Breaking Up Is Hard Hilarious to Do

Young Sheldon Meemaw and ’s Hilarious to Do Dale are through! What happens next? Day drinking!

- JIM HALTERMAN

Young Sheldon 100th EPISODE Thursday, March 31, 8/7c, CBS

Laughter has always been at the center of CBS’s Young Sheldon, the early-’90s-set prequel to The Big Bang Theory that explores the life of persnickety 12-year-old genius Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage) and his East Texas family. But heading into its 100th episode, TV’s No. 1 comedy has been pulling on the heartstrings as well. In the March 10 half-hour, Sheldon’s livewire grandmother Connie, aka Meemaw (fan favorite Annie Potts), was blindsided when her cantankerous boyfriend, sporting goods store owner Dale Ballard (Parenthood’s Craig T. Nelson), dumped her. “It was a little tough to watch,” admits cocreator Steven Molaro, but the twist fits the sitcom’s mission for Season 5. “We’re not shying away from letting this show become the dramedy that it can be,” he says.

What hurts the most about the split? The senior couple genuinely care for each other. “Dale fell in love with who Meemaw is, all of the rough edges and absurd qualities,” Nelson explains. But now, they’re moving at different speeds: He’s ready to slow down, retire and travel. She just used the profits from her booming business—a laundromat with an illegal gambling room in the back, purchased earlier this season—to buy herself a bright yellow Miata convertible that Dale can barely fit in. (“I’m crunched up like a pretzel,” Nelson jokes.)