You can never be too old to watch The Big Bang Theory but one person claims you can be too old to direct it. A former assistant director has filed a lawsuit against Warner Brothers claiming that when he hit 50, the producers conspired to remove him from the hit show.

For 33 years, Christopher Klausen has acted as an Assistant Director on such hit shows as The Facts of Life, Different Strokes, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and The Big Bang Theory. Some of the responsibilities of an Assistant Director include coordinating production staff, preparing and distributing the daily call sheet, coordinating background actors, and ironing Sheldon’s comic book related t-shirts. (I may have made that last one up.) In 2006, Klausen began working on The Big Bang Theory, which is produced by WB but appears on the CBS network, and for the first six seasons of the show he was credited as the Assistant Director. But beginning with the sixth season and after turning 50, Klausen claims his job duties were diminished and given to younger employees. His job of interacting with the show’s stars was reassigned to younger people and he felt the stars began to ostracize him. When asked about the demotion, Klausen claims that one of the producers said some of his job duties were given to someone younger because they relate better with the actors. Slowly more of his job duties were taken away and Klausen was fired after the eighth season of the show. In an alleged “stuttering” response, a producer claimed Klausen was firing because his blocking of the background actors was not up to snuff. Klausen claims that the firing was not due to a decrease in his work performance but merely because of his age, which is against the law.

In his lawsuit filed yesterday, Klausen claims age discrimination and wrongful termination and seeks unspecified damages and his attorneys’ fees. Sounds like this will be a very he said/ she said lawsuit as WB will need to show that factors, other than his age, lead to Klausen being terminated. If the case does go forward, some of the stars from the show would likely be deposed to testify regarding working with Klausen. The show is getting pretty old itself as it gears up for its ninth season this Fall.

