Mayim Bialik on Her and Melissa Rauch’s ‘Big Bang Theory’ Reunion and Status of ‘Blossom’ Reboot

Mayim Bialik on Her and Melissa Rauch’s ‘Big Bang Theory’ Reunion and Status of ‘Blossom’ Reboot

Mayim Bialik is on Night Court this week as Mayim Bialik.

In season three’s Jan. 14 episode, “Mayim Worst Enemy,” the actress reunites with her The Big Bang Theory co-star Melissa Rauch when she lands in the courtroom of Judge Abby Stone (Rauch) on a physical assault charge. Bialik, who initially walks in as a Jane Doe, is represented by Dan Fielding, played by John Larroquette who portrayed Bialik’s TV dad on his NBC sitcom The John Larroquette Show from 1993-1996.

“It’s a lot of reunions happening at once,” Bialik tells The Hollywood Reporter in the conversation below.

Building off of the frenemy status of the actresses’ Big Bang Theory characters Amy and Bernadette, Bialik once again attempts to infiltrate the friend group of her former co-star in the episode that is also a major nod to Bialik’s own ‘90s NBC sitcom Blossom, of which Judge Stone — and Rauch in real life — are huge fans. The plotline makes for a funny surprise ending and a nostalgic longing for Bialik’s breakout TV show for which a newly reimagined series is currently in the works.

Below, Bialik chats with THR about reuniting with her former co-stars, the status of the Blossom reboot and challenges that still exist for women in the entertainment industry.

***

First, I want to ask how you and friends and loved ones are doing. I know you have strong ties to L.A. going back to high school and college.

Yeah, I live here. We’re doing okay. I’m really compartmentalizing and trying to just do press for Night Court for this one hour. But it’s been a hell of a week, so I appreciate that.

How did reuniting with Melissa Rauch and John Larroquette on Night Court came about?

Melissa reached out and said, “Would you be willing to come play?” I had already been waiting for her call, because I knew that [Big Bang Theory star] Kunal [Nayyar] had already been on the show, and I was wondering when it was my turn. I was just so excited, and I said, “Whatever you want, I’ll literally do whatever you want.” She was like, “How would you feel about playing a version of yourself, a twisted version?” I said, “As twisted as you want.” I really just wanted to support her. I’m a huge fan of Night Court. And yes, John Larroquette and I had worked together when I played his daughter on The John Larroquette Show during Blossom time, so it was really, really fun to get to connect. Also, Nyambi Nyambi and I had worked next to each other at Warner Brothers, so it’s a lot of reunions happening at once.

When was the last time you had seen any of them in person?

During Call Me Kat time [2021-2023] I’d see Nyambi Nyambi. Melissa and I, we see each other socially, but in terms of a work environment we hadn’t done anything like that in a while.

When Melissa asked you about playing a version of yourself, were you into that concept more than the idea of coming on as a fictional character?

Yeah, I like when celebrities poke fun at themselves. There’s so much, especially in this culture, about the veil of perfection and things like that about celebrities, so I love when that gets lifted as a viewer. I was happy to be on the other side of that and be like, “What if I don’t care what people think of how kooky or silly this is, and just have a good time?” That was really fun.

Abby instantly starts fanning over you when you appear in the episode. How often does that still happen in real life?

It happens a lot. It happened yesterday at a coffee shop. It depends on how old they are what they’re interested in, if it’s Blossom or Big Bang Theory. A lot of people come up to me about my podcast because it’s about mental health, and a lot of people say that really helped, so people come up to me for all sorts of reasons. The reason it was embarrassing yesterday is I had fallen asleep at a coffee shop. Like, it was just really sunny and cozy, and I was napping, and I’m thinking, was this lady watching me napping on the table? It was weird. Anyway, I was not drunk or hungover or anything like that. It was just very cozy.

When was the last time you did the Blossom opening credits dance like you do in this episode?

