‘The Big Bang Theory’ Postmortem: Steve Molaro on Baby Wolowitz’s Name, Sex, and Familiar Voice

Warning: This post contains spoilers for “The Birthday Synchronicity” episode of The Big Bang Theory.

She’s here: Little Halley Wolowitz arrived — and on Amy Farrah Fowler’s birthday — on Thursday’s final 2016 episode of The Big Bang Theory.

Amy’s birthday also meant it was time for Shamy to engage in their annual round of coitus, and TBBT showrunner Steve Molaro talked to Yahoo TV about choosing the baby’s name and gender, the shoutout to Howard’s mom, how the baby will fit into the show’s storylines, and the big trip Shamy takes when the show returns with new episodes in January.

What inspired the baby’s name? Did you discuss a lot of different possibilities, or did you settle on Halley pretty quickly?
We talked about it for a while and we sort of wound our way toward, “Well, what would be some science and space-related names that might work?” Once we hit that arena, we found Halley pretty quickly. I just think that the idea of calling a baby girl “Hal” is adorable.

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Did you always know the baby was going to be a girl? The idea of Howard being the father of a girl is pretty inherently funny.
We talked about it for a while, and I think we knew early on it was going to be a little girl, and that she was going to sound like Mrs. Wolowitz. It’s a little tribute to Halley’s grandmother that we now have another awesome heard-and-not-seen voice in the spirit of Mrs. Wolowitz back on the show.

That, and Howard’s conversation with Bernie about his mom, was a lovely nod to the late Carol Ann Susi, too.
Thank you.

In terms of integrating the baby into the storyline, Bernadette’s pregnancy didn’t dominate her or Howard’s stories, so should we assume the baby won’t either?
Exactly. I think, you know, other shows have had babies, and it’s been fine. I think this is a fun, unique situation for us. The baby is not front and center in Leonard and Penny’s apartment, or Sheldon and Amy’s apartment, and we can have a baby story, or everybody could be at work and the baby’s being taken care of and just not in an episode. I think having that flexibility is great.

What do you see as the opportunities with the baby? Certainly various character combinations will offer great storyline potential with the baby.
This entire group doesn’t have a ton of baby experience, so I think it’s a growth opportunity for all seven of them, really eight, when you count Stuart. It’s a new world with work and Howard and Bernadette, for example. Are they both going to continue to work or not? I think there’s a pleasant ripple effect as far as storylines go.

The other big event of the episode is Sheldon and Amy’s coitus anniversary. That relationship is continuing to move forward consistently now.
Well, quickly and not quickly. Progressing? They’ve had sex twice now in six years. It’s out of control.

But it feels natural for those characters. Their relationship is progressing in terms of, they’re living together now. Sheldon, the person who hates change so much, continues to take pretty big steps forward. Do you have a list of milestones you want to hit with him, with him and Amy, with each of the characters and the couples?
There’s not a secret notebook with milestones written down, but I think there are ideas that are always sort of floating around in our minds in the writers’ room. What’s so much fun about Sheldon and Amy is the tiniest steps can feel like big, new milestones or new encounters in the relationship. I think that’s part of their charm, because even though they’re full-grown adults, in many ways they are two teenagers who are each other’s first love. Something as simple as, “We’re supposed to be intimate, but the mood changed, and I’ve never encountered that before” … something that small and simple can still be an event worth paying attention to when it’s the two of them.

What can you tease for the second half of the season?
We’ve got a couple of fun episodes coming up. We shot one last week — it’ll air the first week of January — and the entire gang is hanging out, back in the old apartment, recapping what their holidays were like. Structurally, we don’t do it a whole lot, but everybody’s together, everybody’s telling stories about their holidays, and we’re seeing it all play out in some flashbacks. It really turned out well.

And that makes sense that they’re playing catchup, because new parents Bernie and Howard were probably busy during that time.
Mm-hmm. And Sheldon and Amy went to Texas to finally let his mom know that they’re living together in sin. It was just good to have the gang together in the living room, like old times.

Does Sheldon’s trip home mean a Laurie Metcalf appearance?
Absolutely, and she’s awesome.

The Big Bang Theory airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on CBS.