VIDEO: First Look - Next Week's THE BIG BANG THEORY

On next week's episode of THE BIG BANT THEORY, entitled "The Cooper/Kripke Inversion," Sheldon is forced to work with Barry Kripke and faces a crisis of confidence. Meanwhile, Howard and Raj spend $1,000 on action figures of themselves, Thursday, Jan. 31 (8:00 - 8:31 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Check out a first look below!

Leonard and Sheldon are brilliant physicists - wizards in the laboratory, but socially inept outside of it. Enter beautiful, free-spirited neighbor, Penny, who aims to teach them a thing or two about life. While Leonard spends his days looking for love, Sheldon is quite content video-chatting with platonic partner Amy Farrah Fowler, or playing Star Trek 3D Chess with their ever-expanding universe of friends, including fellow scientists Koothrappali and Wolowitz, and Wolowitz' new wife, the adorable microbiologist Bernadette.