‘Young Sheldon’ isn’t an abomination. It’s far too generic for that.
When I was 12 and I thought The Big Bang Theory was the funniest show on television (I regret to say, this was a thing), I probably would’ve been so hyped for the premiere of Young Sheldon. But now I’m an adult and I understand art and the imminent arrival of Young Sheldon has been giving me nightmares for weeks. In fairness to all involved (but mostly director Jon Favreau, who is much more talented that this material deserves), the pilot of Young Sheldon is aesthetically a superior half-hour of television than any episode of Theory ever. The single camera format makes sure of that. But other than the basic constraints of the way it’s been shot and edited, this is just as weak as the average instalment of Theory; which has — if I’m being totally honest — had its moments over the years.
Jim Parsons’ Sheldon Cooper is a broadly amusing figure, his obnoxious absolutism an occasional source of contrarian comedy. But when it’s a 9-year old boy (played here by Big Little Lies’ Iain Armitage) insulting everyone and ratting on his classmates, the joke just doesn’t work. A child protagonist of a TV show absolutely must be likeable in order to be watchable, and Young Sheldon is simply too obnoxious without excuse. It’s not as if he’s actually diagnosed as being on the spectrum (the show is set in 1989 after all), so he doesn’t even gain our sympathies in that regard. The closest the pilot goes to telling us he has a condition is when he appears frightened by aggressive stimuli — an encounter with a chicken is, unintentionally, the only genuinely hilarious moment of the episode — but as we know from Theory (“I’m not crazy, my mother had me tested”), Sheldon’s behaviour is never going to be overtly explained.
Not that Young Sheldon seems particularly concerned with consistent character development — Young Sheldon’s commitment to wearing a bowtie on his first day of school is totally at odds with the fact that Parsons’ Sheldon has (to my knowledge) never, ever worn a bowtie. Chuck Lorre and Steven Molaro don’t even know their own creation all that well!
The closest Armitage gets to successfully imitating Parsons is in delivering the line “Perhaps I’ll start a fad”, but otherwise there’s no sense of the adult Sheldon he will become outside of Parsons’ frankly grating narration. My dislike for the rhythms of Big Bang Theory — and by extension Young Sheldon, which often feels like it’s missing that show’s laugh-track — is in contrast to my relative appreciation for Parsons, who seems a genuinely smart guy and talented performer. That he will have wasted a huge portion of his acting career on a subpar CBS sitcom, and now this, saddens me. I hope Iain Armitage doesn’t suffer the same fate. After all, Young Sheldon starts this series a high school freshman — the show will likely run at least until he graduates college.
As for the tone the show is setting, it’s as irksome as it is problematic, swinging between wide-eyed sentimentality — Sheldon hates everyone except his mom, and says “My mom is my Christian Soldier” — and cynical commentary on Sheldon’s behaviour — “Dear god, don’t let my son get stuffed in a gym bag” — that, when it’s a 9-year old we’re talking about — is just a bit nasty. The primary cast are all perfectly winsome and I wanted to enjoy their work, but the script is so bad. That Christian Soldier line, for example, just appalling and icky (though I appreciate that Young Sheldon seems an adamant Atheist), as is the climactic moment when Young Sheldon removes his dinnertable mittens (a joke that could’ve been funny on Theory) to… wait for it… hold his father’s hand. Eek. This is all the worst parts of how kids on the spectrum were depicted in otherwise strong shows like Parenthood, Touch and Atypical, mixed with the horrendous pseudo-comedy of The Big Bang Theory, which sounds like the worst show on TV. But Young Sheldon is too forgettable to be ‘The Worst’ of anything. It doesn’t lend itself to mocking memes or an underground cult following, because it isn’t awful. It’s just… a thing that exists.
Note: Better Call Saul waited 2.5 seasons before the name ‘Saul Goodman’ was spoken. How long will we be waiting before YS says “Bazinga” for the first time? I’m thinking the Season 1 finale?
