Peopled by sometimes-awkward geeks making physics references, 'The Big Bang Theory,'&nbsp;whose finale episode airs Thursday, seemed destined at first to appeal to a niche audience. But as the show reaches its conclusion, it has become one of the most-watched series in the world.&nbsp;

Focused on whether characters Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah-Fowler will win the Nobel prize, the show is going out on top as it wraps up its 12th and final season.&nbsp;

The show, which airs on US network CBS, has carved its place at the top of American television, with more than 12 million live viewers for much of the most recent season (17 million when including delayed watchers) -- similar levels to 'Game of Thrones.'

According to research firm Parrot, "Big Bang" was one of the five most popular shows in the world last year, a streak CBS would have been happy to continue -- were it not for Sheldon actor Jim Parsons having announced he would leave the show after the 12th season.&nbsp;

For producer and writer Stephen Engel, who worked on it at the beginning of its run, 'Big Bang'&nbsp;owes much of its success to the annoying-but-loveable character.&nbsp;

"It was a serendipitous blending of a character and an actor that was just magic," he told AFP.&nbsp;

Depicting a brilliant scientist who is socially clueless, Sheldon's portrayal was "just a perfect marriage of point of view, jokes, voice and actor that made that character jump off the screen," Engel said.&nbsp;

- Rise of geek culture -&nbsp;

But Sheldon's charm alone can't explain how a series that wasn't critically acclaimed or even breaking into the top 50 most-popular at the end of its first season went on to run longer than American sitcom classics like 'Friends,'&nbsp;'The Cosby Show'&nbsp;and 'Seinfeld.'

According to conventional wisdom, it was 'The Big Bang Theory's depiction of characters like Sheldon, Leonard, Howard and Raj as proud geeks -- obsessed with TV series, video games and obscure sub-genre interests -- that allowed for its longevity.&nbsp;

Long associated with niche interests, geek, or nerd, culture has made its way into the mainstream, thanks to sagas like 'The Lord of the Rings,'&nbsp;'Star Wars,'&nbsp;'Game of Thrones'&nbsp;and others, meaning there was a growing audience that could feel an affinity with 'The Big Bang Theory's characters.

"There was a tendency in the wake of 'Friends' to just to put as many good looking people in a room as possible and just hope people would look at them and just want to watch the show. 'Big Bang Theory' just decided because they were nerds, we can get the funniest actors we can find," Engel said. "They don't have to be handsome."

- The end of the sitcom? -

Though 'The Big Bang Theory'&nbsp;differs from most shows in its popularity and subject matter, the series still relies on a variety of tried-and-true sitcom conventions: the episodes, shot on multiple cameras, are made up of a series of punchlines interspersed by a laugh track, some of it edited in later (the show is filmed in front of a studio audience).

The end of the series, which coincides with the end of ABC's 'Modern Family,'&nbsp;which will finish with its 11th season next year, marks the end of an era for the genre.&nbsp;

Sitcoms on traditional networks, such as 'Big Bang'&nbsp;spin-off 'Young Sheldon,'&nbsp;and 'Mom,'&nbsp;also the work of 'Big Bang' creator Chuck Lorre, just don't bring in the same audience numbers.&nbsp;

And Netflix has tried its hand at the format, with 'Fuller House' and 'One Day at a Time,'&nbsp;though neither will be returning after the end of the year. By 2020, the classic sitcom will be absent from nearly every major streaming platform, including Amazon and Hulu.&nbsp;

"I've lived in many periods in this business where people have said: the sitcom is dying," said Stan Zimmerman, who worked on 'Roseanne'&nbsp;as a producer and writer. "And then it somehow comes roaring back."

Coupled with the decline of the traditional sitcom, the fragmentation of audiences means there is concern that universal series, capable of capturing the attention of large swaths of the public, like "The Big Bang Theory" or even "Game of Thrones" was able to do, is gone.&nbsp;

"I think it's wonderful that we are being so diverse in the programming and the voices that we are hearing and we just need to have more of that," said Zimmerman, who is working on a show called 'Silver Foxes,'&nbsp;a comedy centred on ageing gay men.&nbsp;

But he says he wouldn't count out water-cooler series just yet.&nbsp;

"There's still room for a big, general-audience show that everybody could sit and watch and laugh and talk about the next day at work," he said. "There's room for everything now."

Peopled by sometimes-awkward geeks making physics references, 'The Big Bang Theory,' whose finale episode airs Thursday, seemed destined at first to appeal to a niche audience.

