‘The Big Bang Theory’ season 9, episode 12 preview: (Potential) return date for CBS sitcom

Tonight, “The Big Bang Theory” wrapped up the first half of its ninth season with what may be the most important episode in years for Dr. Sheldon Cooper: He determined that he was ready to be intimate with Amy, and by the time the story ended the moment finally happened.

So where are we going to go moving forward with the series? There is no confirmed word on that just yet, though we can at least go ahead and tell you the return date: Thursday, January 7. This is the week that many other CBS shows are returning, and the writers have their work cut out for them trying to figure out what is next for Sheldon and Amy. Could they actually get engaged, given that we know he has the wedding ring? Will they have “coitus” more than once a year? Sheldon made a comment in the episode about waiting to the next birthday.

Now that Sheldon has hit this milestone, we know that we personally would like to see the series move on to addressing the love life of another character in Raj. The show has already planted the seed of Emily not being the right person for him, as he wanted to break up with her after the whole cemetery thing earlier this season. Instead, he told her he loved her out of desperation. Laura Spencer hasn’t shown up since the Thanksgiving episode, and the time is right to see her again.

Elsewhere, we’d like to get some more information on the future of many of these characters career-wise. This story has been so romance-focused that it’s been a while since we saw the latest developments in some of their research.