TBBT vs Young Sheldon: Nitpicks, Anomalies, and Historical Facts In An Evolving Universe, presented by Sheldon L. Cooper

[formerlyfreedom]

Here's a spot to talk about the discrepancies between what's been explained on The Big Bang Theory versus Young Sheldon.

Sheldon's dad? Meemaw? Friendships? Family member? Talk about what doesn't line up here.

[OtterMommy]

In watching this show, I've had to accept these two possibilities (I'm not sure which one I'm going to stick with, yet...)

1. The Sheldon of Young Sheldon is just not the same person as the Sheldon of TBBT.  Yes, there are loads of similarities, but I don't see them existing in the same fictional universe.  So I guess they are in alternate (fictional) universes?

-or-

2. TBBT Sheldon is just not a reliable narrator.  In that show, all that we know about his life is what he tells us--with a few insights from Mary.  So, TBBT Sheldon might relay something that Young Sheldon saw or experienced, but what he thinks he saw or experienced was not what really happened.  Sheldon (both of them) is utterly black and white so when he encounters more "gray" experiences, he mentally files them as either black or white, if that makes any sense.  For example, TBBT Sheldon said that his father was an alcoholic.  Well, one standard, for lack of a better word, for whether a man is an alcoholic is drinking more than 14 alcoholic beverages in a week.  So, if Sheldon's dad drank 2 beers a night every night--except Friday nights when he drank 3, Sheldon might see that as making his dad an alcoholic, even though his father is a big man and might have been drinking light beer.  So, 25 years later, we see him telling his friends that his father was an alcoholic, when he may not have been.

As I said, I sort of waver between these two explanations...but they are working for me in Sheldon's case.  I can't see any explanation for Meemaw, but Annie Potts is awesome, so I don't care.

[wknt3]

On 11/26/2017 at 2:06 PM, OtterMommy said:

In watching this show, I've had to accept these two possibilities (I'm not sure which one I'm going to stick with, yet...)

1. The Sheldon of Young Sheldon is just not the same person as the Sheldon of TBBT.  Yes, there are loads of similarities, but I don't see them existing in the same fictional universe.  So I guess they are in alternate (fictional) universes?

-or-

2. TBBT Sheldon is just not a reliable narrator.  In that show, all that we know about his life is what he tells us--with a few insights from Mary.  So, TBBT Sheldon might relay something that Young Sheldon saw or experienced, but what he thinks he saw or experienced was not what really happened.  Sheldon (both of them) is utterly black and white so when he encounters more "gray" experiences, he mentally files them as either black or white, if that makes any sense.  For example, TBBT Sheldon said that his father was an alcoholic.  Well, one standard, for lack of a better word, for whether a man is an alcoholic is drinking more than 14 alcoholic beverages in a week.  So, if Sheldon's dad drank 2 beers a night every night--except Friday nights when he drank 3, Sheldon might see that as making his dad an alcoholic, even though his father is a big man and might have been drinking light beer.  So, 25 years later, we see him telling his friends that his father was an alcoholic, when he may not have been.

As I said, I sort of waver between these two explanations...but they are working for me in Sheldon's case.  I can't see any explanation for Meemaw, but Annie Potts is awesome, so I don't care.

I'm with you. I've pointed out before that while Sheldon has an eidetic memory he has a tendency to exaggerate when it comes to describing experiences and events he dislikes and that this is a well established element of the character that has been the basis for many lines. Why should we expect his description of his childhood to be different than his description of events that we have seen or that other characters who we know to be "more normal" have witnessed off screen and told us didn't happen quite that way. As far as 1. is concerned they are separate shows with different styles so in some sense they are different people literally (although I am greatly impressed by what Iain Armitage has done in matching Jim Parson's acting) and figuratively (different writers telling their own story which has to work on its own terms) although I don't know if I'd go so far as to say different universes. I would add 3. Some of the stuff we've heard about hasn't happened yet. It's obvious that his parents don't have a perfect marriage, but maybe the womanizing and staying out all night comes later and the drinking gets worse. I'm sure we'll also see more bullying as the show progresses (since there's the obvious stories about how Georgie both joins in and defends him, his parents different reactions, etc., but it's not something you necessarily want to start off with) and perhaps some of the other events mentioned although again it probably won't be quite as described.

As far as Meemaw is concerned the explanation is simple. They screwed up on TBBT so they are going to ignore it and start fresh. Works for me!

