@Lemons🌻 said:

@Tim-Buktu said:

I've been watching Young Sheldon and I'm getting invested in Georgie and Mandy.

I would watch a show featuring them.

I have a question. Brace yourself... I'm actually being serious for once.

I started watching Young Sheldon during its first season and I enjoyed what I saw overall, but it seemed they departed some from the way characters were described in The Big Bang Theory. Sheldon's father and Meemaw being the most noticeable examples. However, I only watched it for one season so I know there's a lot about the show that I don't know. The reason I stopped though is that I wasn't keen on it departing from The Big Bang Theory in any way. Would you say that it has taken a lot of liberties and departed big time or does it stick pretty well to the way Sheldon described his past in The Big Bang Theory?

I don't watch it either, although my youngest brother does. It started out with potential, as you say, but George Sr still isn't really a drunk, and they might keep him alive until the series finale when "Young Sheldon" is in his early 20s and moving to Pasadena.

And it seems to be getting less about Young Sheldon and more "The Adventures of Georgie, Missy, and Meemaw."

@Knixon said:

@FormerlyKnownAs said:

@Lemons🌻 said:

A. Leonard and Penny.
B. Sheldon and Amy.
C. Howard and Bernadette.
D. Raj and Cinnamon.
E. Any future kids of the main characters.
F. Zak.
G. Other (please specify __________)
H. I wouldn't watch a spin-off unless I was bound, gagged and tied to a chair in a room with the TV on.
I. Does anyone have nachos? I'm hungry.

What say you?

I always thought it couldn't be a "spinoff" unless a main/supporting character was dragged along. I think "Young Sheldon" has proved me wrong.

I think Young Sheldon works as a spinoff because it's about one of the main character WITHOUT being that character as we know them. I think any spinoff with one of the main/supporting character will have us spending too much time for one or more of the originals to show up.

So, I'm going with "G". I'd watched a spinoff featuring any of the "A-D" sets if they were relocated to any city OTHER THAN, where we last saw them. (Maybe Zak could stop in during his travels for his business.)

NOTE: Re: Stuart and Denise: I'm no as vested in their characters as I am in the others, so probably would be less likely to follow them.

Young Sheldon is a prequel or "origin story," not a spin-off.

I'm pretty lax on the concept of spin-off Mork and Mindy was a spin-off of Happy Days even though it was set in the present (for the time). Lavern and Shirley was also a spin-off and they never referenced the show.

Then there is Seinfeld. Kramer rents his apartment from Paul Buchanan from Mad about You Who has a waitress who is the twin sister of Phoebe Buffay from Friends. At one point Paul did a documentary about early television comedy hosted by Alan Brady Who was Rob Petrie's boss on The Dick Van Dyke show

Are these spin-offs?

@Knixon said:

@Lemons🌻 said:

@Tim-Buktu said:

I've been watching Young Sheldon and I'm getting invested in Georgie and Mandy.

I would watch a show featuring them.

I have a question. Brace yourself... I'm actually being serious for once.

I started watching Young Sheldon during its first season and I enjoyed what I saw overall, but it seemed they departed some from the way characters were described in The Big Bang Theory. Sheldon's father and Meemaw being the most noticeable examples. However, I only watched it for one season so I know there's a lot about the show that I don't know. The reason I stopped though is that I wasn't keen on it departing from The Big Bang Theory in any way. Would you say that it has taken a lot of liberties and departed big time or does it stick pretty well to the way Sheldon described his past in The Big Bang Theory?

I don't watch it either, although my youngest brother does. It started out with potential, as you say, but George Sr still isn't really a drunk, and they might keep him alive until the series finale when "Young Sheldon" is in his early 20s and moving to Pasadena.

And it seems to be getting less about Young Sheldon and more "The Adventures of Georgie, Missy, and Meemaw."

Firstly, let's mark this date on our calendars. I have agreed with everything you've said in your last three posts in this thread. Not once did I have to verbally put you in the corner.

Secondly, would the correct term be "canon" when talking about Sheldon's past as described on the Big Bang Theory? In other words, Young Sheldon goes against Big Bang Theory canon? Regardless of the proper term, that's just something I'm not too crazy about.

Pretty much the "canon" yes, although some purists might insist that "canon" is only what is in the official writer's guide and not so much whatever comes up from various scripts over time.* Probably less of an issue for a show like TBBT where every episode is written by the same rather small group of maybe 2 or 3 people. Versus Star Trek for example where each episode might be written by various people who may have only written one episode each.

