The main show ‘The Big Bang Theory’ might have wrapped up but spin-off series ‘Young Sheldon’ has made space for itself.
‘Young Sheldon’, the show based on the childhood life of Sheldon, the awkward brainiac and by far the most memorable character from ‘The Big Bang Theory’, has been on a steady rise in viewership and popularity ever since its debut on CBS in the latter half of 2017. The original show ‘The Big Bang Theory’ was about the lives of a bunch of extremely smart scientists, mainly Sheldon Cooper and Leonard Hofstadter, who are colleagues and also flatmates. The spin-off show ‘Young Sheldon’ has aired 65 episodes over the course of 3 seasons and will soon release its fourth season.
Highlights —
- Comparing ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and ‘Young Sheldon’: Which is better?
- How ‘Young Sheldon’ highlights inconsistencies in ‘The Big Bang Theory’
- The currently airing season 4 of ‘Young Sheldon’
Whenever a show’s sequel or spin-off hits the market, it’s totally normal to see it being compared directly to the original show; most of the time we see people being disappointed with sequels/spin-offs. However, that does not seem to be the case here as the prequel spin-off ‘Young Sheldon’ is now gradually being considered as an equal and, by some, to be even better than ‘The Big Bang Theory’, which reigned as the most popular sitcom for quite some years. This has really worked in favour of the new show, dragging most of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ fan base and even attracting people who didn’t watch the original show.
Comparing ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and ‘Young Sheldon’: Which is better?
Humour is highly subjective. There are different types of comedy and not everyone likes the same jokes. So, how do we go about comparing two really good sitcoms? Well, we can rely on what the fans have been saying about this subject. Despite fans’ criticism of Chuck Lorre for his improper way of characterizing Asians, stereotyping women in STEM, and jokes on autistic people, the ratings speak a completely different language. The show garnered hundreds of millions of fans worldwide and its lead cast members were some of the highest-paid TV actors at that time.
Fans have commented that despite having a significantly fewer number of jokes, ‘Young Sheldon’ is definitely much better than the original show owing to its much more grounded and relaxed tone and laughs that don’t feel forced.
How ‘Young Sheldon’ highlights inconsistencies in ‘The Big Bang Theory’
Most recently, fans pointed out that the origins of Sheldon’s practice of singing the lullaby “Soft Kitty” might be in jeopardy as in the main show Sheldon explains that he uses the lullaby only when he’s sick but in one of the latest episodes of ‘Young Sheldon’ we see him adopting the practice to soothe himself after he injures himself by falling off his bike.
One of the major plot holes that went under the radar was the one about his father’s alcoholism: in the main show Sheldon reveals that his father was an alcoholic who drank himself to death when he was just 14, but in the prequel show, his father, George Cooper, is not portrayed as an alcoholic. Another major one was regarding his twin sister Missy Cooper. In ‘The Big Bang Theory’ he claims that he built a robot to keep his sister away from his room and it does make sense as the two siblings had somewhat of a difficult relationship growing up; but, in ‘Young Sheldon’, we see that it wouldn’t make any sense as they both share a room. It is quite possible that these plot holes and inconsistencies are not that big of a deal and just an example of writers being flexible with the myths and lore.
The currently airing season 4 of ‘Young Sheldon’
The newest and latest season of ‘Young Sheldon’ kicked off on the 5th of November this year to a viewership of 6.77 million viewers during its airing. 5 episodes have since then come out. The entire season will most likely have about 22 episodes in total. The upcoming episode, the season’s 6th, will air on January 7th of next year.
The prequel has brought to light many plot holes in the original show. Let us know what you think of the show in the comments section down below.
