‘Young Sheldon’ born out of ‘Big Bang Theory’
LOS ANGELES - It doesn’t take a theoretical physicist to figure out why CBS is adding “Young Sheldon” to its fall schedule.
It’s not unusual for successful television shows to spawn spinoff series, and there’s been no network program over the past 10 years that’s been as big a hit as “The Big Bang Theory.”
“Young Sheldon” goes back to when Dr. Sheldon Cooper (played by Jim Parsons on “The Big Bang Theory”) was a 9-year-old genius (played by Iain Armitage) growing up in East Texas. Fans of the original series will get to see how Sheldon dealt with being the smartest kid in the room, where his fear of chickens comes from and other bits of history about the character sprinkled through the 10 years of “The Big Bang Theory.”
Chuck Lorre, executive producer of both series, talks about how this comedy was as inevitable as the effect of gravity on a falling apple.
“The origins of Sheldon have been something we’ve been interested in writing about for a couplehundred episodes of ‘The Big Bang.’ And so last fall, when Jim (Parsons) sent me an email discussing the possibility of actually taking it a step further, it just seemed like the greatest idea in the world,” Lorre said.
The key was finding the right actor to play a younger version of the quirky Sheldon, already well-defined for TV audiences. Before starting work on the CBS comedy, Armitage, who started acting when he was 8, wrapped production on Netflix’s “Our Souls at Night,” opposite Jane Fonda and Robert Redford. He’s also appeared in “I’m Not Here” and “The Glass Castle,” and on HBO’s “Big Little Lies.”
The only downside to casting the young actor was Armitage’s lack of knowledge of the subject matter because he doesn’t watch a lot of television. The fix for that came through Parsons, one of the executive producers on the show, who has been coaching his younger counterpart.
Parsons said: “I was able to interact with Iain a lot and kind of discuss certain things that are peculiar to this character. ... I have to tell you that it was a very moving experience to me to see something that I’ve put in a decade of my life toward.”
Fans of “The Big Bang Theory” will recognize people, places and things mentioned over the years. What will be different is that “Young Sheldon” is being filmed in a completely different style than “Big Bang.” The original show films on a studio soundstage in front of an audience; “Young Sheldon” is being filmed as if it were a movie with one camera being taken to various locations.
Lorre knows some fans will have to adjust to the different approach, but there’s a reason he didn’t opt for a similar design to “The Big Bang Theory.”
“It’s more intimate . ... They’re not playing out. They’re working with one another,” Lorre said. “A four-camera show is played like a theatrical presentation. They’re playing to the audience, and it changes the tone and the pitch and the pacing.”
One of the initial biggest differences when it comes to characters is Sheldon’s father George (Lance Barber) who — as revealed in “The Big Bang Theory” — died when Sheldon was 14, and was not an ideal father.
“There’s a great deal more to George, his father, than we were led to know in Sheldon’s anecdotes about his dad,” Lorre said.
One thing that will feel very familiar is Sheldon’s mother, Mary, played by Zoe Perry. She’s the daughter of Laurie Metcalf, who plays Sheldon’s mom in “The Big Bang Theory.” Perry says channeling her mother’s performance is easy because of “genetics.”