For 12 seasons,  took over network television and found a way to make science entertaining and relatable thanks to a quirky friend group that consisted of Sheldon Cooper and Leonard Hofstadter. In real life, the connection between Jim Parsons (Cooper), Johnny Galecki (Hofstadter), and their friends made the series one of a kind. jumped exponentially with the show's success and continued for over 279 episodes. Stars like , which led her to other well-known projects like HBO's Regardless of how much time has passed since the show wrapped in 2019,  is beloved and watched tirelessly on TV and streaming services.

Knowing how popular the show is and how, theoretically,  could still be on the air if it weren't for Parsons wanting to explore other projects, the series became incredibly expensive to film over the years when it came to the final season. Between high payscales for the main cast and a popular theme song, 's final episodes reportedly cost around $9 million to create, according to . But with $1 billion worth of syndication deals, $9 million an episode for CBS was spare change.

3 TBBT Cast Were Paid The Big Bucks

As stated, Cuoco, Parsons, and Galecki were the show's original three stars.

 Kunal Nayyar (Raj Koothrappali) and Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) rounded out the friend group before Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz (Melissa Rauch) and Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik) joined the cast as main characters. As an ensemble, the cast's chemistry was unstoppable and was a large part of the show's success. Parsons and the rest of  for their work. Because of the writing and actors' connection, the cast had a big payday.

shared that Parsons, Cuoco, Galecki, Helberg, and Nayyar all eventually earned $1 million an episode. When it was released that Bialik and Rauched earned far less than their cast members ($100,000 an episode), the five stars took a $100,000 pay cut to pool more money for their costars who were just as important to the show.

Because the main cast was paid so much (reaching territory), a large part of that $9 million production total was paying stars, for which it wouldn't be the same without.

2 The Show Had Some Popular Guest Stars

As popular as the main cast was, the guest stars of  were just as important. Stars like Wil Wheaton (who plays himself), John Ross Bowie (Barry Kripke), and Kevin Sussman (Stuart Bloom) were in and out of the series as friends of the group. Sussman eventually became a permanent cast member as the owner of the comic book store the gang frequented. With big names and personalities attached to the main cast, they were paid handsomely.

landed these actors hefty contracts per season. ScreenRant reported that Wheaton landed $20,000 per episode. Appearing in 17 episodes, Wheaton received around $340,000 for his time on Sussman went on to earn around $55,000 per episode, according to , as a larger member of the cast, and Bowie was close behind Sussman, earning $5o,000 an episode, as reported by . Between Wheaton, Sussman, and Bowie's earnings, plus the paychecks of the main cast, the network paid an astounding amount of money towards salaries.

1 The Pretty Ladies Received Hefty Royalties

One of the things that set 

apart from other sitcoms was the theme song. Written specifically for the show, The Barenaked Ladies were asked by the show's creators to write and sing the theme. The band's frontman Ed Robertson told he wasn't sure writing and singing the theme song was the right move for the band because other songs they wrote for TV shows and movies didn't work out, but once he realized it was for Chuck Lorre, he couldn't pass up the opportunity.

The theme song worked out because  for the song's success, according to . In fact, shared the song made millions because of reruns. Lyrics for the theme revolved around the "Big Bang" and facts about our planet's evolution over millions of years.

The theme was so popular that it actually resulted in a lawsuit between the band and former bandmate Steven Page. Page revealed that although the song made the band millions of dollars, he didn't see any of the song's earnings. The lawsuit's result or settlement was never made publicly, but it coincides with how popular  is considering the theme song was just as popular as the show itself.

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