How Big Bang Theory botched Young Sheldon’s best friendship

One of the core friendships featured in Young Sheldon was arguably botched by The Big Bang Theory – here’s what happened in both shows.

It’s possible that nobody was more surprised at Young Sheldon‘s blossoming friendship than Sheldon himself, who always assumed that he was destined to be a lone wolf.

Despite all the odds, the genius Cooper child goes on to have plenty of enriching friendships – though nowhere is this more apparent than Sheldon’s main series, The Big Bang Theory.

However, there is one friendship that is completely overlooked in TBBT, but is essential in Young Sheldon. What happened, and how did it get botched?

Tam and Sheldon’s friendship in Young Sheldon is totally different to Big Bang Theory

Sheldon Cooper’s childhood best friend Tam is set to return for the upcoming Season 7 finale – but was hardly seen or spoken about in The Big Bang Theory.

In Young Sheldon, Tam’s presence is absolutely essential, becoming the first friend that Sheldon ever makes. Introduced within the first few episodes of Season 1, the pair’s friendship continues to navigate life, learning plenty about the importance of connection – and about themselves – along the way.

However, The Big Bang Theory tells a different story. Tam is neither mentioned nor seen until Season 12, airing in 2018. As seen in the above clip, Sheldon’s adult friends are left trying to work out why the brainiac had never thought to mention him. The reason we’re given for this is that Sheldon was mad at Tam for not moving to California with him, instead staying in Texas with a new girlfriend. On the flipside, Tam had just assumed that the pair had naturally drifted apart.

This attitude arguably does a disservice to the pair’s friendship, given how valuable Tam was to Sheldon’s early development. However, there might be a more logical reason as to why Tam was – clearly – shoehorned into the main series before it ended. Young Sheldon’s first season aired the year before Tam’s brief TBBT stint, meaning the main show creators quickly needed to rationalize the backstory created in the prequel.

It’s a plot point that has annoyed numerous fans, alongside Tam’s sudden disappearance from later episodes of Young Sheldon.

“The writers should be fired for that blunder,” one fan posted on Reddit, with a second agreeing, “Pretty sure that what this guy means is that Tam’s role in Young Sheldon got WAY smaller and given how Tam and Sheldon refer to each other in TBBT it looks like Sheldon was best friends and super close to him until Sheldon left Texas.”

At the moment, Tam will be in high school, explaining his absence from Season 6. It’s currently unclear how his return will be handled in Season 7.

While you wait for Young Sheldon Season 7 Episode 4, you can check out all the best new TV shows coming out in March here, and catch up with the Young Sheldon Season 7 essentials here:

What time is Young Sheldon on tonight? | Young Sheldon Season 7: All theories explained | When is Young Sheldon Season 7 coming to Netflix? | Young Sheldon filming locations | How to watch Young Sheldon Season 7 outside the US