Young Sheldon has arrived and has already become a popular series. Of course, the fact of this new series, produced by Chuck Lorre and Steven Morado, being based on one of the most popular series of all time, The Big Bang Theory, helped a lot. However, it was Young Sheldon’s way of incorporating styles from other older hit series that allowed her original retelling and her acceptance by many fans.
Young Sheldon tells the story of Sheldon Lee Cooper, the most famous character in The Big Bang Theory. Although her friends are all very smart nerds, Sheldon’s intelligence still stands out, being a true genius. But what Sheldon has in mind, she lacks common sense. Always using logic, he does not understand the more playful jokes or comments of his colleagues, often being unpleasant without knowing it. But even though she has an in-depth knowledge of astronomy, chemistry, biology, history, and engineering, her taste for comics, superheroes, and other geeks makes Sheldon an eccentric and entertaining character.
Sheldon knows of his advanced intellect and consequently his superiority complex and his incredible stubbornness constantly test the limits of his friendship with his friends and gives the character the comic character that made The Big Bang Theory a successful production. In addition, all your phobias and apparent mental problems, such as fear of germs, make it funnier and prevent your constant lack of empathy with others make him an unfriendly character.
All these features are part of the new series, where Sheldon, though only nine years old, demonstrates all the intelligence and misunderstanding of the adult Sheldon of The Big Bang Theory. In addition, to legitimize the relationship between her adult and children’s version, it is the Sheldon of the old series, played by Jim Parsons, which tells the story of Young Sheldon, through a narration that always appears at the beginning of production.
Differences between the old and new series, however, gave the originality Young Sheldon needed to succeed on his own. To begin with, while the adult Sheldon interacts with friends who are very intelligent (though not like him), the young Sheldon’s family does not demonstrate anything exceptional. Thus, a genius boy needs to communicate with parents and siblings who have no interest in science: a real nightmare for the child. In addition, her only comfort is a religious mother who understands and protects her, at least mentally, against her bullies, which add up to her classmates, teachers and siblings.
But the happiest choice of the series was to choose a style that does not completely follow that of The Big Bang Theory. The old sitcom completely fits into the definition of a sitcom, with jokes that are followed by recorded kinks and camera angles that rarely feature close-ups. Young Sheldon uses a very different style, such as that of the famous “Incredible Years”, where the main character, Kevin Arnold, played by Fred Savage, recalls his childhood in a sentimental way. The result is a Sheldon who has both a comedic and an emotional dimension that enriches the protagonist.
(article translated from the original version in portuguese, by Google Translate)