Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Kunal Nayyar Update: Big Bang Theory Season 8 Production Delayed Due to Contracts, Reports Say

Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Kunal Nayyar Update: Big Bang Theory Season 8 Production Delayed Due to Contracts, Reports Say
(Monty Brinton/CBS)
Jack Phillips
8/3/2014
Updated:
8/4/2014

Big Bang Theory Season 8 production has been stalled amid a contract dispute with CBS and stars Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Kunal Nayyar and Simon Helberg.

UPDATE on Monday: News reports are indicating that the stars of the show have received new contracts from CBS

 

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According to CNN, Warner Bros. Television said that production was halted due to the “ongoing contract negotiations.”

The Hollywood Reporter said that Cuoco, Galecki and Parsons want a pay increase that would net them as much as $1 million per episode. Currently they make about $325,000 per episode.

CNN reported that Helberg and Nayyar also want a raise. Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch are said to have got a pay raise last September.

CBS has said the comedy will return Sept. 22, 2014.

“Due to ongoing contract negotiations, production on The Big Bang Theory — which was originally scheduled to begin today — has been postponed,” WBTV said in a statement about the matter, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The cast of the show also didn’t show up for Comic-Con more than a week ago.

Co-creator Chuck Lorre told the website that the negotiations shouldn’t be a problem.

“There are people at Warner Bros. Television and people representing the actors who have done this before,” he said. “This will work itself out. I think it’s great; I want them all to be crazy wealthy because nobody deserves it more than this cast. It'll work out.”

The Associated Press update:

Contract dispute delays ‘Big Bang’ production 
NEW YORK (AP) — Production on a new season of “The Big Bang Theory” is being delayed because of a contract dispute with its top actors.

The Warner Brothers Television studio, which makes television’s most popular comedy, said that Wednesday’s scheduled first day of work after the summer hiatus was postponed. There’s no word on when “The Big Bang Theory” team will be back at work.

The CBS series is heading into its eighth season, and the studio is trying to hammer out new deals with actors Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar.

Contract disputes aren’t unusual at popular, long-running TV series, and CBS Entertainment Chairman Nina Tassler seemed to take it in stride when asked about the negotiations two weeks ago.

“I just love being able to answer these questions year after year, primarily because we have successful shows,” she said. “And when you have successful shows, you have renegotiations. We’re feeling very confident that everything will work out. These deals manage to get done somehow miraculously year after year.”

CBS had no additional comment on the negotiations Wednesday.

It’s considered far too early for such a dispute to affect the timing of a show’s season premiere. “TheBig Bang Theory” opens its new season on Sept. 22. The show is moving temporarily to Mondays for the beginning of the new season with CBS airing NFL football games on Thursdays for the first half of the season.

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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