Save the Universe” on HBO Max, which will premiere on the platform on July 23rd. After his first pitch was a pass, Lorre temporarily shelved the idea and continued to keep busy with series such as “The Kominsky Method” and “Bookie.” But he never gave up on “Stuart,” bringing in “The Big Bang” co-creator Bill Prady and sci-fi comics expert Zak Penn (“The Avengers,” “The Incredible Hulk”) to refine the concept and write the script.
“Chuck hired me during the pandemic,” Penn says. “What attracted me from the beginning was that he said, ‘I want to do a spin-off that’s different from anything you’ve seen before,’ so it changes the tone and the genre. He wanted to do something that was in the sci-fi fantasy realm, so that’s what I wanted. It was an easy yes.”
As for Prady, “My favorite Star Trek episodes have always been the comedy episodes, so the idea of doing comedy science fiction was like, ‘Let’s figure this out.'”
Meanwhile, Laure had Sussman on standby in case that actually happened. “He wanted to pitch me the idea of a spinoff about Stuart,” Sussman says. “That’s strange. Does that mean he imagined I might say ‘no’?”
Years later, Lorre, Penn, and Prady finally came up with a spinoff and got the green light from Warner Bros. TV and HBO Max. “This really surprised me,” says Lorre.
In “The Big Bang Theory,” Sussman played comic book store owner Stuart Bloom, a supporting character. But in “Stuart Couldn’t Save the Universe,” he’s the main character, as he and his friends fly around the multiverse after a quantum interference device built by Leonard, Sheldon, and Howard (mentioned but unseen) from “The Big Bang” malfunctions. In this new alternate reality, Stuart and his comic friends battle unique and dangerous alternate versions of the store and its Pasadena neighborhood.
And that doesn’t even begin to explain how far off this show is. In one episode, a familiar face transforms into a 60-foot-tall witch. In another piece, one of the stars transforms into a magical wizard. Each episode is its own story and setting, and as the title suggests, Stuart is unable to make things right.
“This is very off-the-wall and completely different from the original show,” Sussman says. “It’s a big risk in terms of doing something completely different, but on the other hand, it’s still Chuck Lorre and it’s still based on a beloved IP. I love that he took such a big swing because it doesn’t need to be compared to the original Multicam.”
In addition to Sussman, the show is led by “Big Bang” alum Lauren Lapkus (Stuart’s girlfriend Dennis), Brian Posehn (Bert) and John Ross Bowie (Kripke). But many other “Big Bang” players make cameos as multiverse versions of their characters, and even recurring faces from the original series, like Wil Wheaton (playing himself again), appear. And then there’s a new character, Gary (Tommy Walker), who becomes a potential rival for Dennis’ affections in the show’s various worlds.
“The Big Bang Theory’s” multi-camera, a far cry from the comfort of a studio audience. First, the show featured no gunshots, explosions, or, for that matter, a large, gruesome body count. But “Stuart Couldn’t Save the Universe” certainly does. At one point during production, Sussman and Lapkus were draped onto cables and hoisted to the ceiling of the Warner Bros. soundstage. And then they were dropped. Below, a giant industrial fan blew a breeze that made it look like it was plummeting out of thin air.
“In the script, we’re supposed to scream,” Sussman says. “But Lauren and I both thought the cable had snapped and we were just hurtling towards a giant fan. Rather than screaming, it felt like there was barely any air coming in and we were having a hard time pushing the sound out.”
With special effects, a journey through time and a bloody death along the way, “Stuart” lives up to Lorre’s desire to make it one of the most unusual TV spin-offs of all time.
First, the VFX costs for “Stuart” were different from what Lorre had spent on other shows in the past. However, the producers figured out a way to make the series a success and also made the show happen on budget. (Perhaps it helps that “Stuart” doesn’t come with the kind of big talent paychecks that “Big Bang” ultimately faced in order to succeed.)
The producers also credited the Los Angeles shootings with a California tax credit. By filming locally, he was able to hire top-notch crews to do the show’s stunts and effects for pennies on the dollar.
“Filming in L.A. makes it much easier to achieve the best in every department, because creating a great effects-driven show is about more than just the visual effects,” Penn says. “It’s about the production design, it’s about the cinematography. I also think they gave us enough of a budget to do some real special effects.”
Prady points out that the science in “Stuart” is valid, or so is the sci-fi comedy in which a quantum interference device malfunctions and the characters are tumbled into the multiverse. “That moment happened in the prime universe, but there is no episode in the prime universe that replaces these 10 people. So is it canon? Multiverse canon!” he says. Lorre jokingly retorts, “Don’t push too hard!”
“Stuart” has “Big Bang” Easter eggs all over it, which makes sense, Lorre said. “We’ve long decided that this is the kind of show that the characters on The Big Bang Theory would not only watch, but discuss,” Lorre says. At the same time, Sussman doesn’t think you need to be a fan of “The Big Bang” before watching “Stuart.” “I think they orchestrated these four characters really well,” he says.
One familiar element to Lorre’s sitcom fans is back. It’s his famous vanity card, where Lorre gets a chance to converse with the audience. He reveals at the end of episode 2: “During the production of SFTSTY, my mantra was ‘Go crazy or go home.’ As you can see, I didn’t go home.”