Edited November 30, 2017 by wknt3

[BlossomCulp]

What occurs to me isn't so much how the show differs right now but what will happen if Young Sheldon stays on the air as long as BBT has.  Networks don't seem to want to pull the plug on successful shows so if YS is a hit and continues to be a hit within 4 years Sheldon should be in college and within 5 his father should be dead.  Will they stick to that I wonder?  And will they show the "imploding" marriage Sheldon claimed his parents had, and will they acknowledge the womanizing and alcoholism?  So far they seem to be showing George as a family man.  Unless I've missed it in my binge watching of the episodes (except for the pilot) he comes across as a decent guy with a responsible job.  Would a womanizing alcoholic be able to keep working as a high school football coach in Texas??

Edited November 27, 2017 by BlossomCulp

[wknt3]

9 hours ago, BlossomCulp said:

 Would a womanizing alcoholic be able to keep working as a high school football coach in Texas??

Depends on his win percentage!

As far as your larger point, I've always said this show has a shelf life. If I was in charge I would probably go with 1 season != 1 year of time passing. That way you could probably do 5 seasons or so and bow out gracefully with Sheldon still in high school and everyone still alive and together.

[TheLastKidPicked]

13 hours ago, BlossomCulp said:

Would a womanizing alcoholic be able to keep working as a high school football coach in Texas??

 

4 hours ago, wknt3 said:

Depends on his win percentage!

That is more true than you know, especially in Texas!

And remember that this show is set back before cell phones, social media, and cameras everywhere.  It would have been much easier to keep things quiet back then.

[Frost]

I don't have any trouble believing the man we've seen on screen to date could turn into a womanizing alcoholic.  He doesn't seem to have a lot of coping skills.  George just seems befuddled by Sheldon in general and was pretty quick to turn on him, calling him a 'snitch' to Georgie once Sheldon pulled the plug on running statistical models for his football games.  I think if George got fired and couldn't find another coaching position he could devolve into the man the liquor store owner cried about when he died.

That being said, it would be a sad journey to watch and I'm not sure it fits well with a comedy!

TBBT episode where Sheldon talks about being alone in Heidelberg because his Mom had to fly back to Texas to deal with the house slipping off the blocks again would be after his father died, correct?  He was 15 when he was in Germany, and his dad died when he was 14.  So even though they live in a nice house on Young Sheldon, I could see the family moving to a trailer park after George's death, until Mary gets her financial affairs in order.  Mary lives in a nice house now on TBBT, so apparently their 'house on blocks' days were fairly short.

[TheLastKidPicked]

On 11/27/2017 at 9:31 AM, Frost said:

I think if George got fired and couldn't find another coaching position he could devolve into the man the liquor store owner cried about when he died.

Good point, Frost.  

And again, it has to do with the timing of when the show was set.  Younger folks now view jobs and careers as much more portable here in 2017.  You take a job, you move on, and you take another job.  

So you have to be old enough to remember that only a short time ago, it wasn't like that.  A person like George, where all he knows is teaching and coaching, might never recover if he lost his job.

Edited November 30, 2017 by TheLastKidPicked

[joanne3482]

24 minutes ago, TheLastKidPicked said:

So you have to be old enough to remember that only a short time ago, it wasn't like that.  A person like George, where all he knows is teaching and coaching, might never recover if he lost his job.

Especially if you consider a small enough town in Texas where he is unlikely to have a lot of success at finding a new one. I don't know I want to watch the show that includes the downfall of Sheldon's family. 

 

On 11/26/2017 at 6:13 PM, wknt3 said:

As far as Meemaw is concerned the explanation is simple. They screwed up on TBBT so they are going to ignore it and start fresh. Works for me!

I guess I don't remember them going on about meemaw on BBT. What are the discrepancies? 

[OtterMommy]

3 hours ago, joanne3482 said:

Especially if you consider a small enough town in Texas where he is unlikely to have a lot of success at finding a new one. I don't know I want to watch the show that includes the downfall of Sheldon's family. 

 

Also, considering what his job is--a football coach--his professional failure would be much more than a professional failure in his community.  It's one thing to fail as a gas station owner.  It's another to fail at a job in the sport (heck, industry? religion?) that is the lifeblood of your town.

