Warner Bros. and CBS is working on renewing "The Big Bang Theory" for two more seasons, but contract negotiations of cast Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch remains a hurdle. The other stars of the series already opted to take a small pay cut to free up some money.
According to a report from Variety, the camaraderie of the casts can be seen in this move made by the original holdovers from the series. Multiple sources are saying that the original casts, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Johnny Galecki, and Kunal Nayyar have made the "extraordinary gesture" and took a pay cut to free up money to raise the salaries of Rauch and Bialik, who joined in season 3.
But representatives for Bialik and Rauch are saying that they're aiming for parity with other actors in terms of salaries. The report said that the two actresses are earning in the $200,000 per episode range, while the original five are earning $1 million per episode.
The renewal talks began late last year and the five casts agreed to take a $100,000 pay cut in their salaries for "The Big Bang Theory" Season 11 and 12 to free up $500,000 to be given to Bialik and Rauch. If this is split between the two of them, their salaries will jump to $450,000 per episode.
The report adds that there's a little debate now on whether the character of Bialik and Rauch has become integral parts of the show to warrant parity. Bialik's Amy Farrah Fowler is the girlfriend of Sheldon Cooper (Parsons), which added emotional depth to the show, while Bernadette Rostenkowski (Rauch) had a baby with Howard Wolowitz (Helberg) earlier this season, which was a highly rated episode.
The timing for Bialik and Rauch to ask for a raise was not ideal as "The Big Bang Theory" is not making the same amount of money it did three years ago when Nayyar and Helberg asked for raises. The TV series grossed over $1 billion in syndication for Warner Bros.
But Moviefone noted that the show is still making a lot of money and that should go to the stars of the show. The actors and actresses have been asked to work more to keep the TV series a success.
"The Big Bang Theory" Season 10 Episode 18 is set to air in the second week of March 2017. Check out the best moments of Bialik's character Amy in TV series.
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