While Young Sheldon might only have one Thanksgiving special, the episode provided The Big Bang Theory’s spinoff with one of its most interesting paradoxes. It is not unusual for sitcoms to unintentionally create internal paradoxes. One episode of How I Met Your Mother featured Jason Segel’s character Marshall standing in front of an advertisement for Bad Teacher, a movie that starred the real-life Segel. Long before The Big Bang Theory’s finale left Sheldon with Mayim Bialik’s character Amy Farrah Fowler, his friend Raj suggested that they should try to hook Sheldon up with the girl from Blossom, i.e. Bialik.
While Young Sheldon’s finale didn’t feature any obvious celebrity paradoxes, the show’s earlier outings did occasionally trip up their own reality. In an issue that Young Sheldon’s spinoff Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage shares, the nostalgic prequel to The Big Bang Theory takes place in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s but was filmed during the 2010s and 2020s. As a result, characters occasionally reference movies and TV shows that some of the show’s cast members copped up in, as evidenced in the show’s lone Thanksgiving special, season 2, episode 9, “Family Dynamics and a Red Fiero.”
Young Sheldon’s Missy Referenced Ghostbusters In Season 2’s Thanksgiving Episode
Missy Said She Was Thankful That There Were “Two Ghostbusters Cartoons”
In the episode, Sheldon’s parents argue over Thanksgiving dinner as George Sr. considers a job offer in Tulsa and Mary vetoes the idea due to the pressures of moving. Thanks to Missy’s comments during dinner, Young Sheldon accidentally created a paradox by referencing the Ghostbusters franchise. In Young Sheldon’s only Thanksgiving special, Sheldon’s twin is asked what she is thankful for and answers that she is thankful for the two Ghostbusters cartoons. The problem is that Missy’s grandmother Meemaw is played by the actor Annie Potts, who played the receptionist Janine Melnitz in both of the Ghostbusters movies.
The paradox is a little less egregious, since Missy isn’t technically announcing that she has seen two movies that seemingly star Meemaw.
Young Sheldon never mentions Potts’ uncanny resemblance to the supporting star of Ghostbusters, but the show could arguably get away with the nod thanks to one convenient behind-the-scenes detail. In fairness to “Family Dynamics and a Red Fiero,” Potts didn’t reprise the role of Janine in either of the Ghostbusters cartoon spinoffs. As such, the paradox is a little less egregious, since Missy isn’t technically announcing that she has seen two movies that seemingly star her grandmother. Furthermore, Young Sheldon’s period setting means that Potts is older in the Thanksgiving episode than she would have been in either Ghostbusters movies.
Young Sheldon’s Meemaw Actor Starred In The Ghostbusters Movies
