While The Big Bang Theory’s Raj was one of the show’s best characters, he accidentally caused a bizarre internal paradox within the world of the sitcom. It is not unusual for shows to accidentally complicate their fictional universes. One character on Roseanne noted that a minor figure in the series resembled George Clooney, even though he was indeed played by the actor. Similarly, one outing of How I Met Your Mother saw Jason Segel’s character, Marshall, stand in front of an ad for Bad Teacher, a movie that the actor starred in. There was also the matter of Scrubs and Cougar Town sharing one character but multiple actors between them.

The Big Bang Theory’s cast of characters usually steered clear of this problem. Since the hang-out show was so invested in nerd culture, stars like Will Wheaton, Stan Lee, and George Takei played themselves in the series. The sitcom’s main characters also constantly made references to famous pieces of pop culture. As such, it would have been noticeably weird and meta if any of them alluded to 8 Simple Rules, which starred Penny’s actor, Kaley Cuoco, or to Roseanne, which featured Leonard’s actor, Johnny Galecki. Despite this, The Big Bang Theory did slip up once when Raj made an offhand comment about another series that shared one of its actors.

Raj Watches The Good Wife (Which Stars Leonard’s Mother)

In The Big Bang Theory season 3, episode 23, “The Lunar Excitation,” Raj (Kunal Nayyar) raves about how great The Good Wife is. This is an interesting reference because Christine Baranski starred in The Good Wife and also played Leonard’s mother, Beverly, in The Big Bang Theory. There is no mention of the resemblance between the actress from The Good Wife and Leonard’s mother, but this is still a strange paradox when the series so often features real-life celebrities and references to existing TV shows. The Big Bang Theory’s season 3 Christmas episode brought back Baranski as Beverly, but Raj didn’t mention The Good Wife again.

Since The Big Bang Theory could have referenced any number of other shows with Raj’s line, and the same piece of dialogue also mentions Grey’s Anatomy, it is particularly intriguing that the writers went for a show that included one of their frequent guest stars. Baranski’s roles in The Big Bang Theory and The Good Wife can’t exist in the same universe, although the show could’ve claimed that Baranski existed as an actor within the series, and she bore a striking resemblance to Leonard’s mom.

This Isn’t The Big Bang Theory’s Only Weird Paradox

While The Big Bang Theory was careful about keeping its canon consistent, there is one other instance where the show slipped. Interestingly, this line also came from Raj. In season 1, episode 13, “The Bat Jar Conjecture.” he noted that real-life Blossom star Mayim Bialik was a scientist. This was before the actor joined the cast as Sheldon’s love interest, Amy, at the end of season 3. This paradox is easier to excuse because The Big Bang Theory’s writers couldn’t have known who would eventually play Amy on the show.