Nearly seven years after The Big Bang Theory ended, its universe is still defying sitcom gravity. HBO Max’s January 2026 rankings crowned Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage as the platform’s most-watched sitcom — and a top-three show overall — proving the long-running franchise still has remarkable cultural pull.
What makes the achievement even more striking is that Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage is a spin-off of Young Sheldon, which itself was a spin-off of The Big Bang Theory. Few sitcoms in TV history have managed this kind of multi-generational success. While franchises like Friends, How I Met Your Mother, and even MASH struggled to sustain momentum beyond their originals, the Big Bang universe continues to evolve — and thrive.
Each installment has boldly reinvented itself. The Big Bang Theory was a multi-camera comedy, Young Sheldon shifted to a nostalgic single-camera family format, and Georgie & Mandy blended tones while sidelining Sheldon entirely. Yet audiences followed.
