‘Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage’ expands the ‘Big Bang Theory’ universe

LOS ANGELES — LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chuck Lorre is responsible for some of the most successful sitcoms of all time. He says he has the recipe for success, and it’s simpler than you’d think.

“The whole thing boils down to great actors and great scripts. And if either one of those is missing, it doesn’t work,” he told The Associated Press.

Lorre’s latest venture, alongside his longtime collaborators, Steven Molaro and Steve Holland, is “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage,” a CBS sequel to their hit series “Young Sheldon.” The latter is a prequel of “The Big Bang Theory,” which Lorre, Molaro and Holland worked on for its run from 2007 through 2019.

The CBS series, which airs on Thursdays, stars Montana Jordan and Emily Osment reprising their roles from “Young Sheldon.” Jordan plays Georgie Cooper, Sheldon’s older brother, and Osment plays Mandy McAllister, Georgie’s new wife. The series follows the pair as they navigate young parenthood with a newborn daughter while also adapting to their new marriage.

Unlike their previous series, though, “Georgie & Mandy” taps into a crucial part of what made fans love “The Big Bang Theory” — it’s filmed in the old-school multi-camera format.

Multi-camera sitcoms date back to classics like “I Love Lucy” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” but “The Big Bang Theory” stands alone as a highly successful modern sitcom filmed in the format with an audience.

“Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage” will carry on that practice with a live studio audience and a traditional sitcom feel. Holland, who is an executive producer with Lorre and Molaro, said the goal was to separate it from its predecessor so it didn’t feel like “’Young Sheldon’ 2.0 or something.”

“We’ve always had a soft spot for multi-cam and seeing this cast and seeing how they sort of spark together, the thought of putting them in front of an audience like a theatrical experience seemed great,” Holland said.

Distancing the series from the character Sheldon Cooper, played by Iain Armitage in the prequel and Jim Parsons on “The Big Bang Theory,” meant stepping away from a character they had worked on for 19 seasons, but Holland said it felt like they had “gone to that vein a lot.”

“The chance to tell stories in this world where we don’t know the future, or we know very little about the future, was exciting,” he added.

Speaking before the series began filming, Jordan, who had never worked on a multi-camera show before, said he was feeling optimistic about the new process. “I kind of just throw the nerves away, just get them out of my life, throw them out somewhere,” he said.

“People fell in love with Georgie on ‘Young Sheldon,’ so I’m just gonna keep playing that, see how it goes,” he added in his signature Southern drawl.

Osment, however, is no stranger to studio audiences, having appeared as a teenager in Disney Channel’s “Hannah Montana” with Miley Cyrus, followed by a starring role in “Young & Hungry” for five seasons on Freeform. She said she was looking forward to being back in front of an audience because she had “kind of forgotten what that feels like.”

Osment also added that she enjoys the moments when the cast breaks character by laughing. “That’s fun too,” she said.

“Sometimes, you get the best stuff ever when you can’t keep it together and sometimes, they use it. Especially with working with a baby. There’s going to be moments of that,” she said. “But we’re good at that. We’re good at rolling with it.”

Georgie and Mandy’s baby daughter Ceecee is portrayed by twins, Isabelle and Zariah Booko.

Having a baby on set is “wonderful,” said Osment, because adjustments are made to keep the atmosphere calm.

“The crew and the cast sort of soften. They don’t speak very loudly in front of the baby. They don’t overly try to touch up your wardrobe or your hair makeup because, like, your job is just to hold this precious, beautiful thing and people kind of leave you the heck alone.”

When the Booko girls aren’t available or the baby is in a scene but not really visible, Osment says “an extremely expensive animatronic baby” is brought in.

“They get way more nervous when we go towards that robot baby,” joked Osment. “Like, ‘You guys have the real thing handled, but don’t mess up this robot baby.’”

Lorre reiterated that this cast and the series, which is set in the ’90s, was meant to be filmed in the multi-camera format.

“Putting on a play in front of an audience is as fundamental as you can get to how to tell a story,” he said.