The Luminous Fish Effect (15 Oct. 2007)

Sheldon's Christian-fundamentalist mother visits to get him out of the funk he's in after he is fired for being disrespectful toward his new boss.

Director:

Mark Cendrowski

Writers:

Chuck Lorre (creator), Bill Prady (creator),

Stars:

Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Johnny Galecki	...	Leonard Hofstadter
Jim Parsons	...	Sheldon Cooper
Kaley Cuoco	...	Penny
Simon Helberg	...	Howard Wolowitz
Kunal Nayyar	...	Raj Koothrappali
Laurie Metcalf	...	Mary Cooper
Mark Harelik	...	Dr. Eric Gablehauser
Sierra Edwards	...	Summer

Storyline

Sheldon isn't looking forward to the faculty mixer where he will meet his new boss, Dr. Eric Gablehauser, who Sheldon doesn't respect. Due to an inappropriate comment to Gablehauser, Sheldon promptly gets fired. Sheldon has no interest in getting his job back. With his new found free time, Sheldon works on a series of rather meaningless experiments at home, which drive Leonard and Penny crazy. Feeling at the end of his rope in dealing with a crazed Sheldon, Leonard calls in the one person who he thinks can get Sheldon out of his funk: his mother. Mary Cooper, a religious southerner, deals with her son in her own special way, which may have a side benefit to herself.

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Plot Keywords:

religious | experiment | driving | saying grace | supermarket | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Hawaiian

Release Date:

15 October 2007 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 25, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Chuck Lorre Productions, Warner Bros. Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

21 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When eating dinner, Sheldon's mother is sitting in his spot, the only time he doesn't object to anyone being there.

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Goofs

When Sheldon is driving with Penny in the car and says assume the weight of the car as 4000 pounds, his weight as 140 and Penny's as 120, he comes up with the total weight as 4400. It should be 4260 pounds.

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Quotes

Mary: [praying before dinner; aside to Raj and Howard] Now, I'm gonna end with a chorus of "In Jesus' Name," but don't feel obligated to join in. Unless the Spirit moves you.

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Crazy Credits

In the opening scroll of the time line when it gets to 91,000 there is a mistake the dates read 93,000BC 92,000BC 91,0009C 90,000BC for some reason 91,000 is a 9c not a BC.

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Connections

References Dharma & Greg (1997)

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Soundtracks

"The Big Bang Theory Theme (Instrumental)"
Composed and Performed by Barenaked Ladies

User Reviews

Fourth episode of "The Big Bang Theory" is very amusing thanks to guest star Laurie Metcalf

After Sheldon insults his new boss at his party at the university and gets fired, he spends time at home doing "experiments" on scrambled eggs and flabbergasts Penny when he goes grocery shopping with her. So Leonard brings Sheldon's mom (Laurie Metcalf, another former co-star of Galecki's from "Rosanne") to talk some sense into her son. As Sheldon gets his job back, his new boss and his mom start to get acquainted...With this episode, we find out Sheldon's background as the son of a southern religious mother with father long departed. Some very good lines from guest star Metcalf whom I guess we'll see even more in the coming weeks. Not too hilarious but a very amusing episode of "The Big Band Theory" overall.