Why Is CBS Show Ending?
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Young Sheldon is nearing its end, and fans aren’t the only ones who are upset about the show’s cancellation. Annie Potts, who stars as “Meemaw,” has spoken out about CBS’ decision to end the show. Keep reading to see what she had to say, plus see why Young Sheldon is really ending.
Young Sheldon is the prequel series to the massively successful CBS show The Big Bang Theory, which ran from 2007 to 2019. It follows a young Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage) as he grows up in East Texas. Jim Parsons, who originated the titular character on Big Bang, had the idea for the series, which he passed to producers Chuck Lorre and Steven Molaro. Set in the late ’80s and early ’90s, Young Sheldon first premiered in 2017. Parsons also narrates the show and serves as an executive producer. Rounding out the cast is Lance Barber as Sheldon’s dad George; Zoe Perry as his mom Mary; Reagan Revord as Sheldon’s twin sister Missy; Montana Jordan as big brother Georgie; Annie Potts as “Meemaw” and Emily Osment as Mandy McAllister, Georgie’s fiancée.
Despite consistently high ratings, CBS made the heartbreaking decision to end the coming-of-age sitcom. Variety broke the news in November 2023, revealing that the 14-episode Season 7 would serve as its last. “We extend a sincere thank you to executive producers Chuck Lorre, Steve Molaro and Steve Holland and the entire writing and producing teams for six wonderful seasons,” Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment, said in a statement. “We look forward to seeing their final season unfold and giving it a proper sendoff with the best episodes yet for their fans to enjoy.”
While ending the show on Season 7 makes sense given the Big Bang Theory‘s canon, fans are still devastated by the cancellation, as is some of the cast. Read on to see why Young Sheldon is ending and how the cast really feels about it.
Why is Young Sheldon ending?
Why is Young Sheldon ending? According to executive producers Steve Holland and Chuck Lorre, Young Sheldon has come to its “natural” end, reaching events that have already been established on the flagship series.
“There are certain things we know happen in Sheldon’s life at 14,” Holland told reporters ahead of the Season 7 premiere, per Deadline. “We started talking about the future of show, and what it looked like. This is the right time for this story to come to an end, knowing that at 14, he goes off to Cal Tech.” Lorre shared a similar sentiment while appearing on The Hollywood Reporter’s TV’s Top 5 podcast. “We have reached the time in the cycle of Young Sheldon where Iain Armitage is 14 years old now. He’s pushing 6 feet tall,” he explained. “We’ve told that story, and the remainder of his path leading up to The Big Bang Theory happens at Caltech in California. Following him from 8 to 15 seems like the natural life span of the show.”
Annie Potts, who stars as Sheldon’s grandmother, aka “Meemaw,” sees the cancellation differently and was “shocked” by the decision. “I still don’t understand why they cancelled it,” she told Variety during an April 2024 interview. “It just seemed like such a stupid business move.”
She continued: “This [cancellation] was especially hard because I was completely unprepared. I was shocked … I mean, the No. 1 show on network TV, No. 1 on Netflix. We’re, I think, all that people watch on TikTok besides a couple of recipes for pasta.” The Designing Women alum added: “If a show is starting to drag or lag or have a lack of stories or whatever, then you kind of see it coming. We were totally ambushed by this. I was, anyway.”
Potts does have a point, as Young Sheldon is TV’s most-watched comedy with an average of 7.3 million total viewers. In fact, the Season 7 premiere drew in 7.99 million total viewers, which marked the largest same-day audience for the show since April 2020. However, wanting to go out strong also played into the decision to end on Season 7. “It felt like the right time to end it strong while it was on top,” Holland said.
While Young Sheldon may be coming to a bittersweet close, we won’t be saying goodbye to the Cooper clan just yet. A spin-off series centered on Georgie and Mandy received a straight-to-series order by CBS for the 2024-25 broadcast season. The new show will follow the couple as “they raise their young family in Texas while navigating the challenges of adulthood, parenting and marriage.”
It’s unclear which original cast members will be joining Emily Osment and Montana Jordan in the spin-off, but perhaps Potts can reprise her role as Meemaw.
Young Sheldon airs on CBS on Thursdays at 8/7c and streams on Paramount+.
For more on Young Sheldon, check out these then and now photos of Iain Armitage.
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