[BlossomCulp]

On 11/27/2017 at 11:31 AM, Frost said:

TBBT episode where Sheldon talks about being alone in Heidelberg because his Mom had to fly back to Texas to deal with the house slipping off the blocks again would be after his father died, correct?  He was 15 when he was in Germany, and his dad died when he was 14.

I think this is just a continuity slip up on the part of the writers.  I remember when Sheldon tells the story about the house slipping off the blocks  that he says his mother needed to go back and help his father.  We know Sheldon's father dies when he is somewhere in his teens, the exact age is clearly up for debate :).

[Frost]

I thought Sheldon stated outright that his father died when he was 14 in the Thanksgiving episode where Bernadette's dad gives Sheldon a beer.  Which isn't to say there aren't continuity errors by the writers....

[chocolatine]

So apparently Young Sheldon doesn't do the triple *knock knock knock* <name> thing (yet).

[displayname]

5 hours ago, BlossomCulp said:

Mom had to fly back to Texas to deal with the house slipping off the blocks again

Is this literal? They don't seem that poor to me... And Sheldon, for one, should've had lots of scholarships. 

[MaryMitch]

22 hours ago, joanne3482 said:

Especially if you consider a small enough town in Texas where he is unlikely to have a lot of success at finding a new one. I don't know I want to watch the show that includes the downfall of Sheldon's family.

I don't either. The conflict within the family at this point is comedic; I don't want to see tragic.

[LoneHaranguer]

On 11/27/2017 at 11:31 AM, Frost said:

I could see the family moving to a trailer park after George's death, until Mary gets her financial affairs in order.  Mary lives in a nice house now on TBBT, so apparently their 'house on blocks' days were fairly short.

Regular houses can be on blocks, not just trailers, although it's usually a low-end house; poured concrete is more durable and bricks are classier, so blocks imply you're trying to save money.

[BckpckFullaNinjas]

For the life of me, YS’s dad is *not* the dumbass that TBBT Mary talks about. I agree with @Frost — to see George’s devolution would be sad indeed, especially as he’s being shown to love and respect the boy genius. 

I’m deciding to like YS as a story on its own. TBBT has been less and less enjoyable for me this season, and I think I’ll just forget that I know what happens to Sheldon as he ages. Just going to enjoy the show as a standalone. 

 Also, it occurs to me that what I liked about TBBT in its beginning was that I identified, having been a geeky sort my whole life, and never really fitting in with the pretty people. As the humor on TBBT has turned toward more standard sitcom fare, it’s less personal for me.

Whereas now on YS, I am enjoying watching how parents  of average intelligence react to an exceptionally bright child and especially the specific situations he gets into. 

There’s the ticket – – TBBT is a sitcom now, not a niche comedy. YS is fresh.

[calipiano81]

On 11/30/2017 at 9:08 AM, joanne3482 said:

I guess I don't remember them going on about meemaw on BBT. What are the discrepancies? 

For me, when MeeMaw (played by June Squibb) made her one appearance on TBBT, and from the way Sheldon talked about her, she came across as a wise, wholesome, old-fashioned grandmother. On this show, she's a bit wild and unconventional.

[calipiano81]

Another difference I've noticed is that Mary does not act or talk about her religion as noticeably as when she shows up on BBT. Maybe it was after trouble started with Sheldon's father that she began to turn to her faith more deeply?

[Bort]

25 minutes ago, calipiano81 said:

Another difference I've noticed is that Mary does not act or talk about her religion as noticeably as when she shows up on BBT. Maybe it was after trouble started with Sheldon's father that she began to turn to her faith more deeply?

On The Big Bang Theory, they refer to Mary as “born again,” so yeah, probably. 

[AnnaRose]

21 hours ago, BckpckFullaNinjas said:

I’m deciding to like YS as a story on its own. TBBT has been less and less enjoyable for me this season, and I think I’ll just forget that I know what happens to Sheldon as he ages. Just going to enjoy the show as a standalone.

I think that's probably the best way to watch it.  And probably the best way for it to be written, as well.  Especially if they want series longevity.

[BlossomCulp]

8 hours ago, calipiano81 said:

Another difference I've noticed is that Mary does not act or talk about her religion as noticeably as when she shows up on BBT. Maybe it was after trouble started with Sheldon's father that she began to turn to her faith more deeply?

Sheldon does say at one point that Mary dove into her religion when the marriage started floundering.  George turned to booze and other women and Mary turned to God I guess.  So deeply religious Mary hasn't happened yet.

