Chuck Lorre’s Young Sheldon, the prequel series to the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, received widespread praise despite being tonally different than the latter. While the show focusing on TBBT‘s Sheldon Cooper worked well to bring the fans closer to both the series, it also improved several aspects of the canonical show.
The Big Bang Theory is hailed as one of the most critically appreciated and significant sitcoms. However, co-creator Chuck Lorre believed that the show did not do justice to the character of George Cooper. To give a more human side to Sheldon’s father, Chuck Lorre took extreme care to craft the character in Young Sheldon.
Why did Chuck Lorre try to improve the character of George Cooper in Young Sheldon?
While it must be noted that Sheldon’s father never appears in The Big Bang Theory, he is never mentioned in a good light by him or his mother. Chuck Lorre wanted to undo this damage in Young Sheldon.
Young Sheldon finally ended this year, after successfully running for 7 seasons and 141 episodes. A large chunk of the finale focused on the unfortunate death of George Cooper. The Iain Armitage series gave us a more human side to the character, something that we never experienced in TBBT.
During an interview with TV Line (via Collider), the George Cooper actor Lance Barber revealed that Chuck Lorre and the makers always wanted the character to be more than a joke in the prequel series. As The Big Bang Theory always referred to him as an inefficient father and husband, Young Sheldon presented him as a more grounded character.
It was clear that he was a bit of a cartoon. George was the punchline. He was described as a redneck Homer Simpson somewhere I read, and the jokes were kind of big. And so, there lay the challenge of grounding this person and making them a human being as opposed to a punchline.
As expected by the makers, this new version of George Cooper welcomed love and appreciation from the audiences. The depth of the character was felt in the series and it also contributed heavily to the impact of the show’s finale.
How did Lance Barber bring out the human side in George Cooper’s character?
Lance Barber admitted that it was clear from the very first episode of Young Sheldon that it would deal differently with the characters. However, it was not easy for Barber at first to get into the character. It was a note from Chuck Lorre that helped the Faking It actor to understand it properly.
For the fans wandering, it was Season 1 Episode 7, A Brisket, Voodoo, and Cannonball Run which helped Lance Barber get the vibe of his character. Lorre explained to Barber that he needed to get out of the cartoonish side of the character and show a more mature take on the situation portrayed in the episode.
And Meemaw won’t share her brisket recipe with George. And the script calls for George to get angry about it. And so I leaned into that angry a bit like as would be a little bit cartoonish, Homer Simpson style, and got the notes from Chuck that this… he pulled me aside and said, ‘You’re a big guy and are intimidating and that’s not what who this guy is. You need to be hurt, not just angry, right?’ And that really set the tone for me. Getting that note from Chuck really helped me establish where we were going from there.
Despite all the technical differences and the tonal contrast with The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon amassed a massive fandom. While it is sad to bid farewell to these characters, the universe is not going to stop soon as we are all set to get a spinoff on Sheldon’s brother Georgie. The series titled Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage is set to be released sometime in the 2024-2025 slate.
Young Sheldon and The Big Bang Theory can be streamed on Max.