Peopled by sometimes-awkward geeks making physics references, 'The Big Bang Theory,' whose finale episode airs Thursday, seemed destined at first to appeal to a niche audience. But as the show reaches its conclusion, it has become one of the most-watched series in the world. Focused on whether characters Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah-Fowler will win the Nobel prize, the show is going out on top as it wraps up its 12th and final season. The show, which airs on US network CBS, has carved its place at the top of American television, with more than 12 million live viewers for much of the most recent season (17 million when including delayed watchers) -- similar levels to 'Game of Thrones.' According to research firm Parrot, "Big Bang" was one of the five most popular shows in the world last year, a streak CBS would have been happy to continue -- were it not for Sheldon actor Jim Parsons having announced he would leave the show after the 12th season. For producer and writer Stephen Engel, who worked on it at the beginning of its run, 'Big Bang' owes much of its success to the annoying-but-loveable character. "It was a serendipitous blending of a character and an actor that was just magic," he told AFP. Depicting a brilliant scientist who is socially clueless, Sheldon's portrayal was "just a perfect marriage of point of view, jokes, voice and actor that made that character jump off the screen," Engel said. - Rise of geek culture - But Sheldon's charm alone can't explain how a series that wasn't critically acclaimed or even breaking into the top 50 most-popular at the end of its first season went on to run longer than American sitcom classics like 'Friends,' 'The Cosby Show' and 'Seinfeld.' According to conventional wisdom, it was 'The Big Bang Theory's depiction of characters like Sheldon, Leonard, Howard and Raj as proud geeks -- obsessed with TV series, video games and obscure sub-genre interests -- that allowed for its longevity. Long associated with niche interests, geek, or nerd, culture has made its way into the mainstream, thanks to sagas like 'The Lord of the Rings,' 'Star Wars,' 'Game of Thrones' and others, meaning there was a growing audience that could feel an affinity with 'The Big Bang Theory's characters. "There was a tendency in the wake of 'Friends' to just to put as many good looking people in a room as possible and just hope people would look at them and just want to watch the show. 'Big Bang Theory' just decided because they were nerds, we can get the funniest actors we can find," Engel said. "They don't have to be handsome." - The end of the sitcom? - Though 'The Big Bang Theory' differs from most shows in its popularity and subject matter, the series still relies on a variety of tried-and-true sitcom conventions: the episodes, shot on multiple cameras, are made up of a series of punchlines interspersed by a laugh track, some of it edited in later (the show is filmed in front of a studio audience). The end of the series, which coincides with the end of ABC's 'Modern Family,' which will finish with its 11th season next year, marks the end of an era for the genre. Sitcoms on traditional networks, such as 'Big Bang' spin-off 'Young Sheldon,' and 'Mom,' also the work of 'Big Bang' creator Chuck Lorre, just don't bring in the same audience numbers. And Netflix has tried its hand at the format, with 'Fuller House' and 'One Day at a Time,' though neither will be returning after the end of the year. By 2020, the classic sitcom will be absent from nearly every major streaming platform, including Amazon and Hulu. "I've lived in many periods in this business where people have said: the sitcom is dying," said Stan Zimmerman, who worked on 'Roseanne' as a producer and writer. "And then it somehow comes roaring back." Coupled with the decline of the traditional sitcom, the fragmentation of audiences means there is concern that universal series, capable of capturing the attention of large swaths of the public, like "The Big Bang Theory" or even "Game of Thrones" was able to do, is gone. "I think it's wonderful that we are being so diverse in the programming and the voices that we are hearing and we just need to have more of that," said Zimmerman, who is working on a show called 'Silver Foxes,' a comedy centred on ageing gay men. But he says he wouldn't count out water-cooler series just yet. "There's still room for a big, general-audience show that everybody could sit and watch and laugh and talk about the next day at work," he said. "There's room for everything now."

American sitcom 'The Big Bang Theory' to go down in history as one of the most-loved shows of all time

The popular American sitcom `The Big Bang Theory`, which made history as TV`s longest-running sitcom, is just a<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/entertainment-the-big-bang-theory-coming-to-an-end-massive-egos-and-poor-ratings-to-be-blamed-28287"> few episodes away from its series finale</a>. But, just in case you were worried about how the show will end, the CBS comedy is not going to kill off the beloved characters, unlike a lot of other shows that might do it. 
 
The show is instead sticking to the more traditional sitcom ending, allowing the characters' lives to continue normally."I will say the one thing about how they`ve approached the whole season: When we learned that this was to be the last season...writers have approached it, not so much as the show is wrapping up and we`ll never see them again and the finality of it all. It`s going to be the last episode and it`s going to end, but people`s lives still go on," Director Mark Cedrowski said during a panel at Deadline`s The Contenders Emmys. 
 
