Live+7 data is currently available only through May 5, but the top dogs will likely see little change once the final numbers are in for the traditional September-May season. The top gainer in adults 18-49 was NBC’s “This Is Us” with an average lift of 1.8 ratings points. The number two spot was a tie between CBS’ “Big Bang Theory” and NBC’s “Manifest,” with both of those shows adding 1.5 ratings points on average. These numbers do not include “Big Bang Theory’s” series finale, however, which pulled in a 3.1 rating and 18 million viewers in Live+Same Day alone on May 16.
My own *personal* fav of mine is the one where Penny gets addicted to online gaming and starts spiraling out of control all while bugging Sheldon to help her advance in the game. It’s earlier in the series and one of the first great examples of the typical Sheldon/Penny dynamic- showcasing their chemistry (as friends) She bugs him in the middle of the night in his room “Youre in my room. No ones allowed in my room!” to her calling Sheldon at work through Dr Gableheisers phone, Sheldon secretly takes out an online ad to try to get Penny laid! She is feening HARD to “level up”, such a slob with stains on her shirt, junk food everywhere, burping while throwing red bull cans and eats a leftover cheeto out of her hair! Only realizing she has a problem when she finds herself having a “virtual” drink at a virtual tavern with Howard. I die laughing at the ep everytime it reruns. I know its more Penny/Sheldon focused, but its one of my classics.
After Neil Gaiman tweets about Stuart's comic book store, it becomes very popular, and the crowds upset Sheldon. Stuart hires an assistant manager named Denise and she impresses Sheldon with her comic recommendations. Amy goes to her for information on comics to connect to Sheldon but when she tries to tell him, he says he's talked enough about comics with Denise. The store's popularity causes Stuart to be unable to babysit for Howard and Bernadette's date night. They try to have another at home, but Stuart shows up so they hurriedly go out. Meanwhile, as Raj sets up a telescope, Penny sees a new comet. Raj takes sole credit for the discovery, angering Penny. Leonard tries to defend her but feels sorry for hurting Raj's career. Penny confronts Raj herself and he agrees to share credit after Penny doesn't give in like Leonard.
After Neil Gaiman tweets about Stuart's comic book store, it becomes very popular, and the crowds upset Sheldon. Stuart hires an assistant manager named Denise and she impresses Sheldon with her comic recommendations. Amy goes to her for information on comics to connect to Sheldon but when she tries to tell him, he says he's talked enough about comics with Denise. The store's popularity causes Stuart to be unable to babysit for Howard and Bernadette's date night. They try to have another at home, but Stuart shows up so they hurriedly go out. Meanwhile, as Raj sets up a telescope, Penny sees a new comet. Raj takes sole credit for the discovery, angering Penny. Leonard tries to defend her but feels sorry for hurting Raj's career. Penny confronts Raj herself and he agrees to share credit after Penny doesn't give in like Leonard.
"Big Bang" thrived with the addition of new characters, including scientists Amy (Bialik) and Bernadette (Rauch) and comic-book-store owner Stuart (Kevin Sussman), says Helberg, part of the original cast with Galecki, Parsons, Cuoco and Nayyar. (The show eventually spawned a hit prequel spinoff, "Young Sheldon," which heads into its third season in the fall, most likely in the "Big Bang" time slot.)

With Melissa Rauch saying goodbye to Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz after joining the show in season three and becoming a series regular in season four, she's already begun to carve out new gigs. Not only did her indie film Ode to Joy make its film festival debut this part April, but she has another film, Steven Soderbergh's The Laundromat co-starring none other than Meryl Streep, in post-production, due for a 2019 release. While wrapping up filming on TBBT, she landed her next TV gig, playing Shira, wife of Paul Scheer's Keith on Showtime's recent Wall Street comedy Black Sunday. With the show recently renewed for a second season to debut on the cable net in 2020, it's looking likely she'll be back with greater availability.

'The Big Bang Theory' executive producers Chuck Lorre, left, and Steve Hollland and stars Kevin Sussman, Mayim Bialik, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco and Kunal Nayyar stand to the left of 'The Big Bang Theory' stage plaque, with executive producer Bill Prady, star Melissa Rauch, executive producer Steven Molaro and star Johnny Galecki, director Mark Cendrowski and star Simon Helberg on the right. (Photo: Warner Bros.)

