I didn't like The Big Bang Theory (2007-19), featuring Johnny Galecki as the (relatively) stable center of a group of wacky nerd scientists who can't get any "big bangs." The hetero-horniness was incessant, and there were so many homophobic statements -- mostly asserting that all gay men wear dresses and prance -- that I was more amazed than offended Wasn't Jim Parsons, who played the neurotic physics savant Sheldon Cooper, gay? Why didn't he protest? (Apparently he was closeted until around the fifth season.)
But I liked Young Sheldon (2017-24), about Sheldon Cooper's childhood, growing up in East Texas in the 1990s with a conservative Baptist Mom, a macho football-coach Dad, a macho muscle-building brother, and...you get the idea.
I grew up in the Nazarene Church, which taught that Baptists were much too liberal. I could relate.
Plus there were lots of cute guys. Sheldon's older brother Georgie (Montana Jordan) had musclebuilding plotlines before they switched to a "getting a girl pregnant" story arc.
Dad, Lance Barber, was a chub with a bulge.
Next door neighbor Billy (Wyatt McClure) was too young to be hot, of course, but he had that puppy-dog cuteness that makes you say "Aww, how adorable!" I figured that he would eventually come out, but instead the writers decided to give him a crush on Sheldon's sister.
And how about Rex Linn as Tom Peters, the longsuffering principal at Sheldon's high school. Wait, this is Simon Rex.
There were no gay characters -- with or without Jim Parsons as executive producer, this was still a "family friendly" (non gay) show. But also no casual homophobia. Just a few references suggesting homophobia, as when someone suggests that Sheldon might be...you know, and Dad angrily yells "NO!"
And in Season 5, Sheldon tells his roommate Evan (Motoki Maxten) that he doesn't want to date girls because they are a distraction.
"So you're into guys?" Evan asks nonchalantly.
"No, they're a distraction, too?"
Actually, he turns out to be asexual hetero-romantic, although this is never specified on The Big Bang Theory.
Roommate: "So you like guys?"
Sheldon: "No, they're a distraction, too."
The adult Sheldon is interested in heterosexual romance but not interested in sex (although he agrees to do it with his girlfriend as a birthday present). The term for that is asexual hetero-romantic, but it is never explored on Big Bang Theory.
But I'm pretty sure that Iain Armitage (Young Sheldon) is gay.
More after the break