Meanwhile, on television, the Tennessee native portrays Meemaw, the freewheeling grandmother of the title character in CBS’s comedy YOUNG SHELDON, now in its seventh and final season on Thursday nights.
Potts has been with YOUNG SHELDON since its inception in 2018 as a spinoff of THE BIG BANG THEORY. One of the leads for seven seasons of the influential comedy DESIGNING WOMEN. Potts was also a regular on LOVE & WAR, DANGEROUS MINDS and ANY DAY NOW. Her film career includes PRETTY IN PINK, the cult car comedy/romance CORVETTE SUMMER opposite Mark Hamill, and voicing Bo Peep in the TOY STORY movies.
With her resume, it doesn’t seem like Potts will be out of work for long. Even so, when Warner Bros. Studios invites the Winter 2024 Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour to visit the YOUNG SHELDON set, Potts says she is sorry to see the series end.
“It’s sad, because I didn’t expect it. We’re the Number One show on network TV, and the Number One show on Netflix. Who cancels this?”
The Warner Brothers lot, where this interview is taking place, is undergoing a lot of changes, including the razing of exteriors that have stood for decades, such as THE PARTRIDGE FAMLY house. Potts says, “It surprised me that I was so affected by it. My God, I’ve been working on and off over there for fifty years, and they’re going to level the lot and turn it into something else. Perfect for us, because we’ll use it for the tornado. But when I went to see it, it was like,” she gasps, “‘Oh, my God.’ It really got me. But I thought how nice it was for our audience, because so many people in this country, because of climate change, that’s very relatable, to all of a sudden be without a home. And now I live in the neighborhood. I drive by it, and the whole thing is flattened, and it’s a lot of history gone under there.”
Annie Potts is Meemaw in YOUNG SHELDON – Season 1 | ©2017 WBEI/Kate Romero
Potts feels that YOUNG SHELDON strikes a chord with viewers, because “every family has an oddball in it, someone who they have to explain to others. And so, I think that is relatable, to watch a family try to navigate around this brilliant, difficult thing.”
Meemaw might also be described as a family oddball, but Potts deflects this observation with a laugh. “The show does not revolve around me. I just get to come in and be sassy. I’m a utility player. They write very well for me, and – I don’t know. I don’t know how to talk about myself.”
Potts acknowledges that becoming an actor made her someone who her own family had to explain to others, at least at the start of her career. “Oh, yes. So much. So, I related.”
Her career longevity is something Potts says she can’t explain. “I wish I could. I think it’s amazing. I’m seventy-one now, and I’m still here.”
With all of Sheldon’s esoteric education, Potts says that part of the show hasn’t connected with her. “Anything scientific or mathematical goes whoosh, right through my head,” she laughs. “I’m a math problem.”
YOUNG SHELDON is currently enjoying a vibrant following on Netflix. Potts says she thinks this is at least because streamers kind of win in the end. Everybody’s used to binging, and they love to watch that way, and I think, because the show is very consumable, the episodes end up being about eighteen, nineteen minutes long, so you can watch three in an hour. So, people are like, ‘Yeah!’ We’re like ice cream with chocolate sauce on. ‘More and more and more, gimme …’ I think it’s a good fit there, and I think it’s a great show.”
Annie Potts in THE MUSIC TEACHER | ©2012 Hallmark Channel
If she could give advice to her younger self, what would Potts say? “Endure, endure, endure. It hasn’t been all sunshine and unicorns. But I have endured. And I’m a workaholic. I love to entertain. It’s what I do. So, thank God it’s kept coming, because I’m dangerous if I’m not working,” she laughs.
