Young Sheldon Could've Been So Much Better If TBBT Didn't Hold It Back
It's almost like it could've won from being a standalone show.
If there's one thing that sets Young Sheldon apart from every other spinoff you've seen, it's the number of fans who are certain that the show is much better than the original.
It's not that common, especially for sitcoms, to get that kind of reaction from the audience.
We all remember how Joey went after Friends and completely flopped, or how How I Met Your Father struggled to replicate the success of its predecessor. Before TBBT's prequel hit the screens, there was a huge empty niche for sitcom spinoffs to fit into.
Young Sheldon, set in a completely different time and place and with completely different characters, easily beats The Big Bang Theory, fans believe.
By getting rid of the live audience and the annoying laughter, the show managed to become more realistic and heartfelt. By mixing in more dramatic moments, it grabbed the viewers' attention in a way that TBBT never could.
If you were supposed to root for the characters in TBBT by watching Penny struggle with her job, Leonard struggle with his feelings, and Sheldon struggle to communicate with an outside world, in Young Sheldon, everything is a little more complex.
You see the good, the bad, and the ugly of each of them, and you can relate to them more.
Fans seem to love Young Sheldon so much that many feel the show would be better off without any connection to the original.
Knowing how events will unfold, who Sheldon will grow up to be, and what will happen to his family is almost disappointing to viewers.
With such a talented cast and smart writing, it could have so much more potential if the story was not already limited. Fortunately for the fanbase, Young Sheldon's production team doesn't seem to be too constrained by TBBT.
Not afraid to change the canon to fit their own narrative, Young Sheldon tells a more thoughtful story of Cooper's family past than the original show ever could.
After all, little details like the timeline of events don't matter one bit as long as the show captures the essence of a broken family dynamic.
And that is the job that Young Sheldon handles perfectly well.