Even though The Big Bang Theory is well into season 12, there's one misstep from nearly eight years ago that still gets talked about to this day. And it's all thanks to Leonard's high school bully, Jimmy Speckerman, who is played by Lance Barber.
Fans might remember the character from way back in season five, when Jimmy reaches out to Leonard to ask if he could help with his invention. Not surprisingly, things don't go as planned, and the episode ends with Leonard standing up to Jimmy ... and then promptly running out of the apartment with Sheldon to evade him.
Of course, not even the oh-so smart Sheldon could've predicted that six years down the road, CBS would launch a Big Bang Theory spinoff called Young Sheldon. But, alas, they did, and when it came time to cast the new series, Lance was selected to play Sheldon's father (which totally doesn't fall in line with Big Bang Theory). While casting directors might've been banking on folks not remembering Jimmy's episode from long ago, they learned the hard way that the internet forgets nothing.
Now, because The Big Bang Theory is syndicated, every time that season five episode airs, fans eagerly hop online to point out the discrepancy (one that was first spotted by many when Young Sheldon aired in 2017).
A mistake? Maybe ... but it's not terribly different from when Jerry Orbach played Frank Lehrman and then suddenly became Lennie Briscoe in Law and Order. Or when Sal Benedetto, a.k.a. Dennis Franz, transformed into Lieutenant Norman Buntz for the final two seasons of Hill Street Blues.
And then again, maybe it was Young Sheldon's plan all along. Maybe we'll come to discover that grown-up Sheldon invents something so insane in the last few episodes that allows his dad to be two different people at once. Okay, probably not, but you never know.
