"This has serious shark-jumping disaster potential. Sheldon has been repeatedly shown in the past as having zero interest in a romantic relationship. It's one of the hallmarks of the character."

Totally agree. But remember, they said "potential" love interest, and "potentially" recurring. When they cast Stuart, they said "love interest" without "potential" in there. I think they are trying to get us thinking and wondering, and it'll end up that every bit of info they gave us was true, but it pans out so much differently. Maybe they'll work on a project together-totally platonic. After saying "no" to a Sheldon and Penny relationship (thank you!) this spring and still saying that Sheldon has no "deal" but SCIENCE, I think he may work with her on a platonic experiment...nothing more.

Knowing Sheldon, he would do a Mister Spock take on it and conclude it to be logical for him to have a girl friend since two of his closest friends have them. Or he might think he is going through Pon Farr. Sheldon's enough of a Star Trek fan that the other might convince him he's going through it.

Sheldon and Blossom?!? Seriously? Anyway, having a girlfriend for Sheldon does not automatically mean a sexual relationship. They may only connect on a mental basis.

I want to see that Raj finally overcomes his fear of women, which will kinda give a big hope for geeks/nerds who are afraid of women. I don't know. Maybe some sort of therapy or some thing, but if that also happens to Sheldon, that he finally has a woman, that's a great thing for the show; however, I want to see Raj having a gal.

He can still be his idiosyncratic self with a girlfriend. I'm sure when Leonard awkwardly asks Sheldon how the date ended, Sheldon will criticize the meal but bluntly admit the sex was amazing. *shudder* I'm sorry I have to go throw up.

Sheldon first crush, I love it. I look forward to see more of his sweet side or should i say playfullness.

I can imagine this happening in a very Sheldon way. Maybe he decides to try dating as a sociological experiment, or maybe he's cajoled into it, or maybe he reads that married people have statistically higher salaries and lower blood pressure and decides to try it.

Anyway, I wouldn't expect it to end with sex. That would be disappointing.

If she's a female version of Sheldon, maybe she's also asexual...

According to the article, she is a "potential love interest", someone he meets at an online dating service. Could lead to nothing in the end. There's no hint at all that Sheldon will "fall in love" or that Mayim Bialik will come back for more episodes. Bit premature to start worrying about things like jumping the shark and succumbing to peer pressure, I think.

The producers of this show -- and the network -- know that Sheldon Cooper's idiosyncratic personality is the lynchpin of the show. And they know that they change it at their peril. The writing staff, and Jim Parsons, have so far been very true to the character as defined.

But one of the pitfalls of sitcoms is characters that don't change, who seem to forget everything from one episode to the next. And again, BBT has allowed a certain amount of change and growth (probably not enough) to all the characters except Sheldon. That can't continue much longer without it being boringly implausible.

So let's let it happen and then see if we can't buy it. I'm not ready to condemn the show until they actually screw it up... which in three seasons hasn't happened yet.

Some spoiler warning rather than putting the news in the first sentence would have been appreciated.