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| "The Goldbergs" is not ABC's best new comedy, but it's decent. |
I feel safe in saying that I’m probably one of fewer than
1,000 people in this country who have seen every episode of Adam Goldberg’s
last series Breaking In. It’s not that the show was watched by that
few people (though the numbers weren’t great); it’s just that the show’s second
season was pulled after only five episodes aired and the remaining eight have,
by all accounts, never aired outside of Portugal. No Netflix, no Hulu, no Amazon, no DVDs,
nothing. Of course, thanks to the magic
of the internet, nothing is truly lost forever anymore, and so I managed to get
my hands on the remaining eight episodes of a show that, while never really
good, managed to make me laugh and also do some interesting things, including
what was basically a season-long homage to geek culture.
I tell you that to let you know that I have a particular
affinity for Adam Goldberg. I get his
humor and share his affinity for pop culture, so I’m probably more disposed to
liking The Goldbergs than your
average person. That all said, The Goldbergs is a much more accessible,
much funnier, and much better show than Breaking
In ever was, and I could legitimately see it becoming my favorite new
comedy this year.
There is definitely a strong The Wonder Years vibe to The
Goldbergs. There’s a voiceover from
the future (narrated by Patton Oswalt instead of Daniel Stern). The nominal lead is in his early teens,
there’s a less-intelligent older brother, the sister about to head off to
college, the gruff but lovable father, and the slightly wacky mother. Having just rewatched The Wonder Years pilot this summer, I’m fully comfortable saying
that show was both better and more ambitious. It was also much quieter, more dramatic, and
more subtle. The Goldbergs is the The Wonder
Years crossed with Malcolm in the
Middle, which is to say there’s a lot of yelling.
Judging comedies by their pilots is often a fools’ errand,
as so much time is spent establishing characters and plots that shows often
forget to be, well, funny. One thing
that struck me quite a bit about The
Goldbergs is that I laughed. And I
wasn’t just laughing at obvious jokes and shenanigans, but I was laughing with
the characters and their situations.
There’s a running gag throughout the pilot about father Murray (Jeff
Garlin) and his inability to express his emotions verbally. Yes, it could be a lazy stereotype, but the
way his “Dad Translator” is used and the timing with which it is employed gave
me a chuckle pretty much every time.
What surprised me the most about the pilot was how little
Sean Giambrone was used as Adam. It was
probably just a matter of my incorrect expectations, but I expected the Adam
Goldberg character to have more of a role in the show created by Adam
Goldberg. Again, that’s a problem of my expectations
more than the show, because the pilot’s plot, which revolves largely around
older son Barry’s (Troy Gentile) attempt to get his driver’s license is, while cliched, very charming as well. It's probable that since Goldberg was always videotaping his family's life, he sees himself as the objective observer of all their shenanigans. But the pilot's story brings in the entire family and
really serves nicely to flesh out all the characters.
I don’t know that The
Goldbergs is really trying anything new, but I like the characters and it
made me laugh which, like I said, is really about all you can realistically ask of
a comedy pilot.
The Goldbergs
debuts Tuesday night at 8:00pm CST.
A couple of spare thoughts –
There’s a great tag at the end, where Goldberg shows home
video footage of his family that he took as a child, including a scene that he
took straight from real life.
Wendy McLendon Covey’s mother, Beverly, is really over the
top and could easily become my least favorite character very quickly. Hopefully she is toned down in coming
weeks.
“He’s too old for you.
He’s in college.” “Wrong, he
dropped out to start a band. Don’t you
feel stupid?”
“I agree with whatever nonsense your mother just said.”
So thoughts?
Comments? Just want to tell me my
blog sucks? Let me know in the comments
or on Twitter @TyTalksTV
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