The 'Sheldon' Prequel

[Tuesday Pajamas]

Retconning.  SO. MUCH. RETCONNING. will have to happen to make Sheldon's childhood a sitcom instead of a tragedy/horror show.  That is my biggest objection to "Young Sheldon."  You can see so much of it already in the trailer.  First, Sheldon's family was dirt poor.  They lived in a trailer on blocks, not a cookie-cutter middle-class suburb (as has already been pointed out).  Second, his family wasn't the least bit understanding.  Take the more recent episode about Sheldon's birthday where he confesses that every year as a child, Missy and her friends tormented him and made his life a living hell - on his BIRTHDAY.  And his mom at least had to know & did nothing to stop it.  In TBBT canon, Mary comes off as perennially exasperated by her difficult son.  We also know she hit him with a Bible, and put him in the position of keeping secrets from his dad.  His dad was just a hot mess.  I could have laughed at the preview where Sheldon's dad tells the story of "doing the right thing" at work - if it wasn't just so pathetic.  Are you kidding me???    Major retconning here.  His dad was an alcoholic who was often unemployed.  As a child, Sheldon accidentally got his dad fired by tattling on his dad for stealing from a cash register.  And his dad also cheated on Mary more than once; most likely it was a habit.
And while we're at it, I'm sure they'll find some way around the fact that his dad sent him away to boarding school when he was just ten years old.  Boarding school, people.  That means he wouldn't be living at home with his fake-supportive retconned family.  In fact, he most likely left home at the age of ten and never went back.  In the episode where Sheldon's knocking pattern is explained, he says he knocks three times after walking in on his father having sex with another woman - this was when he was home from college for a visit.  Since his dad died when he was like fourteen (and yeah, I'm sure that plot line will just be a barrel of laughs), it seems to me Sheldon had already been living away from home for a while.
And don't even get me started on the bow tie, since Sheldon should be wearing comic book tees and hideous plaid pants that his mom buys at K-Mart (probably because they're cheaper than plain pants).  Or the way that the preview starts out saying that Sheldon's second career choice who have been a train ticket taker, when he was keeping scientific journals since he was three years old.  The Sheldon we knew was obsessed with physics and understanding the way the universe works.
Also, TBBT owes it success to Jim Parsons.  Without him, I doubt the show would have lasted more than a couple seasons.  Asking a 11-12 year old kid to try to imitate that is just unfair to both the child actor and the viewers.
I'm also very apprehensive about seeing Molaro's portrayal of religion since on TBBT, there are an overabundance of crazed "religious nuts" - Mary Cooper, Bernadette's mom, Mrs. Wolowitz, Amy's mom - pretty much everyone's mom, actually.  I smell a complex.
In short, IMHO the only good thing about this show is that Jim Parsons will be getting paid for every voice-over he does. 

Okay this is the most brilliant, honest post about this prequel situation and I applaud it. Sheldon's family lived in a trailer on blocks!!! Yes I remember that. But no, they can't have a poor, drunk, crazy, disinterested family show. No, they have to keep giving us this NEW BULLSHIT SHELDON. Middle class america don't want a show about poor, desperate folk. I would as it's likely to be much more raw, interesting and funny.

You're right. Young Sheldon is load of RECONNED SHITE! And we, the vintage loving fans shouldn't be afraid to tell it how it is.

I too, pity that young actor. Parsons was astonishing, he'll never come close. No one could.