For the majority of the cast of CBS‘ Young Sheldon spinoff, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage is not their first rodeo — far from it, in fact.
Five of the highly anticipated offshoot’s six series regulars have worked on previous shows created in part by legendary sitcom producer Chuck Lorre, who has a long history of reusing actors. Emily Osment, for instance, has worked with Lorre on a whopping five projects; prior to joining Young Sheldon midway through Season 5, the actress guest-starred on a Season 10 episode of Two and a Half Men, then recurred on Season 3 of Mom and all three seasons of The Kominsky Method. Then, late last year, as Young Sheldon entered production on its seventh and final season, the Young & Hungry star received a life-changing phone call.
“Chuck Lorre called me on my house phone,” Osment recalls. “I don’t know how he got that [number] — we’re up in the hills, you gotta have a landline — and I remember picking up the phone and receiving the news that they were thinking about doing a spinoff of Young Sheldon, and it stopped me in my tracks. There is no other answer but ‘yes.’
“I’m very grateful that Chuck has kept me employed since I was 18, basically,” Osment tells TVLine. “It’s such a wonderful world that he creates on every show. Everything I hear from our wonderful crew is that this is the best job in Hollywood. I mean, people want to work on these [Lorre] productions because it’s a really lovely, warm place to work, and I get up every day excited to be there.”
Osment’s TV mom, Rachel Bay Jones, had previously recurred on Lorre’s United States of Al. Once it wrapped its two-season run, she was asked to come play on Young Sheldon, where she made her debut as Audrey McAllister in Season 6. In addition to Lorre, Jones credits Georgie & Mandy co-creators Steve Holland and Steve Molaro (aka “The Steves,” who also worked on The Big Bang Theory) with fostering a great working environment.
“It’s so beautiful how everything gets put together,” she says. “They’re so good at crafting this thing that runs like a symphony. You don’t think of that when you think about sitcoms. You’re like, ‘Oh, we’re all having a good time, we get all the jokes,’ but Chuck creates this environment, and these writers, like Steve and Steve, they make such beautiful stories. There’s so much heart, and so much humanity, and you’re laughing the entire time, and you’re feeling all of these feelings. It’s just wonderful as an actor to do that, and it’s wonderful as an employee to be part of a world, off-camera, of people who are great at what they do. There are no egos; they just want to do it right…. So, the obvious answer is ‘yes’ when they ask [you to be part of this world].”
“Ditto for me,” adds Jones’ TV husband Will Sasso — who, prior to Young Sheldon, guest-starred on a Season 7 episode of Two and a Half Men and recurred in Seasons 6, 7 and 8 of Mom. “I’ll tell you, as Emily and Rachel and anybody who has ever worked on one of Chuck’s shows and worked with the Steves can attest, that the environment on set is just fantastic. And like Montana [Jordan, who plays Georgie has] said, it is like a family, and I feel like that’s a really important element to have on a show. It translates to the audience, and I do believe that we have that intangible here.”
Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage premieres Thursday, Oct. 17 (CBS, 8/7c). In the meantime, scroll down to revisit each actor’s working history with Chuck Lorre.
