While Young Sheldon might only have one Thanksgiving special, the episode provided The Big Bang Theory’s spinoff with one of its most interesting paradoxes. It is not unusual for sitcoms to unintentionally create internal paradoxes. One episode of How I Met Your Mother featured Jason Segel’s character Marshall standing in front of an advertisement for Bad Teacher, a movie that starred the real-life Segel. Long before The Big Bang Theory’s finale left Sheldon with Mayim Bialik’s character Amy Farrah Fowler, his friend Raj suggested that they should try to hook Sheldon up with the girl from Blossom, i.e. Bialik.
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Sheldon Steals Big Bang Theory’s First Thanksgiving Episode With A Special Scene
The Big Bang Theory’s first Thanksgiving let Sheldon shine, and a later Young Sheldon episode made his subplot poignant but funny in retrospect.
While Young Sheldon’s finale didn’t feature any obvious celebrity paradoxes, the show’s earlier outings did occasionally trip up their own reality. In an issue that Young Sheldon’s spinoff Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage shares, the nostalgic prequel to The Big Bang Theory takes place in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s but was filmed during the 2010s and 2020s. As a result, characters occasionally reference movies and TV shows that some of the show’s cast members copped up in, as evidenced in the show’s lone Thanksgiving special, season 2, episode 9, “Family Dynamics and a Red Fiero.”
Young Sheldon’s Missy Referenced Ghostbusters In Season 2’s Thanksgiving Episode
Missy Said She Was Thankful That There Were “Two Ghostbusters Cartoons”
In the episode, Sheldon’s parents argue over Thanksgiving dinner as George Sr. considers a job offer in Tulsa and Mary vetoes the idea due to the pressures of moving. Thanks to Missy’s comments during dinner, Young Sheldon accidentally created a paradox by referencing the Ghostbusters franchise. In Young Sheldon’s only Thanksgiving special, Sheldon’s twin is asked what she is thankful for and answers that she is thankful for the two Ghostbusters cartoons. The problem is that Missy’s grandmother Meemaw is played by the actor Annie Potts, who played the receptionist Janine Melnitz in both of the Ghostbusters movies.
The paradox is a little less egregious, since Missy isn’t technically announcing that she has seen two movies that seemingly star Meemaw.
Young Sheldon never mentions Potts’ uncanny resemblance to the supporting star of Ghostbusters, but the show could arguably get away with the nod thanks to one convenient behind-the-scenes detail. In fairness to “Family Dynamics and a Red Fiero,” Potts didn’t reprise the role of Janine in either of the Ghostbusters cartoon spinoffs. As such, the paradox is a little less egregious, since Missy isn’t technically announcing that she has seen two movies that seemingly star her grandmother. Furthermore, Young Sheldon’s period setting means that Potts is older in the Thanksgiving episode than she would have been in either Ghostbusters movies.
Young Sheldon’s Meemaw Actor Starred In The Ghostbusters Movies
Meemaw Played The Ghostbusters Receptionist Janine Melnitz
Even with these explanations taken into account, it is still a little tricky to work out how Potts can exist as an actor in the Young Sheldon universe. Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage‘s Thanksgiving episode avoided any similar paradoxes, but Young Sheldon featured another later in its run. The season 5 finale, “A Clogged Pore, A Little Spanish, and the Future,” featured Penn and Teller playing an anthropomorphized zit, but Teller already played Amy’s father in The Big Bang Theory. Thus, The Big Bang Theory complicated Young Sheldon’s reality long before Missy mentioned her grandmother’s most famous real-life franchise.
- Cast
- Iain Armitage , Zoe Perry , Lance Barber , Montana Jordan , Raegan Revord , Annie Potts , Jim Parsons , Wallace Shawn , Craig T. Nelson , Matt Hobby , Wyatt McClure , Emily Osment , Doc Farrow , Ed Begley Jr. , Melissa Peterman , Ryan Phuong , Rex Linn , Brian Stepanek , Wendie Malick , Nancy Linehan Charles , Danielle Pinnock , Valerie Mahaffey , Sarah Baker , Rachel Bay Jones , Will Sasso , Mckenna Grace , Ava Allan , Isabel May , Grady Lee Richmond , Dan Byrd , Katherine Von Till , Reba McEntire , Andrea Anders , Mary Grill , Jason Alexander , Billy Gardell , Nick Alvarez , London Cheshire , Julia Pace Mitchell , Bill Fagerbakke , Taylor Spreitler , Steve Burns , Pam Cook , Chris Wylde , Richard Kind , Caleigh Kilpatrick , Dave Foley , John Hartman
- Release Date
- September 25, 2017
- Seasons
- 7