Young Sheldon: The Complete Third Season (Blu-ray Review)

Young Sheldon is finding its annual way home to my beloved Blu-ray format September 1st courtesy of Warner Archives.  I suppose if anyone is qualified to write about it on the website here that would be myself having covered The Big Bang Theory seasons for the last seven years.  If interested, you can find all my reviews of the show archived right HERE.  I am a bit surprised that none of my peers on the site here are fans of The Big Bang Theory even though it perfectly matches their inner geeks minus the jobs the guys on the show hold.  Young Sheldon, now in its third year, is the only spinoff from the aforementioned series.  That’s too bad because when the show ended last year I could have thought of several ways to keep it fresh or create new spinoffs from, but I digress.  We’re here today to chat about the third season of a CBS show that I feel keeps getting better and better, Young Sheldon.

Season

Young Sheldon much like its parent series, The Big Bang Theory, airs on CBS courtesy of creator Chuck Lorre.  I mentioned up above that this is a spin-off, but what I did not say that I hope the title would give away is the fact that this is a prequel to the parent series.  Season One begins with the character Sheldon Cooper, portrayed by Iain Armitage, at the “young” age of nine living with his family in East Texas.  He’s obviously super advanced for his age hence why he’s already going to high school when we meet him.  Zoe Perry, Lance Barber, Montana Jordan, Raegan Revord and Annie Potts rounds out the rest of young Sheldon’s immediate family.  Trust me when I say this that they are perfectly cast. Jim Parsons, who plays the adult version of Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, narrates.  And yes that’s the same Jim Parsons who quit on The Big Bang Theory and brought my favorite modern day sitcom to a screeching halt.  Thanks Jim!  Also, I would say Season 3’s most notable guest star is Coach‘s Craig T. Nelson with honorary mention to my favorite high school teacher in Clueless, Mr. Wallace Shawn.

I wasn’t a fan of Young Sheldon when it first aired.  I can admit that.  It felt sluggish and forced and as already evident from my Jim Parsons smearing up above I’m not the biggest fan of his character Sheldon.  However, this show really isn’t all about Sheldon.  Oh no!  There’s so much more than meets the eye.  This series obviously revolves around Sheldon, but it’s his family that steals the show for me most notably his older brother Georgie (Jordan) and twin sister (Revord).  They are both hilarious and great actors.  I also love how the show intertwines with the parent series especially in the first two seasons as we learn things about Sheldon’s future life and even his “future family.”  As bittersweet as it was to see the parent series end last year it was amazing to see how they tied it all together like perfect bookshelf endings in the season 2 finale of Young Sheldon.  That’s all I’ll say as I don’t want to spoil things further for folks that have not realized what they are missing in this series.

While its predecessors each had 22 episodes Season 3 clocks in at only 21.  The title sequence gets tweaked.  The song and theme remain the same, but Sheldon’s family is now brought into it.  Excitedly too every week Sheldon is wearing a different costume.  He could be Flash one week then Spock the next!  It also picks right up after the shocking event with Dr. Sturgis (Shawn) in Season 2.  Therefore, we see Sheldon’s very flirtatious grandmother, Connie (Potts), hitting the dating scene once again.  I could literally spend all three seasons watching the mother-in-law/son-in-law banter between her and Lance Barber’s character, but I digress.  Beyond that so much more happens in Season 3 like Missy (Revord) plays on an all male baseball team, Sheldon discovers the Internet and heads West and so much more.  Yes, you did read that West part right.  It’s in Season 3 where we learn Sheldon is destined for Pasadena.  I bet you never saw that coming.  Ha!  Sheldon even graduates to college in this one, but it’s not all about him you know.

Georgie’s character grows a lot and you can clearly see his destined path as a successful salesman laid out here.  However, it’s that turbulent ending that I didn’t see coming.  Fret not though.  Family is always there for you when you need them the most.  What I really want to know though  is when does Sheldon’s dad meet his tragic end.  To my knowledge there’s no Season 5 green lit yet so who knows what the future holds for Sheldon Cooper’s family.  One thing is for certain though.  I’ll definitely be watching!  It’s a rare treat nowadays that a family comedy can be both safe and crowd pleasing funny not to mention truly heartwarming as well.  That’s coming from a 46-year old with no kids.  That’s saying a lot in my opinion.  Simply put Young Sheldon continues to build upon the legacy of its parent series rewarding its disciples while easily remaining one of the most charming family sitcoms on the airwaves.

