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Fans of Young Sheldon would’ve noticed a weird pattern that the new spinoff Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage seems to follow from its predecessor. The new series, starring Montana Jordan and Emily Osment, doesn’t have a Christmas episode this year just like Young Sheldon.
Fans have wondered why the showrunners decided not to show Sheldon Cooper’s church-going Texan family celebrating Christmas.
The Cooper family in a still poster of Young Sheldon | Credits: CBSIf fans remember correctly, the show that started it all, Jim Parsons’ The Big Bang Theory, aired six Christmas episodes out of its 279 episodes over 12 seasons. Though an atheist and someone who doesn’t care for the holiday, Sheldon cannot help but join his friends for Christmas in the original series.
Why doesn’t Young Sheldon feature any Christmas episodes during its seven-season run?
Iain Armitage and Zoe Perry in a still from Young Sheldon | Credits: CBSYoung Sheldon‘s one recurring theme was the difference in opinion between Sheldon Cooper and Mary Cooper regarding religion. As viewers of The Big Bang Theory know, Sheldon believes in science over religion and doesn’t care for his mother’s traditions. However, Iain Armitage‘s character often surprised fans when he went along with his mother’s faith out of his love for her.
The series, for its seven seasons, never aired a Christmas special episode. Fans have often wondered why they didn’t get to see the family celebrate Christmas. Sheldon’s atheism probably plays a huge role in it. The Cooper family did celebrate Christmas and it was a big deal in their house. This was revealed by Jim Parsons‘ character in The Big Bang Theory.
As fans may recall, Young Sheldon is told from an adult Sheldon’s perspective. In the finale, it is revealed that an adult Sheldon is writing his memoir. It appears that he chose to skip his family’s Christmas celebrations in his book as he is an atheist and doesn’t care for them.
The show was never big on family-based holidays, as the series featured a Thanksgiving episode only once (S2E9 titled Family Dynamics and a Red Fiero). It could also be possible that Sheldon doesn’t want to remember the family celebrations with his late father. It could also explain an adult Sheldon’s dismissive attitude whenever his father’s topic comes about.
While Sheldon’s mother returned to her faith after George’s death, the family’s relationship with the church was strained for a long time. In Season 6, Pastor Jeff fires Mary and bans the family from the church over Georgie and Mandy’s pregnancy. Sheldon was upset at how his family was treated and even called out everyone publicly in the church.
It could be possible that the church’s treatment of his family might’ve furthered his view that organized religion is a hypocritical institution. It could’ve been a reason why he chose to not narrate the Christmas celebrations, which probably would’ve involved the family spending most of their time in the church.
The Big Bang Theory still had Christmas episodes including one of the best episodes of the series
Kaley Cuoco and Jim Parsons in the episode The Bath Gift Item Hypothesis from The Big Bang Theory | Credits: CBSNot every season of The Big Bang Theory had a Christmas episode. Only six seasons had Christmas-themed episodes, with all but one falling on the eleventh episode of the respective seasons. Fans loved these episodes as all the friends, even Sheldon, got together to celebrate the holiday. Here are all the Christmas-themed episodes of the show:
- The Holiday Summation (Season 10, Episode 12)
- The Clean Room Infiltration (Season 8, Episode 11)
- The Cooper Extraction (Season 7, Episode 11)
- The Santa Simulation (Season 6, Episode 11)
- The Maternal Congruence (Season 3, Episode 11)
- The Bath Gift Item Hypothesis (Season 2, Episode 11)
Sheldon still had no interest in celebrating the holiday as an adult. Interestingly, none of the gang are devout Christians and celebrated the holiday just for the food, gifts, and the spirit of the holiday. Sheldon might’ve found it okay to celebrate with his friends and partake in the gift-exchanging traditions.
One Christmas episode, with a focus on the gift-giving tradition and Sheldon’s perspective on it, is considered the best Christmas episode and perhaps one of the best in the whole series. In The Bath Gift Item Hypothesis, Kaley Cuoco‘s Penny has bought gifts for both Leonard and Sheldon for Christmas. Sheldon views the act of gift-giving as a monetary exchange and wants to get her something of the same value as her gift.
The only problem: he doesn’t know what gift Penny has got him. What follows is hilarious as Sheldon buys bath gift packs in varying sizes and prices to ensure that he matches Penny’s gift’s value. However, Penny has a pleasant surprise waiting for Sheldon. She gifts him a napkin signed by his icon Leonard Nimoy.
He is completely swept away when she announces that Nimoy wiped his mouth with the napkin, indicating that it carries his icon’s DNA. Sheldon showers her with all the gifts he has bought but realizes that it doesn’t convey his true gratitude. He goes on to give Penny a hug, which is a huge gesture from the character.
The depiction of the relationship between Penny and Sheldon makes the episode one of the best in the show’s roster.
Young Sheldon spinoff Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage doesn’t have a Christmas episode
Zoe Perry and Montana Jordan in a still from Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage | Credits: CBSThe new series from the Big Bang universe will not have a Christmas episode in its first season. In fact, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage will not return to the screen for some time after its seventh episode, which aired on December 12.
Fans recently saw a Thanksgiving episode for the series, which was pretty emotional for fans of the previous show. It is clear that the Cooper family is not ready to have a happy get-together for a holiday after George’s death. It probably was right not to air a Christmas-themed episode for Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage as it would’ve felt off for the show’s tone at this time.
The executive producer of the show Steve Holland told TV Insider, “We’re not doing a Christmas episode this year.” Holland explained that it was hard enough to get the family together for one holiday this season. He shared:
We’ve done the Thanksgiving episode, which was great and it felt like going into Christmas… sometimes it’s hard to do those episodes and not have the whole family come in.
The Thanksgiving episode saw Raegan Revord, Zoe Perry, Annie Potts, and Craig T. Nelson returning to the new show. It is probably hard to get the actors back for the Christmas episode. Holland didn’t want Cece to have a Christmas without Mary and Meemaw. Holland further explained the creative choice:
If you’re gonna do Christmas, and it’s Cece’s [first] Christmas, how do you not have Mary and Meemaw as a part of it? And we had just had them in for Thanksgiving and it felt like it might be treading similar ground thematically. So we chose Thanksgiving because it was sort of the first big holiday without George Sr.
With Young Sheldon‘s ‘Sheldon problem’ out of the way, Georgie & Mandy could seize the opportunity to portray Cooper’s Christmas in Texas. Since it’s not from his perspective, the show could probably bring Iain Armitage back for a cameo in one of these episodes in future seasons of the show.
Young Sheldon and Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage are now available for streaming on Paramount+. The Big Bang Theory is available for streaming on Max.
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