Edited December 3, 2017 by BlossomCulp

[chitowngirl]

To me-Young Sheldon:The Big Bang Theory::The Carrie Diaries :Sex and the City.

[wknt3]

On 11/30/2017 at 0:08 PM, joanne3482 said:

I guess I don't remember them going on about meemaw on BBT. What are the discrepancies? 

 

On 12/2/2017 at 0:18 PM, calipiano81 said:

For me, when MeeMaw (played by June Squibb) made her one appearance on TBBT, and from the way Sheldon talked about her, she came across as a wise, wholesome, old-fashioned grandmother. On this show, she's a bit wild and unconventional.

Physically there is a vast discrepancy between Annie Potts and June Squibb. Also in her one appearance she was much more uptight and old fashioned. She treated Amy really poorly and most fans seemed to think it was a misfire. I don't have a problem with what is onscreen vs. Sheldon's mentions of her, but you really can't reconcile what was shown onscreen in the two series - which is fine by me as the YS version is fun and TBBT version was a dud so I'm happy to go along with the reboot.

 

On 12/2/2017 at 0:25 PM, calipiano81 said:

Another difference I've noticed is that Mary does not act or talk about her religion as noticeably as when she shows up on BBT. Maybe it was after trouble started with Sheldon's father that she began to turn to her faith more deeply?

 

20 hours ago, BlossomCulp said:

Sheldon does say at one point that Mary dove into her religion when the marriage started floundering.  George turned to booze and other women and Mary turned to God I guess.  So deeply religious Mary hasn't happened yet.

Yep. This is an example of Young Sheldon sticking with the established backstory from The Big Bang Theory not a continuity error.

[BlossomCulp]

2 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

Physically there is a vast discrepancy between Annie Potts and June Squibb. Also in her one appearance she was much more uptight and old fashioned.

Well I think Meemaw was never really all that uptight!

Penny: Constance, are you sure I can't pour you some wine?
Meemaw: Oh, no wine for me. Sheldon's bringing me my whiskey.
Sheldon: Here you go, Meemaw. I made it just how you like - a lot in a glass.

[Mystery]

I, too, am enjoying YS only as a show separate from TBBT. I don't want to think about what happens to some family members. 

YS makes it easy by changing things. Like during the episode where George Jr. drove the kids in MeeMaw's car, older Sheldon narrates something like "This is why I never learned to drive," when we know from TBBT that he did. 

I admit that I *am* kind of looking forward to seeing if YS does anything with Mary's brother Edward/Stumpy. 

Maybe young Sheldon can inadvertently mess up a physics experiment, soon, and end up in an alternate universe where the bad things don't happen. Sheldon supports the Many Worlds theory. 

Edited December 8, 2017 by Mystery

[Zoe]

On 11/27/2017 at 5:55 AM, wknt3 said:

As far as your larger point, I've always said this show has a shelf life. If I was in charge I would probably go with 1 season != 1 year of time passing. That way you could probably do 5 seasons or so and bow out gracefully with Sheldon still in high school and everyone still alive and together.

I believe they have stated that this is the plan so they can take their time before things start getting more serious.

On 11/30/2017 at 11:07 PM, fan94 said:

Is this literal? They don't seem that poor to me... And Sheldon, for one, should've had lots of scholarships. 

Money can be stretched pretty far in a small Texas town.  In the first episode they alluded to having to move around because of what happened at George's previous job, and they don't have the money to move to a school district that's more suited to handle Sheldon.

Even if Sheldon gets scholarships, that's only going to cover sending him to school.  That's not going to help them raise their other two children.

[OtterMommy]

3 hours ago, Zoe said:

I believe they have stated that this is the plan so they can take their time before things start getting more serious.

Money can be stretched pretty far in a small Texas town.  In the first episode they alluded to having to move around because of what happened at George's previous job, and they don't have the money to move to a school district that's more suited to handle Sheldon.

Even if Sheldon gets scholarships, that's only going to cover sending him to school.  That's not going to help them raise their other two children.

About the time frame of the show--when working with kids, shows pretty much have to stick to a 1 season = 1 year plan as the young actors can change so much in a short period of time.  So, if they are sticking to the timeline and events given to us in TBBT, they have about 5 years/seasons (which is a very respectable run).  I suppose they could expand it by Sheldon's experience in college and whatnot, but I'm not sure how that show would be any different than just a young version of TBBT.

