Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage Ratings Highlight Why Young Sheldon’s Cancellation Is Even More Surprising md06

While Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage was a huge hit upon release, its ratings prove just how much Young Sheldon was on another level entirely. Young Sheldon’s finale was massive. The last episode of The Big Bang Theory’s first spinoff didn’t come close to replicating The Big Bang Theory finale’s ratings, but it was still one of 2024’s biggest television events.

As such, it wasn’t a shock when Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage became the biggest sitcom of 2025 in the ratings. The only other sitcom that even entered the top 25 most-watched shows of the 2024 -2025 network TV season was Ghosts season 4, and that returning CBS series didn’t come close to matching Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage season 1’s ratings.

However, although Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage fared well, the show couldn’t recapture the success of its predecessor. A look back on the ratings of Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage season 1 and the final season of its predecessor proves just how much Young Sheldon was an outlier in the world of network TV, and how surprising its cancellation was.

Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage Was 2024’s Biggest Sitcom And Still Not As Big As Young Sheldon Season 7

The Spinoff Earned 6.56 Million Viewers For Its Premiere

Credit: CBS via MovieStillsDB

With a premiere audience of 6.56 million viewers, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage started strong. It remains to be seen whether Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage season 2 will be able to replicate this success, but the show’s first outing didn’t peak with its debut episode. Episode 13, “McAllister Auto Loves the Ladies,” scored a season 1 high of 6.91 million according to ProgrammingInsider.

Compared to its competitors, this was impressive. On the same network, Ghosts season 4, episode 14, “Alexander Hamilton and the Ruffle Kerfuffle,” earned only 5.41 million, while ABC’s Shifting Gears never cracked 5 million viewers after its premiere. Similarly, NBC’s Reba McEntire-led sitcom Happy’s Place barely broke 4 million in season 1, and that series was considered a hit.

However, when compared to Young Sheldon’s final season, the difference is striking for Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage. Young Sheldon season 7, episode 1, “A Wiener Schnitzel and Underwear in a Tree,” earned a whopping 7.99 million in February 2024. The sitcom never dipped below 6.5 between then and its finale, which managed a staggering 9.32 million viewers per ProgrammingInsider.

This makes Sheldon’s potential comeback in Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage season 2 suddenly sound a lot more intriguing, as it is clear that the title character brings with him a sizable audience. However, the real reason behind these numbers is more complex.

Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage’s Entire Existence Proves What A Unicorn Young Sheldon Was

It Is Rare For A Spinoff to Receive a Spinoff of Its Own

Credit: Image courtesy of Everett

In the world of network TV, where risk is often perceived as the enemy, Young Sheldon was something of a unicorn. The series managed to take The Big Bang Theory brand and strip it of so many parts that it became unrecognizable, while still simultaneously profiting off the name recognition of the original series.

In contrast with Young Sheldon, The Big Bang Theory’s universe was limited, and its stories were self-contained. The show was a traditional multi-camera hang-out series in the vein of Friends, How I Met Your Mother, or Seinfeld, complete with a laugh track, only a few locations, quip-heavy dialogue, and a zany, over-the-top sense of humor.

Changing just about every ingredient of this success story, Young Sheldon was a nostalgic single-camera family sitcom with no laugh track, a narrator, and a subtler, warmer sense of humor. The show’s big inspirations were shows like The Golden Years, Everybody Hates Chris, and Malcolm in the Middle, and its small-town setting could not have been more different from The Big Bang Theory’s Pasadena.

In recent years, sprawling TV universes like NCIS and Dick Wolf’s many shows mean that it is not unheard of for a spinoff to receive a spinoff of its own. However, this is still unusual in the world of sitcoms, and even more unusual considering Young Sheldon’s risky formula changes.

Young Sheldon took a popular contemporary hangout show set in California, turned it into a family sitcom set in Texas in the ‘90s, and replaced the entire cast thanks to its time jump. Despite this, the show not only proved a success, but became so unexpectedly successful that Young Sheldon managed to spawn another show of its own in Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.

It seems like the famously risk-averse network executives mentioned earlier would do anything in their power to keep a show this successful on the air. However, much like The Big Bang Theory’s story had to end eventually despite the show’s colossal popularity, Young Sheldon’s ending was written in stone before the series even began

Young Sheldon Always Had To End With Season 7 (Despite Its Huge Ratings)

The Big Bang Theory’s Spinoff Had A Predetermined Ending

In The Big Bang Theory’s original run, Sheldon made a few passing references to his father’s death in his early teens. Young Sheldon retconned a lot of details from its main character’s life, from George Sr.’s controversial infidelity to Sheldon’s childhood history of bullying, but it was impossible for the show to outright ignore the impending death of one of its lead characters.

As such, Young Sheldon was always destined to end around season 7, since its main character was aging into his teens, the life stage where his father died. While The Big Bang Theory changed its focus and lasted a few more seasons by exploring Sheldon’s arc after Leonard and Penny ended up together, Young Sheldon didn’t have this option.

Sheldon became the character that viewers knew and loved from The Big Bang Theory when his father died and he moved to CalTech. If anything, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage was the best way to continue Young Sheldon’s story semi-seamlessly, even if this did mean inevitably losing a chunk of the earlier show’s audience in the process.