The Big Bang Theory: 8 Moments That Were Completely Unscripted
6. Amy Reacts To The Tiara
One of Amy's (Mayim Bialik) greatest and most memorable moments on the show occurs in the season five episode "The Shiny Trinket Maneuver," when Penny helps Sheldon (Jim Parsons) repair his relationship with Amy by buying her a fancy tiara.
Though Amy is initially furious that Sheldon has tried to placate her with a shiny thing, her tune instantly changes once she sees what it is.
"Oh, it's a tiara!" she exclaims with fascination, before excitedly begging Penny to put it on her seven times in a row.
Thought the basics of the scene were written, Bialik ended up modifying it on-the-fly, as she confirmed in a blog post.
For starters, her original scripted reaction to the tiara was, "Oh my God, it's a tiara!," but because she prefers not to say God's name in vain, she "just sort of vocalized [her] way out of the 'my God' part and no one said anything."
The script also only had Amy say "Put it on me" five times, but because the live studio audience was laughing so hard at it all, Bialik added two extra utterances to fill time so that Kaley Cuoco wouldn't be left awkwardly waiting to say her own line.
They're subtle changes perhaps, but absolutely enhance the hilarity of the scene.