Video 

• Encoding: AVC MPEG-4
• Resolution: 1080p
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Size: 2 BD-50’s
• Clarity/Detail: Just like the parent series the 1080p video presentations housed on Blu-ray Discs finds Young Sheldon with the same rinse, wash and repeat in terms of exceptional quality and clarity.  This is the penultimate way to experience Young Sheldon.  If you watch the show with eagle eyes like mine, you can’t help noticing all the little details in the background, easter eggs and textures abound in the clothing, furniture, toys, Radio Shack electronics, sporting goods and so much more.  I really appreciated that with the original broadcasts of the show and trust me everything you see onscreen is eye-popping razor sharp.  Anyone that nitpicks the clarity of this presentation is just out of their Vulcan mind.  You need to remember this show is a prequel to its more modern parent series that came before, but don’t let that persuade you into thinking the video presentation needs to look dated.  It’s not!  This a fantastic looking show on these two Blu-ray Discs!
• Depth: The clarity allows the onscreen characters to all have that three-dimensional pop we know and love on the Blu-ray format.  The onscreen subjects are deeply separated from the backgrounds, which are still incredibly rich and detailed themselves, so much so that the image seems to go on and on forever in the depth department.  I’m exaggerating of course, but you get the big picture.  The are only objections when green screens are used like in traveling in the car for example.
• Black Levels: Black levels are all deep, solid and inky throughout.
• Color Reproduction: The colors throughout are all bold and vibrant throughout like the spry youth the show represents.
• Flesh Tones: The skin tones all look natural and authentic thanks in part to the exceptional production quality and set lighting.
• Noise/Artifacts: There was zero issues to scrutinize over in regards to any nasty artifacts littering the presentation.  Everything is crystal clear like a television broadcast should be.

Audio 

• Audio Format(s): English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio
• Subtitles: English SDH
• Dynamics: I’m going to loosely adapt what I pretty much write for The Big Bang Theory Blu-ray releases every year. Young Sheldon is a television comedy so don’t expect me to write about any surround audio dynamic miracles here.  While I’m sure we all want the surround track to be monstrous and larger than life, there’s nothing wrong with it just being satisfactory either when it comes to grading amazing television comedies.   Thankfully it’s more.  Also, it’s the dialogue that matters most here.  That’s where the main focus is, but this one does have its moments and optimal fullness…like that opening title sequence!  Wow!  There’s even an exceptional focus on separation of channels here.
• Low Frequency Extension: The LFE channel is much to my surprise really full and prominent in the film’s score and action. This show actually has no business sounding this good.
• Surround Sound Presentation: Young Sheldon is a family sitcom so understandably so the rear channels are not blowing up with explosives or anything like that.  You will though find the soundtrack/score and ambiance in them.  However, that soundtrack/score is actually rather full in the rears and creates a wild sense of immersion that I did not hear in its parent series on Blu-ray.  Ambiance, for example, comes into play in events like kids baseball games, within a bar, waling through a casino and more.
• Dialogue Reproduction: The dialogue is also another clear all star throughout here.  All levels are crystal clear and intelligent.

Extras 

Bazinga!  Much to my surprise there’s actually one lone extra in this 2-disc Blu-ray set.  However, like all Warner Archives releases I believe there are now Digital Copy codes included.  That sucks, but beggars can’t be choosers.  I’m just thrilled that we actually get a Blu-ray release as opposed to just chucking this to a crappy DVD one.  Just an FYI Episodes 1-10 are found on the first Blu-ray Disc while the second hosts Episodes 11-21 and the lone Special Feature discussed in more detail below.

• The Coopers, East Texas, and the 80’s (HD, 5:28) – It was interesting to learn how the show embraces the 80’s era that it’s set in, but without overexposing it with bright colors and glam since they live in East Texas.  The cast all briefly talk about their clothes, props and set dressings.  And yes Radio Shack was mentioned.  Yes!  They discuss how rare it is to find tech in working condition back from the 80’s.  Even teaching kids how to properly dial a phone is shown to be hard in this.  Wow!  That truly makes me feel dated now!

Summary 

One of my friends told me he was cautiously avoiding this series in fear it would diminish how much he loves the parent series.  Fret not my friend.  I encourage you to go forth and prosper with Young Sheldon.  Obviously you’ll want to start with Season 1 and maybe line that up tit for tat with Seasons 11 and 12 of The Big Bang Theory.  I guarantee you that you won’t be disappointed in the slightest.  And FYI I’m grading by the quality of this release, the entertainment factor etc. as it all weighs prominently above the lack of special features…in my opinion of course.  Enjoy!

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DISCLAIMER: This Blu-ray review was judged and graded using the following 4K certified Ultra HD Premium television set found here and player here.  Make sure to check out all our 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray reviews archived here.

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Young Sheldon

The Complete 3rd Season

Available for Purchase Now

on Blu-ray HERE!

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