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Katie Crayden's avatar

Loved young sheldon will miss it but I have tried to watch the Big Bang Theory and I don’t like it

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John Aspler's avatar

I watched all of the Big Bang Theory, but, beyond the first couple of seasons (which I watched at the age of like 17-18, and I'm sure I would dislike today), it was mostly a hatewatch. Or at least happened at a time when I felt like I could not stop or drop a show partway through. 12 seasons though, oof, that was a slog. For that reason alone, I avoided Young Sheldon entirely. So this is interesting news! Especially as someone who has studied the portrayal of autistic characters and autism on TV (with Sheldon being a pretty frustrating/clearcut example of an autistic-coded character). I would be super keen to understand how (or if) Young Sheldon explores autistic identity with more (any?) nuance.

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Mikhail Skoptsov's avatar

I'd watch Big Bang with smb who loved the show and it was always a hatewatch on my part!

Tbh, I'm not sure they really explore him from that perspective. Or at least, reading him as autistic never occurred to me. I'd say for the most part, they examine him as a gifted but eccentric and maladjusted prodigy. They do delve a lot into his coping mechanisms and how this impacts those around him.

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John Aspler's avatar

Fascinating! I guess it would have been hard to go back and describe Young Sheldon as autistic, explicitly, with 12 years of future storytelling in The Big Bang Theory already existing. And having him be ambiguously neurodivergent might actually serve as a more inclusive mode of storytelling - broadening the ability to see yourself in the character. I'll just shamelessly share an academic paper I wrote exploring autism on TV - we do briefly talk about the history of autistic-coded characters: https://journals.library.brocku.ca/index.php/SSJ/article/view/2702

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Jim Halterman's avatar

I'm a fan of both series and while there is connective tissue between the two, they also feel very much like different series. And I couldn't agree more with how YOUNG SHELDON is very much an ensemble series, especially in the later seasons when everyone has interesting stories and not everything centers around Sheldon. Thumbs way up!

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Mikhail Skoptsov's avatar

Thank you! Happy to see some more fans on here.

And I definitely think the ensemble is one of the best things about it. I can totally see more spinoffs happening in the future.

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May 9, 2024
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Mikhail Skoptsov's avatar

Happy to hear it! I never quite got into Silicon Valley but I remember S1 being alright. Big Bang Theory is simply not my cup of tea. Young Sheldon though really is surprisingly good and I'm hoping the Georgie spinoff will stick to its style of comedy.

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