Leonard wears glasses in The Big Bang Theory, but they don't have lenses. It's been more than a year since the Pasadena Gang said goodbye as the long-running sitcom wrapped up, but it remains to be ever popular thanks to its availability on streaming platforms, not to mention being syndicated all over the world. With both old and new viewers are enjoying the series at the comforts of their home, fun details about it pop out every now and again making for a great topic of conversation in its community.
The Big Bang Theory's biggest draw was its cast of characters. Originally consisting of four members - Sheldon (Jim Parsons), Penny (Kaley Cuoco), Leonard (Johnny Galecki), Howard (Simon Helberg), and Raj (Kunal Nayyar) - the group expanded in season 4 with Amy (Mayim Bialik) and Bernadette (Melissa Rauch). The ensemble had great chemistry, which makes them fun to watch; however, the writers also made sure to create every character as unique as possible so that they can bring something new to the dynamic. Aside from personality and traits, that idea was also applied to their appearances, with each role having a signature look. For Leonard, that's his hoodie and dark-rimmed glasses, but as it turns out, the latter didn't look like what they seem to be.
Leonard wore glasses as a necessity because, like Amy and Bernadette, he had bad vision. This was the focal point of some The Big Bang Theory episodes, including one where his ex-girlfriend Priya (Aarti Mann) forced him to try contact lenses. It got so bad, he caused a whole commotion at the CalTech cafeteria accidentally bumping people. Apparently, however, the spectacles that Galecki sported in the series were nothing but show props as they didn't have lenses, but even with that, one would wonder why they had to go this far when he could've used a pair without grades on them.
The answer has something to do with Sheldon and how much screen time Leonard spent with his neurotic best friend. Galecki explained in an interview with Huffington Post that because of his height difference with Parsons, he often had to look up when talking to him. And because of how The Big Bang Theory set was built, this would result in the lenses catching the light and creating a glare, which didn't look good on camera. “We rehearsed the first episode for about a week and a half, and when we started to shoot, they said, ‘Well, you’re gonna take your glasses off, right?’ I said, ‘No, I want Leonard to wear glasses.’ They said, ‘Oh, we just thought you were wearing them as Johnny for rehearsal all week.’ I quickly popped out the lenses and that’s the movie magic behind that,” the actor recalled.
Galecki wanting Leonard to wear glasses was a good call. When The Big Bang Theory first started, all four boys had their signature items. Howard wore dickies, Sheldon wore multi-colored layer clothing, Raj wore vests, while he wore spectacles. Simply having Leonard sport a hoodie seemed to be not striking enough to make an impression. Now, the character is mostly synonymous with his glasses as tie-in merchandise uses it as a reference to him.