‘Young Sheldon’: Season 4 Blu-Ray Review – Winning Sitcom Continues To Blaze Its Own Trail

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Being a once-in-a-generation mind isn’t always easy for young Sheldon Cooper. The gifted but naive preteen faces major milestones in Season Four. With college in sight, Sheldon is determined to leave the training wheels behind. But what happens when his new philosophy teacher sends him into an existential crisis? Sheldon isn’t the only Cooper facing big changes. Twin sister Missy enters middle school and a new stage of womanhood, while older brother Georgie embarks on a surprising business venture. Feisty Meemaw juggles multiple beaus, while parents George Sr. and Mary do their best to keep the family on track. Follow the formative years of everyone’s favorite boy genius across 18 witty, heartwarming episodes.

For previous thoughts on Young Sheldon, please read our Blu-Ray reviews of Season 2, Season 3 and Season 5.  

For thoughts on Young Sheldon: The Complete Fourth Season, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

[youtube https://youtu.be/_oNSi9QIWEE?si=QMmqYyvIDcWg2bL3&t=1885]

Video Quality

Young Sheldon: The Complete Fourth Season arrives on Blu-Ray courtesy of Warner Archive with a terrific AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Black levels are nice and deep, giving way to a substantial amount of detail in darker scenes. The highlights of the show are bright and brilliant without succumbing to blooming. Skin tones appear detailed and natural throughout the season, and compression artifacts and other such digital anomalies do not show up as a nuisance. This transfer unveils a lot of unique detail within the clothing and period production design. The aesthetic of the series remains natural and bright with a lovely color palette revealing nifty colors within the frame. The Blu-Ray presentation easily bests the uneven broadcast feed.   

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray comes with a perfectly realized DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that captures the sonic intentions of this world with ease. Dialogue is the star feature of the show, and it always comes through clearly without being drowned out by any competing sounds. The period-appropriate music on the show accentuates the thematic moments without being too distracting, often filling the room during transitional moments. Pure action is nearly nonexistent on this show, but the sounds of the environment engage the surround speakers in a really favorable way. Ambient sounds are carefully placed in the rear channels. The voiceover from Jim Parsons comes through with a prominent placement within the mix. The audio track delivers a presentation that is unlikely to dissatisfy any fan of the material. There are optional English SDH subtitles provided. 

Special Features

• Cooped Up With The Coopers: An eight-minute featurette in which the cast reconnects on Zoom during quarantine to discuss what they have been doing to pass the time and their desire to get back to filming.  

Final Thoughts

The fourth season of Young Sheldon is another formidable and immensely entertaining entry into a series which feels unfairly maligned by those who do not watch it. We love a family sitcom which builds out all of its characters and gives them arcs that serve their individuality. This season makes the very important step of sending Sheldon off to college to face off against a new set of obstacles which his intelligence might not always be able to solve. The rest of the ensemble are likewise served up juicy storylines that deliver big laughs and warm the heart. This may be a spinoff of The Big Bang Theory, but the series has evolved beyond needing a connection to the mothership. Warner Archive continues to deliver a top tier A/V presentation for the Blu-Ray along with a brief supplemental featurette. If you are a fan of the show, you will have a blast this season. Highly Recommended 

Young Sheldon: The Complete Fourth Season can be purchased directly through MovieZyng or through various other online retailers.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Warner Archive has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.