Stacey Kaliabakos ’23

Chief Opinions Editor

If you know me personally, you would know that I hate watching TV.  I have absolutely no patience to sit through TV shows, no matter how interesting they may be. Usually, the only way I can finish a multi-season show is to watch it with someone else, but otherwise, the number of shows I have successfully completed can be counted on one hand. I never expected the show Young Sheldon to make that list.

For those who don’t know, Young Sheldon is a prequel series to the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, which ran from 2007-2019. The Big Bang Theory was a massively successful show, and I have watched some of it with my family in passing. When I initially heard that CBS was coming out with a prequel series about Sheldon Cooper, the main character of The Big Bang Theory, I was not particularly interested, and when Young Sheldon aired in 2017, I did not see any of the first season. My parents, however, would watch each episode every week as they came out, and would talk to me constantly about how great the show was. It was not until September of this year that I decided to give Young Sheldon a shot– and it did not disappoint.

The show is set in the fictional town of “Medford,” Texas during the late 1980s and early 1990s and follows Sheldon Cooper attending high school. In the first season, Sheldon is only nine years old, but he is a child genius– particularly in the science field. However, Sheldon is lacking on the social front, and is unable to fit in well among people who do not know how to handle his unique intellectual abilities and quirks. 

The show is not limited to Sheldon’s story, which is what makes it especially appealing and also like its predecessor, The Big Bang Theory. It follows the lives of Sheldon’s whole family– his twin sister, Missy, his older brother, Georgie, his parents, Mary and George, and his grandmother (or “MeeMaw”), Connie Tucker. The family’s dynamic is simultaneously extremely relatable and solidly unique, and the issues the show addresses truly hit home for an audience member of any age. The show deftly discusses touchy topics such as religion, divorce, young love, social acceptance, teen pregnancy, financial struggles, and more in an appealing and thought-provoking manner. 

Perhaps surprisingly to some people (but not to me), Young Sheldon consistently produces some of CBS’s best and highest ratings. It proved to be a hit as soon as it premiered, and has continued to attract millions of fans through its sixth season. Young Sheldon’s viewership is actually  one of the highest of all shows on CBS as well as all current broadcast television comedies. Ultimately, I would highly recommend watching Young Sheldon. This semester has been one of my hardest semesters at Holy Cross for a variety of reasons, and this show truly helped calm me and get me through very rough times. It may be found on streaming services such as HBO Max, Paramount +, or Amazon Prime Video.

Image courtesy of CBS via IMDb