The episode introduces Sheldon, the series' primary protagonist, a child prodigy, along with his twin sister Missy (Raegan Revord) and his older brother Georgie (Montana Jordan). The three of them live with their short-tempered mother Mary (Zoe Perry), and George (Lance Barber), their hardworking father. In the episode, Sheldon starts his first day of high school in the ninth grade, where he questions his teachers and informs students of their rule-breaking. He tries to find his place in the new school, and Georgie must deal with having a younger sibling in his class.
CBS announced in November 2016 that a spin-off of The Big Bang Theory focusing on Sheldon as a young boy was in production. Described as "a Malcolm in the Middle-esque single-camera family comedy", it was intended to air in the 2017–18 season, alongside The Big Bang Theory. Since release, "Pilot" has received positive reception from critics, with some hailing it as one of the best episodes of the series. In 2019, the episode was nominated for the Outstanding Achievement in Comedy Pilot Casting award at the 34th Artios Awards.
Plot
Sheldon's mother, Mary Cooper, calls him for dinner. As he does not go to the dinner table, his sister Missy forces Sheldon to immediately go to the dinner table. At dinner, they discuss Sheldon going to high school and who in the family would go to church the next day. Sheldon, Mary, and Missy go to church, where adult Sheldon says that Mary was his Christian hero. At the house, Sheldon reads a student handbook for high school while Mary forces him to go outside and play. Despite his fears, he reluctantly goes outside but quickly goes back inside. Sheldon and Missy then hear their parents fight about money, but Sheldon reassures Missy that they have no money problems.
The next day, Missy and Sheldon try to prepare for school, but Sheldon could not find his bowtie, so Mary thinks Georgie, his brother, stole it, trying to find it in his room. George, Sheldon's dad tells Mary that he took the bowtie because he did not want Sheldon to be bullied in school, but she insists that Sheldon wear what he wants. Sheldon and Mary travel to school, where they talk about Sheldon's smartness. Once at school, Sheldon removes the bowtie after Mary convinced him to. She walks Sheldon to his homeroom, where she leaves him. His homeroom teacher introduces herself, but Sheldon exposes his classmates who break the dress code. At the principal's room, Sheldon's teachers discuss Sheldon insulting them and try to convince their parents to let Sheldon go to a different school, but his parents say that they do not have another choice for his education. After a fight with a football player who insulted him, Georgie does not want to play football anymore; George understands him but tells him to continue playing anyway. Sheldon goes home and watches TV where George and Sheldon then talk about trying to ignore others breaking rules. George reveals that he got fired, and he says he is mostly angry but sad. At dinner, they say grace and Sheldon goes to RadioShack the next day after Mary promised him to go there if he removed his bowtie.
In November 2016, it was reported that CBS was in negotiations to create a spin-off of The Big Bang Theory centered on Sheldon Cooper as a young boy. Narrated as "a Malcolm in the Middle-esque single-camera family comedy," the show would be executive produced by The Big Bang Theory co-creator Chuck Lorre and producer Steven Molaro, another The Big Bang Theory co-creator, Bill Prady expected to be involved in some capacity. Young Sheldon was intended to air in the 2017–18 season alongside The Big Bang Theory. The initial idea for the series came from Jim Parsons, Sheldon's actor in The Big Bang Theory, who suggested it to The Big Bang Theory producers. On March 13, 2017, CBS ordered the spin-off Young Sheldon series, which was created by Lorre and Molaro. Jon Favreau directed and executive produced the pilot, while both Lorre and Molaro wrote it. Parsons, Lorre, Molaro and Todd Spiewak also serve as executive producers on the series, for Chuck Lorre Productions and Warner Bros. Television.
Casting
Casting began in January 2017, and in March 2017, it was announced that Iain Armitage and Zoe Perry would star as Sheldon and Mary Cooper respectively. Armitage would audition for the role of Shelden by sending audition tapes, with his mother sending the tapes to the producers. According to Lorre, they "set the bar very high", thinking "no one's going to be able to do this". Alongside the announcement of CBS ordering the spin-off, it was confirmed that Lance Barber, Montana Jordan, and Raegan Revord were cast as George, Georgie, and Missy.
Release and reception
"Pilot" first aired on CBS on September 25, 2017 at 8:30p.m. Eastern Standard Time in the United States, and was watched by 17.21 million viewers during its original broadcast. The next episode, "Rockets, Communists, and the Dewey Decimal System", marked a decrease of over four million viewers, which aired on November 2, 2017, and was watched by 12.66 people. After "Pilot" premiered, the series was picked up for a full season, consisting of 22 episodes.
"Pilot" received positive reviews from critics, becoming the most watched comedy debut in 15 years. Ken Tucker of Yahoo! Entertainment said that, with the supervision of Lorre and Molaro, Sheldon was "smart without being too supercilious and awkward without being foolish," adding that "the taunts he endures are just mean enough—not mean verging on cruel, as much of the humor on Lorre’s Two and a Half Men was." Tucker added that the scenes at home were "even better" and that his family had clever casting. He concluded that Young Sheldon "has a certain Wonder Years glow to it" with a "nostalgic voice-over" that "chronicles a boy's youth" and a "single-camera, no-studio-audience effort."
Under the Radar's Lily Moeyari said that the show was a "nostalgic family sitcom that is billing itself as a too-obvious cross between The Wonder Years and Doogie Howser, M.D., the former for the look-back retro factor and the latter for the child genius aspect," rating it 5 out of 10 stars. Den of Geek's Sophia Soto ranked the episode as the seventh best in the series, stating "The first episode of a show sets the scene perfectly for what’s to come and the pilot of Young Sheldon does exactly that." Following the positive reception, "Pilot" was nominated for the Outstanding Achievement in Comedy Pilot Casting award at the 34th Artios Awards, however it lost to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017–2023).
Radloff, Jessica (2022). The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series. New York City, New York: Grand Central Publishing. ISBN978-1538708514.
