Spin-Off Goals: All about Stuart and ‘The Big Bang Theory’
For the month of February, we have a new feature that we are unveiling here at CarterMatt, and it focuses on something that has long become a part of TV lore: The spin-off. When you find an idea that makes a whole lot of money and draws big ratings, wouldn’t you want to find a way to continue the brand? We’re all for it, provided of course that there is a strong creative there and the actors involved are interested … which brings us to “The Big Bang Theory” and the Stuart character.
Over the years, Kevin Sussman has done a great job bringing Stuart to life, and he’s even had some major story arcs as of late. Is he finally ready for the big time? Let’s dive in, with of course a reminder that these Spin-Off Goals articles are merely that: Goals. Doesn’t mean it’s happening. We’ve been around the internet long enough to know how that game of telephone works.
Why Stuart? – To us, the answer here is fairly simple: He’s hilarious, and he still has a major story to tell as a single, hapless guy looking for something good in his life beyond working and owning a comic-book shop. He doesn’t have love, he doesn’t have money, and we’re not sure how much family he has, either. He’s the one character on the show who makes sense as a spin-off subject, since the other characters are far too linked to one other to function on their own.
The idea – If you still wanted to place this in the “Big Bang Theory” universe, you could keep the comic book store in the Pasadena area and then focus on some of the other people who come into the store, and Stuart’s hopes to turn the place into more of a social hangout than just a metaphorical ghost town. The comic-book store should always be a focus of almost any Stuart-led show, but we suppose that another idea could be to have him come into some money (maybe an inheritance or some minor lottery prize?) and move to another part of the country. There, you could introduce a new cast of characters and give him some more quirky people to interact with. This would explain more why you’re not getting so much of Sheldon and Leonard on the show when you know they’d otherwise be regular customers.
Could it actually happen? – It’s unlikely, given that producers don’t seem that interested in spinning the show off … at least for now. Maybe once it concludes, there could be some conversations with Sussman about bringing the character elsewhere, and maybe you could find another person or two from the show’s history to join him. It’s just all dependent on a variety of different variables, and we know there’s at least one more season left beyond this one.
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