In The Big Bang Theory, Penny is the archetypal blond, beautiful girl who didn't go to college. Her plan was to become an actress, so she moved to L.A to pursue her dream. She'd just broken up from Kurt, the TV thief. She liked to date strong, muscular men with less intelligence. But she experienced a change in her preference once she hung out with comic-book nerds.
Penny was often recovering from heartbreak or breakups, in general. Not all her choices were bad and fans would have definitely preferred to see her with someone else besides Leonard because let's face it, there was a lack of chemistry between the two. Let's take a look at 10 people Penny should have been with other than Leonard.
Zack Johnson
Penny's former husband, Zack Johnson is first seen in "The Lunar Excitation." He was different from the usual-muscular bullies that Penny dated. He was sweet, friendly and generally curious about things. For a guy who was shown to be a mimbo, Zack has some redeeming qualities. He taught Penny what a surprise party meant and he worked as a VP for his dad's company that designed menus for the Cheesecake Factory.
Penny herself maintained Zack was a perfectly nice guy. The two were on-and-off for the stupidest of reasons. It is later revealed that Penny loved Zack, but her commitment-phobia got in the way of their relationship.
Glenn
Glenn was Bernadette's college professor and they used to date in the past. He was shown in "The Love Car Displacement" attending the same science conference as the rest of the group. Glenn was 6-foot-7 and handsome, or in Howard's words, he had a hard time finding a suit that fit.
The science conference didn't shape-up the way it was supposed to. Penny, for one, wanted to get back to Los Angeles. Glenn came to her rescue and drove her back. Penny and probably the most beautiful man on the show would have been something of an item.
Sheldon Cooper
Sheldon and Penny had an amazing understanding and an unmatchable camaraderie on the show. He would have made the perfect match for Penny, considering she was into tall, handsome guys. After a certain point in her life, she tried to date smarter. Who else but Sheldon would have fit the bill?
There are a ton of instances in The Big Bang Theory that show palpable chemistry between Sheldon and Penny. To name a few, the yogurt and shoe store improv, the physics class, the spirit of Christmas, the panty pinata incident. A romantic relationship was never established between Penny and Shelbot, but what-could-have-been sounds thrilling to fans.
Raj Koothrappali
Bernadette knew Raj more than anyone on the show, for she was his best friend's partner. So when she said Raj had a real shot with her, best believe her. Being around Penny helped Raj with his selective mutism and social anxiety. It was Penny's grasshopper cocktail that showed Raj could speak to women in a drunken state. In the wake of the Lalita Gupta incident, it was Penny whom Raj shared his grief with.
"The Grasshopper Experiment" marked the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Penny and Raj. Thus, in the future when Penny shot Raj down, nothing changed between them. Audiences always felt Raj and Penny had couple potential.
Dave Gibbs
Dave Gibbs played a British gentleman who went on a couple of dates with Amy. Dave would have made a much better partner for Penny than Leonard. Penny reacted quite excitedly about Dave being tall and British. Had the two of them ended up together, Penny wouldn't have thrown out all her tall heels, as she did with Leonard.
Since Penny was encouraged to date smarter, Dave would have been a suitable prospect. It is implied that Dave was a mathematician who'd split-up from his cold, gloomy ex-wife. Penny was the farthest thing from gloomy and they would have complemented each other well.
Stuart Bloom
"Blink twice if you're here against your will."
Penny thought the Comic Center of Pasadena was a cute little store. Imagine, for a second, that she ended up with the cutie who owned this store. Stuart struck up a conversation with Penny upon her visit to the store in "The Hofstadter Isotope."
Keeping up with the precedent established in the show, Stuart was almost shocked to find Penny here. He managed to make her laugh and crack some good jokes for a guy who was shown to be awfully lonely later. In fact, Leonard even endorsed Stuart by saying he was a terrific artist. Stuart was the nice guy who thought coffee actually meant coffee and was a refreshing change from some of the other guys she dated.
Tom
If you are taken in by a man espousing unsupportable mathematics, know you are a perfect match. Tom found Penny via headoverheelz.com. She'd nothing to do with the search, rather it was Sheldon who entered her data to 'get her some.'
Tom was chosen through science as a suitable mate for Penny who, at the time, was hooked on Age of Conan. Penny couldn't care less for Tom, she'd lost herself to the online world of the multiplayer game. Well, coulda, woulda, shoulda.
Doug
Doug seemed to make Penny laugh. He was seen in "The Fuzzy Boots Corollary" with his arms wrapped around her. Back then, Penny was young and new to Pasadena, California. He was a typical sample from the early pool of men that Penny dated -- muscular, tall and really tan.
There wasn't anything else to their relationship, except that Doug didn't know a good way to greet people. Audiences would have loved to see a little more romance between Doug and Penny.
Leopold/Toby Loobenfeld
Toby Loobenfeld knew Sheldon from Caltech. Since minored in theatre at MIT, he was hired by Sheldon to play his cousin Leopold. Toby was to go along with the elaborate lie made up by Leonard and Sheldon to get out of attending Penny's play. Leo, as he was fondly known, was Sheldon's drug-addict cousin from Denton, Texas. Leonard and Sheldon intervened in the nick of time to convince Leo to leave the fleabag motel he stayed at and they brought him home to Pasadena.
Within minutes of their first meeting, Leo was over at Penny's seated comfortably on her couch. Penny couldn't help but smile in Leo's company. She found him to be a sweet and funny guy. The two snuggled on Penny's couch, watching TV. Leo was oddly different from the kind of guys Penny dated, but he successfully managed to win her sympathy and cuddles. And this was just the beginning.
Howard Wolowitz
If Howard Wolowitz could get a smart, successful and beautiful girl like Bernadette, the writers could have allowed his character to date Penny. Howard was besotted with Penny since day one. He just needed to dial it down. Dial down he did, but with the microbiologist instead.
If Penny was meant to end up with a scientist, why couldn't it have been Howard? Ah, think of the running gags that could have happened with this match!