The Big Bang Theory – Katee Sackhoff Promotional Photo
The Nov. 23 episode of The Big Bang Theory (CBS, Mondays, 9:30 ET/PT) features the diminutive and delusional Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) sharing a toast in the tub with Katee Sackhoff, who is best known as Capt. Kara “Starbuck” Thrace on Syfy series Battlestar Galactica.
Her appearance is the latest of several geek-fantasy guests on Big Bang, whose ratings are up more than 40% in Season 3. The comedy draws nearly 14 million viewers an episode and is a top series among young adults.
The guest shot comes after a year’s worth of lobbying by co-creator and Battlestar fan Chuck Lorre, who originally envisioned her as the object of fanboy desire in last season’s “The Terminator Decoupling.” Sackhoff passed, and The Sarah Connor Chronicles’ Summer Glau stepped in as the sci-fi starlet trapped on a train as Wolowitz and his friends try to woo her.
Lorre got another shot when Sackhoff visited the Two and a Half Men set with close friend and fellow Battlestar alumna Tricia Helfer. He pitched another scenario in which she’d play herself, and this time she agreed.
“The story is about how Wolowitz has this wonderful woman in his life” after a double-date with Leonard and Penny and one of her co-workers from the Cheesecake Factory, Lorre says. “But he can’t recognize what’s right in front of him because he’s mesmerized by fantasies about women from sci-fi. The scene is his mental image of Katee, but she’s telling him the truth, that he’s missing out on real life.”
For her part, Sackhoff enjoyed the rub-a-dub-dub so much that she says she hopes it leads to a recurring role as “Wolowitz’s Number Six” (a Battlestar reference), returning from time to time in his imagination to offer advice – for instance, disabusing him of the notion that he’s a ladies’ man.
Lorre says he could get on board with that idea. “That would be terrific – she could definitely be Number Six in Wolowitz’s head – his muse, the magnificent woman who tells him the truth. We should all have a conscience that looks like Katee Sackhoff.”
Her episode comes on the heels of another recent geeky casting coup: Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Wil Wheaton playing an evil version of himself who outwits Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) in a gaming tournament.
Lorre knew that getting Wheaton on The Big Bang Theory would generate interest but says he didn’t fully appreciate the depth of passion among Wesley Crusher devotees, a group that includes Sackhoff. “As a Star Trek fan growing up, I had such a crush on him,” she says.
Sackhoff’s next small-screen venture also has a Star Trek connection: In January, she joins Fox’s 24 as CTU’s new head analyst. Both shows share a producer in Brannon Braga.
Speaking of Star Trek, inquiring minds want to know: Is Sackhoff a member of Team Kirk or Team Picard? “I am definitely a William Shatner girl. Hands down.”
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