The writers of “Young Sheldon” treat their lead characters gently, with touches of humor and pathos that don’t feel forced or treacly in this family-friendly CBS sitcom.
That’s given series co-star Lance Barber latitude to add some nuance to what could be a too-easy stereotype as paunchy Texas high school football coach George Cooper Sr. on the series, airing Thursday nights at 8:30.
“I know that guy and I am that guy to some degree as a parent and a husband,” says the Michigan-born Barber, 45. “There’s the inside dynamic as a henpecked husband and the struggle of a kind of old-school dad with a kid he doesn’t understand. I’m using the men I grew up with there, for sure.”
To the uninitiated, George is father to series protagonist Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage), a 10-year-old genius navigating high school in mid-’80s East Texas with the rest of his family: helicopter mom Mary (Zoe Perry); impish twin sister Missy (Raegan Revord); older brother Georgie (Montana Jordan); and Meemaw (Annie Potts), his sassy-yet-supportive grandmother. The series, now in its second season, is right behind progenitor “The Big Bang Theory” as TV’s most-watched comedy. (“BBT” star Jim Parsons, aka Sheldon Cooper, narrates “Young Sheldon.”)
Barber, the married father of two — a 7-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son (the same age as Young Sheldon) — says he’s based George, in part, on his own family. “My dad passed away when I was a year old but I did have a relationship with my two grandfathers, two very different guys who were similar in some ways,” he says. “They were men of a certain age and a certain generation which George is: he was born in the ’40s and served in Vietnam, which defined the kind of man he is. There are classic masculine traits he displays, and I took some of those from my grandfathers.”
Barber credits series creator Chuck Lorre and the show’s writers with guiding the character’s development.
“Chuck had an idea what he wanted [George] to be, a guy people like and root for,” he says. “I like the idea he’s a guy who lacks the tools to understand a kid like Sheldon but he’s doing the absolute best he can with what he has. I hope that’s how I play it.
“Those guys do exist and exist without being cartoons or stereotypes,” he says, “which is why I took things from my grandfathers and the guys on the periphery of my life who made sports their lives. I had a perspective because it’s so different from who I was.”
Barber had a history with Lorre before “Young Sheldon” came along, appearing in an episode of “The Big Bang Theory” as bully Jimmy Speckerman. “I like to think work begets work, and I had luck with Chuck [on that episode] … and he brought me in for [CBS sitcom] ‘Mike & Molly’ to test against Billy Gardell, who’s a terrific man and actor and deservedly got that show,” he says. “But I think I stayed on Chuck’s radar.” (Gardell appears occasionally on “Young Sheldon.”)
Barber takes center stage in Thursday night’s episode. “George gets a big college coaching job offer in Oklahoma where he would have to pick up and leave the state. It’s a terrific opportunity for George, personally and financially, and he has a choice to make,” he says. “I’ll just say that [the episode] paints George as very sympathetic.”
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