Chuck Lorre is responsible for some of the most successful sitcoms of all time. He says he has the recipe for success, and itâs simpler than youâd think.
âThe whole thing boils down to great actors and great scripts. And if either one of those is missing, it doesnât work,â he told The Associated Press.
Lorreâs latest venture, alongside his longtime collaborators, Steven Molaro and Steve Holland, is âGeorgie & Mandyâs First Marriage,â a CBS sequel to their hit series âYoung Sheldon.â The latter is a prequel of âThe Big Bang Theory,â which Lorre, Molaro and Holland worked on for its run from 2007 through 2019.
The CBS series, which airs on Thursdays, stars Montana Jordan and Emily Osment reprising their roles from âYoung Sheldon.â Jordan plays Georgie Cooper, Sheldonâs older brother, and Osment plays Mandy McAllister, Georgieâs new wife. The series follows the pair as they navigate young parenthood with a newborn daughter while also adapting to their new marriage.
Multi-camera sitcoms date back to classics like âI Love Lucyâ and âThe Mary Tyler Moore Show,â but âThe Big Bang Theoryâ stands alone as a highly successful modern sitcom filmed in the format with an audience.
âGeorgie & Mandyâs First Marriageâ will carry on that practice with a live studio audience and a traditional sitcom feel. Holland, who is an executive producer with Lorre and Molaro, said the goal was to separate it from its predecessor so it didnât feel like ââYoung Sheldonâ 2.0 or something.â
âWeâve always had a soft spot for multi-cam and seeing this cast and seeing how they sort of spark together, the thought of putting them in front of an audience like a theatrical experience seemed great,â Holland said.
Distancing the series from the character Sheldon Cooper, played by Iain Armitage in the prequel and Jim Parsons on âThe Big Bang Theory,â meant stepping away from a character they had worked on for 19 seasons, but Holland said it felt like they had âgone to that vein a lot.â
âThe chance to tell stories in this world where we donât know the future, or we know very little about the future, was exciting,â he added.
Speaking before the series began filming, Jordan, who had never worked on a multi-camera show before, said he was feeling optimistic about the new process. âI kind of just throw the nerves away, just get them out of my life, throw them out somewhere,â he said.
âPeople fell in love with Georgie on âYoung Sheldon,â so Iâm just gonna keep playing that, see how it goes,â he added in his signature Southern drawl.
Osment, however, is no stranger to studio audiences, having appeared as a teenager in Disney Channelâs âHannah Montanaâ with Miley Cyrus, followed by a starring role in âYoung & Hungryâ for five seasons on Freeform. She said she was looking forward to being back in front of an audience because she had âkind of forgotten what that feels like.â
Osment also added that she enjoys the moments when the cast breaks character by laughing. âThatâs fun too,â she said.
âSometimes, you get the best stuff ever when you canât keep it together and sometimes, they use it. Especially with working with a baby. Thereâs going to be moments of that,â she said. âBut weâre good at that. Weâre good at rolling with it.â
Georgie and Mandyâs baby daughter Ceecee is portrayed by twins, Isabelle and Zariah Booko.
Having a baby on set is âwonderful,â said Osment, because adjustments are made to keep the atmosphere calm.
âThe crew and the cast sort of soften. They donât speak very loudly in front of the baby. They donât overly try to touch up your wardrobe or your hair makeup because, like, your job is just to hold this precious, beautiful thing and people kind of leave you the heck alone.â
When the Booko girls arenât available or the baby is in a scene but not really visible, Osment says âan extremely expensive animatronic babyâ is brought in.
âThey get way more nervous when we go towards that robot baby,â joked Osment. âLike, âYou guys have the real thing handled, but donât mess up this robot baby.ââ
Lorre reiterated that this cast and the series, which is set in the â90s, was meant to be filmed in the multi-camera format.
âPutting on a play in front of an audience is as fundamental as you can get to how to tell a story,â he said.