October 16, 2024
By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede Early in the first episode of GEORGIE & MANDY’S FIRST MARRIAGE, a passing observation is made about the character who started it all. “Sheldon turned out pretty good, considering the majority of the folks can’t stand him,” says Georgie, played by Montana Jordan. Those words ring true on multiple levels as GEORGIE & MANDY’S FIRST MARRIAGE premieres, Thursday, Oct. 17 at 8 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app. To sum up the path that got everyone to this point: THE BIG BANG THEORY (available on Crave) was one of the most successful sitcoms in TV history, airing for 12 seasons from 2007 to 2019. One of the main characters was a comedically irritating egghead named Sheldon Cooper, played in unforgettable fashion by Jim Parsons. The spinoff/prequel YOUNG SHELDON – which ran for seven seasons from 2017 until earlier this year, with Iain Armitage in the title role – explored Sheldon’s childhood years growing up with his family in Texas in the late 1980s and early 1990s. That’s where viewers really got to know Sheldon’s big brother Georgie, and eventually his 12-years-older romantic partner Mandy, played by Emily Osment. So GEORGIE & MANDY’S FIRST MARRIAGE has a rare pedigree, in that it’s a spinoff of a prequel. But viewers of THE BIG BANG THEORY and YOUNG SHELDON have proven to be intensely loyal to this universe, and the characters within it. “We’re lucky to have this history from another show, but this is a show you can come to cold, without ever having seen an episode (of YOUNG SHELDON),” said Steve Holland, co-creator and co-executive producer of GEORGIE & MANDY’S FIRST MARRIAGE, during a panel session with the cast and creators. “You don’t need to have seen YOUNG SHELDON to understand that Georgie’s dad has recently passed, and what the emotions to go with that are,” Holland added. “There are great Easter eggs for people who are familiar with that show, but we’re also very conscious about wanting to make sure new viewers are invited in. But part of the excitement moving forward on this is we knew the YOUNG SHELDON family still lives in Medford, and there were great possibilities for them to drop by from time to time. It has happened several times so far this season (as filming proceeds), and I think it’ll continue to happen when we find the right stories for them.” Holland, who previously worked on both THE BIG BANG THEORY and YOUNG SHELDON, was asked about not needing to include science in the stories on GEORGIE & MANDY’S FIRST MARRIAGE, since this is the first show in the franchise that doesn’t feature the brainiac Sheldon as one of the regular characters. “Yeah, it’s interesting to pivot and explore a different part of this world that isn’t about this special intellect – not that you guys aren’t geniuses,” said Holland, prompting laughter from the cast. “But I think these stories feel very real and very relatable, and we get to tell some very human family stories in what still feels like the same universe. To be honest, after having written about science and scientists for so many years, it is a little bit of a relief not to have to do that, and not have to, you know, fire up Wikipedia, and fake our way through some science before someone smarter corrects us.” Interestingly, THE BIG BANG THEORY was filmed in front of a live studio audience, but YOUNG SHELDON was not, and now GEORGIE & MANDY’S FIRST MARRIAGE has returned to the live-audience format. Jordan was asked about the difference. “I didn’t know what to expect, but I didn’t know what to expect at the beginning of YOUNG SHELDON, either, and somehow I got through that, so I’m going to do the best I can,” Jordan said. “Every week we all work our butts off to bring it to life, and every Tuesday that we film, it’s electric, it’s energetic, it’s really fun. I wish everybody could experience it one time in their life. It’s like FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (available on Crave) for football players, you know? It’s just the thrill you get walking out there, and how happy everybody is, how excited they are to be there, and just bringing everybody together to watch this one play that we’ve been working on all week. It’s pretty great.” As an aside, there was an amusing moment when the 21-year-old Jordan was reminded of his admission last summer that he had never seen THE BIG BANG THEORY. He promised to check it out, so … has he done so? “Well, I’ll tell you what … I know the creators, and the creators are great people,” he said. “I got a four-month-old daughter, so I don’t have much time to watch TV. But I know it’s great.”
