Georgie & Mandy EP on Prioritizing Mandy’s Career (and Expanding Her Social Circle) in Season 1

Former weather girl Mandy McAllister is determined to get her career back on track… though she may need to make a few more sacrifices first.

Episode 2 of Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage saw Emily Osment’s character return home after she struck out at an audition for an on-air gig. Audrey then suggested that the onetime communications major try her hand at print journalism, while Jim implored their daughter to take night classes, brush up on her computer skills, and find herself a cushy office job. Alas, neither idea excited Georgie’s better-half.

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<cite>Robert Voets/CBS</cite>
Robert Voets/CBS

Series co-creator Steve Holland tells TVLine that expanding Mandy’s world is a priority for the Young Sheldon spinoff, and that includes a return to work. “It’s really important to get her out of that house and give her a drive,” he says. “We’ve known that Mandy is ambitious, and that’s going to be part of the struggle.

“It’s frustrating for her, trying to get back out into the workplace, and trying to get back what she lost, even before [she met] Georgie,” the EP previews. “It isn’t as easy as she thought it would be.” Along the way, Mandy will have to make some difficult choices, “and maybe take some jobs that she isn’t that excited about, because she wants to be working. She wants to have a career, and she wants to contribute to her family. That is definitely going to be a part of her story this season.”

Georgie & Mandy’s freshman run will also address Mandy’s need for friends her own age. “In fact, we just shot an episode about that,” Holland reveals. “She realizes that, especially when you have young kids, that ‘Oh my god, our social circle is now my parents. We’re hanging out, playing cards… like, this cannot be our lives.’ Her drive to have a bigger friend group is also complicated by the fact that her friends are her age, and Georgie friends are his age, and there’s not a lot of overlap.

“In early episodes, we have the broad strokes of these characters,” based on the versions people know from Young Sheldon. But as they delve further into the writing of Season 1, Holland says that “it has been fun to find ways to shade these characters in ways that are maybe more surprising.” Take, for instance, Audrey, who always seems to say the wrong things when confronting her daughter about marriage and motherhood. “It’s great to peel back the layers of that character and start to understand why she is behaving that way. She thinks her daughter has so much potential, and she wants her to achieve all of the things that she never got to achieve. It’s hard for her to sit back and watch her not do those things.”

<cite>Robert Voets/CBS</cite>
Robert Voets/CBS

Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage Episode 3 airs Thursday, Oct. 31 (CBS, 8/7c). In the meantime, hit the comments and share your hopes for Mandy’s Season 1 storyline (and beyond).

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