S01.E02: Some New York Nonsense

[chitowngirl]

Georgie struggles to balance life, work and family; Mandy worries for Georgie's wellbeing; Missy gets into trouble at school.

Edited October 17 by chitowngirl

[EtheltoTillie]

Missy?  I thought she wasn’t cast for this. 

[Yeah No]

6 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Missy?  I thought she wasn’t cast for this. 

It seems those entertainment mags. interviewed both Regan and Annie Potts before the show had invited them to appear on the spinoff so they reported that prematurely. I couldn't imagine that neither of them would be included and posted to that effect here at the time.

[anna0852]

He’s driving George’s truck 😢

[ams1001]

Georgie talking to his dad was sweet. "They're doin' all right, considerin' your new address..." 

"Unique is the word we agreed to use."

Missy talking to her dad had me sobbing.

14 minutes ago, anna0852 said:

He’s driving George’s truck 😢

I noticed that, too.

[chitowngirl]

Regan is so grown up! And nobody is paying attention to Missy…STILL!!

God Mom is such a shrew.

[anna0852]

Georgie and Missy talking to their dad just had me in tears.

[Spartan Girl]

Poor Missy.

[Dimity]

Does anyone know if Missy, Mary and Mee Maw are meant to be regular characters or will they be guesting now and then?

[Browncoat]

59 minutes ago, anna0852 said:

He’s driving George’s truck 😢

I noticed that as well.

Poor Missy.  You'd think she'd get more attention with Sheldon gone (although Mandy's brother is Sheldon-esque with less personality).

I did laugh, though, when Georgie fell for the mechanic's trick.

Still don't like the tango at the beginning.

[shapeshifter]

Some great writing in this episode, like:
[GEORGIE to GEORGE's grave] I'm flyin' by the seat of my pants, and my pants are on fire.

[appositival]

I signed up for a comedy, not a tragedy. I keep waiting for something pleasant to happen, but they keep doubling down on on disaster. I'm not sure how much more I want to take.

[ch1]

Building a spinoff comedy off a show that has one of the most heartbreaking TV deaths probably wasn’t the best decision.

Missy was a welcome sight.

The mom really is tiresome. 

 

[jennifer6973]

50 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Does anyone know if Missy, Mary and Mee Maw are meant to be regular characters or will they be guesting now and then?

They are guest characters, I think the next time all 3 show up is the Thanksgiving episode.

[shura]

Mandy’s brother is weirding me out.  The guy is what, early to mid-twenties*, is balding and has a beard, lives with his parents and behaves like a child.  And the weirdest part, I don’t remember seeing Jim (is that his name? Will Sasso’s character) interacting with his son at all, or vise versa.

* I went to his wiki, linked in last week’s episode, to check his age, and you know what?  There were two pictures of Mandy’s brother there last week, one from YS and one from this show, and now there is only a picture of this guy.  That’s just Orwellian…

Did anything happen in this episode?  Kind of felt like it was just some inconsequential stuff around maybe five minutes of Missy.  Totally worth it.

[KeithJ]

I know it’s only been two episodes but I’m just not finding this show funny.  The live audience or laugh track or whatever it is isn’t helping either.

[BitterApple]

This episode reminded me of why I thought YS should've continued as The Coopers rather than center everything on Mandy's family. 

Aside from Missy's appearance (and Regan's incredible acting) nothing happened. There's nothing in this show to get us invested. Audrey and the brother could disappear tomorrow and none of us would care. Will Sasso is awesome but they're not giving him anything to do besides the hen-pecked husband trope. 

I understand we're picking up on the heels of George's death so the tone is more serious, but the constant sniping and bickering between Mandy, Georgie and Audrey is exhausting. It makes no sense why they'd be living there rather than at Mary's where they'd be a welcomed distraction. 

[MollyMelrose]

Yep.

The audience is there for the Coopers, not the McAllisters.

In a weird way, it was good to see Georgie finally beginning to crack. The responsibilities of parenthood/marriage, grieving his dad, supporting his family, comparing his life to most 18 year old Texas guys ... any one of those things is A LOT to take on. But all together. YIPES!!

