YOUNG SHELDON
CBS, 8:30 p.m. ET
Last week’s second episode of Young Sheldon, unveiled after a long hiatus following the advance preview of the series premiere, established the show as a solid spinoff of The Big Bang Theory. Tonally, the biggest difference – requiring a slight adjustment from viewers – is that, unlike its parent program, Young Sheldon has no studio audience or laugh track. But the laughs are there. Iain Armitage, in the title role of Sheldon Cooper, is perfectly cast and wonderfully deadpan. Zoe Perry, playing a younger version of Sheldon’s mom (played in The Big Bang Theory by recurring guest star Laurie Metcalf), couldn’t be more convincing, or more funny. And it’s hereditary, because Zoe Perry is Metcalf’s real-life daughter. But tonight, the Cooper family pool expands beyond genetics, as Sheldon’s grandmother, Meemaw, shows up. She’s played by Annie Potts, who’s been hilarious in everything from Designing Women and Ghostbusters to Toy Story and an early, Star Wars-era movie with Mark Hamill, where I first noticed her, 1978’s Corvette Summer.