Herschel Sparks is the father of Billy Sparks and Bobbi Sparks and ex-husband to Brenda Sparks. He appears in the series spinoff "Young Sheldon" where he is a neighbor of Sheldon and his family.
Character Overview[]
Young Sheldon[]
Herschel is a mechanic and garage owner who gives Georgie a part-time job at the garage after school. This would lead to Georgie on the path to becoming Dr. Tire and owning a chain of tire stores (An 8-Bit Princess and a Flat Tire Genius).
His marriage to Brenda is rather mixed as he is constantly yelled at and bossed around by her. As George is bossed around by his wife Mary, this leads to the two men both bonding over how they are often dominated by their wives.
Despite this, he and Brenda still get the chance for intimacy. Billy Sparks barges into Sheldon's garage boasting about eating cereal for dinner, claiming he was hungry, but his parents were "in their bedroom kissing." (A Nuclear Reactor and a Boy Called Lovey)
Later on, Herschel officially moved out of the Sparks household. The reason why is unknown, but it's likely because he and Brenda are getting a divorce which was later confirmed. (A Box of Treasure and the Meemaw of Science)
Herschel was interested in having Georgie over to work at his garage. He was impressed by his work. He joins George in his backyard and says Georgie has talent with tires. Back at the shop the next day, he sees Georgie identify the source of an air leak, and is impressed. (Carbon Dating and a Stuffed Raccoon)
His son (Billy) says that his Dad (Herschel) used to never let him play cards with him. (A Virus, Heartbreak and a World of Possibilities)
Billy says Hershel is with another woman, who he described to be nice and named Martha Jean. (A God-Fearin' Baptist and a Hot Trophy Husband)
By 1994, Herschel had divorced Brenda and moved to New Jersey. His son Billy revealed this fact to Missy Cooper to sympathise with her situation of losing her father. (Funeral)
Personality[]
Herschel is portrayed as a very nice person and, unlike his ex-wife, is always courteous to the Coopers.
Family[]
- Ex-Wife: Brenda Sparks
- Son: Billy Sparks
- Daughter: Bobbi Sparks
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Herschel has made no appearances in Season 3, Season 4, or Young Sheldon for a long time and the storyline of Georgie working at his mechanic shop hasn't been mentioned since "A Swedish Science Thing and the Equation for Toast". His disappearance is likely due to Billy Gardell's commitments on Bob Hearts Abishola.
- He is the only member of the Sparks family whose first name doesn't begin with the letter "B" (Herschel, Brenda, Billy, Bobbi).
Appearances[]
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Appearances |
Young Sheldon Episodes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Tot | |
| Season 1 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 2 | M | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 3 | M | M | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 4 | M | M | M | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 5 | M | M | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 6 | M | M | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 7 | M | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Appeared | M = Mentioned | Did not appear | Not aired/Not available | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| V = Voiced | C = Cameo | F = Flashback | I = Indirectly mentioned | P = Pictured | |||||||||||||||||||||
| v · e · d Young Sheldon Characters
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Main Characters | Main | Sheldon Cooper ‧ Mary Cooper ‧ George Cooper Sr. ‧ George Cooper Jr. ‧ Missy Cooper ‧ Meemaw ‧ Jeff Difford ‧ Billy Sparks ‧ Amanda McAllister | |
| Recurring and Minor Characters | John Sturgis ‧ Tam Nguyen ‧ Paige Swanson ‧ Veronica Duncan ‧ Brenda Sparks ‧ Herschel Sparks ‧ Victoria MacElroy ‧ Evelyn Ingram ‧ Wayne Wilkins ‧ Hubert Givens ‧ Sheryl Hutchins ‧ Gene Lundy ‧ Tom Petersen ‧ Le Nguyen ‧ Trang Nguyen ‧ Mai Nguyen ‧ Kim-Ly Nguyen ‧ Barry Swanson ‧ Linda Swanson ‧ Erica Swanson ‧ Dale Ballard ‧ Selena ‧ Robin Difford ‧ Jana ‧ Marcus Larson ‧ June ‧ Grant Linkletter ‧ Linda Hagemeyer ‧ Pat ‧ Professor Boucher ‧ Jim McAllister ‧ Audrey McAllister ‧ Amber | ||