“Georgie & Mandy” – the next “Sanford Arms”?

A lot at stake for the sitcom, as a Young Sheldon sequel makes its debut 

Once the goldmine, the sitcom has fallen on hard times, like the rest of linear TV. For decades, the format pioneered by I Love Lucy would successfully run in primetime, then reruns would go to off-network syndication and earn unparalleled riches. Since entering syndication in 1967, Lucy would earn millions in its afterlife for decades, paving the path for other successes such as The Andy Griffith Show, M*A*S*H, Cheers, The Cosby Show, The Simpsons, Seinfeld, Friends, and others, making money for all principals involved.

It’s a different landscape today as the sitcom genre and the off-network business aren’t as lucrative. Yes, the sitcom was on life support before, but as audiences continue to splinter and viewers are cord-cutting, the plight of the sitcom is now more serious. But there are signs of life – and the future of the genre may hinge on a spinoff of a spinoff.

Thursday night, CBS debuts its new sitcom with the odd name – Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage – a continuation of the recently concluded Young Sheldon. But in an interesting twist, the new comedy is being shot in the traditional multi-cam format (in front of a live audience) as opposed to Sheldon, which was filmed as a single-camera show (no audience.) Of course, Sheldon spun off of The Big Bang Theory, becoming the first single-cam sitcom to spin off from a multi-cam.

Of course, a lot is riding on this new show.

Playing second fiddle to Sheldon, Big Brother Georgie (played by Montana Jordan) now takes center stage as he must balance his work and his home life with his new wife Mandy (Emily Osment – yes, she was on Hannah Montana with Miley Cyrus), who met in a season five Young Sheldon story arc where he lied to her about her age (he was 17, she was 27), and wound up getting her pregnant in a situation that would not be acceptable in an earlier era of television. Georgie works as a manager at his father-in-law’s (Mad TV alum Will Sasso) tire shop and tries to prove to his mother-in-law (Rachel Bay Jones) that he is a responsible adult despite dropping out of high school.

Theodore Wilson (left) and Tina Andrews hold up a “Sanford Arms” sign, which was canceled by NBC in October 1977 after only a month on the air. (Sony)

Former cast members from Sheldon reprising their roles in George & Mandy as guest stars include Zoe Perry, Regan Revord, and Annie Potts. The Sheldon character (played by Iain Armitage) is not expected to appear to the relief of many, given seven seasons of him were enough. Lance Barber (who played George) will definitely not return, as his character died on Young Sheldon last season—unless he appears as a ghost or something.

Georgie & Mandy is from Chuck Lorre, the brains behind Sheldon and Big Bang. It features several producers and writers from his sitcoms, including Steven Molaro and Steve Holland, who also worked on both.

“Georgie is 19. He dropped out of high school. How smooth is his marriage going to go?” Lorre told reporters in July at the Television Critics Tour. “Yes, there is pessimism at first, but there is hope, as well, if you are patient with us,” stating Big Bang didn’t start well creatively or in drawing viewers at first. “It’s so clear that there’s a story to be told of this young man who has become a husband and a father,” Lorre continued. “Yet he still takes care of his mother and his sister. He’s got a lot on his plate. It seemed obvious. We went to CBS and said, ‘We think this is the last year [of Sheldon], but we think there’s another story to tell.’ They were totally receptive.”

Without Sheldon, can Georgie and Mandy stand on their own? History isn’t on their side.

In 1977, NBC wanted to keep Sanford and Son in production after stars Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson moved on to other projects. So here came The Sanford Arms, a sequel centered on the rooming house the Sanfords acquired next door to the junkyard the previous season. Former Sanford and Son recurring cast members LaWanda Page, Don Bexley, and Whitman Mayo were in the show with Theodore Wilson taking the lead as Phil, one of Fred Sanford’s old Army buddies. But without Foxx to play off of Page (their interactions with each other were legendary), Arms didn’t work. After landing at the bottom of the ratings, it was canceled after four episodes and became the first fatality of the 1977-78 season (Foxx did return in another sequel, Sanford in 1980.)

The most well-known example is AfterMASH, an attempt to continue the 1972-83 CBS sitcom after the Korean War ended on the show with principals Harry Morgan, Jamie Farr, William Christopher, and Rosalind Chao reprising their roles from the original series. After inheriting the 9 p.m. ET time slot M*A*S*H held, the show finished a strong fifteenth for the 1983-84 season. After switching to a Tuesday night slot in September 1984 opposite NBC’s A-Team, AfterMASH’s ratings dropped significantly, leading to its cancellation midseason.

Another is Joey, the ill-fated 2004-06 Friends sequel starring Joey LeBlanc reprising his character from the show. Despite being critically panned and ignored by viewers, the show staggered the air for two long seasons. Of note, none of the cast members from Friends appeared on the show.

Reflecting Hollywood’s lean times, only thirteen episodes of Georgie & Mandy were ordered. But if the show is successful, more could be ordered this season. It might be a while before it can hit those syndication “riches,” diminished as they would likely be given the shorter episode counts.

While it’s unlikely Georgie and Mandy would meet the fate of The Sanford Arms, the premise is interesting and has the traditional sitcom tropes (evil mom-in-law hating the son-in-law.) Reviews have been decent so far, but only the audience will determine if Georgie survives his first marriage long enough to get divorced and marry his second wife.

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