“Everything is always about Sheldon.”
Warner Brothers is very familiar with superheroes. That goes double for the character of Sheldon, played by Jim Parsons on The Big Bang Theory. A common thread in the superhero business, of course, is the origin story. With the popularity of The Big Bang Theory, and the Sheldon character particularly, it isn’t all that surprising that we would eventually be treated to Sheldon’s origin story. But instead of flashbacks on the series, the decision was made that Sheldon’s childhood was territory that could be mined for years. Thus is born Young Sheldon. For fans of the original show and character, it couldn’t have come at a better time. Parsons just turned down an offer of $50 million for two more years of Big Bang. I can’t imagine how it must feel to be able to turn down that kind of money. But faced with doing the series without him, the smart decision was to shut it down. This will be the final season of The Big Bang Theory, but apparently Sheldon with live on as a kid for years to come. Not sure what Parsons’ paycheck is here, but it requires only his narration.
The series picks up in east Texas where 9-year old Sheldon (Armitage) is skipping a few grades and heading to high school. He has the brains and many of the mannerisms of the character we already know, but he’s even more lacking in the social graces, and the challenge will be tough to be a 9-year old in high school. Sheldon has two siblings. Missy (Revord) is his twin sister. She doesn’t share his brains, but she’s advanced in other ways. She often has the wit of an adult and is quite adept at the fine art of sarcasm. Georgie (Jordan) is his older brother, who is on the opposite side of the intelligence scale. He’s a football player who isn’t happy to have his younger brother joining him in high school, where Sheldon is in the habit of correcting his teachers and making his own kind of waves. Their father, George, (Barber) is the football coach at the school and struggles to bond with his smart son. Mary, their mother, is played by Zoe Perry, who happens to be the daughter of Laurie Metcalf, who plays the older version of Sheldon’s mother on The Big Bang Theory. It’s actually the second time she’s played a younger version of her mother’s character. She appeared in flashbacks on Rosanne. She’s the only other character from this series that we are already familiar with. She’s been most notably known for her Bible Belt religious tendencies. Finally, there is Sheldon’s Meemaw, played by Annie Potts. It’s a character the older Sheldon often talked about, but we never met.
Young Sheldon will feel familiar even to those who don’t already know the character. This show borrows heavily from The Wonder Years. Like that series, it is a period piece. This time it’s 1989 instead of 1969. And just like that series, the events are narrated with a nostalgic tone by the older character, in this case Jim Parsons as Sheldon. The show utilizes the iconic images, events and sounds from the period to create its style. The family is also quite like the family from The Wonder Years, with brother Georgie looking and feeling very much like Arnold’s older brother Wayne. The show’s dynamics often mirror the same style with a lot of time spent with the family having dinner, which was a huge part of The Wonder Years. The big difference aside from the personality of the main character is the show’s point of view. Young Sheldon does not remain constant as a show from only Sheldon’s point of view. We do not see just what he sees. As the younger version of Sheldon grows, I suspect the effect will be very much as it was watching Fred Savage grow up on his show.
Iain Armitage does a pretty solid job. He’s in a very unenvious position. He’s expected to play a character the audience has known for over 11 years. He has to hit some of the mannerisms, but there must be room to allow the character to evolve and grow into what we already know. It’s a balance I think the young actor accomplishes for the most part. He has the speech patterns down and carries himself in that stiff, socially uncomfortable way that we are used to. The episodes often include events that shaped a new aspect of the familiar character, and it’s a rather pleasant journey. But it does take some getting used to. I was not enjoying the show at all for the first handful of episodes. I can’t quite put my finger on the reason, but it was rubbing me rather the wrong way. At some point I started to get a better feel and absolutely warn you that it is somewhat of an acquired taste. The series also contains some spoilers of Sheldon’s adult life that have not yet been revealed on The Big Bang Theory. It’s obvious that the Sheldon narrating the episode is one much older than the current version.
Since this is a period piece, it could not quite address COVID. But we can see the impact. There are less crowded interactions and an episode where Sheldon infects his computer with a virus because he wanted a bootleg railroad tycoon game offer some obvious parallels.
The final season takes us to some emotional moments in Sheldon’s life and the older Sheldon finally appears on-camera in the show’s final episode. This is not the end for some of these characters. The Georgie character now gets a spin-off with Mandy called Mandy And Georgie’s First Marraige. That’s starting now.
The episode titles are merely a list of a few of the elements of the episode. It’s an odd way to do it, but it does make it easier to find a particular episode down the road. You get every episode and a couple of short behind the scenes feature. Watching it all together the amazing thing is watching young Armitage grow older and closer to Jim Parsons. I walked away with a few nits. There are several mistakes in products and music. It’s the trappings of a period show. I guess I found them more irritating because I think Sheldon certainly would. It made the experience a bit easier to be critical of. “I like complaining. I’m good at it.”