As for the money, it could be that they are comfortable when George is working, but maybe they live paycheck to paycheck.  I can't imagine that coaching pays that well, even in Texas (and isn't George an assistant coach).  Since we know (if they stick to what was said in TBBT) he loses his job at some point, it would hit the family hard.

Yes, Sheldon could get scholarships to other schools--as I said somewhere in this forum, that is what happened with my brother--but it could also be that the option to send Sheldon to a private school just wasn't possible.  If there is no private school in town or within driving distance, the only option would be boarding school and Sheldon, with all his intelligence, is still a 9 year old (and an emotionally immature one at that).  I'm guessing that boarding school would not work for him.

[chitowngirl]

I could easily see how young Missy grew up to be adult Missy. Adult Missy was only in one episode in season one, but, boy does young Missy have her voice and mannerisms!

Do we only have Sheldon's word that his dad was a drinker and a womanizer when he passed away? Because his knowledge on both subjects is kind of wonky in the earlier seasons.

[AnnaRose]

14 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

I could easily see how young Missy grew up to be adult Missy. Adult Missy was only in one episode in season one, but, boy does young Missy have her voice and mannerisms!

Do we only have Sheldon's word that his dad was a drinker and a womanizer when he passed away? Because his knowledge on both subjects is kind of wonky in the earlier seasons.

I've thought that too, since the first episode.

[CherryAmes]

They've set the tone that George was a "bad boy" when he and Mary met, I don't think they've had an episode yet where he wasn't drinking and the womanizing isn't a product of Sheldon's imagination.  It may not be something his mother may have talked about at any time (if she did I don't remember it) but Sheldon isn't making things up when he talks about walking in on his father having sex with another woman or having his girlfriend try to buy his love with action figures.  I don't think there is any reason to doubt that these things happened or that by the end of the marriage George and Mary were fighting a lot of the time.  If the creators of YS want to mess around with that I can't blame them but if they do I'm going to go along with others on the alternate universe theory not that Sheldon was wrong about his memories of his family life.

[OtterMommy]

In the S01.E08 thread, @Bobbin wrote:

Quote

BBT Mary talks about Georgie and Missy being as dumb as a sack of rocks, and they may seem that way compared to Sheldon, but from what we've seen, they're just normal kids. And George may be no Fred Rogers (who is?), but he's a decent husband and father doing the best he can. As a retired teacher, I can say that teaching a classroom of kids with an extreme range of needs is a challenge, let alone raising them. There's a lesson here that things are not exactly as Mary remembers them.

Keep in mind that, in TBBT, Mary is talking to people who, despite Sheldon's protestations, are Sheldon's intellectual equals (for the most part).  Compared to Sheldon (and his friends), Georgie and Missy are not intellectual equals.  I see it as Mary is almost between two worlds...there is the Texas world and the Pasadena world.  In Pasadena, almost everyone is a genius.  In Texas, that's not the case.  She could also think that, because Sheldon thinks his siblings are idiots, his friends would think that as well.

Plus there is also the fact that these are two different shows.  Mary, on TBBT, is very stereotypical and cliched.  And that actually sort of works for TBBT.  However, there is no way they could do a show with the family being made up of such characters.  In fact, it is almost the reverse---in YS, Sheldon is the one who is the most stereotypical (mostly because everyone knows how he ultimately turns out, so "character development" isn't used in the same way with him), and everyone else is more faceted.

I think it is safe to assume that when TBBT was born all those years ago, the idea of YS didn't even exist.  So, yeah, there are going to be times when, for the sake of YS, things are not going to match up exactly to TBBT, especially to things that were said or done long before YS was conceived.  Honestly, I'm fine with that....

[iMonrey]

Quote

Plus there is also the fact that these are two different shows.  Mary, on TBBT, is very stereotypical and cliched.  And that actually sort of works for TBBT.  However, there is no way they could do a show with the family being made up of such characters. 

Actually, they could. Just look at the absurdism of Mike Schur shows like The Office, Parks and Rec and Brooklyn 99. All full of absurd, cartoony characters. It can be done and it can be very, very funny. But that's not what this show is. It's just really hard to reconcile this show with TBBT. I've noted earlier the only way to accept it is as an alternate universe where Sheldon's family was gentler and sweeter. 

There's no way George Sr. in this show lines up with older Sheldon's descriptions of an alcoholic couch potato. According to TBBT, when Sheldon's father died, the man who owned the liquor store "cried and cried." That's a serious drinker. We see none of that here. Mary on TBBT is a bible-thumping cliche. We see none of that here.  

