'Big Bang' scoop: Romance for Penny and Sheldon?

Holding out hope for a Sheldon-Penny romance on The Big Bang Theory? It might be time to throw in the towel. Speaking to reporters at press tour this morning, exec producer Chuck Lorre pretty much shot down any chance there was of the polar opposites hooking up.

“Part of what’s wonderful and unique about [Sheldon] is he has chosen not to play in the relationship game either way — heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, any sexuality,” Lorre said. “He has said, ‘This is not for me. I’m a scientist. All I’m interested in is science and what George Lucas thinks.’ We’ve stumbled into creating a character who has chosen a lifestyle for himself that is unique. And I don’t see any reason to modify it.”

Added fellow e.p. Bill Prady: “[Sheldon] has made [a] choice that work and all of that is where he finds his passion.”

Lorre acknowledged that Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco have “become a natural comic pairing because [Penny] can tell him the truth. She’s not intimidated by him. They bounce off each other beautifully.”

Lorre also admitted that the Penny character was “underserved” in the Big Bang pilot, a problem he quickly set out to rectify. “It was [a priority] to develop that character and find more depth.”

Mission accomplished, right? And thoughts about Lorre and Prady’s stance on Sheldon’s romantic life?