Simon Helberg as Howard Wolowitz:[45] An aerospace engineer who got his Masters at MIT. Howard is Jewish and lived with his mother, Debbie (Carol Ann Susi). Unlike Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, Bernadette and Amy, Howard does not hold a doctorate. He goes into space, training as an astronaut and serving as a payload specialist. Howard initially fancies himself as a womanizer, but he later starts dating Bernadette, and they get engaged and married. Howard also has a tendency to waste money on toys and argues with Bernadette because of his oddly low income as an engineer and her high income as a pharmaceutical biochemist.

“The Big Bang Theory” premiered on Sept. 24, 2007, and for most of its run, was primetime’s most-watched comedy series. It remains one of the most successful sitcoms in TV history — and the longest-running multi-cam comedy of all time (recently surpassing “Cheers”). It has generated an estimated $1 billion and counting in syndication. The show has received 52 Emmy Award nominations and 10 wins, seven Golden Globe nominations, and the spinoff prequel, “Young Sheldon.”

Campbell and Pemberton start a publicity tour for their Nobel campaign, including appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Caltech reaches out to previous winners, including George Smoot, Kip Thorne and Frances H. Arnold, only to find that Sheldon has offended most of them in the past. Leonard and Penny convince them to show up to the reception, only for Pemberton and Campbell to crash the party. Leonard holds Sheldon back, only for Amy to verbally snap at them. Meanwhile, with Halley scared of the dark, Stuart and Bernadette turn Howard's story from his time in outer space into the children's book: The Frightened Little Astronaut. Howard is embarrassed until Bernadette talks him into helping children and Stuart's art career by letting it be published.

Turning to total viewers, “Manifest” was the biggest gainer overall, on average adding 6.1 million viewers per episode. ABC’s “The Good Doctor” was second with an average viewer lift of just under 6 million. “New Amsterdam” (5.2 million viewer lift) and “A Million Little Things” (3.5 million viewer lift) were also among the top gainers in this measure, as was ABC’s “Whiskey Cavalier” (3.2 million viewer lift).

Similar to Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki has been acting since he was young. His first gig was in 1987 — over 30 years ago — and he also starred in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation in 1989. He got his big television break on Roseanne and has since become one of the most successful television actors. His impressive resume earned him a net worth of $50 million.

One of the recurring plot lines is the relationship between Leonard and Penny. Leonard becomes attracted to Penny in the pilot episode and his need to do favors for her is a frequent point of humor in the first season. Meanwhile, Penny dates a series of muscular, attractive, unintelligent, and insensitive jocks. Their first long-term relationship begins when Leonard returns from a three-month expedition to the North Pole in the season 3 premiere. However, when Leonard tells Penny that he loves her, she realizes she cannot say it back. Both Leonard and Penny go on to date other people; most notably with Leonard dating Raj's sister Priya for much of season 4. This relationship is jeopardized when Leonard comes to falsely believe that Raj has slept with Penny, and ultimately ends when Priya sleeps with a former boyfriend in "The Good Guy Fluctuation".
Sheldon and Amy are surprised to find that Wil Wheaton's new Professor Proton show is actually very entertaining and that Wil had Howard on as a guest. On Howard's suggestion, Sheldon apologizes to Wil, mending their friendship, and tells him he wants to be on the show; but Wil asks for Amy. Sheldon tells her to do it, but she says she often doesn't do things to avoid upsetting him. Sheldon is horrified when he realises how selfish he has been, especially when he finds out that the men do the same for him. Sheldon encourages Amy to go on the show to inspire girls to pursue science while trying to control his obvious jealousy for her. Meanwhile, Leonard writes a book about a physicist that solves a murder, the protagonist Logan Dean is based on himself. Bernadette points out Logan's mean boss Illsa is similar to Penny, who thinks it is based on Bernadette, though Leonard does not correct her. However, Bernadette tells Penny the truth, upsetting her and making her mad at Leonard. After calling his mother for advice, Leonard learns that Illsa is actually like her; but abandons the book when he realizes he wrote romantic tension into the relationship between the characters.