Photo: CBS
The time has officially come.
After 12 successful seasons, CBS’s The Big Bang Theory will wrap up its final season in May, 2019, Warner Bros. announced yesterday.
A joint statement from Warner Bros. Television and CBS reads, “We are forever grateful to our fans for their support of The Big Bang Theory during the past twelve seasons. We, along with the cast, writers and crew, are extremely appreciative of the show’s success and aim to deliver a final season, and series finale, that will bring The Big Bang Theory to an epic creative close.”
While we still have an entire new season left this fall on CBS, the series will end having shot and aired 279 episodes, making it the longest-running multi-camera comedy in television history, the studio added.
Kaley Cuoco (AKA Penny) added her own thoughts about the show’s ending on Instagram, saying, “No matter when it was going to end, my heart would have always been broken in two. Drowning in tears, we promise to bring you the best season yet… We are goin out with a bang.”
The long-time sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Brady stars Emmy winner Jim Parsons as the iconic Sheldon Cooper, a socially awkward yet brilliant scientist, who made fans laugh with every “Bazinga!” along the way. According to a report from Entertainment Weekly, the show is ending because Parsons was ready to move on from the hit sitcom.
The end of the incredibly popular CBS comedy will no doubt be a major loss to the network, as it has long been the highest-rated series in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic for the network. According to the New York Times, Season 11 was the No. 3-rated entertainment network show for adults under 50, only behind the emotional NBC drama This is Us and ABC revival Roseanne. Last season, episodes averaged approximately 15 million viewers a week, according to Nielsen ratings data.
Yes, we really do have a lot of fun here. The first taping of season 12!!!! ♥️@bigbangtheory pic.twitter.com/PF8lF6VxyD
— Mayim Bialik (@missmayim) August 22, 2018
CBS currently airs the show’s spinoff, Young Sheldon, starring Iain Armitage as a younger version of Parsons’ character growing up in East Texas in the 1980s, with Parsons returning to provide voiceover narration each episode. The spinoff was rated highly for its first season and will be returning for a second season this fall.
The residents of Apartment 4A will always have a special place in our hearts once the series says its last “Bazinga.” The final season begins airing Monday, Sept. 24 and then resumes its regular time slot on Thursdays at 8 p.m.
