The sixth season of the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory aired on CBS from September 27, 2012 to May 16, 2013.
The series crossed the 20 million viewer mark for the first time with this season's "The Bakersfield Expedition", which along with NCIS, made CBS the first network to have two scripted series reach that large an audience in the same week since 2007. This success has been attributed to the sitcom's exposure in syndication, its late 2010 move to a new time-slot, and the influence of showrunner Steven Molaro (who took over from Bill Prady) on the characters' storylines.
During the season, Kevin Sussman became a part of the main cast as Stuart Bloom. Mark Cendrowski was nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series for the season premiere "The Date Night Variable". Jim Parsons won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards for the episode "The Habitation Configuration". Mayim Bialik submitted the episode "The Fish Guts Displacement" for consideration due to her nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards. Bob Newhart won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series at the 65th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards for the episode "The Proton Resurgence".
Cast
Main cast
Johnny Galecki as Dr. Leonard Hofstadter
Jim Parsons as Dr. Sheldon Cooper
Kaley Cuoco as Penny
Simon Helberg as Howard Wolowitz
Kunal Nayyar as Dr. Rajesh "Raj" Koothrappali
Mayim Bialik as Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler
Melissa Rauch as Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski Wolowitz
Kevin Sussman as Stuart Bloom
Special guest cast
Howie Mandel as himself
Buzz Aldrin as himself
LeVar Burton as himself
Recurring cast
Carol Ann Susi as Mrs. Wolowitz
Pasha Lychnikoff as Dimitri Rezinov
Mike Massimino as himself
Margo Harshman as Alex Jensen
Wil Wheaton as himself
Casey Sander as Mike Rostenkowski
Regina King as Janine Davis
John Ross Bowie as Dr. Barry Kripke
Kate Micucci as Lucy
Stephen Hawking as himself (voice) Brian Posehn as Dr. "Bert" Bertram Kibbler
Guest cast
Jan Hoag as Lilian
Ken Lerner as Dr. Schneider
Janelle Marra as Claire
Ryan Cartwright as Cole
Meagen Fay as Mrs. Rostenkowski
Dakin Matthews as Santa
Matt Battaglia as Officer Reynolds
Josh Brener as Dale
Briana Cuoco as Gretchen
Riccardo LeBron as Tom
Bob Newhart as Dr. Arthur Jeffries/Professor Proton
Production
The season finale of season 5 depicted Howard Wolowitz traveling to the International Space Station (ISS) on board a Soyuz rocket, and season 6 features him working in the ISS. Thanks to technical consulting from Astronaut Mike Massimino, who also plays himself on the show, the production crew was able to put together sets that realistically depict the Soyuz capsule and the ISS. A small portion of a chamber that is a model of the ISS was rented and used as the set for the ISS. "Unique camera angles and creative framing" were used to make the set look larger. To simulate weightlessness, the production crew decided to use "long skinny platforms" to support the actors from below, rather than use tethers to suspend from above. The actors were required to act out "motions of microgravity" in order to create "theatrical authenticity".
Episodes
Ratings
Reception
The sixth season, specifically its first four episodes, received mixed reviews compared to prior seasons. In regards to sending the Howard Wolowitz character into space, June Thomas of Slate wrote that "The Big Bang Theorys creators deserve praise for their willingness to shake things up. After five incredibly successful seasons of nerdy laughs, it would’ve been easy to coast. Instead, they chose to press the reset button and disrupt the familiar friendships. Still, I hope things settle down soon, because so far this season, it’s all been a bit of a bummer". Oliver Sava of The A.V. Club criticized the character of Wolowitz's mother, writing that "Howard's mom has outlived her usefulness on this series, and rather than an obstacle for the character, she’s become a crutch for the writers to lean on". Jesse Schedeen of IGN criticized the storylines, writing that "The entire episode was pretty much predicated on two jokes ... But those two jokes had enough mileage in them to last a full 22 minutes".