Should ‘The Goldbergs’ Be More Jewish?

By Curt Schleier July 15, 2014

Paul Lee, ABC’s group president of entertainment, met with reporters this morning during the Television Critics Association semi-annual meeting in Hollywood. Not unexpectedly, the subject of “The Goldbergs” came up.

Lee,who recently renewed his own contract with the network (though ABC has languished in fourth place for the last four years), recently renewed the Jewish-themed comedy for a second season. It joins black, Hispanic and Asian-themed comedies that the Hollywood Reporter said “ambitiously mine cultural and ethnic diversity.”

Lee, who is a British Jew, was asked if “The Goldbergs” needed to become more specifically Jewish. He responded that what aired was the vision of its creator, Adam Goldberg. “It’s Adam’s show. I’m not going to sit there and say, ‘From one Jew to another, I want a bar mitzvah.’”

Curt Schleier is a freelance writer and author who covers business and the arts for a variety of publications. Follow him on Twitter at @tvsoundoff.

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