Mayim Bialik was impressed by one of The Big Bang Theory’s guest stars

The 2007 sitcom “The Big Ban Theory” by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady was hotly contested when it went on the air. In the early 2000s, certain types of “geek” interests moved from the fringes of culture straight into the mainstream, previously derided niche interests such as Dungeons & Dragons, comic books, long-form video games, astronomy, and trivia. And Fantasy in Everything became widely accepted as the new entertainment zeitgeist. New types of pop artists acceptable to children were canonized. The geek ecosystem was widespread And readily available to any curious takers.

However, some viewers have criticized “The Big Bang Theory” for its inaccurate portrayal of modern-day geeks. The characters in Big Bang were either scientists or intellectuals, and they all loved Star Wars, comic books, and RPGs, but they didn’t talk the way nerds did, and they didn’t organically celebrate geek culture. “The Big Bang Theory” relied too heavily on old dweeb stereotypes left over from 1984’s “Revenge of the Nerds,” and didn’t do enough to update its own ethos to match reality.

But despite the criticism, the show was a huge success. Like, very successful. Successful enough to maintain high ratings for 12 consecutive seasons. Whether that’s accurate or not, some legitimate giants of the geek world have appeared on the show for the sake of making an appearance, usually just to make the main characters feel sexy. Stan Lee, Stephen Hawking, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Steve Wozniak, Nathan Fillion, George Takei, Leonard Nimoy, Wil Wheaton, LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner, Carrie Fisher, James Earl Jones, and Buzz Aldrin all appear.

Mayim Bialik played Amy Farrah Fowler on The Big Bang Theory beginning in its third season, and has had the honor of working with most of the celebrities mentioned above. Bialik, In an article I wrote for Grok Nation in 2019She admitted she could play cool to most celebrities, but she almost collapsed when the Lord of the Rings star came on set. Apparently she was a huge fan of Sean Astin.