One Jim Parsons Scene In The Big Bang Theory Unknowingly Mocked Young Sheldon & It Makes Me Cringe Now
Amy and Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory and SheldonCustom Image by Ana Dumaraog
11 years ago, Jim Parsons’ Sheldon unkowingly mocked Young Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory, and the scene makes me cringe now knowing how successful the prequel became. Almost 6 years since The Big Bang Theory ended, it remains relevant thanks to its spinoffs, not to mention its streaming dominance. In 2024, Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady’s sitcom was the most-binged show on streaming, averaging 265.5 episodes per viewer on its main platform, Max. While it is an easy watch, some standout moments are now more interesting, considering everything that has happened since it wrapped.
It’s worth noting that CBS was only forced to cancel The Big Bang Theory because Jim Parsons decided to leave. Recognizing the importance of Sheldon in its storytelling, everyone decided it was best to end it with a complete ensemble. The franchise thrived after thanks to Young Sheldon — an origins story for the socially-inept genius. The shows only overlapped for 2 years, with the idea of the prequel not materializing until 2016 — a year before the show premiered. A couple of years prior, however, Parsons’ character managed to mock the spinoff, and I can’t help but cringe when rewatching it.
Sheldon Insulted Young Sheldon When Watching NCIS In The Big Bang Theory
Prequels Are Important, Sheldon
The Cooper family standing together and smiling up at the camera for Young Sheldon season 7
In The Big Bang Theory season 7, episode 12, “The Hesitation Ramification,” the whole Pasadena gang alongside Stuart gathered in Apartment 4A to watch Penny’s special cameo in NCIS. Ahead of the actual scene, Sheldon started fuzzing about not being comfortable with simply watching a scene without any context of the previous episodes of the series.
Laurie Metcalf in The Conners and Iain Armitage as Sheldon in Young Sheldon
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Amy leveled with her boyfriend and put things into perspective by saying that he should think of the past outings as the prequels, and somehow, that eased Sheldon’s concerns and settled him long enough to wait for Penny’s supposed cameo. As someone who was never shy about his opinion, Amy’s explanation working on Sheldon means that he actually believed her. The problem is that, retroactively, this also poked fun at Young Sheldon’s existence, which was technically a prequel.
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While I understand that Amy and Sheldon’s conversation was written before the idea of the Cooper family’s story in Texas was born, I still cringe whenever I come across this particular encounter. What makes this worse is that Parsons was heavily involved in the prequel and Mayim Bialik made a few cameos, including in the Young Sheldon finale.
Amy Ultimately Predicted Young Sheldon’s Canon Issues
Young Sheldon Had A Lot Of Plot Inconsistencies With The Big Bang Theory
In any case, Amy predicted how much Young Sheldon would deviate from The Big Bang Theory canon. Granted that it stuck to it with major storylines, such as George’s unexpected death and Sheldon’s move to California for his post-graduate, but the prequel outgrowing its premise in the middle of its run meant that Lorre and his team tackled other storylines that wasn’t exactly important to the socially-inept genius’ life, but was integral to his family’s history. Overall, despite The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon loose connections, the great news is that both shows can be enjoyed together or separately.
