‘Young Sheldon’ is a portrait of an annoying genius and a young boy

Spinoffs of hit TV shows rarely turn out well. But, if the trailer for “Young Sheldon.,” the spinoff of “The Big Bang Theory,” is any indication of the quality of the series, it might be the exception.

The series, due to air in the fall, is essentially a portrait of an annoying genius as an even annoying Young Boy. Nine-year-old Sheldon Cooper, living in a town in East Texas, is being bumped up to the ninth grade.

What could go wrong?

How super intelligence combines with a conspicuous lack of humility

The trailer depicts all of the classic Sheldon behaviors, including his contempt for anyone who is less intelligent than him, which is practically everyone. We see him squabbling with his siblings. His twin sister is relieved that Sheldon will no longer be in the same grade as him. His older brother is irate that the pint-sized Newton in the making will now be attending high school.

We see Sheldon, played with self-assured alacrity by newcomer Iain Armitage, noting all of the grooming and wardrobe malfeasances of his fellow students as well as the qualifications of his teachers.

He does have enough self-awareness to be intimidated by the fact that he is half the size of everyone else at the high school.

The question arises, why did a religious woman such as Sheldon’s mom Mary Cooper, played by Zoe Perry, not home school the lad? No public institution of learning is going to contain the lad.

A touching moment with Sheldon’s father

The trailer also shows a touching moment between Sheldon and his father, a school coach who explains to his son why it is sometimes not a good idea to be so OCD about the rules. During the saying of grace at family dinner, Sheldon always wears gloves when holding hands, such as his germ phobia is.

But after the talk with his father, young Sheldon takes off his glove to hold his father’s bare hand.

We see in that scene why the adult Sheldon doesn’t like to talk about his father. It was not that he was overbearing or cruel. The loss of the man is obviously still a source of pain for him.

Will ‘Young Sheldon’ work?

Adult Sheldon’s memories of his childhood are not very pleasant, involving as it does being beaten up periodically by the neighborhood kids. So a show about the character’s early life has every possibility of being painful and degrading to watch. But, the trailer proves that such an account can be endearing as well. The series is certainly worth a look by fans of "The Big Bang Theory."