[OtterMommy]

7 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Actually, they could. Just look at the absurdism of Mike Schur shows like The Office, Parks and Rec and Brooklyn 99. All full of absurd, cartoony characters. It can be done and it can be very, very funny. But that's not what this show is. It's just really hard to reconcile this show with TBBT. I've noted earlier the only way to accept it is as an alternate universe where Sheldon's family was gentler and sweeter. 

Point taken.  What I should have said that there is no way *this* show could work being full of absurd, cartoony characters (or maybe it could, but I probably wouldn't be watching it.  The 3 shows you mentioned are all shows that I turned off after watching the first episode.  But, that's just me).

8 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

There's no way George Sr. in this show lines up with older Sheldon's descriptions of an alcoholic couch potato. According to TBBT, when Sheldon's father died, the man who owned the liquor store "cried and cried." That's a serious drinker. We see none of that here. Mary on TBBT is a bible-thumping cliche. We see none of that here.  

While I am not discounting the alternate universe, I personally am leaning towards TBBT Sheldon being an unreliable narrator.  For example, let's say that the liquor store owner cried and cried--Sheldon sees that as evidence as his father's drinking.  It could be--or it could be something like George had coached the owner's son and was an important force in his life and that is why he was crying.  Or maybe he went to school with George and they were old friends.  Sheldon--in all his incarnations--is incredibly emotionally myopic and could very well have never picked up on anything like that.

But we'll see....I have a feeling that George's downfall will most likely be a last season sort of thing, so we may have some time before we see it.

[HurricaneVal]

I know we see Mary, Missy, and (sort of) Mee Maw in TBBT, but have we ever seen Georgie?  Has Sheldon ever talked about Georgie?  I can't remember...

[OtterMommy]

1 minute ago, HurricaneVal said:

I know we see Mary, Missy, and (sort of) Mee Maw in TBBT, but have we ever seen Georgie?  Has Sheldon ever talked about Georgie?  I can't remember...

He has talked about Georgie several times, but we've never met him.

I'm going to have to go back and watch the episode in which Missy appears.  I remember seeing it, but I can't remember how her character was portrayed....

[chitowngirl]

2 hours ago, OtterMommy said:

He has talked about Georgie several times, but we've never met him.

I'm going to have to go back and watch the episode in which Missy appears.  I remember seeing it, but I can't remember how her character was portrayed....

She is pretty much an older version of YS Missy.  Actually, vice versa since BBT Missy came first!

[AnnaRose]

Yeah, it's completely believable that young Missy turned into grown-up Missy.  They totally nailed the casting for this show.

[SparklesBitch]

6 hours ago, iMonrey said:

There's no way George Sr. in this show lines up with older Sheldon's descriptions of an alcoholic couch potato. According to TBBT, when Sheldon's father died, the man who owned the liquor store "cried and cried." That's a serious drinker. We see none of that here. Mary on TBBT is a bible-thumping cliche. We see none of that here.  

Is it weird that I’d love to see this darkness played out on screen? Like you said, I don’t think the serious drinker and bible thumper line up with the George and Mary we’re seeing on Young Sheldon right now, but like OtterMommy mentioned, maybe it could be a last season thing after the kids are a little older. Personally, after a few of these sweeter seasons, I’d be very interested in watching the family’s life shift into something more like what Sheldon has described in BBT. 

Of course, that’s just me. There may be many many people that would disagree with that! 

[babyhouseman]

"She also defended her dad pretty readily.....so we know what happened to him?" 

Sheldon has referred to his grandfather on the BBT. He called him Pop Pop, credited him with encouraging him in science, and  got soured on Christmas when Santa wouldn't bring him back. On YS, he's been dead for four years. Here's a link about the character.

 

http://bigbangtheory.wikia.com/wiki/Pop-Pop

Edited December 16, 2017 by babyhouseman
wrong word choice

[SparklesBitch]

16 minutes ago, babyhouseman said:

"She also defended her dad pretty readily.....so we know what happened to him?" 

Sheldon has referred to his grandfather on the BBT. He called him Pop Pop, credited him with encouraging him in science, and  got soured on Christmas when Santa wouldn't bring him back. On YS, he's been dead for four years. Here's a link about the character.

