No, Penny from “The Large Bang Principle” doesn’t have a Penn & Teller pun for a final title. The favored CBS sitcom ended 5 years in the past, however some followers of the collection are apparently nonetheless making an attempt to determine Kaley Cuoco’s character’s maiden title. In 2022, a fan principle went viral claiming that Penny’s final title was Teller, based mostly (per TVLine) on a season 2 episode during which a prop supply field included that final title in super-small, meant-to-be-unreadable font. Sadly, the present’s former government producer and prop grasp have been fast to place the kibosh on that notion, with a number of folks concerned within the collection admitting that Penny would not have a final title by design.
“Her final title being Teller is totally not canon,” collection EP Steve Molaro instructed TVLine on the time, explaining that the title was solely used for prop causes and that the writers’ room and producers for the present “did not sanction it, we did not write it, and we did not deliberately put it there.”
Scott London, who dealt with props for the present, says that collection co-creator Invoice Prady gave him the title, nevertheless it wasn’t meant to be canonical and even seen on digicam. “I had assurances it wasn’t going to be seen, that Scott simply wanted it for the visible form of the block of sort,” Prady instructed the outlet. “However, emphatically, Penny’s final title just isn’t Teller. I do not know the way that picture of the delivery label exists and followers have been capable of see it and make it out.”
Penny has by no means had a canonical final title, interval
Eagle-eyed followers noticed the label within the season 2 episode “The Work Track Nanocluster,” when Penny begins making flower barrettes beneath the small enterprise title Penny Blossoms. The field incorporates a few of her crafting supplies, nevertheless it was the delivery label, not the contents, that acquired followers riled up. For London’s half, he says he had so as to add a final title to the label. “I imply, you’ll be able to’t simply inform me to ship to Penny with no final title!” Because the present continued, although, it was clear that the woman subsequent door’s lack of final title was a working bit, and by the point she married Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki) many seasons later, it was clearly lacking from the ceremony.
“The canon is that she doesn’t have a final title that we ever assigned to her … and we’re by no means going to make one,” Molaro instructed TVLine. “Even when she and Leonard acquired married, we made certain to edit round even listening to what her [last] title can be.”
After all, the concept of a feminine character who is not given a whole title till she marries a person has rubbed some folks the unsuitable manner, particularly given the present’s questionable monitor document with ladies. “Your title is a part of who you’re and to rob somebody of that feels unfair, particularly since Penny has taken the brunt of many sexist jokes and tropes all through the years,” Kelly Schremph wrote in a bit for Bustle in 2019.
For those who assume that is sexist, wait till you hear about the remainder of the present
“The Large Bang Principle” initially conceptualized Penny as a woman robotic quite than a human girl, and its early seasons ceaselessly made use of the objectifying, misogynistic tropes of ’80s motion pictures about nerds and sizzling ladies. The present additionally utilized the unbearable character sort that Pop Tradition Detective dubbed the “Adorkable Misogynist.” As that website places it, “Adorkable Misogynists are male characters whose geeky model of masculinity is framed as comically pathetic but nonetheless endearing. Their standing as nerdy ‘good guys’ then lets them off the hook for a variety of creepy, entitled, and sexist behaviors.“
For her half, Cuoco has largely been optimistic in regards to the present’s choice to not give Penny a final title.”It is type of a private factor,” she instructed CBS Information in 2017. “It looks like a jinx. We’ve not stated it for thus lengthy. I really feel like if we stated it, the world will explode.” She stated one thing comparable on the present’s 2019 wrap celebration, telling TVLine, “I type of adore it. So many issues are revealed in the previous couple of episodes; you get lots of satisfying moments. However I type of love that [we’ll never know her last name].” In a unique interview a 12 months earlier, Cuoco instructed The Speak (through E! Information) she did wish to know Penny’s title, however she seemed to be joking.
Molaro has additionally implied that the present’s workforce noticed Penny’s final title as a type of a jinx, with The Hollywood Reporter quoting him as saying, “[Eventually] we acquired nervous and superstitious about giving her one … it’s going to at all times be Hofstadter” at a WonderCon panel 5 years in the past. A lot has been product of Penny’s lack of final title, but when the choice to depart her with out one — a minimum of, till she takes her husband’s — offers us the ick, it is most likely as a result of it is emblematic of bigger points with the present’s depictions of girls that are not fairly as straightforward to grapple with. All through its run, the present additionally glosses over or casually normalizes actual points ladies face, like sexist stereotyping, objectification, consent issues, stalking, unplanned being pregnant, gendered home roles, and plenty and many sexual harassment. Love the present’s writing choice or hate it, however in the case of questions we nonetheless have for “The Large Bang Principle” writers, Penny’s final title just isn’t on the prime of the listing.