This Sitcom From 25 Years Ago Did One Thing Young Sheldon Never Could – And It’s Coming Back Soon

Anyone who loves Young Sheldon needs to seek out Malcolm in the Middle, an earlier sitcom with a similar premise that managed to take on one plot The Big Bang Theory’s spinoff could never quite handle. When Young Sheldon’s ending came around, it became clear that the show wasn’t going to solve every lingering The Big Bang Theory plot hole.

The spinoff did explain why Sheldon incorrectly believed his father cheated on his mother, as well as clarifying how George Sr. died. However, viewers who wanted to know why Sheldon’s brother and his wife separated needed to tune into The Big Bang Theory’s next spinoff, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, for the answer to that particular mystery.

Another inconsistency between the two shows was the stories of Sheldon’s childhood bullying. In The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon claimed his child prodigy status alienated him from his peers and this resulted in constant bullying. However, Sheldon’s only on-screen bully in Young Sheldon was a younger girl in one episode, and he mostly made it through school without any major incidents.

Malcolm in the Middle Shares Young Sheldon’s Premise

Both Family Sitcoms Followed Boy Geniuses And Their Dysfunctional FamiliesDespite The Big Bang Theory’s claims that Sheldon was bullied in his childhood, Young Sheldon largely ignored this storyline. On one hand, a reader could argue that this was because childhood bullying is hardly a light-hearted subject that provokes a lot of laughter. However, it is worth noting that another, earlier sitcom managed to pull off this exact plot.

Malcolm in the Middle had the same premise as Young Sheldon almost 20 years earlier, and the sitcom arguably did a better job of highlighting its central protagonist’s childhood struggles. Starring Frankie Muniz as the titular hero, Malcolm in the Middle follows a child prodigy born into a working-class family. Malcolm’s blue-collar origins ensured he never developed a superiority complex.

When Young Sheldon changed The Big Bang Theory’s format, the spinoff dropped the original show’s laugh track, added a narrator in the form of an older Sheldon, and switched to a single-camera format instead of a multicamera setup. This inevitably resulted in a lot of comparisons to Malcolm in the Middle, thanks to their plentiful similarities.

Both Malcolm in the Middle and Young Sheldon focused on ordinary families with extraordinarily intelligent genius sons. Both shows feature an older brother who is dim-witted but well-meaning, a stern but loving mother, and a father who is often overwhelmed by his chaotic family. However, Malcolm in the Middle didn’t ignore its hero’s bullying at all, whereas Young Sheldon did.