Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage Thanksgiving Exclusion Doesn't Make Sense
Contains spoilers for "George & Mandy's First Marriage" Season 1, Episode 5 — "Thanksgiving"
While everyone knew that the Coopers were bound to struggle with their first major holiday minus George, no one could have ever fathomed the level of emotion pouring out of every single member of the family in "Thanksgiving," Episode 5 of "Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage." Mary Cooper (Zoe Perry) in particular is broken-hearted over the loss of her husband, becoming inconsolable after watching Mandy's (Emily Osment) parents bicker just like she used to with her own spouse. Georgie (Montana Jordan) does the only thing he can think of — regroup most of the family at the cemetery. They have dessert on George Sr.'s (Lance Barber) grave, which has already undergone a change since its debut on "Young Sheldon."
The heart-wrenching moment is complicated by one fact — several members of the Cooper family, including familiar "Young Sheldon" face Meemaw (Annie Potts) – don't attend the dinner even though they were present at the McAllister household before the meal broke up. But it turns out there's a reason why Meemaw didn't pop up at the cemetery. Executive producer Steve Holland told TVLine it was about concentrating on the show's central storylines. "We were talking about who should definitely be at the grave, and it felt like the core family should be there," he said. "This [story] was really about Mary and Georgie, more specifically, and Missy, and about losing George." Holland also thought cutting back to Meemaw and her boyfriend, Dale (Craig T. Nelson), having dinner with the McAllisters alone added to the humor.
Holland, of course, had bigger fish to fry, as a major member of the Cooper clan doesn't make it home for the holidays. It turns out that this, too, was planned in the writer's room to help enhance the show's storyline.
The episode also had to explain another important absence
No, Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage) does not make it home to Texas for Thanksgiving. This is naturally a fitting turn of events for fans who are familiar with the "Big Bang Theory" universe. An older Sheldon (Jim Parsons) later explains to his friends in Pasadena that he rarely bothers to return home after starting life at CalTech. That's something Steve Holland kept in mind for the episode — while acknowledging that they did contemplate adding the character to the proceedings.
"It was certainly part of the discussion — like, 'Should Sheldon be a part of this?'" explained Holland to TVLine. "There are certain occasions where you could bring him back, but as we were breaking the [episode], it just felt like it was actually going to hurt this story." He added that the Cooper family is undergoing something of a splintering; Sheldon staying away just makes more sense in light of that fact.
But don't take that as an Easter egg regarding Sheldon appearing during the rest of Season 1's holiday episodes. Holland revealed that the show will not undertake a Christmas story during its first season, so Sheldon will continue to go missing from the Cooper's new lives — while they continue to hang on to their memories, both good and bad, of the past.