DPK

Seconded. I know first hand because I've been out in California for several years now and going on auditions. Getting commercial work is hard as hell, even the non-union work.

I know working actors, when I say working actors, I mean actors who aren't names by any means but do make their living by doing commercials and various odd gigs here and there. One thing all these people have in common is that they all have some kind of part time job to suppliment their income. There are times when months go by between booking gigs and unless you are booking at least 1 to 2 national commercials where there are continuous residuals coming in after the initial pay it is extremely difficult to support yourself on acting jobs alone. Especially out here in CA where the cost of living is expensive. Most commercials, but especially the national ones(these the big paying gigs for the working actor)have to be auditioned for, what's more is that you have to be invited to the audition by the casting agency, you can't simply go in and sign up for a try out. Given that Penny is SAG/Aftra she cannot do any non union work. Which really puts her in the same position she's been in this entire time when it comes to trying to land acting jobs. Except now she doesn't have any other means to suppliment her income between jobs. On top of this she is now incuring a new expense with the acting lessons which are not going to be free by any means, on top of whatever her currently living expenses happen to be. The NCIS gig can hold her over for a couple of months at most but after that if she hasn't booked anything she's going to be out of cash. I'm curious as to where the writers are going to take it. They'll either give her some more success or they'll have her depleted money as a partial gateway into having Leonard either move in with her or her move with him.

I don't get Penny quitting the only job(even if she doesn't like it)that was bringing her stable income. How is she going to pay her bills? The money she earned from her NCIS spot would maybe be enough to hold her over for a couple months at the most.

Well, I was wrong about what happened. Penny proposing drunk was her way of trying to make herself feel better about what happened so Leonard's hesitation is completely understandable. That being said I still don't think we're going to get a genuine engagement between the two until after they've been living together for at least a little bit of time.

The writers are developing L/P relationship in pillars, with the pillars containing paired stages within the relationship. First is dating/casual relationship, second is the mutual IYL's/committed relationship...which is where they are currently now. The final two pillars contain co-habitation/engagement and then marriage/having kinds. The writers have/are gradually taking him through all the pillars one stage at a time. They haven't deviated from this model so far. Living together for a time comes before engagement. The end of the show will have them being married and we'll probably at least get a fast forword to see them will their children.

The reason why people are speculating that she might be considering quitting is because she's been struggling for 7 years and in that time has only booked a few gigs. One top of that she's now going back to school and taking classes that are not related to what she originally came out her for. That's called having a fall back plan and if Penny is doing that then that means she's at least started to consider the strong possibility that she might not be able to cut it. The NCIS fallout might just be the straw that breaks the camels back for her. She clearly doesn't want to spend the rest of her life waitressing at the Cheesecake factory and she isn't simply going to be happy being a theater rat. She wants to be a movie or televison star. It's looking more and more likely that this isn't going to happen for her. She obviously knows it because she's beginning to pursue other interests. She's started to invest more and more in her relationship with Leonard, which I think is at least partly due to this as well. One of the big factors for her dragging her feet with Leonard was not only commitment phobias in general but also not wanting to be tied down if her acting career actually took off, just look how most relationships in Hollywood go and you can see why.

I beg to differ. Leonard could easily hesitate about moving in with Penny if she asks him after suffering such an emotional set back such as having her arguably last chance at being a professional actress end badly. For all he knows she could just be asking him as a means of acting has an emotional bandage in order to make herself feel better about the situation instead of actually being ready for co-habitation with him. Leonard would want to be sure Penny is ready and actually WANTS to live with him. Especially after what happened last time. As for the Sheldon and Leonard. Leonard has realized that having Sheldon in his life is a good thing but that doesn't nessessitate that they must live together. Sheldon can still be apart of his life without being his roomate, especially if they were to be simply living across the hall from one another.

I don't think Penny is going to ask Leonard why he loves her. Sure you can make the argument that it is an issue that's been floating in the air since the beginning but that kind of question, for this show at least would almost qualify as a deep philosophical question and this show doesn't normally dig that deep. While it might be nice for Penny to have more success with her acting, the writing has been on the wall for sometime that acting as a profession isn't going to be a viable option for her. She clearly knows it given that she's gone back to school and she exploring other areas of interest. I think the NCIS bust is going to be the push where Penny comes to accept this and realize that she's going to move on with her life.