George's truck. Sigh ...

[Sarah 103]

3 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

Regan is so grown up! And nobody is paying attention to Missy…STILL!!

What I found even worse was that they were playing it for laughs. 

2 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I noticed that as well.

Poor Missy.  You'd think she'd get more attention with Sheldon gone

The only thing I can think of that is Mary is completely wrapped up in her own grief and throwing herself even more into church activities. 

[K-9]

From The Big Bang Theory S11E23 Sibling Realignment episode (Dr. Tire) conversation between Georgie and Sheldon.

Georgie: You went away to college after Dad died. Who do you think took care of everything?
Sheldon: Mom did. Mom always took care of everything.
Georgie: Mom was a mess, Missy was a dumb teenager. I had to look after both of 'em.
 

[karenc3]

Tonight's show was better than last week, it felt more like a continuation of Young Sheldon.  The characters, especially Georgie and Missy were much more in depth this week.  It was sad but it's only been a couple of months since George died, so their grief was appropriate.  This also fits in with what was said by older Georgie to Sheldon on Big Bang Theory, that he helped keep the family together after George died,  Mary was a mess and Missy was getting into trouble.   

I also would have rather had the spin off be the Coopers, with more focus on them than the McAlistars.  I think this is where the spin off falls flat, the Coopers are so much more interesting than them.   

I also noticed they used wired landline phones, which helps to make it feel like the early 90s. 

[UsernameFatigue]

I don't mind that the spinoff is focusing on Georgie. I also adore Will Sasso and love every scene he is in. I hope "Missy" continues to make appearances every week as she was my fav character on YS. 

I did like the scenes of Georgie visiting George's grave, and Missy's visit brought tears to my eyes. It doesn't bother me that the spinoff isn't a laugh a minute. I appreciate seeing at least some of the YS family, and see how they are coping with George's passing.

The big fail for me is Mandy's brother. He is not necessary, and seems to be there as a replacement for Sheldon, the annoying brother who no one really relates to. He adds nothing to the show. 

[Yeah No]

I was never that invested in Georgie as to want to see a show revolve around him. The show is doing its best to make his stress from being thrust into adulthood and parenthood he majotr point of interest in his life, but so far it's just not had the "punch line" humor that I think it should for a show like this. It's been "meh" at best. I did appreciate him talking to George's grave, though.

I love Will Sasso and think he's probably the best new character, but turning him into the stereotyped weak, henpecked husband is falling somewhat flat for me, at least the way they're handling it. And Mandy's mother is even more insufferable than Mary. At least we sort-of care about Mary despite her ways but with this woman there's just nothing to want on my screen. And that's sad because I have generally liked Rachel Bay Jones in other roles. It also doesn't help that she's giving me PTSD from my own mother-in-law who could be that judgmental of ME back in those days!

I LOVED seeing Missy here but I feel again like something was missing from her inclusion on the show. It's pretty sad when you feel like the best thing a show has going for it are characters brought in for guest appearances from a previous but related show.

I completely agree with those that think this show should have just been renamed "The Coopers" and been a continuation of things as they were on YS, revolving around Mary's home and focused on her, Missy's and Meemaw's adjustment to life without George. In fact as soon as this show was announced I thought that. Georgie and Mandy could have lived there and that would have been WAY more interesting for the audience. I don't know why they thought this would be a better alternative.

The son feels like he walked off the set of another show. He doesn't even fit organically here at all. Not that Sheldon did either, but that was sort of the POINT of Sheldon and if they think they're recreating that here, sorry to tell them it's just not working at all.

I thought the repair shop would have brought some opportunities for some laughs but so far it has also been underutilized and nothing is that funny there. It's interesting to me because at that time my husband was managing a huge gas station service dept. in Greenwich, CT that was the source of so many situation comedy-like characters and hysterically funny situations that even at the time we used to imagine a show based on it.