You know, it’s been a minute since I’ve done the hip-hop. That was kind of a conglomeration of steps that was choreographed by Chris, our fantastic choreographer. We wanted to evoke some of people’s favorite aspects of ‘90s hip-hop. But for me, that’s usually just reserved for my living room (laughs).

The last report on the Blossom reboot was that the strike held up things moving forward. What’s the status now?

Thank you for asking. We were a Disney show which just acquired 20th Century [Fox, in 2019] so we’re in a ridiculous conversation now with legal about who owns it and where does it live. But we have an entire cast that is ready to do this. We would love to get to revisit these characters. Our original production company, Witt/Thomas, is on board and Don Reo, the original creator, has written the script so we’re just sort of in nostalgia land, which is also why it was kind of fun to do this Night Court thing because there’s so much nostalgia factor with the fact that Melissa was a huge Blossom fan. She’s been really supportive of everything I’ve done and trying to get this reboot going, so it was also really nice to create with her knowing she’s so supportive, and I was happy to support her.

I know you don’t necessarily want the reboot to be a sitcom. Are you thinking of going the Bel Air route where it’s more of a drama?

We actually proposed it before Bel Air. But yeah, our idea was to kind of break the sitcom mold since we felt in so many ways that Blossom, the character, and the show to some extent, broke out of the mold of a lot of what was expected of a show about a girl at that time. So we feel like we’d like to break the mold a little bit now too.

And I believe all of the original characters are on board?

Yeah, everybody. We’re all on a big text thread and we just did a Zoom the other day.

You’ve had such longevity both as an actress and an academic. Are you where you saw yourself at this point in your life?

You know, it’s all a pretty surreal trip. I’m the grandchild of immigrants from Eastern Europe who barely spoke English and were sweatshop workers. My parents were civil rights activists. I come from a very interesting American story. So, to me, it’s like we’re in the Matrix and I can’t believe anything is happening. I don’t mean to throw around the word grateful, but I am very grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given. And there’s a lot of challenges. There are challenges in being a non-traditional female. There’s challenges to being a woman in this industry. I remember the #MeToo movement started when I was on Big Bang Theory and we were all talking about it. I’ve seen the industry change a lot, but I do have a lot of gratitude for being able to play dress up for a living. The podcast that I do is a real work of passion and compassion from my training in neuroscience. So I’m very, very grateful to get to do all of these things and hopefully help people in the process.

In your podcast episode last year about Quiet on the Set, you noted how difficult it once was for women in writers rooms. How do you feel about the state of things now?

We just had Drake Bell on, and he talked very, very openly, even in ways that weren’t covered in Quiet on the Set. I think it’s important for us to pull the veil back on a lot of these things. I think that’s true in politics, I think it’s true with the climate, I think it’s true in all realms. We now have a way to communicate across social media that in many ways can be used for good — in many ways it can be used for not good. So I’m appreciative of all the places that we can talk about these things for sure.

At the peak of #MeToo, many thought the music industry would be next and then not much happened. Now [with Diddy’s pending trial], do you think the same impact that was seen in the movie business can carry into that realm?

I think as impossible as we could imagine it would be for any change to happen, it’s going to be incremental, it’s going to be hard fought. There’s a lot of places to put our energy. I think it’s hopefully bringing up things that will help lead to change. The fact that victims can speak up now in a way that they never could, we have to take that as progress, but we still have a long way to go.

Are there any other projects you’re working on at the moment?

My podcast, Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown, we have 60 million downloads. We’re on our fourth year. We started at a time when mental illness was kind of like, ooh, should we talk about this? Now everybody is talking about it. So we’re continuing to talk about it and continuing to grow our audience and also understand how the things that happen in the media, the things that happen in our climate, impact our mental health and our physical health.

Would you consider hosting a game show again?

The time that I had on Jeopardy! was so sacred and so special, and I have such tremendous respect for our writers — obviously, my support of the writers strike showed that. So for me, that was a really special opportunity to be part of such an iconic show, and such an iconic piece of game show history. I feel very satisfied with my time there and miss it a lot. I loved being there.