For Penny co-habitation is a big deal. Every single major step in their relationship has always been a major deal for her. They always have her being very cautious and hesitant to take their relationship to the next level. From agreeing to simply go out with him for the first time right up to the the first mutual exchange of "ILY's". They've broached the co-habitation before with Penny revealing that she was simply wasn't ready for the relationship to go to that stage yet. The next step is for her to be ready to live with Leonard. This follows the exact pattern that show has established. Given Penny's propensity to error on the side of caution, I can't see her even being ready embrace the idea of being married to Leonard without at least living with him for a period of time. Marriage represents the ultimate commitment, and while we do see them spend a lot of time together, until they start actually living together, they can still go "home" as it were at the end of the day. Separating Leonard and Sheldon as roommates would give the show a good shake up and actually open door for interesting comical scenarios. The writers have addressed the co-dependency relationship between the two and have started laying the groundwork for the idea that these two can't be roommates forever. This would be the best time to do it to in the shows life. Given Raj's loneliness and the his changing relationship with Howard due to Howard being a married man, he could be the replacement roommate. That would have potential to open up new venues due to the fact that Raj has always dealt with Sheldon in a much different fashion than Leonard when it comes to Sheldon acting like...Sheldon. Whereas Leonard would always try to negotiate or satiate him, Raj has on more than one occasion shown that he has no qualms about fighting dirty.

I'm guessing that Penny asks Leonard to move in with her. It's the next logical step in their relationship.

Penny was being super defensive because she felt really stupid about what happened. I watched the episode and Leonard was hardly pestering her to the level she was saying he was, and really, even if he was, she would have been more than deserving of it given how majorly she gaffed here. Also lets not kid ourselves on this either, had the shoe been on the other foot she would have flipped out on him and behaved way more obnoxious towards him than he did to her. As for my thoughts on the Christmas spoilers Penny imagining dating a swagged out Stuart makes sense given that without Sheldon being at the apartment first that she most likely would never have met Leonard. You have to keep in mind that Stuart is a Leonard-surrogate and pretty much always has been. I see some fans are wondering why she doesn't just imagine herself with him regardless of Sheldon, but that misses the whole point of the exercise. Sheldon is and continues to be very much part of the package deal when it comes to her relationship with Leonard and without Sheldon in the picture...Leonard goes away right with it. But when you think about it carefully, this actually supports L/P. It shows you how much Penny now envisions Leonard as her ideal mate that her imagination has to put herself together with the closest thing to him that she can think of...which is Stuart but in order to make that more appealing because he's not Leonard she has to "swag him up" in her imagination.

Stars choosing not to do commercials has nothing to do with not wanting the money or even not needing the money. That decision has more to do with fact that it is generally frowned upon because most actors who are at the level of being television/movie stars already have enough money as it is that and the perception is that the endorsement is a hollow one and tacky. The other reason is that when a major television or movie star takes a commercial gig, it takes that spot away from unknown who could actually use the money, and the majority of the big names started their careers out doing commercial spots before landing their big roles. That money was vital in keep most of the then unknown stars afloat financially because in order to have that flexibility to go out and audition, it required most of them to take very low paying wage jobs. She is willing to do them but fact is that she IS the most marketable amongst the cast for a much wider variety of things outside of promoting the show. Let me put to you this way, if both actors were willing but Toyota had to choose between Kaley and Jim for that spot that first aired on the Superbowl they would have still have gone with Kaley over Jim in a heartbeat despite Jim's "rock-star" status on network television right now. Women, more specifically young women are far more marketable that men are when it comes to promoting the kinds of products that people from 18-35 age range buy.

Kaley is by far the most marketable of the TBBT cast. It's pretty much a fact that when it comes to commercials, women, more specifically young attractive women sell better than just about anything else. That is why there are companies that want her to do commercials and host other programs. There have been other major stars of popular shows that have done commercials, it's just that right now Kaley is in the ideal spot for these companies, she's popular enough that her image can help sell whatever the company is pimping without having to shell out an obscene amount of money for the use of her image. Take for example someone like Jennifer Aniston and even her Friends alum Courtney Cox who have done commercials make up and other beauty products, those companies had to pay them millions of dollars. Kaley on the other hand probably only got a few hundred thousand for her Toyota commercial when you factor in residuals. The only reason anybody in her position does these promotions is for the money because it's some of the easiest money she'll ever make. These promos have little no artistic value and they certainly aren't going to help her expand her craft. What they are is easy to shoot and for the time involved(usually a day tops)is a very lucrative gig.

It's also important because when it comes to television and movies the golden rule is: Show, don't tell.

I get this but at the same time the writers job is to sell me on the idea this couple not only should be together but that their relationship makes sense and is one that can last. That is not something I can get 100 percent behind if all I see on screen is conflict. Now I am willing to give some leeway in the fact that is this is a sitcom and comedy most of the time comes from the conflict or contrast, on a intellectual I completely understand that fact, but I do need to see moments where these characters don't have to compromise in order for me to buy into the relationship as a whole. This is an area that L/P still need to improve on as far as the show is concerned. Leonard and Penny as a couple of made major strides this season but still needs work and this is one of those areas that needs work.

