HBO Max’s #1 Sitcom Proves One 19-Year-Old Sitcom Franchise Will Never Die

The news that Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage is HBO Max’s most popular sitcom in January 2026 is proof that The Big Bang Theory has almost unprecedented longevity in the world of sitcoms. Even the best sitcom franchises have their limits. Friends was once the most popular show in the world, but its sole spinoff, Joey, only lasted a meager two seasons.

Similarly, although How I Met Your Mother’s finale was divisive, the show was hugely popular during its original run. Despite this, its sequel series How I Met Your Father also only lasted two seasons before its cancellation. This is what makes the events since The Big Bang Theory’s finale so notable.

The Big Bang Theory’s first spinoff, Young Sheldon, couldn’t replicate the astronomical ratings of the original show, but the series was still a massive success. Young Sheldon was consistently one of the biggest network TV shows of the year throughout its seven-season run, and Young Sheldon’s ratings remained strong right up to its finale.

Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage Is HBO Max’s Most Popular Sitcom

Similarly, a glance at HBO Max’s 10 most-watched TV shows of January 2026 proves just how much staying power the sitcom franchise still has. Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage is HBO Max’s most-watched sitcom as of January 7, 2026, and the streaming service’s number 3 TV show altogether.

That’s an impressive achievement considering how many big-budget, highly hyped shows the streaming service boasts, from It: Welcome to Derry to The Pitt to Industry. However, what makes this even more impressive is the fact that Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage isn’t even a spinoff of The Big Bang Theory. It is a spinoff of that show’s earlier spinoff, Young Sheldon.

Even though Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage doesn’t feature Sheldon himself in its main cast, the show has still managed to rise through the ranks and become HBO Max’s biggest sitcom in 2026. Not only that, but Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage was also amongst the most-watched network TV shows of the 2024-2025 season, and it was one of only two sitcoms to achieve this.

Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage Proves The Big Bang Theory Franchise Has Staying Power

The fact that a spinoff of a spinoff can still perform so well with audiences proves just how much generational staying power The Big Bang Theory franchise has. It might be less than two years since Young Sheldon’s finale originally aired, but it is no less than 6.5 years since the original show wrapped up in May 2019.

Not only did The Big Bang Theory air over 270 episodes, but the show also spawned a spinoff that spawned a spinoff of its own. While Cheers did spawn the arguably equally successful Frasier, that spinoff never had a spinoff of its own, and Frasier’s short-lived revival proved that its appeal wasn’t as timeless as it may have once seemed.

Meanwhile, although MASH was the most successful sitcom of all time by any viewing metric, none of its many follow-ups, spinoffs, or reboots managed to recapture the original show’s audience to the extent that Young Sheldon and Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage has. What makes this particularly interesting is the many differences between these shows.

Young Sheldon was a single camera family sitcom with a narrator and a nostalgic ‘90s setting, whereas The Big Bang Theory was a contemporary multi-camera hangout show with a laugh track and no narrator. Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage kept Young Sheldon’s ‘90s setting but brought back the laugh track, and, most importantly, dropped the franchise’s original main character, Sheldon.

The fact that Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage not only survived its first season but thrived on streaming and on network TV proves just how much the sitcom franchise can afford to experiment without losing viewers. Although MASH is CBS’s biggest sitcom ever, even that colossal hit was never able to reinvent itself this radically in its followups.

Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage Bodes Well For The Big Bang Theory’s Next Spinoff

This bodes well for Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, the upcoming spinoff to The Big Bang Theory that looks set to completely alter the sitcom universe’s style and tone all over again. Starring Kevin Sussman’s Stuart, a supporting character from the original show, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe has an ambitious sci-fi premise.

The show is set to see Stuart travel through the multiverse after he accidentally destroys the original show’s universe while handling an invention created by Sheldon and Leonard. If that high-concept premise sounds risky and weird, that’s because it is, and the show’s co-creator Chuck Lorre has already admitted that the first episodes of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe feature extensive CGI.

The show sounds nothing like any of the earlier additions to The Big Bang Theory sitcom franchise, meaning Stuart Fails to Save the Universe could easily prove to be too big a departure for fans. After all, all three of the existing shows in The Big Bang Theory universe were grounded and featured almost no genre elements whatsoever.

That said, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage changed a lot from Young Sheldon’s formula, and Young Sheldon felt and looked nothing like The Big Bang Theory. Thus, as long as The Big Bang Theory’s next spinoff sticks to its guns, the upcoming show could prove as successful as Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.