Surprising news when you consider what a horrible movie The Phantom Menace - a PREQUEL - actually waswith all these nerds who knew what a monstrosity that movie was, how could they even think of doing a prequel?
Teen dramas - boring
Single-camera dramedies about a precocious child no one understands - I'm suicidal
Now, a room full of Chinese-food eating nerds who are so socially awkward they make you want to shake them violently and shout in their faces every week and slap them - PRICELESS.
Keep the damn franchise exactly as it is.
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked.

Something like this?

I would expect her prequel to be a teen Drama in the same vein as Dawson's Creek, Beverly hills 90210 etc.

A penny prequel would be Dawson's Creek all over again.
How so? Penny isn't like any of the characters on that show.

A penny prequel would be Dawson's Creek all over again.
I totally agree with you.

A penny prequel would be Dawson's Creek all over again.
"A Girl Wants Romeo, Not Hamlet "
-Blair Waldorf

If Chuck Lorre was hands-on involved, I'd definitely watch at least a few episodes of a Penny prequel. (Or any other TBBT spinoff he created.) Lorre is a sitcom virtuoso.
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I was the kid next door's imaginary friend

Wouldn't watch a minute of it.

No thanks to ANY prequels.

Yes, thank you very much. But while I liked her dad, we didn't see her sister, her mother was mediocre and the brother was set up just terribly. I still would not be interested.

The commenter I replied to felt the only time the Penny character was entertaining was when interacting with Sheldon.
My comment meant that she didn't need the Sheldon character to be funny, is actually very good with a variety of characters on TBBT, and would likely be good with others in a prequel setting, which (obviously) wouldn't include any Big Bang characters, aside from her family members.
I've enjoyed her scenes with her parents and brother, which might give some sense of what the hypothetical prequel might be like. (Likewise, the only familiar characters we'd see in a Sheldon prequel would be his family members, unless I'm forgetting someone who's been shown in the series. Nonetheless, there seems to be some interest in that premise.)
Make sense now?
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I was the kid next door's imaginary friend

I think the Penny character has great comedic chemistry with all of the major characters in the show. Agree to disagree?
Please explain to me what this has to do with the idea of a prequel since none of them would be in it.

I think the Penny character has great comedic chemistry with all of the major characters in the show. Agree to disagree?
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I was the kid next door's imaginary friend

Penny is only amusing when she interacts with Sheldon. Penny without Sheldon would not be funny.

I think there'd be a lot of comedic potential in those qualities. As someone else pointed out, the Kelly Bundy character was very funny, and the Chloe character in Don't Trust the B In Apt 23 was hilarious, fitting your description to a T.
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I was the kid next door's imaginary friend

Her Backstory? A dumb, partying, sexual promiscuise, alcohol drinking, wishing to be famouse teenager. Yeah never heard such a fun backstory. (sarcasme)
We Don't Take No beep From A Machine!!

Might be too close to
Married With Children
. She definitely resembles a grown up Kelly Bundy.