Fact or Fiction

Welcome to our new feature, TV Squad readers. How well do you know what you think you know about television? Play our little trivia game, Fact or Fiction. We'll state the premise, then tell you the reality, i.e. the fact or the fiction. By the way, if you have ideas for Fact or Fiction, or questions you'd like us to figure out, share with us in the comments.

Fact or Fiction: When Chuck Lorre originally created The Big Bang Theory, the boys were dominated by a nasty neighbor named Katie.

Fact! Chuck Lorre told Watch magazine's Jim Colluci that a year before The Big Bang Theory was picked up by CBS, the first pilot had a female character named Katie. She manipulated the guys. "It was like shooting fish in a barrel. It didn't work," Johnny Galecki told Colluci. The problem was that Sheldon, Leonard, Raj and Howard were and are essentially innocents and without maliciousness. The idea of a woman taking advantage of their innocence was not only mean, it wasn't funny. The writers went back to the drawing board -- so to speak -- and, thus, the character of sweet, gentle Penny was born.