Up to and through the 1990s, multi-camera sitcoms with studio audiences were such a standard that even animated series occasionally featured canned laugh tracks. The exact opposite is the case in 2024, where current examples number in the single digits, but the Young Sheldon spinoff Georgie & Maddie’s First Marriage will be among them when the Big Bang Theory prequel hits the 2024 TV schedule this fall. And co-creators Chuck Lorre and Steve Holland don’t sound the least bit worried about embracing a sitcom format some consider “dead.”
Speaking at length about CBS’ upcoming comedy for the first time as part of the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour (via Deadline), Holland and Lorre addressed the fact that Georgie & Mandy will return to the live-audience format that CBS has almost single-handedly kept going over the years. Speaking to decades of multi-cam naysayers, Holland said:
We’ve done this long enough and heard multiple times that multi-camera sitcoms are dead. Before The Big Bang Theory, people liked to make these predictions but all it takes is something the audience connects with and it’s not true anymore.
Regardless of one’s personal sitcom preferences, it’s hard to deny the logic in Holland’s argument. A show’s success depends almost entirely on how well the cast and storyline can each connect with TV audiences, regardless of the specific way that show is presented. Or else traditional sitcoms would have failed entirely after shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Office helped make single-cam series the norm.
Within this universe specifically, even after The Big Bang Theory became TV’s most watched comedy for years on end, there was much skepticism ahead of Young Sheldon’s premiere due to that series losing the studio audience for its more dramatized tone. But that didn’t stop millions of fans from eagerly watching the teen brainiac family life, and it’s easy to imagine a similar number of viewers will be tuning in to see how Georgie and Mandy handle life as married parents, despite its return to multi-cam.
Chuck Lorre chimed in, saying he continues to make the shows he wants without considering outside opinions. As he put it:
I try to pursue things that I’m excited about, that are wonderful, where I’m working with people I love and admire, to tell great stories that have the potential of making people laugh. What a wonderful thing to do. Did you make people laugh? That’s not a bad day. What the industry perceives as viable, that’s none of my business, actually. I try to stay focused on doing things that I love.
Who wouldn’t love a job that involves making a big crowd of people laugh and enjoy themselves via creativity? I can see why that would be hard to let go of at any point for a showrunner, even if that wasn’t specifically part of the Georgie & Mandy co-creators’ explanation. It’s definitely a bonus.
While we have yet to learn what kind of format the still-gestating Big Bang Theory follow-up will adhere to, fans can look forward to seeing Montana Jordan and Emily Osment evolving their acting chops in front of a studio audience when Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage debuts this fall on CBS Thursdays. Episodes will be available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription the next day.