Remember That Decade: The Goldbergs Bring the 80's Back

     The Goldbergs is a unique family sitcom based on the real life of Adam F. Goldberg, who grew up in the 1980's outside of Philadelphia. Adam is the youngest of three kids, and he follows his family (a real cast of characters) with a video camera. You may recognize these types of people in your own family.  You may have been a kid in the 80's and relate to some of the very humorous story lines. You may even enjoy watching with your own family to be grateful they're not this neurotic. If you family is this neurotic, let's chat!

     The most recent episode pitted siblings Erica and Barry in a fight about a school dance, which Erica planned with a Dirty Dancing theme (which school administration and Mrs. Goldberg changed their mind about after thinking what qualifies as "dirty"). Barry insists he will show up at the dance dressed like Kevin Bacon from Footloose and encourages Erica to dance out her frustrations in an "angry dance" scene. In the end, Erica gets humiliated and then has her spotlight dance with Barry's friend Geoff, who is obsessively (Say Anything boombox-style) in love with her. In another recent episode, Adam also tries to sneak into the movies to see the R-rated Weekend at Bernie's, shocking his mother and making poppa Murray proud.

     In a third hilarious episode (Laney Loves Lionel), Barry decided to create a clay bust of his girlfriend Lainey for valentine's day in honor of her affection for the Lionel Ritchie song Hello. It does not end well as Barry has a short temper and very few artistic skills.   I love this show and it's made it three seasons full of amusing anecdotes and embarrassing coming-of-age stories, similar to the beloved early 90's classic, The Wonder Years. Older Adam (voiced by Patton Oswald) narrates the beginning of each episode and a video tape is inserted into the VCR to begin the story. Here are the reasons to watch and catch up.

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Murray- Dad (Jeff Garlin)
     Murray comes home from work and drops his pants, taking up residence on.the armchair. He loves football, watching football, his dog Lucky, and calling his kids morons.  He does not like to talk about mentions and you will rarely see him dance, but he's got a deep heart in there somewhere. He also has one friend, Bill.

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Pops (Beverly's Dad) (George Segel)
     Pops lives nearby in a retirement community, but he hangs at the house on a regular basis. The kids get upset when pops buys a timeshare in Florida because he might not be around as much. Adam regularly declares Pops is his best friend, and pops dispenses advice to everyone, whether they are ready to hear it, or they are too stubborn. He attempts to bail Erica out of jail, despite not having a license. Most important, Pops agrees to go along with all of Adam's crazy ideas (filming an alternate ending to Transformers, auditioning for Double Dare, bringing two girls to the school dance).

Beverly - Mom (Wendy McLendon-Covey)

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     Adam's mother is often called a "smother" because she mothers to the umpteenth degree.  She calls all three kids schmoopie (or schmoops) and tries to get her "snuggles" in with each of them whenever possible. She does not want the kids to ever meet anyone they will love more than her, which can cause a lot of problems. She also scares the high school principal into getting her way often.

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Erica - Sister (Hayley Orrantia)
     Adam's big sister Erica is 1980's cool. She wears crop tops, ripped lace and rocks a scrunchy like no other. She gets invited to cool parties with beer, sneaks out to go to concerts, sings in bands, tries to get out of her mom's clutches, and at the end of the day always has her brothers' backs. Beverly and Erica's conflict drives many of the stories, including one where Beverly  showed up at Erica's department store job to constantly use Erica's associate discount.. It's important to note, Adam Goldberg doesn't have a sister, he had two older brothers. But they would not have looked as good in a fringed jacket as she does. Erica's best friend Lainey (A.J. Michalka) is a close adopted member of the Goldberg family and slowly grows to love Barry, much to Erica's disgust.

Barry- Brother (Troy Gentile)

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Barry is the middle child and likes ka-ra-tae (and he is terrible at it). Barry is good at one thing and one thing only, a made-up game he and Adam play called "Ball Ball." When the school jock joins Barry's ball ball club at school, Barry is kicked out and competes in a series of events Adam sets up that only Barry could win at. Barry chases after his sister's friend Lainey for a good chunk of time before she finally gives in and begins dating him, although she is a quintessential cool girl and sometimes embarrassed by Barry' bold declaration of love (See Laniey Loves Lionel). When he has free time, Barry can be found trying to rap under the name "Big Tasty", break dancing, or hanging out in the WaWa parking lot with his friends, the JTP (Jenkinstown Posse).

Adam F. Goldberg (Sean Giambrone)

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     Adam is a cute little middle school pipsqueak beginning puberty (or as Barry calls it, "The Pubening.") Adam carries a hefty video camera around to record his family's actions and to recreate his favorite movies, His best friend is pops, although he is also close with an elementary school pal Emmy, called Muscles Mirsky. Their clash over auditioning to Double Dare was priceless, as Adam got jealous of Emmy teaming up with the class jock, and he demands that pops be his partner. Pops is disgusted with picking through noses and kiddie pools of slime to find a flag and ultimately both kids lose out of the tryouts. The ultimate 80's fanboy, Adam is always found wearing shirts from his favorite movies, Star Wars, The Goonies, Tron and Transformers. Adam is the most willing to let mom indulge in her smothering, promising snuggies for small bits of freedom and dates with his first love, Dana, who moves away to Seattle.