All good points and all accurate. Penny indulges Leonard and that is a good thing because it shows that she does in fact love him for who he is. He also does the same for her. The only problem with this from a story-telling point of view is that this seems to be all that their relationship, even this 2.0 version is built on, and IMO that is not good. The big thing this relationship still lacks is seeing these two be able to do something together(other than sex)that they both mutually enjoy. Something that doesn't require any type of indulgences from either side. Otherwise these two don't have a credible future together. Because if indulging the other person is the only way you can spend time with them, then spending time with that person eventually loses it's charm and then becomes a chore.

I'm not sure what the big deal is. She didn't even tell Sheldon that she loves him. She said that she loves that he's a part of her life and those are in fact two different things. Given that love that she does feel for him, which is that of a familial kind, it's naturally going to be a lot easier for her to say it too him, whereas he love for Leonard is much stronger and at times makes her feel much more vulnerable and ergo is going to make it harder for her to say it to Leonard.

The sad thing regarding Raj's case that I think the writers really don't realize just how much of douche they've made him. I see the next step in Leonard and Penny's relationship is co-habitation. The writers are taking these two through the typical romantic comedy checklist when it comes to most couples. They are simply executing it in the style that suites these characters and show. Penny IMO will move in with Leonard because having her be there more than she already is will drive Sheldon even more crazy and that's were the comedy will most likely be. I could see Amy moving into Penny's old apartment, that way she can be closer to Sheldon which will at least in part satisfy her and at the same time give Sheldon the distance he still wants. This offers enough of major change in dynamic to breath some new life in the show without completely taking away the mainstay element of Leonard/Sheldon's apartment being the place were most of the action happens. Everything you've mentioned here makes complete sense. The problem is that this is a sitcom. Sitcom's tend to ignore logic when logic dictates that a major change/upheaval should realistically take/or start taking place. Leonard and Sheldon's apartment is the centerpiece location of the show. Most of the major events take place there and it's the central location where all the characters congregate. The writers aren't going to give that up. Leonard and Sheldon are going to be living together until the very end of this program. The only question is whether or not the writers are going to at least try to change things up a little bit. Having Penny move in with Leonard could be one of those things. Sure they might explore the idea of Sheldon having to do things on his own and find his way without Leonard, but it won't last. Whether the writers decide to have Leonard be back during the premiere or if they have him absent for a few like Howard, by the time he gets back, he be back in the apartment and things will be back to the status quo for the most part.

They exchange mutual "ILY's" at the airport before he leaves so yes they are still together. It will interesting to see how the scene plays out because throughout the rest of the episode Penny appears to be very calm about everything. Hopefully TPTB allow Johnny and Kaley to bring some emotional juice to that scene. It's great that Penny is being supportive about Leonard but at the same time it should also made clear that Penny is going to miss him. This scene is really the only place where this message has any chance of being made clear to the audience because it doesn't appear that it's going to happening anywhere else in the episode.

Out of all of these I have go with Raj being cured of his selective mutism being the most important thing to come out of this episode. Now they can finally start utilizing his character more.

The only time the network can really put any creative pressure on a production company is if the ratings are tanking. With the amount of money CBS is making off this show in ad revenues, they won't do anything but allow the creative team to continue doing what they are doing.

I agree that the writers haven't done as good a job of giving us Penny's point of view. This is one of the big reasons that the addition of both Bernadette and Amy as permanent characters has helped the show. They have been their as a sounding board for Penny to voice her concerns and fears. Yes, while Leonard may have played a role in leading Penny down the road to deciding to end things with him, it doesn't change the fact that she did it in the worst way possible. That is completely on her. She could have and should have simply waited for the the event to be over and then broke up with him in private. But not only did she dump and run out on him in public, which is bad enough, she also did it in front of his friends. That adds a level of humiliation on top the the emotional damage she was causing by just breaking up with him. The Plimption thing should be obvious. Leonard had just gotten publicly humiliated and rejected by the person he had just told he loved some hours earlier. He was a wreck and somebody in that state will look for any kind of validation he or she can get. Often times it's done by having sexual intercourse with somebody else. It isn't pretty but it happens. Leonard being the kind of guy he is would be extra vulnerable to the physical attentions of a beautiful women who seemingly wanted him. It didn't help that Penny was so quick to judge him considering her own admittance to doing the same thing in the past. The Lunar Excitation, yes Leonard should have said no but he was still very vulnerable emotionally and Penny to his perception(keep in mind he isn't very socially savy so he wouldn't necessarily be aware)wanted to be with him again. This of coarse didn't end well.