[Yeah No]

2 hours ago, karenc3 said:

I also noticed they used wired landline phones, which helps to make it feel like the early 90s. 

I had a cordless phone starting in the early '80s. According to the New York Times there were a million of them around by 1982 and it just went up from there. By the late '80s most people I know including my parents had them.

But otherwise I am appreciating the attempt at furnishing the McAllister's house in a tasteful '90s style. That isn't lost on me but I notice those things.

[bybrandy]

We need to get rid of Mandy’s brother. And make Mandy’s mom even a little bit rootable. And, of course, I care just way way more about Missy than I do anybody on the main cast. 

[mojoween]

When Georgie said “that’s just mean” to the mechanic and the mechanic giggled while slurping his soft drink was the first actual laugh this show elicited out of me.  Odd to have taken that long, for a comedy.

I must be, for some completely odd reason, be confusing George with Jack Arnold because I could have sworn George said he was in the army in Korea, but that’s obviously not possible.

[shapeshifter]

7 hours ago, shura said:

Mandy’s brother is weirding me out.  

Yeah. If I tuned into this episode without having ever seen the prequels, I'd be sure Mandy's brother was a serial killer in the making and wonder why we didn't see any pets.

[Gregg247]

I wish they'd shown this episode back-to-back with Ep. 1 last week.  This one really fleshed out the characters a little more and made more sense.  Even though G&MFM looks like TBBT and has a studio audience, it feels more like "Young Sheldon" in that its more of a comedy-drama.

I liked Mandy's mom much more this week.  Her scene with Jim was good in that they seemed more like a real couple rather than a cartoonish shrew and her terrified husband.  I also liked that she matter-of-factly told him that she thought G&M would get divorced and it was probably better if they did that sooner rather than later so they could both move on with their lives.  I see where she's coming from on that.

Jim wasn't a scaredy-cat this week and tried to calm everyone down when Georgie burst in the room.  He's the best character on the show right now.

The mechanic at work is the funniest so far.  I think they can get a lot of mileage with him just pranking Georgie.

I really liked the talks Georgie and Missie had at George's grave.  These were the most real scenes in the episode for me.  Missie in particular was heartbreaking.

I'm not a fan of Mandy, but I think if she gets a job at a TV station as a weather girl, it could be pretty funny and it would give her something to do other than feed the baby and argue with her Mom.

I'm afraid Mandy's brother will kill all the characters in their sleep one night.

After Ep. 1, I didn't know where they were going with this show but now I can see the path they're laying out for us.  I'm on-board with it.

[Dimity]

26 minutes ago, Gregg247 said:

I also liked that she matter-of-factly told him that she thought G&M would get divorced and it was probably better if they did that sooner rather than later so they could both move on with their lives.  I see where she's coming from on that.

Agreed,  I felt she was actually being pretty realistic here.  I also liked the brief conversation last week where she was talking about Georgie taking advantage of Mandy and her husband correcting her by reminding her that Georgie was still a kid and to most people it would look more like Mandy being the one taking advantage of someone!  

[jennifer6973]

4 hours ago, mojoween said:

When Georgie said “that’s just mean” to the mechanic and the mechanic giggled while slurping his soft drink was the first actual laugh this show elicited out of me.  Odd to have taken that long, for a comedy.

I must be, for some completely odd reason, be confusing George with Jack Arnold because I could have sworn George said he was in the army in Korea, but that’s obviously not possible.

He was in Vietnam. 

[proserpina65]

That was definitely better than the first episode.  Still not all that funny, though.  The best parts were the heartfelt scenes between Georgie and Jim and Georgie and Missy.

The less of Mandy's mom the better, and I just don't get what the brother brings to the show at all.  He was not so Sheldon-like in the one episode he was in of Young Sheldon and I really don't like that he is here.

Mostly I don't mind Mandy, but I was seriously annoyed with her in the argument over potentially moving.  Poor Georgie, he's trying to handle some serious shit from all sides (except from Jim); no wonder he was having a panic attack.

12 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

The only thing I can think of that is Mary is completely wrapped up in her own grief and throwing herself even more into church activities. 

