The history of The Big Bang Theory is long and storied, and its enduring popularity as a franchise means we are still hearing stories about the show more than five years after it wrapped in 2019. Among this oft-discussed lore is the show’s pilot, which ended up going through a complete rewrite before we got the version fans saw on our TV screens. With James Burrows’ passing, one more story can be added to the lore. Burrows was a sitcom pioneer and icon long before he got involved in Chuck Lorre’s Big Bang Theory. He’d seen shows like Cheers and Taxi come and go, and he placed his imprint on more shows than I have time to type out or you likely have the patience to read. One of those was TBBT. He famously directed both pilots for the comedy, and he was open during his lifetime about being responsible for both the flop and the winning final formula. The original conception was the boys were walking down the street and they met a hooker who was destitute and crying. And they took her in and she was to live with them. And that concept didn’t work. So, they did it again with Johnny [Galecki] and Jimmy [Parsons], and brought in two more nerds and a sweet girl across the hall. And the rest is history.News broke a few days though that sitcom pioneer and icon James Burrows had died at 85. As noted prior, the longtime director was involved in some absolute TV behemoths from Cheers to Will & Grace and Friends. His casts have long celebrated his efforts, and that continued after his passing with Jennifer Aniston and more famous names paying tribute. Now, these sweet stories from his career are running around. As for Burrows, he feels like the credit for the success of The Big Bang Theory didn’t really go to his efforts. Though, he kind of wishes it had, telling THR in a retrospective before his death that the cast was the “glue.”I wish I could take more credit for that show. The writing is extraordinary, but it’s also a tribute to those actors. To Johnny and Jimmy, who create this Sam and Diane relationship. They’re the glue that drives that show.As he noted, though, the cast wasn’t cemented that first time around. Originally the show had featured Amanda Walsh as a character named Katie and had been short some of the sidekicks who came later on. Jim Parsons had apparently played a womanizer and a “drinker” in the original pilot, and all that got shuffled around later. We also recently learned from Simon Helberg he’d gotten cast with the second pilot order, and he’d nearly lost the role to Kevin Sussman. As you probably already know, Sussman will be starring in Stuart Fails to Save The Universe when it heads to the 2026 TV schedule this fall. Alls well that ends with a second pilot apparently. I’d known a lot about the original pilot, but I hadn’t realized until recently that Burrows had been involved with both the loser and the winner. Clearly the direction was not the issue that first time around.