One area where ABC has had a decent amount of success the last few years is with sit-comes. Modern Family has been a capital success and The Middle, The Neighbors, and Last Man Standing all have strong viewership plus lots of laughs. So any comedy they pick for the 2013 fall season, will have to be strong to compete. The Goldbergs has a good chance at making it. The one thing standing in its way is its premise.
Check out the preview below and let us know if an 80s retro show does it for you?
Before there were parenting blogs, trophies for showing up and peanut allergies, there was a simpler time called the ’80s. For geeky 11-year-old Adam (Sean Giambrone) these were his wonder years, and he faced them armed with a video camera to capture all the crazy. The Goldbergs are a loving family like any other, just with a lot more yelling. Mom Beverly (Wendi McClendon-Covey) is a classic “smother,” an overbearing, overprotective matriarch who rules this brood with 100% authority and zero sense of boundaries. Dad Murray (Jeff Garlin) is gruff, hot-tempered and trying to parent without screaming. Sister Erica (Hayley Orrantia) is 17, hot, terrifying and not one to mess with. Barry (Troy Gentile) is 16, a grade-A spaz with classic middle child syndrome. Adam (Sam Giambrone) is the youngest, a camera-wielding future director who’s crushing on an older woman. Rounding out the family is beloved grandfather Al “Pops” Solomon (George Segal), the wild man of the clan, a shameless Don Juan who’s schooling Adam in the ways of love. When Pops buys a new sports car and offers his Caddy to middle child Barry, it’s enough to drive this already high-strung family to the brink of chaos.
“The Goldbergs” stars Wendi McLendon-Covey (“Bridesmaids”) as Beverly, Jeff Garlin (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) as Murray, George Segal (“Don’t Shoot Me”) as Pops, Hayley Orrantia (“The X Factor”) as Erica, Sean Giambrone as Adam and Troy Gentile (“Good Luck Chuck”) as Barry. “The Goldbergs” was written and executive-produced by Adam F. Goldberg (“Breaking In,” “Fanboys”) and also executive produced by Doug Robinson. The pilot was directed by Seth Gordon (“Identity Thief,” “Horrible Bosses”). “The Goldbergs” is from Adam Sandler’s production company, Happy Madison, and is produced by Sony Pictures Television.
Even though this series is going to be based on Adam Goldberg’s real life family, I’m kind of hoping that he somehow manages to link this fictionalized version of his family with the original TV show called “The Goldbergs” which actually started as a radio show in the late 1920s and ran on television from 1950 to about 1956. I’d love it if, perhaps, one of the parents referred to a grandmother or great-aunt named Molly, or if they started an episode with the mother calling “Yoo-Hoo, is anybody there?” as a wink to the audience.
The original “Goldbergs” was the first mainstream Jewish family to be heard/seen on a regular radio/tv show and it would be a great acknowledgement of their cultural predecessor.
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