The Big Bang Theory co-creator has issued a personal complaint about the original failure of Kay Cuoco’s character Penny.

In a new podcast, Chuck Lorre has been reflecting on the long-running CBS show, which generated the hit spin-off Young Sheldon and opened up about “missing” what would go on to make Penny such a beloved character.

Originally, in an unaired pilot considered so “s***ty,” Lorre was permitted to have a “do-over.” Penny was Katie, whom Cuoco previously described as “a dark, brooding unhappy” woman”—worlds away from the Penny that would make it onto the show.

Lorre changed Penny’s character entirely in the second pilot script, following which he cast Cuoco, who had lost the role of Katie to Amanda Walsh.

But still, not all was right with Penny’s character. Lorre has admitted, upon re-watching the series, that she was depicted too much as a “goofy blonde who says foolish things.”