 

http://bigbangtheory.wikia.com/wiki/Pop-Pop

Ooh, thank you for this! The part about Santa is so sad, poor Sheldon! 

[OtterMommy]

@iMonrey asked in the s01e08 thread:

Quote

Where did he go to college? Out of state? 

I know this has come up several times on the TBBT, but I can't remember which school.  All I know is that it was somewhere impressive and not Princeton (where Leonard went--Sheldon considers it a subpar school).  Was it MIT? It was definitely a "real" (i.e. not made up for the sake of the show) school and definitely an Ivy or an Ivy-equivalent.

But, as someone said in the other thread, Sheldon going off to school is really the end of Young Sheldon.  And, based on the timeline from TBBT theory, it is 2 years away in Young Sheldon time.  If this show is a success, as it seems to be, I wonder if this particular story point might be "fudged" a bit to extend the life of Young Sheldon.

[Bort]

It could be that Sheldon starts college locally and transfers later.

[chitowngirl]

Howard went MIT. They have never stated where Sheldon went to college.

[madpsych78]

On 12/15/2017 at 0:00 PM, OtterMommy said:

While I am not discounting the alternate universe, I personally am leaning towards TBBT Sheldon being an unreliable narrator.  For example, let's say that the liquor store owner cried and cried--Sheldon sees that as evidence as his father's drinking.  It could be--or it could be something like George had coached the owner's son and was an important force in his life and that is why he was crying.  Or maybe he went to school with George and they were old friends.  Sheldon--in all his incarnations--is incredibly emotionally myopic and could very well have never picked up on anything like that.

But we'll see....I have a feeling that George's downfall will most likely be a last season sort of thing, so we may have some time before we see it.

Keep in mind that adult Sheldon thinks he is the easygoing social compass and that Leonard, Howard, and Raj would be nothing without him, so while I can see adult Sheldon's recalling of events as being accurate (also, eidetic memory), his recalling of other people's perspectives is likely to be very faulty.

http://www.trbimg.com/img-59f01ab7/turbine/os-et-november-big-bang-moves-young-sheldon-returns-20171020

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/bigbangtheory/images/a/a3/Missy_Cooper.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090723140420

First link is YS Missy and Sheldon (with Meemaw)

Second link is TBBT Missy and Sheldon.

[Sarah 103]

On December 2, 2017 at 7:38 PM, BlossomCulp said:

Sheldon does say at one point that Mary dove into her religion when the marriage started floundering.  George turned to booze and other women and Mary turned to God I guess.  So deeply religious Mary hasn't happened yet.

Exactly. This series is showing the marriage before everything went horribly wrong. 

On December 15, 2017 at 0:47 PM, iMonrey said:

There's no way George Sr. in this show lines up with older Sheldon's descriptions of an alcoholic couch potato. According to TBBT, when Sheldon's father died, the man who owned the liquor store "cried and cried." That's a serious drinker. We see none of that here. Mary on TBBT is a bible-thumping cliche. We see none of that here.  

As others have said, when George and Mary started having problems, George started drinking heavily, and Mary turned to religion. In this series, those issues haven't started yet. We are seeing them as a happy couple before all of the really big problems started. 

[chitowngirl]

You can see the beginnings of Sheldon's entitlement issues-the family gets dragged to Houston, a day long drive to and from Florida to see a shuttle launch live instead of a fishing trip...

[Driad]

In BBT “The Cognition Regeneration” (ep 10.22) Sheldon mentioned that he taught himself Hindi when he was 8.  I doubt this will ever be mentioned on YS.

[LoneHaranguer]

On 12/16/2017 at 1:32 PM, kariyaki said:

It could be that Sheldon starts college locally and transfers later.

Even though Sheldon started college at 11, he didn't leave home (and escape having to watch football) until he was 12. Finishing high school in only two years would likely have left him short of some prerequisites for going to a prestigious college (e.g. three years of a foreign language).

On 12/28/2017 at 9:51 PM, Driad said:

In BBT “The Cognition Regeneration” (ep 10.22) Sheldon mentioned that he taught himself Hindi when he was 8.  I doubt this will ever be mentioned on YS.

It may if Sheldon's preferred college won't waive its entrance requirements in light of what he's taught himself, and he's "condemned" to spend a TV season or two at a local college.

[SmithW6079]

I guess one thing that's pretty consistent from young Sheldon to old Sheldon is that he's a bully and a prick in both worlds.