Mayim Bialik, an actress, author, and neuroscientist, who became a fan-favorite on the hit CBS show The Big Bang Theory as Sheldon's quirky love interest, is starring in a sitcom of her own again.
The show, which premiered in January and titled Call Me Kat, is about a woman who uses her life savings to open a cat cafe in Louisville, Ky. Jim Parsons, who starred opposite Bialik in The Big Bang Theory as the highly intelligent but often irritating Sheldon, is producing the show adapted from the British sitcom Miranda by Miranda Hart.
"He said 'if anyone can pull off annoying but also adorable, I think it's you," Bialik told Cheddar.
In the grand-old tradition of adapting British comedies, the two shows will share more in spirit than in specifics, but both concern a single woman looking for love and employment. What's unique to the American version is the decision to base the show in a cat cafe.
Luckily for Bialik, she's a cat owner herself.
"It's really awesome that I get to play with cats all day at work, and come home and then deal with my own cats who definitely smell the other cats on me," she said.
A stylistic choice that was carried over from Miranda is that Bialik's character will break the fourth wall throughout the show.
"Kat is a character who's alone a lot and tries not to be lonely, so the audience is kind of in on what's going on in her head," Bialik said.
In addition, the cast takes a bow at the end of each episode, which Bialik said has been divisive.
"You don't have to love it, but if you don't, it's not our fault. It's based on Miranda," she said.
The neuroscientist also took a moment to talk about the world outside the silver screen.
Bialik made headlines back in October for posting a video on YouTube clarifying that she was not an anti-vaxxer. She said misinformation had spread about her because her newly-born children were not vaccinated on a regular schedule.
"Obviously my children are vaccinated," she said. "We are a family that supports the vaccine program for this virus."
However, she noted that she was a skeptical person in general and pointed out that the long-term effects of COVID vaccines are still unknown. Nonetheless, she said she got the vaccine in order to reach herd immunity as soon as possible.
"I got the vaccine, and that's something that I decided to share about because there's been a lot of misinformation about me."
R.L. Stine, best-selling author of the iconic Goosebumps and Fear Street series, may have built an empire spooking young readers, but he takes his inspiration from an unexpected source ー comedy. "Being scary was never my idea," he told Cheddar Thursday. "I was always funny." Goosebumps 2" is out now on Digital and coming to 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD on January 15.
He's one of the must successful authors of all-time, selling more then 400 million books. But the success of 'Goosebumps' goes far beyond the bookshelf, that now includes films, TV shows, merchandise and even an amusement park ride. Cheddar sat down with the series' creator, R.L. Stein, who shared how the terrifying series came to be. Goosebumps 2 is out now on Digital and coming to 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD on January 15.
Dustee Jenkins, global head of communications for Spotify, came to CES to "put a stake in the ground" for podcasting. She told Cheddar that Spotify still sees upside in new forms of audio storytelling, and its "discover" algorithm can help users find podcasts that will appeal to them, much in the way millions of people use the feature to find new bands.
What happens when the world's richest couple gets a divorce? The announcement from Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos that he and his wife, MacKenzie, are divorcing amicably after 25 years of marriage and a trial separation, is unprecedented, given Bezos' net worth and his control over and stake in one of the world's most valuable companies, as well his personal ownership of one of the country's biggest newspapers.
New Year's resolution season is in full swing. Enter mind-body wellness expert Erin Stutland, who helps people conquer their goals through body mindfulness with her new book, "Mantras in Motion: Manifesting What You Want through Mindful Movement."
These are the headlines you Need to Know for Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019.
The electric vehicle industry got a jolt this week as Harley-Davidson introduced its new LiveWire electric motorcycle at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show. "We're the leader in the category, so we're going to lead the electrification of the sport," Heather Malenshek, senior vice president of marketing and brand at Harley-Davidson, told Cheddar at CES.
This year, CES marked a new partnership between gaming hardware maker Alienware and "League of Legends" developer Riot Games, a union that was a year in the making, according to the general manager at Dell's gaming arm, Alienware. "It actually started here a year ago," Azor told Cheddar at the Las Vegas conference on Wednesday. "That's where we first met."
Television psychologist Phil McGraw, better known as Dr. Phil, praised his "best friend" and colleague in entertainment Oprah Winfrey in an almost-endorsement for a presidential run on Wednesday when he joined Cheddar to discuss his new podcast, "Phil in the Blanks."
Flying taxis are closer to liftoff than you might think. Dr. Tom Prevot, a former NASA aerospace engineer who now runs the engineering division at Elevate, Uber's airspace unit, told Cheddar's Hope King that the nascent industry is reaching a point at which "a lot of things come together."