Exactly.

8 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I had a cordless phone starting in the early '80s. According to the New York Times there were a million of them around by 1982 and it just went up from there. By the late '80s most people I know including my parents had them.

And very few people I knew had a cordless phone until the mid-90s.  Different people had different things.

5 hours ago, mojoween said:

I must be, for some completely odd reason, be confusing George with Jack Arnold because I could have sworn George said he was in the army in Korea, but that’s obviously not possible.

He was in Vietnam.  It came up in the YS episode where Tam came to dinner with the Coopers.  George was worried that he'd "known" Tam's mother when he was there.

 

Edited October 25 by proserpina65

[Sarah 103]

9 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I had a cordless phone starting in the early '80s. According to the New York Times there were a million of them around by 1982 and it just went up from there. By the late '80s most people I know including my parents had them.

Many homes probably had a mix of cordless phones and phones with cords in the 1990s. I know mine did. 

3 hours ago, Gregg247 said:

The mechanic at work is the funniest so far.  I think they can get a lot of mileage with him just pranking Georgie.

I would love to see more pranks on a regular basis. 

[Daff]

17 hours ago, Dimity said:

Does anyone know if Missy, Mary and Mee Maw are meant to be regular characters or will they be guesting now and then?

I don’t think they planned on it but, if they don’t at least appear periodically, Mandy’s mom will drive away viewers in spite of her dad’s quiet humor.

Only Georgie Cooper would beg for verbal abuse. (From Mandy’s dad about the keys-but too similar to the robbery at the sporting goods store)

[Chit Chat]

18 hours ago, appositival said:

I signed up for a comedy, not a tragedy. I keep waiting for something pleasant to happen, but they keep doubling down on on disaster. I'm not sure how much more I want to take.

I feel the same way.  I was concerned about this show mainly because of Mandy's mom and her stinky attitude.  Now we've got to deal with Missy's angst, which is carried over from YS (of which I was tired of!)  Although that's real life reflected in her character, it doesn't mean that I want to continually go through it with this show.  I like my comedies to be at least 90% funny and maybe 10% drama.  

I did like Georgie's conversation with his dad.  That was really nice.  

19 hours ago, Browncoat said:

Poor Missy.  You'd think she'd get more attention with Sheldon gone (although Mandy's brother is Sheldon-esque with less personality).

Georgie did mention in an episode of TBBT that his mom fell apart after George's death, so Connie might be wrapped up in trying to help her.  Of course, this wasn't long after Connie lost her house to the tornado, so she's got a lot to deal with, but I was hoping that they both be a little more attentive to Missy. 

I don't want to judge though because I've seen women fall apart after the death of their husbands and they couldn't see past their own grief, so it's a difficult situation.  The realization of having to worry about being the breadwinner and all that entails can be overwhelming.  

[Dimity]

37 minutes ago, Chit Chat said:

I don't want to judge though because I've seen women fall apart after the death of their husbands and they couldn't see past their own grief, so it's a difficult situation.  The realization of having to worry about being the breadwinner and all that entails can be overwhelming.  

Not forgetting as well that in the lead up to George's death Mary had had a lot to contend with. 

She and George had   a pretty rocky couple of years even if they were finally putting that behind them  but along with that she was sending a 14 yr old off to college, helping her mother cope with losing her house (not to mention doing her community service!) and of course she had lost her place in the church community because of what happened between Georgie and Mandy!   Sure that settled down (somewhat improbably IMO) but it was still fresh.

I don't think many of us could blame Mary for pretty much throwing up her hands and giving up at this point!  I'd love to say a grieving, troubled teenager should be the focus of her attention but it may well be the proverbial last straw instead.

Edited October 25 by Dimity

[Chit Chat]

8 minutes ago, Dimity said:

I'd love to say a grieving, troubled teenager should be the focus of her attention but it may well be the proverbial last straw instead.

They both need each other, but it doesn't look like either one of them knows how to reach out to the other one.  Counseling would probably help in this regard, but that gets pricey, so it's probably not an option.  

