‘The Big Bang Theory’ season 10: Show boss on long-term plans as cast negotiations start
The tenth season of “The Big Bang Theory” is currently in production, and it really shouldn’t come as too big of a shock to learn that with the future beyond this batch of episodes unclear, the cast is already in the process of negotiating their future. Per The Hollywood Reporter, all of the main seven cast members (Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Kunal Nayyar, Simon Helberg, Melissa Rauch, and Mayim Bialik) are seeking raises following their previous deals, but the difference between this and the last negotiation is that is has no real bearing on filming at present.
As of right now, the negotiations are also having little impact on the writers room. This is something that executive producer Steve Molaro further confirmed with the following comment to the website:
“All we can do right now is focus on season 10 and go script by script, which is what we would be doing anyway. As far as I’m concerned, here in the writers’ room, it’s business usual: moving forward with the characters and letting them live their lives day by day and feeling out what happens with them. We don’t really arc out stories too far, and we let things happen organically, and if things catch us by surprise — like Bernadette being pregnant or something like that — if it feels right, we go with it. It’s more of that and if and when we know something that’s actual information that can be helpful [regarding the contracts], we may do something differently, but until then, we’re sticking to the game plan.”
Ultimately, we do think that the cast appears on paper to be very much interested in coming back to the show, and why wouldn’t they be? After all, they are paid extremely well, and their schedule is much cushier than many other multi-camera shows out there. There are no ego problems or tabloid rumors suggesting that the show has lost any of its edge chemistry-wise.
While we know it’s commonplace for everyone to get raises with new deals, we will say that we’d be shocked if the bumps in pay are huge this time around. The live ratings have declined in viewers 18-49 as of late, with season 9 down more than 12% from season 8; therefore, it doesn’t seem prudent to pay the cast significantly more for viewer viewers and less ad revenue for live episodes.
If you do want to get some other news on “The Big Bang Theory” as we await the premiere this fall, be sure to head over here! Also, sign up over at this link to secure some other TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)