Tensor explained very well, so I'll reaffirm that typically here in the US, there is definitely a difference between a "crush" and "infatuation". Infatuation would more along the lines of physical interest while crush describes a strong emotional feeling along with the physical attraction. And again Penny says that she's aware that Leonard isn't going to want just some fling, so she's aware enough to know that his feelings run deeper and that what he really wants would be something that would potentially turn into a real relationship. Nobody likes doing something they don't like to do, no matter how much they are aiming to please a significant other because it is something they like, people simply don't work that way. But this is something quite common, especially in relationships that are in hindsight still "new" so to speak. This is something that was especially heightened on Leonard's case because he was going out with a girl who would often be classified as "out of his league". But this kind of thing is about as common as it gets which is why it such easy comedy fodder and precisely why the writers "went there". As for being surprised if you found out a boyfriend ever did this, well of coarse you would because in real life 99 percent of the men and women who do this wouldn't own up to doing so even though deep down they know they do. But given this show is a sitcom we the audience get to see this happen. But this type of behavior is most common when the relationship is still fairly young. When you look take the long view, eventually this "posturing" behavior stops when the relationship is deep enough that usually both parties are no longer afraid of the "small" disagreements or differences. The other thing to keep in mind about Leonard's behavior on the "Platonic date" has roots in the hurt the Penny caused him with the way she dumped him. She dumped him in easily one of the worst ways possible, not only in a public place, but in-front of all his friends as well. Then That "date" was probably the first time they had been out alone together in that kind of scenario.

In the season one finale Penny says that she's been aware of Leonard's "crush" for quite some time. A crush is more than simply lust. It does entail strong emotional feelings as well. She out right says that Leonard isn't a guy would be simply satisfied with a fling. I would disagree that Penny wasn't aware that Leonard's feelings for her ran deep. Sure she wasn't made privy to some of the things Leonard did before they started dating but she knew his feelings for her were strong. Penny's questions were always more about how "could she feel about him" and "how does she really feel about him". Penny's issues when it comes to this has always been a "how I feel" vs "how he feels" scenario. This has always been the major crux of conflict regarding the problems that their relationship faces because Leonard has always been ahead in the relationship when it comes to what he's emotionally ready for. He was the first one to ask her out on a date. He was first to say "ILY", and he was the first to bring up the notions of co-habitation and even taking the relationship to a more permanent commitment level with marriage proposals. Penny has always been more wary about the speed of progression of their relationship because the due to her being hurt badly the last time she committed on the level that Leonard is to her. She cares enough about him not only not want to be hurt again, but also because she doesn't want inadvertently hurt Leonard the way she was hurt by Kurt, who was her last truly long term committed relationship before she got to know Leonard. I think there's a strong possibility that this overseas position will be used to generate enough anxiety in Penny to have her really decide that she's really ready to commit and declare her love to Leonard openly without it being a kind of emotional slip like the "43rd Peculiarity" or even her "passion" speech because including Sheldon and her other friends is still kind of a safety net emotionally for her because it still doesn't do enough to really separate her feelings for Leonard from that of the other people in her life despite the fact that her love for Leonard DOES in fact go much deeper than the love that she feels for Sheldon and the others. Even from a thematic point of view it would the the fitting conclusion to her over story arc for season six. To finally have her unequivocally and openly declare her love to Leonard would bring her full circle, and IMO is something that needs to happen that hasn't yet.

Exactly. When it comes to judging something like this you have to play a numbers game. You have to look for repetition, especially in a sitcom where so much of what the character says is dictated by the need of comedy. This is one of the reason sitcoms tend to hammered on for lack of continuity. Not as much attention is paid to keep characters as consistent as you would have in say a drama or another type of show. More often than not Leonard has been described as being good in bed by both Penny and other women. So I'm going to take that as more of an indicator at his bedroom prowess than a couple of comments that are clearly thrown in there as cheap jokes, especially the one in the car with Amy. The conversation between Penny and Priya I didn't take as being as negative as some. What I got from that conversation is that while both Priya and Penny enjoyed having sex with Leonard, they both agreed that he spent too much time on the foreplay. Hell, so many straight women complain that men are all too eager to get down to the nitty-gritty when it comes to sex and that they'd prefer spending a little more time on foreplay, as more foreplay tends to prolong the overall experience. Here we have guy that wants to make the overall experience so good that he spends a little too much time on the foreplay as like men, women eventually just want to get down to the main event as well.