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I'm remaining ambivalent about Young Sheldon

It is a truth universally acknowledged that with success comes sequels, spin-offs and prequels. It’s been happening for years but in this day and age of blockbuster entertainment and binge-watching, there’s an epidemic of unnecessary and downright infuriating attempts at stretching out franchises.

Transformers spin-offs, Matrix reboots and now, on the small screen, the threat of Young Sheldon.

I used to be a fan of The Big Bang Theory and when the day comes I’ll watch the final episodes out of some curious nostalgia, however, I’ve really come to care less about it for many reasons. It’s nerd culture cliches and often cheap humour have dragged my enjoyment of the show down quite a bit and despite appreciating some smart character development (Howard, Sheldon) I’m only watching it now to see what happens in the end.

So, with that in mind, I can’t help but think the idea of Young Sheldon is arbitrary beyond belief. Despite enjoying the Sheldon character as a concept, and having witnessed him evolve over the years, why do they feel the need to look into his past and take out so much of the mystery and comedy of only hearing about his childhood in passing?

It’s the Star Wars prequels problem. You’re just spoiling the mystery of who a person used to be.

Based on reports so far it seems that the series will be a single camera show instead of the classic sitcom multi-cam (of which Big Bang has been for ten years) and therefore could prove better or worse depending on what becomes of it.

Jim Parsons is reported to reprise his role as adult Sheldon in narration only which could give the series a feel of a How I Met Your Mother or My Name is Earl. This is potentially a great idea as it can give texture to the exploration of Sheldon’s life, particularly if old Sheldon gets to be somewhat of an unreliable/sardonic narrator.

It’s also potentially disastrous as it takes the sitcom formula that Big Bang championed and replaces it with a different type of humour that may not replicate well.

However, there’s not a lot of word on what will exactly happen in the show. If The Big Bang Theory has shown, Sheldon’s past could feature some tough material as young Sheldon faced a tough life as a bullied youth and also a child who loses his father. If the prequel plays its cards right, it could prove to be a surprisingly touching dramedy that puts pathos before a laugh, of which Big Bang frequently did the opposite.

It’s concerning, nonetheless that by starting a series with a child of promise and slowly turning him into the bitter and unpleasant character we met at the beginning of The Big Bang Theory is a sort of comedy version of Better Call Saul. It sounds good on paper but if the talent’s not right and the writing doesn’t balance the humour and drama well, it could easily be a dud.

Just remember when that other big sitcom Friends tried to spin-off into Joey and failed miserably? Yeah, we all do.

Yet, despite my cynicism towards Big Bang and the idea of a show that could basically tarnish the best character in it’s progenitors show, I’ll remain open minded till we get any actual footage. It’s very much a wait and see sort of thing.