The One Thing Fans Would Have Changed In The Big Bang Theory's Finale

Launching in 2007, "The Big Bang Theory" would go on to break the record for longest-running multi-camera comedy in television history in 2019 (per Digital Spy). Quickly rising to dominate its time slot during its 276-episode run on CBS (via Statista), the show generated massive audience appeal chronicling the proudly geeked-out day-to-day lives of four nerd-pals and the women who eventually enter into, and change, each of their lives. Over its 12 seasons, the show became must-see viewing as its four socially-challenged nerds gradually learned to deal with issues like their evolving friendships, career rivalries, and how to talk to women beyond the confines of their labs and the local comic book store.

As the series' various narrative threads began to come together toward the end of the show's epic broadcast run, a variety of happy endings were revealed. Penny (Kaley Cuoco) and Leonard (Johnny Galecki), for instance, discovered they were going to have a child, while Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Amy (Mayim Bialik) got the momentous news that they won the Nobel Prize for Physics that Sheldon had been obsessing over more or less forever. But despite all the smiling faces as "The Big Bang Theory" wrapped up its final episode, there's one character outcome that some long-time fans would have re-written.

As a series concluding its multi-season story arc of genius-level scientists generally achieving their life-long (and series-long) goals, "The Big Bang Theory" needed to provide fans with a logical end-point for the careers and personal lives of its much-loved, loyally followed cast members. While physicist Sheldon and neuroscientist Amy were awarded the coveted Nobel Prize for their work on super-asymmetry, fans felt Leonard, also a highly talented experimental physicist with expertise in the subject, deserved to be included in the prize.

Upset viewers took to a number of Reddit discussions to express their disappointment with this apparent dissing of Leonard's abilities on the show. In a post on the show's subreddit titled "Does anyone think like me?: Sheldon and Leonard should have won the Nobel Prize together. Not Amy," u/yahyarohat wrote, "In my opinion, Sheldon and Leonard... should have won the award." The poster's reasoning: "Amy is a neurobiologist (I know she can win a physics award, though). Leonard is a physicist. So, It would have been more logical for Leonard to win."

Redditor u/MMDespot echoed this specific complaint, saying, "I agree with you. Sheldon and Leonard are both trained and educated physicists... Leonard has a higher chance of understanding Sheldon's idea than Amy because they share most of the academic language and understanding of the subject."

So while viewers may have found that "The Big Bang Theory" handled its big finish well overall, some fans clearly found fault with who was deemed Nobel-worthy and who wasn't.