Fans are still annoyed Meemaw was left out of the Coopers’ Thanksgiving celebrations in Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage – but her absence proves she should have a Young Sheldon spinoff of her own.
While the Young Sheldon cast was (mostly) reunited in Episode 5 of the new TV show, the holiday season explored Georgie and Mary’s joint struggle with their grief.
After getting upset watching Jim and Audrey argue, Georgie suggests Mary takes Thanksgiving to George’s grave. Missy joins them too… but for some reason, Meemaw stays behind.
While creators have reasoned away their decision not to include her, a new issue has been brought to the fore – Meemaw should definitely have had her own spinoff by now.
We’re arguably not seeing her enough in Georgie & Mandy as it is, and being absent from George’s grave reminds us Meemaw had a rich history before her grandchildren came along.
As we learn through past seasons of Young Sheldon, she was distant from Mary while having to work unsociable hours. This led to Mary’s supposed “wild streak” that ended with teenage George getting her pregnant.
“I think they should’ve called [Georgie & Mandy] The Coopers and then, we’d have all been happy,” one fan posted on Reddit, with another weighing in: “I want her to appear quite a bit in the Georgie and Mandy spinoff because she’s in my top three favorite characters in the TBBT/YS/GMFM universe.”
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A third wrote: “Her version of Young Sheldon maybe. It could leave off when Mary meets George, which would spin into Mary and George, a show about their story.”
For fans, it was an odd choice to exclude her from the final Thanksgiving shot in the Young Sheldon spinoff. George had a complicated relationship with his mother-in-law, but when it counted, they were there for each other (just look at Meemaw’s emotional speech at his funeral).
As Steve Holland told TV Line, “We were talking about who should definitely be at the grave, and it felt like the core family should be there. This [storyline] was really about Mary and Georgie, more specifically, and Missy, and about losing George. Meemaw is certainly a part of that, but it really felt like just having the core family there was the most important visual.
“And then it also helped pay off the joke when you go back to the McAllister house. It seemed funny that this random assortment of people were just left there — like, Dale and MeeMaw were just sort of, you know, stuck having Thanksgiving dinner without their family.”
It’s currently unclear if we’ll see more of Meemaw in Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, but if fans’ reactions are anything to go by, we’ll surely see her return somehow.
Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage is airing weekly on CBS. Catch up with our Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, and Episode 4 recaps before you watch the latest episode.