George Cooper's funeral was one of the most highly anticipated episodes of Young Sheldon, and quite a bit got left on the cutting room floor.
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00:00George Cooper's Funeral was one of the most highly anticipated episodes of Young Sheldon,
00:04and quite a bit got left on the cutting room floor. Considering Young Sheldon's next-to-last
00:09episode was about the family patriarch's funeral, it's not surprising that the show's typical humor
00:13was in short supply. And while the showrunners were pretty competent at balancing comedy and
00:18drama, this episode saw some re-edits the creators felt were needed to really make the story sing.
00:22In an interview with Parade, showrunner Steve Holland revealed that the original
00:26plan for the episode had a standard amount of jokes, but when they watched it in editing,
00:30they realized that the humor felt really out of place. He explained,
00:34We wanted to be very respectful of George as a character and what his passing meant to his
00:37family. I think we realized that we could give ourselves permission to be a little more serious
00:41and to have a little more weight in this moment, which felt very real to us."
00:44He went on to explain that a stronger sense of realism than usual felt appropriate,
00:48and they didn't see a point in adding jokes just because it was a sitcom.
00:51The result was a truly heartbreaking episode that users on IMDb rate as the series' best.
00:56The lack of jokes allowed the characters to really show their emotional depth in
01:00one of the most difficult times in their lives.
01:02I know it doesn't make sense, but I am mad at him for leaving me.
01:09Yeah, I get that. You do?
01:11The loss of George Sr. would have major repercussions throughout both the Big
01:14Bang Theory and the Young Sheldon spinoff, George and Mandy's First Marriage. So it
01:18was wise of the show's creators to take the moment seriously. When Young Sheldon began,
01:22Sheldon and his siblings were quite young. Sheldon and his twin sister Missy started
01:26the series at the age of nine, and their older brother Georgie was 14. The actors portraying
01:30them were of a similar age, which is rather early in life to deal with some of the heavier themes
01:35of the later seasons. But as they aged, the show could mature along with them. Holland said that
01:39they were confident by this late in the show that the young actors were going to, quote,
01:43knock it out of the park when it came to this episode. Looking back, it's hard to argue with
01:47that prediction, as they clearly put some of their real feelings of sadness about the show's
01:51end into their performances. They're all fantastic, and Missy's Regan Ravard was
01:56particularly devastating. The way each actor made the loss of goofy, genuine George Sr. feel real
02:01served the show immensely, even if it's not funny at all. Despite all that, they did sneak in one
02:06joke. George's actor, Lance Barber, has a secret cameo as one of the funeral attendees. This
02:11little nod to the fans sends the message that, even in life's darkest moments, a little levity
02:16doesn't hurt.