Have you ever noticed that despite Young Sheldon being one of the most popular shows going, no one you know has ever seen it? Or more accurately, they don’t tell you they’ve seen it, and they don’t talk about the show, but with the show racking up 10s of millions of views – most of your friends will be undercover fans. The numbers don’t lie.
Young Sheldon is a fun show, but it’s full of plenty of cringe moments and episodes – which is why it’s such a guilty pleasure. Here’s our ranking of the cringiest Young Sheldon episodes.
Cowboy Aerobics and 473 Grease-Free Bolts
via Netflix
In this episode, Georgie teams up with the school’s drama teacher, Mr Lundy, for a business venture selling exercise videos. It’s this scheme that brought to our screens a very cringeworthy David Hasselhoff cameo, that made me wonder if I was seeing things. The other thing that makes this episode so cringe is Mr Lundy – the guy is cringe in human form.
A Computer, a Plastic Pony, and a Case of Beer
via Netflix
In this episode Mary buys Sheldon a computer which the family can’t afford, causing tension between Mary and George. If that were it, the episode would not be particularly cringeworthy, but unfortunately, Mary buys the computer at RadioShack and that is our introduction to the store in the show.
Everyone agrees that Young Sheldon is most cringe, and most boring, when episodes focus on Sheldon – because that kid’s greatest talent isn’t his intelligence, it’s his superpowers of annoyance. When is Sheldon at his most annoying? When he’s whining about going to RadioShack – and that all starts here. Major cringe.
Young Sheldon Pilot Episode
via Netflix
Ask any Young Sheldon fan. The earliest seasons of Young Sheldon are the most cringe. In the later seasons, the cringe level is much lower. The show’s pilot episode fits the rule, and is one of the most cringiest Young Sheldon episodes of the show. In this episode, Sheldon points out all the rules that are broken by his peers on his first day of high school: Uniform violations, cheating on tests, and he even points out Mrs McElroy’s faint moustache.
A Brisket, Voodoo, and Cannonball Run
via Netflix
Wherever Sheldon got his intelligence from – it certainly wasn’t from his father. In this episode, after refusing to give it to him for decades, MeeMaw tells George her brisket recipe. He goes to great lengths to collect all the ingredients, and when he cooks the brisket, he handles it more sensually than he ever does his wife. Watching him do this, it was hard, in fact impossible, not to shout at him through the screen.
It was obvious throughout the episode that the recipe MeeMaw had given him was fake, and she was taking him for a ride. What makes this all so cringe is that it was so obvious, it completely took the joy out of what could’ve been a hilarious comedic twist. We get it. George is dumb. But no one can be that dumb.
A Swedish Science Thing and the Equation for Toast
via Netflix
The main event in this episode is Dr Sturgis’ psychotic episode. I don’t mind most of Young Sheldon’s quirky characters, but, to me, Dr Sturgis is an older and cringier version of Sheldon. Without those two, the show would be just about perfect, and cringe free. In this episode, the depiction of Dr Sturgis’ psychotic episode is completely unrealistic, to the point of stupidity and he has way too much screen time.
That George Cooper TikTok edit
This one isn’t an episode, so it’s more of an honourable mention. This was a pretty epic character moment for George Cooper – but turning it into a TikTok edit was probably a bit much, and more than a little cringe. It must’ve made the show’s creator’s cringe when they saw it had 2.7 million likes – meaning it’s been viewed more times than some episodes of the show will have been.