"The characters will be giving the idea that their lives continue on. It`s not going to be an atomic bomb where things blow up and you never see anybody again," Mark added. 
 
Mark also revealed that the finale hadn`t been totally written, but has been outlined. So theoretically, anything could happen. One thing that is not happening any time soon is another spinoff, or at least one involving Raj. Actor <a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/the-big-bang-theory-becomes-tvs-longest-running-sitcom-delhi-boy-kunal-nayyar-gets-nostalgic-206209">Kunal Nayyar, who plays the role of Raj Koothrappali</a>, said he is ready to move on and explore new opportunities. "I`m taking those cargo pants and burning them. I need a little bit of a break, as much as I`d miss playing that character. I`m ready to move onto different things now," he said. 
 
When E! News spoke to actor Kaley Cuoco, who also features on the show, she explained that the series finale will be shot a little differently from the typical episodes, which are filmed mostly in front of an actual audience. "We`re actually going to re-shoot the whole thing, so we`ll have shot it, and then we will have an audience taping," she said. 
 
"That was probably because they knew I`d be crying the entire time. So we still want the audience experience...so we`re gonna still do the audience, but we will have taped it and shot it beforehand, so if the tears come unexpectedly, then that`s just what`s going to happen because I guarantee you it`s going to happen," Kaley added. 
 
The one-hour finale will premiere on May 16. Created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, the show premiered on CBS on September 24, 2007. In March 2017, the series was renewed for two additional seasons, bringing its total to twelve. 
 
The show originally centred on the lives of socially awkward physicists Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper, who take a wild turn when the beautiful and free-spirited Penny moves in next door. 
 
The series stars Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Mayim Bialik, and Melissa Rauch. It has earned 52 Emmy nominations and 10 wins during its run.&nbsp;

The popular American sitcom `The Big Bang Theory`, which made history as TV`s longest-running sitcom, is just a few episodes away from its series finale. But, just in case you were worried about how the show will end, the CBS comedy is not going to kill off the beloved characters, unlike a lot of other shows that might do it.

The popular American sitcom `The Big Bang Theory`, which made history as TV`s longest-running sitcom, is just a few episodes away from its series finale. But, just in case you were worried about how the show will end, the CBS comedy is not going to kill off the beloved characters, unlike a lot of other shows that might do it. The show is instead sticking to the more traditional sitcom ending, allowing the characters' lives to continue normally."I will say the one thing about how they`ve approached the whole season: When we learned that this was to be the last season...writers have approached it, not so much as the show is wrapping up and we`ll never see them again and the finality of it all. It`s going to be the last episode and it`s going to end, but people`s lives still go on," Director Mark Cedrowski said during a panel at Deadline`s The Contenders Emmys. "The characters will be giving the idea that their lives continue on. It`s not going to be an atomic bomb where things blow up and you never see anybody again," Mark added. Mark also revealed that the finale hadn`t been totally written, but has been outlined. So theoretically, anything could happen. One thing that is not happening any time soon is another spinoff, or at least one involving Raj. Actor Kunal Nayyar, who plays the role of Raj Koothrappali, said he is ready to move on and explore new opportunities. "I`m taking those cargo pants and burning them. I need a little bit of a break, as much as I`d miss playing that character. I`m ready to move onto different things now," he said. When E! News spoke to actor Kaley Cuoco, who also features on the show, she explained that the series finale will be shot a little differently from the typical episodes, which are filmed mostly in front of an actual audience. "We`re actually going to re-shoot the whole thing, so we`ll have shot it, and then we will have an audience taping," she said. "That was probably because they knew I`d be crying the entire time. So we still want the audience experience...so we`re gonna still do the audience, but we will have taped it and shot it beforehand, so if the tears come unexpectedly, then that`s just what`s going to happen because I guarantee you it`s going to happen," Kaley added. The one-hour finale will premiere on May 16. Created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, the show premiered on CBS on September 24, 2007. In March 2017, the series was renewed for two additional seasons, bringing its total to twelve. The show originally centred on the lives of socially awkward physicists Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper, who take a wild turn when the beautiful and free-spirited Penny moves in next door. The series stars Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Mayim Bialik, and Melissa Rauch. It has earned 52 Emmy nominations and 10 wins during its run.

'The Big Bang Theory' to have a traditional sitcom ending, characters to live on

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American sitcom 'The Big Bang Theory' to go down in history as one of the most-loved shows of all time

'The Big Bang Theory' to have a traditional sitcom ending, characters to live on