(03-10-2014, 01:46 AM)queenoftheDales Wrote: [ -> ]I hate to be a debbie downer in the Penny Parade, but I was reading an interview with the infamous Steve Molaro and something about Penny just stood out for me:
THR: Last season we learned that Penny is a decent actress. What's in store for her professionally this season?
Molaro: She's actually a pretty good actress, but that doesn't mean she'll necessarily have a great career. I think it's pretty realistic. She's got a commercial, little things here and there, she's taking her acting classes, but realistically the odds of her being a superstar are not great. So there are no plans for her to breakout in some giant career at the moment.
It seem as though that even though it is acknowledged that Penny has potential, she aint going anywhere in her career this season. Its becoming more and more apparent that the Penny character is indeed just a prop for Leonard. If this was the intention from episode one, then why did the writers make her character so damn awesome? (back then of course, I don't know wtf this Penny is now)
I don't think its too late to turn it around. Her endeavors to make something of herself can still be written and still be funny. It was in the earlier seasons; why the sudden change?? Writing Penny into an actress with a recurring role somewhere has potential and can be comedically written. Or shoot, even with some type of steady employment with potential is good for me. She is in her late 20's for crying out loud, she needs to have a plan B.
That would be more realistic, Mr. Molaro 
Here is the full interview:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-fe...ews-594416
I really did like Vintage Penny 
It's kind of obvious to me that at the time of this interview the only episode that was actually written was 7.1. It also seems to me that they do absolutely no long range plotting. They have no idea where things will be at the end of season 7. They're faking it and that leads to uneven and bad storytelling. Any good long-form story has beats that need to be hit. Lots of things can happen around those beats. They have obviously eschewed any kind of overview and they are working week to week. And it shows.
If I thought he meant that Penny might have an average career, a few tv roles and plays, a steady but not spectacular stream of work, I'd be more hopeful. Yeah, I get that she's not going to be the Next Big Thing and catapult into the A-List, that's fine.
What worries me is that very real fear that what they mean is 'huh? why the hell would Penny need a career? She's just Leonard's plaything. She's there to have sex with him, and eventually get married. Uh, let's bullshit our way through this.'
The lack of surname was never a joke. It just emphasises that she is a prop, not a character in her own right.
(03-10-2014, 02:22 AM)SpaceAnJL Wrote: [ -> ]If I thought he meant that Penny might have an average career, a few tv roles and plays, a steady but not spectacular stream of work, I'd be more hopeful. Yeah, I get that she's not going to be the Next Big Thing and catapult into the A-List, that's fine.
What worries me is that very real fear that what they mean is 'huh? why the hell would Penny need a career? She's just Leonard's plaything. She's there to have sex with him, and eventually get married. Uh, let's bullshit our way through this.'
The lack of surname was never a joke. It just emphasises that she is a prop, not a character in her own right.
Penny's lack of a surname is insulting. Even friggn' Zack gets a surname. Everyone who has a regular job on the show gets a surname. Not Penny. Because she's not really a person. She's a prop.
...Are we just waiting for the storyline with the younger, blonder waitress Jenny, who takes over serving the guys at the Cheesecake Factory? Penny and Leonard will be 'on a break', and oh my, she'll just happen to fall for those puppydog eyes. Comic confusion will abound, when Sheldon can't see the obvious parallels...
(03-10-2014, 03:54 AM)devilbk Wrote: [ -> ]Penny's lack of a surname is insulting. Even friggn' Zack gets a surname. Everyone who has a regular job on the show gets a surname. Not Penny. Because she's not really a person. She's a prop.
I absoultey hate that she doesnt have a surname. Its too easy to give her something,
anything for a last name. Maybe even mention it once in passing or something. Not one episode has even led to what her surname could be and damn FATHER showed up on the damn show.
She is just an ideal. Penny the Prop designed for Leonard to be the hero and win the show.
(03-10-2014, 04:06 AM)SpaceAnJL Wrote: [ -> ]...Are we just waiting for the storyline with the younger, blonder waitress Jenny, who takes over serving the guys at the Cheesecake Factory? Penny and Leonard will be 'on a break', and oh my, she'll just happen to fall for those puppydog eyes. Comic confusion will abound, when Sheldon can't see the obvious parallels...
Good maybe Penny can get rid of Leonard's garbage ass and move on. Maybe be funny again. Then she can save Sheldon from his impending doom and voila, instant hit spinoff.