The biggest real-world reason for Young Sheldon not being what TBBT said it was, is probably that what older Sheldon described wouldn't be much of a sitcom.

*Sometimes the writer's guide gets modified over time from what is done in episodes, but not necessarily.

@Knixon said:

Pretty much the "canon" yes, although some purists might insist that "canon" is only what is in the official writer's guide and not so much whatever comes up from various scripts over time.* Probably less of an issue for a show like TBBT where every episode is written by the same rather small group of maybe 2 or 3 people. Versus Star Trek for example where each episode might be written by various people who may have only written one episode each.

The biggest real-world reason for Young Sheldon not being what TBBT said it was, is probably that what older Sheldon described wouldn't be much of a sitcom.

*Sometimes the writer's guide gets modified over time from what is done in episodes, but not necessarily.

Once again I am in agreement with you. I wonder though if they could have made Young Sheldon mostly zooming in on his interactions with others, and his zany antics as described by grown-up Sheldon, with his family life as in the background as possible and made it work as a sitcom. Even at times there were dramatic elements to The Big Bang Theory but it still worked as a sitcom, and in no small part because of how Sheldon interacted with everybody else. I'd best be careful how much I say about Young Sheldon, though. I don't want to spout ignorance seeing as I did not watch it past the first season. I'm just going by what I've heard or seen snippets of as the show went off when I was waiting to watch Ghosts.

In literary terms Sheldon may be what is called the "unreliable narrator". He believes everything he says is the truth but is it?

@znexyish said:

In literary terms Sheldon may be what is called the "unreliable narrator". He believes everything he says is the truth but is it?

I think there could be some of that going on in terms of his recollections being colored by his opinions or an agenda. However black and white facts like whether or not his father was an alcoholic and whether or not his father died shouldn't be affected. Plus his mother, while on TBBT, reiterated that his father was an alcoholic and died.

@Lemons🌻 said:

@znexyish said:

In literary terms Sheldon may be what is called the "unreliable narrator". He believes everything he says is the truth but is it?

I think there could be some of that going on in terms of his recollections being colored by his opinions or an agenda. However black and white facts like whether or not his father was an alcoholic and whether or not his father died shouldn't be affected. Plus his mother, while on TBBT, reiterated that his father was an alcoholic and died.

There is a possibility that Sheldon only considered his father to be an alcoholic. I've known plenty of scolds who think if someone drinks anything more than a wedding toast that they are a confirmed drunkard.

As far as his death, I'm working on the theory that at some point he got sick and tired of that crazy family and took off with Brenda. Mary went into shock and concocted the story that he died.

@Tim-Buktu said:

@Lemons🌻 said:

@znexyish said:

In literary terms Sheldon may be what is called the "unreliable narrator". He believes everything he says is the truth but is it?

I think there could be some of that going on in terms of his recollections being colored by his opinions or an agenda. However black and white facts like whether or not his father was an alcoholic and whether or not his father died shouldn't be affected. Plus his mother, while on TBBT, reiterated that his father was an alcoholic and died.

There is a possibility that Sheldon only considered his father to be an alcoholic. I've known plenty of scolds who think if someone drinks anything more than a wedding toast that they are a confirmed drunkard.

As far as his death, I'm working on the theory that at some point he got sick and tired of that crazy family and took off with Brenda. Mary went into shock and concocted the story that he died.

Didn't Sheldon tell somebody along the way on TBBT that his father's girlfriend gave him a Christmas present when he was kind of young like maybe toy cars or something? I'm going completely off of memory but if I'm remembering somewhat correctly that would imply that his father had probably already left Mary and had a girlfriend when Sheldon was little. That would not line up with Young Sheldon from what I know about it.

Some of it also seems to get to Sheldon having a "photographic" (eidetic) memory or not. Seems like he had it whenever it was needed for a particular joke, and if the next joke required that he NOT have it, then suddenly he didn't. But for someone with that kind of memory, how does he get to be an "unreliable narrator?"

And no, it's not a valid excuse that he was just so young. Aside from issues such as his father being a drunk and dying when Sheldon was a certain age, which aren't open to much flexibility, we're actually shown in Young Sheldon that he remembered Meemaw's secret recipe for brisket that she told him, perhaps even before he was able to talk.

@Tim-Buktu said:

@Lemons🌻 said:

@znexyish said:

In literary terms Sheldon may be what is called the "unreliable narrator". He believes everything he says is the truth but is it?

