Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting is being used to make the case that the How I Met Your Dad series needs to be retooled, not trashed.
According to E! Online , CBS chief Nina Tassler mentioned Cuoco-Sweeting while talking about her network’s surprising decision to pass on the How I Met Your Mother spinoff from Carter Bays, Craig Thomas, and Emily Spivey. Tassler seems to believe that HIMYD could still work if the cast gets tweaked a bit, and she pointed out that The Big Bang Theory went through similar growing pains before it became a mega hit:
“As I’ve said many, many times, ‘Big Bang’ would not be ‘Big Bang’ without having re-done that pilot. I can’t imagine Kaley Cuoco not being part of that show.”
According to Celebuzz , the The Big Bang Theory didn’t start with a big bang — it began with a completely different female lead. In the original pilot , the Penny character was named Katie and was played by Canadian actress Amanda Walsh. CBS rejected this version of the show. Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting was one of the additions that made CBS decide to pick up the series after it was retooled.
This recasting success story is evidence that How I Met Your Dad can still be saved, and Tassler said that CBS isn’t ready to give up on the series:
“Craig and Carter and Emily, we adore those guys, we want very much to stay in business with them. We’d love the opportunity to take another shot.”
Unfortunately, it might take more than finding another Kaley to save a series that can’t decide whether it wants to live or die. The project seemed like it was over and done with for good until late last week when TV Line reported that Carter Bays and Craig Thomas weren’t ready to give up on their baby. However, Carter Bays quickly debunked the report on Twitter. He tweeted this response:
“‘HIMYD’ was fun to work on, terrific cast, terrific writer, but it’s over now and we have other stuff we want to do.”
But now Nina Tassler is saying that it’s not over. So while CBS is interested in finding the Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting that will make How I Met Your Dad work, Bays and Thomas just seem ready to move on. After the depressing ending of How I Met Your Mother, a lot of their former fans are also ready for the franchise to be just as dead as poor Tracy.
However, if CBS convinces the HIMYD creators to retool the pilot, it’s unclear if the original cast will be brought back. It included Greta Gerwig, Meg Ryan, Andrew Santino, Tiya Sircar, Nicholas D’Agosto, Anders Holm, and Drew Tarver. Obviously there was an issue with one or more of the casting choices, but Tassler didn’t name any names.
If the series does get a second chance, the stars who land the lead roles in it can only dream of being as successful as The Big Bang Theory gang. As The Inquisitr previously reported, Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting , Jim Parsons, and Johnny Galecki are currently in negotiations to score salaries of $1 million per episode.
Do you think that The Big Bang Theory would be such a bit hit without Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting, and do you think that the addition of a similar likable star will be able to save How I Met Your Dad from dying for good?
[Photo Credit: The Big Bang Theory /CBS]