Today, I explain (again) my disappointment with how The Goldbergs handled Murray Goldberg.
This is “Could Have Been Better,” a feature where I note an alternate route that a TV series or film should have gone (and could have easily gone, so no, like, “ER should have not let George Clooney leave”).
This won’t come as much of a surprise, as I already did another feature during the Summer stating that they SHOULDN’T do this BEFORE they did it, but now that it is done, let me note again that I think that The Goldbergs made a mistake in killing off Murray Goldberg in the Season 10 premiere.
In case you missed it last year, Jeff Garlin and The Goldbergs came to a mutual agreement that Garlin would leave the series after a bunch of HR complaints (Garlin had long been vocal about how much he didn’t like doing the show, so it sounds very much like it truly was a mutual decision – they were sick of his behind the scenes antics and he wanted to be done with the show years ago. His antics weren’t THAT bad, but he actively refused to ever change his behavior, so when you just continue the same behavior that people constantly complain about, it builds up, even if no one single act was all THAT egregious).
The show used CGI and some general “Murray is on a work trip” to deal with Garlin missing the final ten episodes of last season (which, yes, obviously SHOULD have been the last season of the show from a creative standpoint, but it wasn’t, so let’s move on), but in the Season 10 premiere, they handled Garlin’s departure by killing off Murray. I know it sucks to work in a new actor this late in a show’s run, but killing off Murray was not a good idea. It changes the dynamic of the show too much. The show already lost Pops when his actor, George Segal, tragically passed away, but obviously a grandfather dying is a WHOLE lot different than the father dying on a show. Already, the show has been geared more around Beverly Goldberg, but that doesn’t work if Beverly is mourning her dead husband. Plus, there are a number of regular characters who are there specifically because of their connection to Murray, like David Koechner’s Bill (Murray’s best friend), Cedric Yarbrough’s Vic (Murray’s other best friend and employee at his furniture store) and Richard Kind’s Formica Mike (Murray’s business partner at the furniture store). The should have just recast (I even did a bit of five examples of good actors who they could have used).
The show did a fast-forward over the grief of Murray’s loss (while in turn skipping over most of the pregnancy of the oldest daughter, Erica), and they moved Judd Hirsch’s Pop-Pop (Murray’s father) into the house to give them a sort of cranky substitute for Murray’s grouchiness. David Koechner’s character just hangs around the house like he used to, despite his best friend being dead and him being newly married. Because, again, none of this makes any sense. The show will appear to lean into Tim Meadows’ John Glascott character (who moved next door to the Goldbergs last season after being the school guidance counselor for years and one of the stars of the short-lived spinoff series, Grounded) as Beverly Goldberg’s companion, and, well, if this IS the route you’re going, then fair enough, but in general, it just doesn’t work. It’s too much grief for a wacky sitcom.
When you add in the fact that the show has done MULTIPLE recasts (Hisrch, for instance, is a recast as Pop-Pop) and it just doesn’t make sense to have what could be the final season of The Goldbergs be either filled with grief, or filled with an inexplicable LACK of grief (“Oh yeah, dad died a couple of months ago, that was sad, oh, but did you see the new Ghostbusters?!” It doesn’t work!).
It’s too late now, but boy, they made a mistake here.
Okay, this is a bit more of a me-specific topic, but if you’d like to send in suggestions, feel free to drop me a line at brian@popculturereferences.com
I know the popular term is “jump the shark,” but I wonder if there is another term for shows that simply hang around so long that desperate things like this happen. The details differ but in nearly every TV show (especially sitcoms) where things run beyond 7-8 seasons, some kind of backstage shenanigans always seem to happen or some key member of the cast leaves (or dies, or both) at some awkward time, yet the show moves on in spite of itself instead of bowing gracefully. And I know that none of the other actors want to lose a good gig, even if it is just one more season. But conversely, shows that last too long beyond their prime have that drag effect their legacy, and if anything, do an actor avoiding being typecast no favors.
I can’t think of too many shows (again, especially sitcoms) that ran past 8 seasons without some awkward stunt or recast or lost-cast happening or some drastic shift in the premise or so on. There are so many shows, even ones I adore, that simply lasted 1-2 seasons too long. “THAT 70’S SHOW” is also a case-in-point (along with, for some, “HAPPY DAYS”). I wonder if some of the bad blood between Ed O’Neill and Amanda Bearse bubbled over in some part because most of the cast of “MARRIED WITH CHILDREN” were tiring of the show by around season 8-9 (it lasted 11 seasons). Some shows can and have worked around sudden recasts (i.e. CHEERS), but usually that is not near the end of the run, and they’re in the minority.
ABC seems to especially have this problem. They just won’t let go of ROSEANNE/THE CONNERS (which you could call “Roseanne Without Roseanne”), no matter what. And I wouldn’t be shocked if THE GOLDBERGS eked out an 11th season. It is kind of like sports teams being hesitant to fire a coach if there is nothing better (or at least as good) waiting in the wings. ABC likely has zero faith in any pilots to replace THE GOLDBERGS or THE CONNERS, so they hedge their bets and just stick to the familiar. CBS used to do that all the time.
Heck, the creators of THE GOLDBERGS are co-writing a relaunch of the Damage Control comic and I wonder if that is a way of salvaging a pilot pitch that ABC passed on (after they allowed AGENTS OF SHIELD to last, surprise, 1-2 seasons longer than they should have).
Yeah, it’s clearly a case where actors don’t want to give up their sweet gigs, so they keep going with shows that should never have gone on as long as they did. Late stages Happy Days and That 70s Show are BRUTAL to watch.
What will it take to finally put this show out of its and our misery?