Kaley Cuoco Planned To Steal A Big Bang Theory Prop For A Cute Reason
Actors are notorious thieves. They'll steal anything from their sets that has nostalgic value — props, costumes, it's all fair game — and then laugh about it on the late-night show circuit. Typically, the stories follow a similar trajectory, with an actor mentioning that the item they took home became dear to them throughout filming, how they decided to nab it, and how they enacted their plan at the end of principal photography. But while that's the usual tale, one on-screen talent rewrote the script by announcing their intention to steal a prop before acting on it.
During the 2019 Winter TCA Press Tour, Kaley Cuoco, aka Penny Hofstadter on CBS' "The Big Bang Theory," shared that there was one item from the hit sitcom she planned to pilfer: a poster. The poster, which depicts a dramatized version of the Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots robots duking it out in a wrestling ring, was a staple "Big Bang Theory" set item for a long time. According to Cuoco (as reported by People), it's integrally tied to her memories of the series.
"It's something that I love so much and I've looked at it for 12 years," she said. "It's always in my eyeline from where I sit in the living room set, so I'm glad I'm going to put it in my own living room so I'll see it forever. A lot of people want a lot of things, so I've already marked that one. It looks super random and weird, but it's overly special to me."
Warner Bros. really doesn't like losing its props
The funny thing about Kaley Cuoco's declaration is that Warner Bros. is notorious for keeping a tight grip on its props. During a 2019 interview with Metro, Ann Shea — the set designer for "The Big Bang Theory" — revealed that Warner Bros. implemented strict anti-theft measures to prevent something like Cuoco's plan from happening. How strict? Well, like an obsessive James Bond villain, the studio microchipped everything ... no, seriously.
"Warner Brothers was so strict. Normally heads of department would have access to the stage so we can go work on the weekends," recalled Shea. "But, they closed the stages down months in advance on the weekend and they microchipped every single item on all of the sets and made sure they could track it. We were instructed to give everything we had for archives and so we did. It took months and months of packing and logging."
According to Shea, Cuoco and the others were not allowed to take anything home after filming wrapped, and since Cuoco never provided evidence that she actually snuck the Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots prop off of the series' set, it's entirely possible that Warner Bros. foiled her ambitions. Conversely, maybe the reason she never publicly followed up on her statement is that she didn't want to cross the studio. After all, it can't be that difficult to remove a microchip from a poster.