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."
The holiday season is here again ー and as consumers buy and spend, more personal information is being exposed online. The number and severity of cyberattacks are on the rise, and both consumers and businesses need protection. Shane Wall, chief technology officer at HP and global head of HP Labs sat down with Cheddar on Monday to discuss the state of cybersecurity heading into the new year.
The issue of food waste has the distinction of being a massive sustainability problem, the solution to a worldwide humanitarian crisis, and a dilemma that is eminently fixable. As part of Cheddar's The Future of Food special report, we spoke to two companies at the opposite end of the spectrum ー one a huge multinational conglomerate, the other a Philadelphia-based start-up ー trying to innovate their way out of a $1 trillion problem.
As Cheddar reflects on 2018, we are profiling the most innovative, flamboyant, and often-controversial entrepreneurs and corporate leaders who delivered the year's most memorable moments in business. Cheddar's Class Clown Award Goes to Elon Musk.
The Impossible Burger earned its Halal certification on Monday from the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America, marking a major milestone on the meat industry disruptor's path to feeding the world. Soon the Impossible Burger will be available in grocery stores, too, for home chefs who want to try their hand at cooking the meatless burger. David Lee, the COO and CFO of Impossible Foods, joined Cheddar to discuss the company's plan to "serve the world."
Mattel's newest game, "Silicon Valley Startups," is training the entrepreneurs of the future ー and there's real money on the line. The new game pits entrepreneurs against each other to pitch ideas to investors. In a related contest, one aspiring entrepreneur will walk away with $50,001, thanks to a partnership between Silicon Valley Startups and "Shark Tank" investor Daymond John. Together John and Mattel will award the entrepreneur with "the best of the worst" idea. "I love pitching, I love startups ー and believe it or not some of the worst ideas have become the best things," John told Cheddar on Monday.
Daymond John, an investor on ABC's "Shark Tank," told Cheddar on Monday he's all-in on ride-hailing. And with both Uber and Lyft planning to go public, he's gearing up to invest in Uber, but only once the market has stepped back a bit following the initial public offering. He said he likes the company because his own life would be disrupted if it disappeared. "If Uber or Lyft went away, my life would be disrupted ... I think it's been around for quite some time and I think they're just going to expand globally and I like it," he said.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, Dec. 10, 2018.
A.I. robot Sophia is getting a software upgrade, one that will inch her ー and perhaps A.I. ー even closer to humanity. According to her creator, not only will Sophia earn her citizenship, she will reach a level of advancement equal to human beings in roughly five to 10 years.
Birchbox wants a bigger piece of the cosmetics market, but courting obsessive shoppers is not part of its plan, according to CEO and co-founder Katia Beauchamp. "We are focused on that non-obsessed consumer, that casual consumer," she said in an interview with Cheddar Friday.
The markets plunged again on Friday, capping off a wild week on Wall Street. Fears of slowing global growth, exacerbated by U.S.-China tensions, and a weaker-than-anticipated jobs report contributed to the losses. The tech-heavy Cheddar 50 Index, which measures the performance of Cheddar's 50 top companies ー from Apple to GM ー fell 4 percent on Friday.
