We’ve had many sitcoms that have taken us back in time. The Goldbergs is the newest one that relives the days before mini-cameras, iPods, iPads, iPhones, and everything high tech, that are so much a part of our lives today. The 1980s was the cusp of the techno revolution. Life was a bit simpler then, movies were tamer, and families were closer. The Goldbergs is such a family. Well, almost.
This sitcom is actually based on a real family. Adam F. Goldberg is an Executive Producer who came up with the idea of drawing on his own family as the basis for a new show. Of course, there are some slight changes, like making one of his brothers, Eric, into a sister, Erica on the show.
Young Sean Giambrone plays the youngest member of the family (Adam) who records everything with his “portable” video camera. This thing is like a giant boombox. Sean told the Television Critics Association members, “I actually thought the video camera was kind of cool, but it didn’t seem very effective because of how big it was. It wasn’t really portable.” This is a little kid who has grown up with video cameras that fit in the palm of his hand, and in the show he is schlepping around a big video camera circa 1980s.
Adam F. Goldberg, who based the young videographer on himself, said, “You know, I was either ignored because I was the youngest, so they either completely ignored me, or it would get to a point where it would become so much that my brothers would just beat me up over always having the camera.” But now, thanks to all the footage Adam took all those 25 years ago, today we have the basis of what could be a breakout sitcom for the season. We’ll have to wait and see about that, thought.
The Goldbergs is a sitcom about a family dealing with three children and an aging father (played by legendary actor/performer George Segal).
When he was approached to create a show about his own family, Goldberg said, “I can’t. There’s no way. My family will kill me.” Think about your own family. Would you want one of your siblings/sons/daughters/parents to put your family history on national television?
“So then I think what really changed,” Goldberg confided, “was I became a dad and just kind of had perspective on we’re raising our kids so differently. And that was really the thing that changed. It gave me kind of a new perspective on how to do the show. And then, as a sales tool, to have those [actual] videos like that was kind of the final puzzle piece to show.”
So on September 24, 2013, the world will be introduced to The Goldberg family, their TV version. The Goldbergs is a cute little sitcom with potential. Whether all those videos Adam took while growing up translates into a hit TV show is up to the viewers. The Goldbergs premiers on ABC, Tuesday, September 24, 2013.
