One of the new offerings that stands out from the pack is ABC's coming-of-age series, The Goldbergs, which is fueled partly by nostalgia, partly by the great Jeff Garlin's constant yelling and partly out of some outstanding writing. A strong cast doesn't hurt, either.
The adult cast is superb... but it feels as if the young actor playing Adam (Sean Giambrone) might have been kidnapped from a more conventional TV family.
Clever, hysterical, touching, nostalgic...this show always puts me in a good mood and I appreciate how the importance of caring about your family always comes through. So nice to have a show I feel good about my kids watching, that I enjoy too. Love the quirky characters and the real life photos at the end. Every episode brings back a forgotten 80's anomaly-love the Columbia House episode!!!
I love this show. It is funny and I especially love the 80s nostalgia. A particular favourite of mine is when the creator shows real home movies that tie in to the theme of that nights episode. Looking forward to season two!!!
What it needs to make it a lasting family comedy and not a VH1 special is heart and a sense of its characters as individuals. It shows signs of the former, but the latter gets lost in the deafeningly loud pilot and the pop-culture-reference humor.
There are a few lively moments--Barry flipping out when he thinks his mom gave him car keys for his birthday when it's really a locket with her picture in it; a montage that collects dad's malapropisms, the better to teach viewers "How to speak Murray"--but it's all too strained, too obviously written, and too dependent on the sort of easy-laughs memory-lane-tripping that VH1 did to death about fifteen years ago.
As far as my wife and I are concerned, this is one of the best shows on TV. EVERY character is perfect and the grandpa, George Segal is right on the money. I only wish I could be as good a grandpa....
The Goldbergs is a simple and likeable TV series, which is based on true events (mostly!) that happened to Adam Goldberg, who is also the creator of the series. It's a story about a middle - class family set in the 1980s.
The story is almost always "sitcomy" which is fine for a B - class sitcom on ABC. The story itself is fun enough to keep me interested. Rather then interested, I will say entertained.
Characters on the other hand can be a problem. At least in the beginning. Except for Beverly, who is one of the best characters in the whole land of TV, other characters have flaws. Either they are too bland (Erica, Murray) or too loud and forced (Barry, Adam).
But that is just a first opinion. You just have to get used to them. And when you do - you will love them.
If I hear the mom (McLendon) endearingly address her youngest son as "poopie" again I'm going to shoot myself in the face. The show contains every stock character present in every other sitcom, regardless of the decade being portrayed. There's the lazy dad, overbearing mom, popular older daughter, dumb as a rock son, and smart but awkward younger child. Plots revolve around how overprotective and smothering mom is, how inept dad is, and how clueless they are that their kids are completely aware of this. Then there's the inevitable feel good plot resolution where mom's craziness saved the day, or dad isn't so inept after all, or he still is, but it's endearing, or something equally cheesy.
On occasion their will be fun references to 80s culture as long as you aren't a stickler for exact dates. That makes it fun to reminisce for some people. If you have a soft spot for 80s music, you might enjoy some parts. The show can elicit a laugh sometimes when it's not trying too hard to stick to cliche sitcom tropes. Overall, if you are bored, it might be worth watching if you can tolerate it.
This show is absolutely horrible. Are people high to think this is actually a good show? The time line doesn't even go in order from everything that they mention in each episode. They go over so many things that are in different years in the 80 's. I can't believe that ABC actually gave this a full season. What is wrong with them. The actors are horrible and the plot is so bad. This is supposed to be based on someone 's real life. I highly doubt that all of this happened the way that he explains it. I had to stop watching after the first episode but see so many previews while watching other shows that make me never want to watch another episode of this horrible show. PLEASE ABC get a clue and CANCEL this horrible show. Please save space for a show that actually belongs on the air.
That 80's Show, a.k.a. The Goldbergs, is a rip-off, and not even a good one. I don't mind putting my brain on pause when I watch a comedy, but after watching this "comedy", I have difficulty starting up my brain again.
The dialog is bad, really bad. The acting doesn't save the bad dialog. The cam-corder trick falls flat.
Not only should ABC cancel this show, they should fire the person responsible for bringing it to the airwaves.