Young Sheldon was one of my favorite, if not my favorite show. So I looked forward to this as a continuation of that series, not a complete refresh.
While I liked the first episode and will continue to watch it, the one thing I found really annoying and distracting was the laugh track. The first time it occurred, within the first 15 seconds or so of the episode, I looked over at my wife and said "it's like they're trying way too hard to be funny." That's when it hit me that they were using a laugh track.
To me, the writing for this show seems to be designed to be much more of a comedy than Young Sheldon was, but most of moments when the laugh track chided in weren't really that funny. The first occurrence was just a one-liner from Georgie, and as the episode wore on, it got even more annoying, laughing at every verbal exchange.
The beauty of Young Sheldon was its being funny without trying - especially Sheldon and his naivete and lack of self awareness. All the characters played a role in adding to that, especially Georgie who has his own naivete.
I gave it a rating of 7/10 and hope the show will last since I've looked forward to it for a long time, but I'm skeptical that the laugh track will kill it if it continues.
