The Dumpling Paradox (2007)

Plot: When Howard hooks up with Penny's old friend, his absence in the gang causes problems for the rest of the guys.

Original Title: The Dumpling Paradox

Director: Mark Cendrowski

Writer: Chuck Lorre , Bill Prady , Lee Aronsohn , Jennifer Glickman

Producer: Lee Aronsohn , Kristy Cecil , Peter Chakos , Robert Cohen , Stephen Engel , Jennifer Glickman , David Goetsch , Kelly Lee , Chuck Lorre , Steven Molaro , Faye Oshima Belyeu , Bill Prady , Mary T. Quigley

Type: episode

Year: 2007

Genres: Comedy, Romance

Cast: Brooke D'Orsay , Jim Parsons , Kimberly Brooks , Kunal Nayyar , Johnny Galecki , Kaley Cuoco , Simon Helberg , James Hong , Carol Ann Susi

Runtimes: 21

Countries: United States

Languages: English , Spanish , Cantonese , French

Color Info: Color

Aspect Ratio: 16:9

Sound Mix: Stereo

Original Air Date: 05 Nov 2007

Rating: 8.1

Votes: 4707

Year: 2007

Akas: The Dumpling Paradox (United States)

Production Companies: Chuck Lorre Productions , Warner Bros. Television

Distributors: CBS , Amazon Prime Video , CTV Television Network , Channel 4 Television Corporation , Cool TV , Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) , Veronica , Warner Home Video

Synopsis: Penny's promiscuous acquaintance Christy (Brooke D'Orsay) from Omaha, Nebraska, "kind of family" since she slept with Penny's brother whilst engaged to her cousin, arrives to visit Penny indefinitely, and immediately beds Howard in Penny's apartment which the pair take over. Penny is disgusted as Christy and Howard have sex in her bed.Penny replaces Howard as a Halo 3 player and displays natural talent, to Sheldon's disbelief. She responds by blowing up Sheldon's game character multiple times during the game, causing Sheldon to quit the game commenting that "nobody can be that attractive and talented at video games at the same time"To avoid the noisy "lovers", Penny sleeps on Leonard and Sheldon's couch that night (after Sheldon explains his morning bathroom schedule and tells Penny which way to sleep on the couch - feet pointing towards the door). As Penny retires for the night, the camera pans to Raj, whom everyone had forgotten and who slowly and quietly exits the apartment Next day Sheldon complains to Leonard about missing Dr Who on TV at 6:15 am on a Saturday since Penny is sleeping on the couch. Meanwhile Penny wakes up due to the commotion and is angry at being woken up so early Howard (wearing Penny's robe, and having admitted to using Penny's loofah and having sex on her collection of care bears) invites Christy to move in with him (and his mother), taking up all of Sheldon's Dr Who's time (Penny warns Howard that Christy will sleep with anyone till they keep buying her stuff. Howard cashes his Bar Mitzvah bonds to buy her stuff).Distraught at the odd number in the group (they need pairs of players to play Halo 3), Sheldon invites Penny to play Halo again, but she prefers to go dancing with her friends insteadThe guys believe their group is falling apart and go to speak to Howard. There they hear Howard's mother (Carol Ann Susi) arguing loudly with Christy (Howard's mother calls Christy a Gold Digger, but Christy is not willing to back down either), causing her to leave. Howard, single again, goes to play Halo with the guys, and the group is restored, completely ignoring Penny and her three attractive dancing friends who briefly appear at the door and offer to have sex with them. Penny uses this experiment to demonstrate to her friends that the guys are big nerds who would rather prefer video gaming over a group of sexy females throwing themselves at them for sex..Title reference: The scene where Leonard, Sheldon, and Raj are at the Chinese restaurant and do not know what to do with the spare dumpling which Howard would normally have eaten. The group discusses various options like going for Indian food (which Raj dislikes), or not ordering dumplings (but the waiter dismisses that idea saying eliminations from the normal order are not allowed either) The waiter offers to drop a dumpling on the way, but Sheldon says he would know.. They cant order soup either as the same issue is there with Wontons.

Cinematographer: Steven V. Silver

Producer: Lee Aronsohn , Kristy Cecil , Peter Chakos , Robert Cohen , Stephen Engel , Jennifer Glickman , David Goetsch , Kelly Lee , Chuck Lorre , Steven Molaro , Faye Oshima Belyeu , Bill Prady , Mary T. Quigley

Production Manager: Kelly Lee

Certificates: Argentina:13 , Australia:M , Brazil:12 , Netherlands:AL , United Kingdom:PG , United Kingdom:12::(DVD rating)

Editor: Peter Chakos

Editorial Department: Ryan Berdan , Tony D'Amore , Todd Morris

Sound Crew: Brian Seagrave , Bob La Masney , Charlie McDaniel , Bruce Peters , Ron Arnold , Michael Kreple

Music Department: Barenaked Ladies , Leo Tee

Miscellaneous Crew: Mona Garcea , Mindy Stevenson , Tara Stillions Whitehead , Anthony Robinson , John Malakoff , David Saltzberg , Jacob Murray , Maile Gerken , Jason T. Welden , Don Foster , Eddie Gorodetsky , Mark Roberts

Other Companies: Technicolor , Warner Bros. Post Production Services , Panavision

Costume Designer: Mary T. Quigley

Make Up: Peggy Nichols , Faye Woods , Beth O'Rourke

Assistant Director: Chris Klausen , Howard Murray , Anthony Rich

Art Department: Scott L. London , Francoise Cherry-Cohen , Sam Huston , Bryan Rogers

Camera and Electrical Department: Ron Ervin , Robert Zeigler , Roland Monty Reese , John O'Brien

Set Decoration: Ann Shea

Costume Department: Julie Heath , Sara Markowitz

Production Design: John Shaffner

Script Department: Julie Fleischer

Number of Seasons: Brian Steagall

Seasons: Ken Miller , Nikki Valko

Casting Department: Peter Pappas , Adam Hochfeld , Nikki Hoffman

Season: 1

Episode: 7

Number of Episodes: 280

Episode of: The Dumpling Paradox