CBS picks up Young Sheldon for a full season after a successful premiere on Monday.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new comedy marked the highest rating premiere on CBS since 2011, averaging 17.2 million viewers and retaining 98% of its lead-in. The Big Bang Theory prequel will now have 22 episodes in its first full season with its addition of 9 episodes to the previous 13 episode season.
This freshman comedy follows the life of Big Bang Theory’s favorite Sheldon Cooper. This new popular sitcom will feature Iain Armitage (Big Little Lies) as 9-year-old Sheldon, who is played by Jim Parsons in Big Bang Theory, and will continue following his childhood journey in East Texas.
Jim Parsons, along with Chuck Lorre and Steve Molaro from The Big Bang Theory crew will serve as executive producers of the comedy. Jim Parsons also narrates the 1989-set sitcom. Parsons came up with the idea for the comedy prequel.
Parsons explained his excitement at the TCA Summer Press Tour. He told the press, “It was very moving to me to see this machine take off that’s related to all that. I never felt, in the 10 years that we worked on the Big show that we…I can’t talk! You don’t think you’re putting together these kinds of things that will add up to something like [the prequel],” E! News reported.
Along with the quick success of Young Sheldon, the single-camera sitcom received mixed reviews. Variety called it “a work in progress” while Indiewire described it as “surprising for all the right reasons.”
This Warner Bros. Television comedy focuses on Sheldon as a child whose exceptional intelligence moves him up early to enter high school. The show proceeds to follow Sheldon’s family including his mother (Zoe Perry), his father (Lance Barber), his twin sister (Raegan Revord), and his older brother (Montana Jordan).
This new half-hour comedy has hopes of continuing its outstanding success and might include some crossover episodes with The Big Bang Theory. Young Sheldon co-creator and Big Bang executive producer Steve Molaro explained according to Entertainment Weekly, “It’s something that we’ve talked about. Between the two shows, you have something of a neat little time machine. As we learn about and meet these characters in young Sheldon’s life, you start to wonder: ‘Well, where are these people in Sheldon’s life as an adult!”
Executive producer Chuck Lorre explained, “We discussed the possibility that the stories we tell on Young Sheldon could echo on Big Bang Theory. We’re definitely discussing the ripple effect that the shows could have going forward in time,” according to E! News.
Young Sheldon will continue to follow The Big Bang Theory regularly on Thursdays at 8:30/7:30c following The Big Bang Theory at 8/7c starting November 2.