Poll of the Day > Fresh off the boat vs Young sheldon.

(+) Yeah! (+)

The winner for me is Young Sheldon, although honestly mainly due to one character.

I watched every episode of young sheldon, most when they aired. I am even watching the spin off (though it's not nearly as good).

I watched many episodes of Fresh off the boat with my wife, but probably would not have watched many if it was't with her. What was the difference?

Well first, the moms. Fresh off the boats mom can be annoying/controlling etc, but she is often funny, cares about her family and generally isn't selfish, nor does she belittle her husband etc.

Marry from young sheldon always got on my nerve (both the version in young sheldon and BBT for that matter). She totally mishandled sheldon and spoiled him, and blocked his dad from raising him how he wanted. She was selfish a few times, holier than tho alot and just flat not funny pretty much ever. She was my least favorite cast member by far.

So while the mom from Fresh off the boat was not my favorite character, she was not my least favorite (in fact I had no characters that I totally didn't like).

The dads. I would pretty much call them a wash, I liked George Snr in young sheldon and though he was an upright, good father, who was faithful and cared about his family. He also could be funny which was nice compared to Mary. He was in my top 3 characters and he brought alot to the show.

Jim on the other hand from Fresh off the boat was ALSO funny (I would say even more so) but was also a bit weaker and let his wife Pam run over him often (but not always). He was a good and honorable man and father and also brought alot to the show.

The kids, gonna just bunch em all up, were mostly a wash for me. My favorite was definatly Missy, and my least favorite was Sheldon, so all together it was pretty even. They often brought comedy to the series and other than Sheldon being annoying sometimes, I think they were all a positive on the series. Sheldon was kinda mandatory due to it being a spin off, and there were curtailed on how much they could change him.

Now the REAL difference was the grandmothers lol. FoTB's was mostly forgetable, though she did have some humorious scenses, she was more of a side character than a main one. There is no comparison to Memaw though who was my favorite character and who I wish they had done a spin off with. She MADE the show and I am 100% sure I would not have seen all the episodes if she wasn't part of it, or if she had left before it ended. The main thing that made YS so much better, was her.

That being said, the side characters in YS were generally better as well. Paige etc were very interesting/fun and heck I woulda loved to see a Paige/Missy spin off where they run off together or something lol. There were good side characters in FoTB as well, but they were usually more short term, and not as deep (at least didn't seem to be to me). Nothing really drew me in and made me want to see what happened next like in YS.

So over all, YS was the better show, at least to me looking back. Enjoyed both, but YS was more in line with competing with Malcolm in the middle (pretty much my favorite family show) while FoTB was more like competing with The Middle (still good, but no MiTM).

What are your opinions on the shows if you watched them?

I've only seen a few episodes of FOB, but I liked what I saw. Sheldon is a much better show than people give it credit for. It's got decently written characters and a lot of heart.

But you should already know how people are going to respond to this topic.

keyblader1985 posted...

I've only seen a few episodes of FOB, but I liked what I saw. Sheldon is a much better show than people give it credit for. It's got decently written characters and a lot of heart.

But you should already know how people are going to respond to this topic.

Haven't been on this board much lately so not really sure, I would imagine most like YS better though, cause as you said, it's just a better show all around. Really sad it ended even if Sheldon himself was just getting to old lol.

FotB though was decent for it's time. I would rate Modern Family over it probably, but not many other family shows that were airing at the same time.

I've rewatched Malcom in the middle all the way through more than once, same with Parks and Rec and The office. The number of shows I have rewatched all the way through are low (Breaking bad is another), and the number of comedies I think are just those 3, and seinfield.

I won't rewatch YS though, even though I really liked it, at least not for quite a few years.

Young Sheldon is legitimately one of the best comedies of this century imo. People want to crap on a BBT prequel spin off and I get it, but the characters are great, production value high, it's got heart and is generally much more funny than BBT.

Fresh Off The Boat was too sterile. We could have gotten a sitcom about an Asian family and the racism they were dealing with during that era, but instead of we just got a slice of life comedy that barely did anything with the fact that they were Asian. It didn't even seem like a comedy for Asians, but for demographics that only know of Asians from stereotypes.

BADoglick posted...

Young Sheldon is legitimately one of the best comedies of this century imo. People want to crap on a BBT prequel spin off and I get it, but the characters are great, production value high, it's got heart and is generally much more funny than BBT.

I haven't personally watched it, but I've watched a video explaining its qualities, and I find it really cool how they retroactively legitimized dumb throwaway jokes from BBT in a meaningful way by explaining the reasons for Sheldon's mannerisms and preconceptions.

I have watched most of BBT over the years but I didn't watch it while it aired and I certainly missed some episodes. Hated the laugh track (which they brought back for George and Mandy's), and didn't like bernadete or a few other cast members. It was ok, but nothing I looked forward to each week or even binge watched.

YS is honestly one of the best spin off series that I have seen that surpassed the original show significantly. I was not expecting anything from it at all, but never stopped watching it once I started to.

Glad to see others feel that way about it.

Young Sheldon was actually surprisingly good. People literally thought it would be BBT , but with kids, but what we got was a homage to shows like The Wonder Years.

I've only seen Young Sheldon, but I like it.

FotB was fine. Tbh I only kept watching it because Constance Wu was one of my celebrity crushes at the time lol

YS was great; very wholesome and funny. Probably my second favorite family show after The Goldbergs.

No interest in young sheldon as I couldnt get into bbt.

fresh off the boat was fine. I couldnt relate at all but it was one of those shows where my wife and I enjoyed watching it together when we got takeout.

Blue_Thunder posted...

FotB was fine. Tbh I only kept watching it because Constance Wu was one of my celebrity crushes at the time lol

Brenda Song was mine in my younger day. What's the deal with attractive Asian actresses with old lady names?

I just looked up Brenda Song, she has a kid with Macauly Culkin? Okay, didn't see that one.

Salrite posted...

Brenda Song was mine in my younger day. What's the deal with attractive Asian actresses with old lady names?

I just looked up Brenda Song, she has a kid with Macauly Culkin? Okay, didn't see that one.

Home alone after shave face!!!

Fresh Off The Boat is fine, issue is that it's nothing like the book and when it does reference anything similar it does it in a very light hearted way