Would You Watch A Show Called ‘The Goldbergs’?

Jeff Garlin Image by Getty Images

By Anne Cohen May 15, 2013

Ah, Jews and the ’80s. Clearly a winning combination.

ABC’s fall lineup includes a time machine to society’s most amusing (or made-fun-of) decade, via “The Goldbergs.” There’s the typical Jewish mother Beverly (Wendi McLendon-Covey — whose bright purple eyeshadow is thickly painted on), gruff dad Murray (Jeff Garlin), crimp-iron abusing oldest sister Erica (Hayley Orrantia), awkward pasty middle child Barry (Troy Gentile — who really looks like a Barry) and wacky grandpa Al (George Segal).

Every loving (read: harsh and guilt-ridden) word is captured on videotape (it’s the ’80s after all) by aspiring director Adam (Sean Giambrone), who’s adult narrator voice sounds an awful lot like Patton Oswalt.

The show will provide Tuesday night comic relief from 9 p.m. to 10, airing right after the long-awaited “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

From what we can see in the trailer, it’ll either be incredibly amusing, offensive, or a combination of both, so long as the “Flava Flav” references are kept to a minimum.

What do you think? Watch the trailer below:

Anne Cohen was the Forward’s deputy digital media editor. When she’s not looking for the secret Jewish history of Voodoo in New Orleans, or making lists about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she writes for The Assimilator. She graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an M.S. magazine concentration in 2012.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO