Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) has a personal attachment to his spot on the couch in The Big Bang Theory, but this wasn’t always the case. Known for his unique and sometimes downright ridiculous quirks, the socially-inept genius had time and time again proved that he’s willing to go through great lengths to make sure that his will was done. That included giving his friends grief when they mistakenly sat on his chosen spot on Apartment 4A’s sofa. However, he wasn’t always possessive about it early in the series.
Debuting in 2007, The Big Bang Theory primarily followed the adventures Pasadena-based nerdy friends: Sheldon, Leonard (Johnny Galecki), Penny (Kaley Cuoco), Howard (Simon Helberg) and Raj (Kunal Nayyar), with Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) and Amy (Mayim Bialik) joining in later seasons. The Big Bang Theory ended its run in May 2019 with a surprising emotional finale that saw Sheldon and Amy winning the Nobel Prize in Physics, while Leonard and Penny learned they were expecting their first child. While it’s been some time since it went off the air, the sitcom remains at the forefront of pop culture via various discussions.
One of the show’s longest-running gags is Sheldon’s covetous attitude toward his “spot” on the apartment couch. There’s a very specific reason why Sheldon chose this spot, as he explained to Penny shortly after she moved across the hall. Over the years, his attachment to the couch spot became the inspiration of many jokes in The Big Bang Theory. He fought with Howard over it as a by-product of their school parking lot conflict and got a mini-heart attack when he learned that Penny accidentally fired a paintball gun on its cushion. Only Meemaw (June Squibb) is supposedly allowed to sit on it other than him or else he’s making a scene. However, this wasn’t always the case.
In season 1, episode 13, titled “Bat Jar Conjecture,” the boys prepared for Physics Bowl with a practice quiz hosted by Penny. During the scene, the team sat on the living room, with Leonard taking Sheldon’s spot. Sheldon, who’s clearly aware of the situation sitting on a pulled desk chair didn’t make any qualms about not being able to take his usual place. At the end of the episode, this was once again the case with Leonard taking the aforementioned spot while Sheldon sat on the adjacent single sofa. Fast-forward to The Big Bang Theory season 2, episode 1, titled “The Bad Fish Paradigm,” Leonard came home from his date with Penny to his friends who were waiting eagerly in his apartment. In this instance, Raj was the one who took on Sheldon’s couch spot while the theoretical physicists sat on his desk. Again, Sheldon didn’t say anything about it despite fully knowing that someone else was on his spot.
The funny thing is, even when he’s alone with so much space to himself in the apartment, Sheldon always chose the same spot. Prior to Leonard moving with him, there was barely any furniture in the unit except for two folding lawn chairs (and a small coffee table) in the living room — one was his which was planted on the same spot. This means that he picked the spot long before the events of The Big Bang Theory premiere. Then again, as is with long-running shows like The Big Bang Theory, continuity issues like this are quite common.
