“Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage” Season 2 picks up more than a year after the untimely passing of George Sr. — and Episode 3 (airing Thursday, Oct. 30) will be a monumental one for his widow.
“The headline of the episode is Mary is considering going out on a date,” series co-creator Steve Holland tells TVLine. It’s been a year and a half since her husband’s death, and the episode will deal with the “repercussions that that wreaks across the family.”
The episode also revisits a familiar piece of “Young Sheldon” history: the Cooper dining room, which makes its first appearance on the spinoff. It’s there that the Coopers come together for a rare family gathering, with Georgie, Mandy, CeeCee and Missy (fellow returning guest star Raegan Revord) all seated around the table.
“It was really interesting to shoot [there] again because it’s 1760456900 a multi-cam set,” Holland points out. “There’s not as many people at the table as there once was, but it’s a classic Cooper dinner scene.”
Robert Voets/CBS
Notably absent from that family dinner is Meemaw, whose portrayer — recurring Season 1 guest star Annie Potts — is now a series regular on Fox’s forthcoming medical comedy “Best Medicine” (a remake of ITV’s “Doc Martin”). The actress’ East Coast shooting schedule has limited her availability this fall, but Holland remains optimistic that she’ll pop up later in Season 2.
“We’re certainly talking about it,” Holland says. “I think she would love to come back. We would love to have her back. The scheduling for that hasn’t worked out yet, but I’m optimistic that it will at some point this season. She’s such a part of the family, and she’s just such a force of nature. But it’s not just another show — it’s another show that shoots on the other side of the country, so it’s tricky for her to fly back for 24 hours and then fly back to New York.”
Robert Voets/CBS
In the meantime, Holland confirms that Georgie will continue to visit his late father’s grave in Season 2 — a recurring device first established in the offshoot’s second episode. Those scenes, he says, remain some of the most poignant moments to write.
“When we first started doing it, those were pre-shoots, but we play them back for the audience, and we realized it felt weird to put laughs in those scenes,” Holland explains. “So we just removed the laughter, because it felt oddly disrespectful. They always have a really interesting, special feel — these sweet, odd little moments in the middle of this comedy. We haven’t seen it yet [early in Season 2], but it’s a thing we always like — that’s sort of his sounding board, you know? A place he can go.”
“Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage” Season 2 premieres Thursday, Oct. 16 at 8 pm on CBS, and streams next day on Paramount+.
Are you looking forward to seeing Mary embrace the next chapter of her life?