‘The Big Bang Theory’ season 7: Simon Helberg and the road ahead

There are many luxuries to working on a show like “The Big Bang Theory.” You are insanely popular, play an iconic character, and the writing is just as strong as it has always been (which is a rarity for a show entering its seventh season, a time when most people throw up their hands and say “meh”). It also doesn’t start filming new episodes until August, which is a little later than the rest of the single-camera fare. It all sounds pretty sweet, right?

Yet despite having so much success and the honor of playing Howard Wolowitz, Simon Helberg is in the same boat as everyone else right now when it comes to the future of the series: Namely, that he has no idea what in the world the writers are going to do next. Speaking to USA Today about what he believes their process to be season to season, he labels the particular moment in which the cast starts to “ooh” and “ah” what’s coming up for them:

“I think, generally, they kind of play it by ear — I mean, I’m sure they have ideas, but I don’t think they arc out an entire season in advance, and they certainly don’t tell us. We don’t find out until we get the script, which is usually the night before (the table read).”

What we would like to see for Howard at this point is a new career challenge, and a new debate for him and Bernadette. We know that the “kid” subject is sure to come up again, but we’re not necessarily interested in seeing the show go down that cursed road. There are all sorts of other career obstacles or even personal struggles (family-related?) for them to deal with, and Howard may also have to adapt to the fact that he is no longer the cool one when hitting the town with Raj: They are (gasp!) actually on the same level.

Howard and Bernadette are not the only “Big Bang Theory” couple you should be excited about; check out some more news about Penny and Leonard here.

Photo: CBS