Al Pacino Tried To “Kill” Big Bang Theory Creator’s Hit Netflix Show

Spread the love

Al Pacino and Chuck Lorre’s collaboration on Netflix’s The Kominsky Method was short-lived.

Lorre’s Netflix series is a comedy-drama series that revolves around acting coach Sandy Kominsky (Michael Douglas), whose days of Hollywood fame are long behind him. It premiered in 2018, the same year in which Lorre’s The Big Bang Theory debuted its final season. The Kominsky Method ran for three seasons and received 12 Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

In Lorre’s new memoir, Sitcom, (via USA Today), the television creator explains that despite Pacino being the one to initially reach out about a sitcom being built around him, “consciously or unconsciously, (Pacino) did everything he could to kill The Kominsky Method.” Lorre was unsure about the project at first because “Michael Corleone doesn’t do TV, let alone a sitcom,” but between The Godfather star’s insistence and being “starstruck,” he wrote a script for what would become The Kominsky Method.

At the table read (per Variety), Pacino “was all over the place, improvising dialogue, losing his place in the script, throwing off all the other actors … Afterward, Mr. Pacino told me the only way he could do this was if he improvised his dialogue. I finally sprouted a pair of balls and said, ‘No f***ing way!’” He recalls that Jean Smart, who was at the reading, silently mouthed to him during it, “What is happening?”

The conception of the series started with Pacino, but the project moved on without him. Douglas was cast in the leading role and went on to be joined by Alan Arkin, Sarah Baker, Nancy Travis, Paul Reiser, and Kathleen Turner. Emily Osment also played a recurring role, years before joining The Big Bang Theory franchise as Mandy McAllister in the spinoffs Young Sheldon and Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.

At the 2019 Golden Globes, The Kominsky Method won Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy, and on Rotten Tomatoes the series has a 93% critics’ score and 89% audience score. Arkin was in the first two seasons, receiving two Emmy Award and two Golden Globe nominations, and it was the final project before his death in 2023. Douglas received five acting nominations between the Emmys and Golden Globes, and won for season 1 of the latter.

While the show not working with Pacino could have ended the series before a single episode was made, it ended up being a major success given all the accolades and the overall reception across its three-season run. It also brought Lorre further into the world of streaming television, as he’d done Netflix’s Disjointed, but it was panned by critics with a 19% score on Rotten Tomatoes and canceled after one season, while The Kominsky Method proved to be a hit.

With HBO Max’s Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, Lorre has now brought The Big Bang Theory franchise to streaming instead of network television for the first time. The science-fiction comedy spinoff was renewed for season 2 before the first season ended and has a 78% critics’ score and 77% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Beyond The Big Bang Theory and The Kominsky Method, Lorre also discusses Two and a Half Men, Roseanne, Mike & Molly, Grace Under Fire, Cybill, and Mom in his new memoir. As with Pacino, he writes about what happened behind the scenes from his perspective, including with Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men and disagreements he had with CBS over the years.