I think there could be some of that going on in terms of his recollections being colored by his opinions or an agenda. However black and white facts like whether or not his father was an alcoholic and whether or not his father died shouldn't be affected. Plus his mother, while on TBBT, reiterated that his father was an alcoholic and died.

There is a possibility that Sheldon only considered his father to be an alcoholic. I've known plenty of scolds who think if someone drinks anything more than a wedding toast that they are a confirmed drunkard.

As far as his death, I'm working on the theory that at some point he got sick and tired of that crazy family and took off with Brenda. Mary went into shock and concocted the story that he died.

But Sheldon made reference to his father's "driving whiskey" etc.

@Knixon said:

Some of it also seems to get to Sheldon having a "photographic" (eidetic) memory or not. Seems like he had it whenever it was needed for a particular joke, and if the next joke required that he NOT have it, then suddenly he didn't. But for someone with that kind of memory, how does he get to be an "unreliable narrator?"

And no, it's not a valid excuse that he was just so young. Aside from issues such as his father being a drunk and dying when Sheldon was a certain age, which aren't open to much flexibility, we're actually shown in Young Seldon that he remembered Meemaw's secret recipe for brisket that she told him, perhaps even before he was able to talk.

I believe that Sheldon had an eidetic memory. My comment above about his opinions or agendas affecting his retelling of stories wasn't me saying that he would not remember them correctly. I just meant he might purposely alter the truth to make the story favor him or create some sort of desired outcome in the minds of the listener.

@Knixon said:

@Tim-Buktu said:

@Lemons🌻 said:

@znexyish said:

In literary terms Sheldon may be what is called the "unreliable narrator". He believes everything he says is the truth but is it?

I think there could be some of that going on in terms of his recollections being colored by his opinions or an agenda. However black and white facts like whether or not his father was an alcoholic and whether or not his father died shouldn't be affected. Plus his mother, while on TBBT, reiterated that his father was an alcoholic and died.

There is a possibility that Sheldon only considered his father to be an alcoholic. I've known plenty of scolds who think if someone drinks anything more than a wedding toast that they are a confirmed drunkard.

As far as his death, I'm working on the theory that at some point he got sick and tired of that crazy family and took off with Brenda. Mary went into shock and concocted the story that he died.

But Sheldon made reference to his father's "driving whiskey" etc.

Emergencies, such as you're caught in a tornado and you have to lay in a ditch while your truck gets blown down the road.

@Lemons🌻 said:

@Knixon said:

Some of it also seems to get to Sheldon having a "photographic" (eidetic) memory or not. Seems like he had it whenever it was needed for a particular joke, and if the next joke required that he NOT have it, then suddenly he didn't. But for someone with that kind of memory, how does he get to be an "unreliable narrator?"

And no, it's not a valid excuse that he was just so young. Aside from issues such as his father being a drunk and dying when Sheldon was a certain age, which aren't open to much flexibility, we're actually shown in Young Seldon that he remembered Meemaw's secret recipe for brisket that she told him, perhaps even before he was able to talk.

I believe that Sheldon had an eidetic memory. My comment above about his opinions or agendas affecting his retelling of stories wasn't me saying that he would not remember them correctly. I just meant he might purposely alter the truth to make the story favor him or create some sort of desired outcome in the minds of the listener.

Perhaps. But Sheldon also prides himself on being an accurate producer of facts.

@Tim-Buktu said:

@Knixon said:

@Tim-Buktu said:

@Lemons🌻 said:

@znexyish said:

In literary terms Sheldon may be what is called the "unreliable narrator". He believes everything he says is the truth but is it?

I think there could be some of that going on in terms of his recollections being colored by his opinions or an agenda. However black and white facts like whether or not his father was an alcoholic and whether or not his father died shouldn't be affected. Plus his mother, while on TBBT, reiterated that his father was an alcoholic and died.

There is a possibility that Sheldon only considered his father to be an alcoholic. I've known plenty of scolds who think if someone drinks anything more than a wedding toast that they are a confirmed drunkard.

As far as his death, I'm working on the theory that at some point he got sick and tired of that crazy family and took off with Brenda. Mary went into shock and concocted the story that he died.

But Sheldon made reference to his father's "driving whiskey" etc.

Emergencies, such as you're caught in a tornado and you have to lay in a ditch while your truck gets blown down the road.

That would be laying-in-the-ditch whiskey, not driving whiskey.

(Which Sheldon himself would have a separate supply for, as with his lunchtime napkins.)