We Rewatched The Big Bang Theory Season 1 And It's Completely Different Now

"The Big Bang Theory" started as a sitcom about a group of nerds being socialized by their comely next-door neighbor. It ended as a show about three couples and one single guy navigating their adult lives in Pasadena. Want to hear more about how startlingly different Season 1 of "The Big Bang Theory" is compared to the rest of the show — and how changes made to various episodes along the way may have changed your perception of it? Click our video above, which runs down all of the different ways the first chunk of the sitcom has changed over the years. 

There's no way to mince words about this one — originally, the first episode of "The Big Bang Theory" opens with Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) and Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki) visiting a sperm bank for geniuses. Their very '00s goal? A faster wifi speed. This joke is completely excised from the version shown in syndication, so if this part of the episode doesn't sound familiar, fire up your DVD player. Speaking of technology — check out all of that formerly cutting-edge gadgets that the boys and Penny (Kaley Cuoco) use in the show. If you're old enough to remember what "Fractional T-1 Internet" is, then you're going to get Sheldon and Leonard's jokes about Skynet "getting kinky" — but nowadays, those are references that are bound to go over viewers' heads.

For a show that became very well-known for its galaxy of guest stars, it's worth noting that Season 1 is very light on them. Sara Gilbert makes her debut as Leslie Winkle this year, and Laurie Metcalf has her first appearance as Mary Cooper, but otherwise the fledgling show only hosts the legendary James Hong. Not a bad start for a series that will someday play host to William Shatner, Bob Newhart, and Stephen Hawking.

Lastly, Season 1 introduces the wholesome song "Soft Kitty," which will become a recurrent tune for Sheldon as the series goes on. The snippet of music actually brought about a scandal as it was subject to a lawsuit. Ellen Newlin Chase and Margaret Chase Perry — daughters of Ellen Newlin, whose poem "Warm Kitty" were published in a book titled "Songs for the Nursery School" — filed a copyright claim against Warner Bros. noting a close similarity between "Warm Kitty" and "Soft Kitty." Warner Bros. stated they paid its rights holder, Willis Music Co, to use the poem. But the Chase family claimed that neither Willis Music nor CBS never compensated them or consulted them regarding the lyrics' use. 

The suit was extinguished in March 2017 when a judge noted that a copyright renewal of the book by Willis Music did not reflect any renewal of copyright on the poem. Want to learn a little more about how completely different Season 1 of "The Big Bang Theory" looks with time and distance applied? Click our video above. "The Big Bang Theory" is streaming in its entirety on HBO Max.