Not all spinoffs can match their predecessors, but The Big Bang Theory prequel Young Sheldon has kept audiences laughing — and tuning in — since it premiered in 2017. With the hit CBS series now in its seventh and final season, FIRST for Women visited Annie Potts on the Young Sheldon set to get the story.
Here, the Pretty in Pink and Toy Story alum reflects on her run as Sheldon’s beloved Meemaw, the longevity of her career, and whether she’d be interested in visiting her Designing Women pal Jean Smart on Hacks.
Plus, we’ve got the story on Potts suiting up for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, premiering March 22.
Young Sheldon Star Annie Potts Tears Up Over The End
Saying goodbye is never easy, and shooting the final season of Young Sheldon is proving to be a doozy for Annie Potts, who plays Meemaw.
“I’m gonna cry right now,” says Potts, who was visibly choked up when FIRST for Women caught up with her after The Television Critic Association’s Young Sheldon press panel. “I love the children. It’s been a privilege to watch them grow up. When we started, Iain Armitage (who plays Sheldon) and Raegan Revord (who plays Missy) would get on my lap and kiss me and play with my fingernails, my ears. They were tiny and all day long, they would say — and still do! — ‘I love you, Miss Annie.’”
With Young Sheldon in its seventh season, the titular character is now 14 years old — and as we know from The Big Bang Theory, that’s when the brainiac leaves Texas to attend The California Institute of Technology (Caltech). While the show’s cancelation makes sense in the universe of the franchise, it still doesn’t make sense to Potts.
“I didn’t expect it,” Potts admits. “We are the #1 show on network TV and the #1 show on Netflix. Who cancels that?”
While Potts doesn’t understand the cancelation, she absolutely gets why the prequel about Sheldon Cooper and his family has found a second life on Netflix.
“We’re like ice cream with chocolate sauce on it,” she says. “People are like, ‘Give me, give me!’ The show is very consumable, because the episodes end up being about 18-19 minutes long – so you can watch three in an hour. Everybody’s used to binging and they love to watch that way. It’s a good fit there, and it’s a great show.”
As for why Young Sheldon has resonated with audiences, to begin with, Potts says, “Every family has an oddball in it – someone that they have to explain to others. So watching a family try to navigate around this brilliant, difficult thing is relatable.”
Young Sheldon Star Annie Potts Talks Meemaw and Her Men
One might argue Meemaw is a unique character, herself. In contrast to Sheldon’s righteous, bible-toting mother, his widowed grandma doles out no-nonsense advice, opened an illegal gambling parlor, and has run through a string of men – including Wallace Shawn’s Dr. Sturgis, Richard Kind’s Ira, Ed Begley Jr.’s Dr. Linkletter, and Craig T. Nelson’s Dale.
“They were all suitors… but Craig T. stuck,” Potts says with a grin. “He’s a little slice of heaven. I love that Craig T. We have the best time. We just laugh, all day.”
As for her character’s active libido, she chuckles, “Well, the writers seem to like to write that. I think they’re trying to support ideas that older women are still valued, valuable, and can be sexy.”
With Meemaw a woman before her time, in many ways, it’s no surprise she’s bonded with Mandy – the mother of her first grandbaby, who’s played by Emily Osment.
Mourning Meemaw’s Home and Hollywood History
Today, Meemaw’s house, which was also home to The Partridge Family, is no more. In Young Sheldon’s season 6 finale, it was leveled by a tornado. In real life, Warner Bros. leveled the entire, historic Warner Bros Ranch Lot — a studio also used for the outdoor scenes on Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Gidget, and Friends, to name a few.
“My God, I’ve been working off and on over there for 50 years,” Potts marvels. “They were going to level the lot and turn it into something else. Perfect for us, because we used it for the tornado. But when I went to see it, it was like [gasps]. It really got me. And now I live in the neighborhood. I drive by it and the whole thing is flattened. It’s like a lot of history gone under.”