Why Chuck Lorre's TV Shows Have Vanity Cards

Chuck Lorre is quietly one of the most prolific creators in the whole TV industry. He's created and served as showrunner for "Cybill," "Dharma & Greg," "Two and a Half Men," "The Big Bang Theory," "Young Sheldon," and countless more. His shows are so varied that most viewers likely don't even know the same guy was involved in all of them, but there is one easy tell you're watching a Lorre series: Ever since "Dharma & Greg" (a show that's surprisingly hard to find today), Lorre's network shows have had a vanity card at the end of each episode labeled "Chuck Lorre Productions."

These vanity cards have been a fun quirk of Lorre's shows, something that casual fans barely notice but hardcore fans often pause the series to read. Why does Lorre write them? Well, they seem to have started out as a fun wink to an audience, as well as a way for Lorre to rant freely outside the usual constraints of narrative storytelling. Perhaps most important is that, especially by the time "The Big Bang Theory" came along, Lorre knew some fans would be disappointed if the vanity card wasn't included.

Throughout the past three decades, the vanity cards have allowed Lorre to elaborate on an episode's plot point, call out network censorship, and to vent about whatever personal issue he's currently going through. Take his 191st vanity card from "The Big Bang Theory" season 1, episode 6, "The Middle-earth Paradigm," in which Lorre wrote about how aging has affected his sex life: "The blessing of 55 is a libido in decline. The curse of it is that major pharmaceutical companies are successfully exploiting my insecurities." Is this TMI or is it a charming insight into the creator's troubled mind? I'd argue it's the latter.

Not every Lorre show featured the regular vanity card. Season 1 of his HBO Max series "Bookie" only featured two of them. Lorre explained why he switched things up in the card for the season 2 premiere, along with why he wouldn't be writing them for "Bookie" at all anymore:

"[HBO] Max actively dissuades viewers from reading end credits, let alone sticking around to read the mischievous word salad that is a classic Chuck Lorre vanity card. [...] If you're hungry for a peek inside my fiendishly clever mind, I still have a show with easily accessible vanity cards on CBS. Ask your grandma what that is, and where it can be found."

As any avid watcher can attest, streaming services tend not to allow you to sit with an episode's end credits. The moment the episode ends, the streamer will not only urge you to click ahead to the next episode, it'll even auto-send you to that next episode if you don't click anything. Similarly, once you're either all caught up on or done with a show, most services recommend other series for you to watch right this second.

But while Lorre knew most "Bookie" viewers will never see his vanity cards, he couldn't help but return to them anyway. After claiming he wouldn't be doing any more, he wrote a vanity card for the second episode of season 2 reading, "What're you doing here?! I said there wouldn't be any more cards, and I meant it!" His vanity cards continued with this bit for the rest of season. As for why Lorre seemingly changed his mind? As he explained to Variety in 2024, "[Vanity cards are] from another era. But you know, I'm trying to keep it alive."