Penny could have some touching moment with newly rescued Sheldon in the Beige Bomber and actually reveal her last name. I think he'd know it already but the reveal is just for the audience. They could get all the writers from the first 3 seasons, and revive Penny, Sheldon. Wishful thinking
Until then I will watch reruns and reminisce on how great the show used to be and how awesome Penny was because she was the stereotypical pretty girl who managed to befriend a group of socially awkward guys. Rather than trying to change the guys to fit her world, she changed and adapted to fit theirs... and it was
working for the show, the comedy was always there. Even with the crap character background, Kaley brought so much life to Penny. Now its hum drum and sad.
(03-10-2014, 02:22 AM)SpaceAnJL Wrote: [ -> ]If I thought he meant that Penny might have an average career, a few tv roles and plays, a steady but not spectacular stream of work, I'd be more hopeful. Yeah, I get that she's not going to be the Next Big Thing and catapult into the A-List, that's fine.
What worries me is that very real fear that what they mean is 'huh? why the hell would Penny need a career? She's just Leonard's plaything. She's there to have sex with him, and eventually get married. Uh, let's bullshit our way through this.'
The lack of surname was never a joke. It just emphasises that she is a prop, not a character in her own right.
I agree, I never saw Penny as ending up as a Superstar, but I did see her as the kind of actress who ended up as a character actor in everything. You know the type of actor I mean, it the one where you go oh, Who is that? I've seen him appear in dozens of shows But I can never remember his name. I was hoping that having her turn into this kind of actress would make her having no last name in the show a witty joke within a joke.
(01-24-2014, 05:17 AM)Tuesday Pajamas Wrote: [ -> ]They left things very open with Penny. I'd love to meet what they envision to be her mother. Her father left little impression on me but I have a feeling Penny's mother will be much like her.
Can you imagine Penny and her mother and Sheldon in a scene together? It could be funny if they pick the right mom.
I Find that kinda sad too. They get an amazing actor and Penny's Dad was kinda meh. Did Keith Carrdine need the money?
Jean Smart has always been Penny's Mom in my head.
(03-01-2014, 07:36 PM)FranEssi Wrote: [ -> ]Last season, they gave us an episode where Penny acted on stage and everyone called her remarkable and a star. This season they are writing her failing at acting auditions and being offered roles in cheap porn films and/or commercials. So which is it, Show? Is Penny a good actress or is she not? I personally think they are doing the same thing to Penny's career that they have been doing to Sheldon's. The formula is easy to see:
First, a success or an illusion of success (Sheldon being given the opportunity to go to the Arctic and coming back thinking he has proven String Theory, him doing a national radio interview, doing a joint paper with Kripke, discovering an element etc. - Penny playing a role in a TV series, her quitting waitressing to pursue her acting)
Then, the success gets taken away from them (Sheldon finds out about the guys' prank, he finds out Kripke's work is much more advanced than his, Leonard disproves his element etc. - Penny's part gets cut out of the episode, she fails at new auditions and is offered cheap, porn films and probably finds out that she shouldn't have quit waitressing after all).
And all this leads to a Lenny - and now Shamy - moment where Leonard and Amy get the chance to swoop in and to act as comfort/hero/savior to their (defeated) partners.
I think all these career failures and denying Penny and Sheldon any success and victory is the writers' way of 1) humbling those two 2) creating a "touching moment" for the canon ships and moving the Lenny and the Shamy relationships forward.
But isn't it interesting and sad that for the canon ships to have touching moments and to move forward, Sheldon and Penny have to FAIL?! It's as if the show is saying the only way for Sheldon and Penny to stay with Amy and Leonard is for Sheldon and Penny to become LESS (less happy, less successful, less confident). Hmmm. I wonder why!
$10 says they are leading up to a "very special episode" dealing with alcoholism. Do they still do those?
(03-10-2014, 08:39 PM)LewStonewar Wrote: [ -> ]$10 says they are leading up to a "very special episode" dealing with alcoholism. Do they still do those?
If the 'very special episode' had Penny revert to a cavewoman and beat the crap out of Leonard et al, I might consider watching it.
No, I think alcohol is just the convenient comedy prop to make her a ditzy loser. Drunk=cheap laughs. This is a show that has made a canon point that Sheldon's father was a possibly violent alcoholic, and they get him publicly drunk for giggles.