CBS makes a surprising Young Sheldon season 7 schedule change that exposes the truth about the decision to cancel the show. Sheldon’s time in Medford, Texas is almost done, as he prepares to move to Pasadena, California, and start his post-grad studies at Caltech. Young Sheldon has been focused on addressing any pressing storyline that needs their respective endings before it fully wraps up. As Young Sheldon‘s series finale slowly creeps up, however, it is becoming increasingly clear that pulling the plug on it at this point is such a bad idea.
Young Sheldon‘s surprising cancelation is because of The Big Bang Theory canon. As a prequel, the show has a pre-determined end, but because of the younger cast’s growth over the last few years, the writers are no longer able to stretch out its storytelling further. Granted that there are ways to do this, but the creatives behind the spinoff, many of whom also worked on The Big Bang Theory, want to preserve the continuity of the nerd-centric sitcom. As if it hasn’t been clear that this is the wrong move, a new CBS schedule change further emphasizes this blunder.
Like The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon will get a super-sized finale on May 16. This means that the last two episodes of the series will air back-to-back for a one-hour send-off for Sheldon and the Coopers. For context, this was the same set-up when The Big Bang Theory ended with “The Change Constant” and “The Stockholm Syndrome” in 2019. Additionally, however, CBS has announced that Young Sheldon will get another double-header ahead of its finale. “A Little Snip and Teaching Old Dogs” and “A New Home and a Traditional Texas Torture” will air back-to-back on May 9.
This highlights how poorly scheduled Young Sheldon season 7 is. Because the show is being canceled in a shortened year, the prequel only has 14 episodes to wrap up — a significant decrease from its usual 22 productions. Between what was established in The Big Bang Theory and its original plots, that’s an extremely tight window to address all lingering narratives. Because of this, Young Sheldon has to do two one-hour nights — something that even The Big Bang Theory didn’t do when it capped off its run.
Young Sheldon season 7’s new schedule change further backs up the idea that CBS should have just given it at least one more season. Renewing it for season 8 would have given the show enough time to properly address all its remaining plots while also introducing more fun plots that don’t necessarily have any ties to The Big Bang Theory or its ending. For a while, Young Sheldon season 7 had a storytelling focus problem, as it spent more time with Georgie and Mandy than setting up Sheldon’s future.
Had it been given one more year, the prequel would have been able to tackle all of these narratives without having to sacrifice other equally compelling but less impactful plots. Young Sheldon would have been able to bring back Paige and Reba. The prequel would have also been able to spend more time with George and not cram his death and the aftermath of it in the final episodes of the year. Since it’s just one more year, Sheldon and the rest of the kids’ physical growth will unlikely be detrimental to its storytelling anyway.