With this show, I was hoping not to relive all of this drama from YS, but it's part of Georgie's story, so I'll just roll with it for now.   Reagan did a great job with the episode, and she's such a beautiful young lady!

[Dimity]

6 minutes ago, Chit Chat said:

With this show, I was hoping not to relive all of this drama from YS, but it's part of Georgie's story, so I'll just roll with it for now.

I remember being really annoyed that, along with a lot of other retconning, I felt that they ignored what Georgie had said on BBT about having to be the one holding the family together after George died.  When this sitcom first got floated they definitely made it sound like Georgie was the only Cooper who was going to be in it. 

Much as I agree with you and other posters who aren't happy about the level of sadness on what should be a sitcom, I do like that they are letting Georgie help Missy with what she's dealing with right now.  It should have been that way and I admit I thought they weren't going to go there.  Glad they are, but small doses writers, small doses!!

[Chit Chat]

1 minute ago, Dimity said:

Glad they are, but small doses writers, small doses!!

I'm hoping that they're just trying to get their footing and are establishing a foundation for this show, but I agree, easy does it!!

[babyhouseman]

I don't like Mandy's brother. He's boring. Sheldon was annoying but never boring.

Edited October 25 by babyhouseman

[iarwain]

2 hours ago, Chit Chat said:

I feel the same way.  I was concerned about this show mainly because of Mandy's mom and her stinky attitude.

The bad thing is they've established her character so firmly, it's unlikely they change her or push her further into the background now.  I feel sorry for the actress having to play such an unlikable character.

[JayDub1987]

Just got to watch this one. I enjoyed this episode a lot. Feel like we got to see a bit more what's going on with the characters. Love that they're still incorporating George Sr. 

[HyeChaps]

It was funny that Georgie had to send special underwear to Sheldon.

[possibilities]

Georgie sending it, and not Mary sending it, says a lot. Mary seemed fine in the pilot, though.

[iarwain]

58 minutes ago, JayDub1987 said:

Just got to watch this one. I enjoyed this episode a lot. Feel like we got to see a bit more what's going on with the characters. Love that they're still incorporating George Sr. 

At one point in those graveyard scenes I was afraid they were going to bring in a "force ghost" of George Sr.  I'm glad they didn't go that way though, even if it would give the actor a bit of work.

[appositival]

On 10/24/2024 at 11:43 PM, BitterApple said:

It makes no sense why they'd be living there rather than at Mary's where they'd be a welcomed distraction. 

Georgie has his own bathroom. That seems to be his major reason for staying.

[Dimity]

32 minutes ago, appositival said:

Georgie has his own bathroom. That seems to be his major reason for staying.

I'd take using the bathroom in the gas station down the street over living with Audrey!!

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, Dimity said:

I'd take using the bathroom in the gas station down the street over living with Audrey!!

Have you used a gas station bathroom?
Just sayin'.
Still. Maybe so.

[hoodooznoodooz]

In my opinion, Mandy is not a bit likable. I didn’t like the actress in “Almost Family” either. 
 

She’s barely able to tolerate Georgie. She’s sarcastic and exasperated with him. The only time she’s nice to him or sides with him is when her mother criticizes him.

I can’t like a character who is so often obnoxious toward someone who is so likable, charismatic, positive and giving. 

[Tom Holmberg]

On 10/24/2024 at 11:19 PM, Sarah 103 said:

What I found even worse was that they were playing it for laughs. 

It was nice seeing Missy and Raegan did a good job at George's grave, but I'm still not enjoying this. And I hope everytime we see Missy she's not in some kind of trouble.

5 hours ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

She’s barely able to tolerate Georgie. She’s sarcastic and exasperated with him.

Typical Lorre set up, ballbusting women and weak henpecked men.  Gotta wonder what his life is like.

[chitowngirl]

Before a Mod comes in and dings us for being off topic (Mary wasn’t even in this episode!), I started a Young Sheldon vs Georgie and Mandy thread….