Issue VII: Goodbye to Bazinga
my god this reminds me of when we were young sheldon
Sometimes people ask me if I’ve watched a show, and I say yes, but I’m lying. What I mean is I’ve watched a lot of scenes posted on YouTube and Instagram. It’s funny how my algorithm basically recreated what I’d be doing if we were pre-Internet: turning on the TV and landing on a random sitcom in the middle of its episode/run and just start watching. The most improbable yet most prolific of these shows for me is Young Sheldon, the prequel series to The Big Bang Theory. Here’s how it happened. I started out actively searching for scenes I like from shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Superstore. Then, I got clips from sitcoms I wasn’t looking for but enjoyed like Everybody Hates Chris and Modern Family. Then I was, let’s just say, going through it a couple years ago, my screen time goes insane, and I am no longer showing any discernment and fully given over to the algorithm. I am watching clips from shows that make me physically angry just to feel something- like Family Guy and The Big Bang Theory. Then I started getting Mayim Bialik stan accounts suggested to me. Then I started really respecting the approach to parenting and mental health that she talks about on her podcast. Finally, I’m hours and hours into Young Sheldon, and have piecemeal consumed a not insignificant fraction of the show through unconnected clips.
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Last night was the series finale of Young Sheldon, and I find myself somewhat nostalgic. I’m reminded of the song “Holding to the Ground” from the musical Falsettos where Trina realizes she is mourning her husband’s dying lover. As hard as she has tried to resist caring for him, she comes to the realization that he has become part of her family, and she can acknowledge their relationship, despite how unexpected it is. Life is never what you plan. Life is moments you can’t understand. But that is life! I never would have chosen him, but nevertheless, Young Sheldon shared my life.
Honestly, the show’s kind of as good as Young Sheldon could have been! Don’t get me wrong- it is not funny. They’ll kind of gesture at set-ups, but nothing ever hits. It works as a sentimental family show though. The adult actors all slotted perfectly into their roles of macho but warm dad, overprotective traditional mother, and the sassy, partying Meemaw. You may think you’re better than Young Sheldon. Smarter, funnier, more progressive. Yet if I were to whip out my English major for a second, I would say the show uses Sheldon being a neurodivergent child genius in a small Texas town as a jumping off point to explore other forms of social divergence- George Sr.’s emotional affair with a neighbor, Meemaw Connie’s drinking and gambling lifestyle, mom Mary being torn between the church and her children. This went even further when a couple seasons ago, an absolutely bonkers plotline began. Sheldon’s older brother Georgie, who’s been on the show since he was like 11 but was then 17, knocks up on a 29-year-old Emily Osment. You probably assumed that was a weird joke on Big Bang Theory so it was in the lore so they felt obligated to do it even though it makes people kind of uncomfortable, BUT IT WAS NOT! THEY JUST CAME UP WITH THIS! IN LIKE 2022! If The Idea of You made you uncomfortable, you simply cannot handle Young Sheldon’s age gap discourse. The couple becomes the town scandal, Mandy’s parents stop talking to her, but they form an alternate family with Meemaw, have the baby, and then get married. If the show has a thesis, it’s that these American settings can be so cloyingly conservative that no one is immune from ostracization, but within the family, they can choose to unite with each other over the judgment and scriptures others set for them.
Here’s some stray takeaways from the two-part series finale, my first and last episode watched in its entirety:
Previously, Young Sheldon’s dad, George, died after 7 years of foreshadowing. So we can call him Died Young George now.
Why isn’t half the screen someone playing Subway Surfers?
REBA????
This rewind device is actually a really moving device to write about grief. Old Sheldon walking through Young Sheldon’s house is also very affecting.
It’s a flash-forward to Old Sheldon! Now that we’ve got 3 Sheldons at 3 different ages, the door is open for a Sheldon Cooper Fun Home.
Annie Potts and Zoe Perry are both excellent TV actresses. I also appreciate how Craig T. Nelson committed to this voice for the whole show. Overall, a lot of actors doing funny voices on this show.
Writing series finales is one of those things that is hard to do easy, but this show is nailing it by giving us the most obvious story possible and doing it really well. That being said, it’s so funny to end the show by saving Young Sheldon’s soul.
We should acknowledge this show is about a neurodivergent character, and when Sheldon was created, his neurodivergence was the butt of the joke. I remember reading reviews of the first season though praising how Young Sheldon is really a show about Mary trying to raise this son she loves but is not equipped to understand. It is kind of disappointing that the show ends on this ableist refrain that it’s good when Sheldon learns how to better accomodate his neurotypical friends and family and not that they should learn how to undersand him.
Exclusively insane music cues throughout. Why did they pay to just have characters watching the “Dreams” music video in the background?
Good-bye Young Sheldon <3 I can’t wait to see you cameo on the Georgie and Mandy spin-off via Instagram Reel.
a pitch for an alternate timeline:
Coming to Peacock this fall is…Young Chandler!
Tagline: Before the Bing Got Big!
For obvious reasons, this is never happening now, but it’s actually incredible that Friends got an Experience before it got a second spin-off. Except my pitch isn’t for another sitcom. This family drama will center on Chandler’s parents’ divorce and his mother’s transition, with the onset of the AIDS epidemic in the early 80’s as our setting. We will need two actresses with deep dramatic intensity to play his mothers, preferably theater-trained, as the material will be wrenching. Tony Kushner is attached.
good reads
I had waited years for a clock to run out. But now, I was content in the present.
The Baffler | The Wimple Life by Lauren Fadiman
On my second day there, St. Peter of Capitolias had his tongue, hands, and feet cut off; the Blessed Miguel Augustine Pro Juárez was executed by firing squad; and we were served chili and chocolate chip cookies.
CNN | Sde Teiman: Israeli whistleblowers detail abuse of Palestinians in shadowy detention center
When they removed my blindfold, I could see the extent of the humiliation and abasement … I could see the extent to which they saw us not as human beings but as animals.
SEEN/READ
05/10 SUMMER HOUSE, LIZA WITH A Z
05/11 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS
05/12 THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT, MY NEXT GUEST NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION
05/13 EVERYBODY’S IN LA
05/14 The Duke and I
05/15 Moby Dick
05/16 EVERYBODY’S IN LA
letter to the editor - issue vi: cell block tango
Hey Gabby!
Just out of curiosity, what does Young Sheldon have to do with Hadestown?
Best,
Reba
Hi Reba!
Thanks for reading! Actually, Young Sheldon has a lot in common with a Greek tragedy. For one, it assumes its audience has a pre-existing familiarity with an already agreed upon history. Like Eurydice, George Sr. is dead before the story even begins, and we know this from the TBBT canon and constant foreshadowing throughout YS. It cannot be prevented, and it will repeat upon each retelling.
Bazinga!
Gabby