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I’m So Flecstatic
Spoiler Alert: Content in this blog post is from the September 23, 2015 episode of The Goldbergs
(The Goldbergs Twitter)
The Goldbergs looked the same and sounded the same in last night’s season 3 premiere, but with a delicious twist.
This sitcom, with all its 1980-something brilliance, is evolving with its visibly older looking and sounding Adam. While this development did not equate to anything dramatic for this series, it did raise the bar a little for Adam and Dana, who are now treading into comparisons with Kevin and Winnie of The Wonder Years because of their relentless correspondence between Philadelphia and Seattle.
As the season 2 finale and the season 3 premiere revealed, Adam and Dana’s affection for one another is real (enough) for it to be a series-long relationship. Only the real Adam F. Goldberg knows the answers to all these questions, along with his hilarious family and friends. So, we’ll just have to wait.
Like Murray.
How many minutes until next week’s episode?
It would be an understatement to say the ’80s classic, Risky Business, was the over-arching theme last night. Barry slid, crashed and tripped into some good “old time rock and roll” before Beverly stopped his “Tom Cruisin'” in purple spandex, while Erica and Lainey decided to drive right into their “Risky Business” party with the Porsche left in the garage by Lainey’s father. The joy ride was going great, including Barry’s perfect Rebecca De Mornay exclamation.
And then, it was Goldbergs time.
Let’s just say Barry’s leg falling asleep was a disaster for a stick shift, Beverly added a daughter in Lainey (extra cheese, class preferences, head cheerleader and tutoring, anyone?) and Murray exercised his unbeatable prowess of saying no for Adam’s long-distance phone calls to Dana.
However, Beverly finally became too Beverly for Lainey. End result? The cancelled “Risky Business” party was back on! The only problem was it turned into something way too risky, even for Big Tasty. The stolen TV and spinning pizza was only the beginning of a rough night for the terrified trio.
And to answer your question: Yes, Big Tasty dropped a fresh rhyme last night in the form of a music video. He even had a new sidekick, for whom he helped write the song for.
It was Big Tasty and Lil’ Yum Yum/Adam!
Run DMC would have been proud…of their clothes.
As the party raged out-of-control, there was only one person who would randomly show up to save the day, but only with the greatest of all snuggies first. Beverly heroically came to the rescue of her 3 2 children and she got everybody to leave with (you didn’t guess it) her killer dance moves. She was going Cruisin’.
Today, it would have been tagged #momdance #bigsocks and #riskygymnast.
“Sometimes you just gotta say, ‘what the—‘”
And then there was Pops, who again shared his sage advice with son-in-law Murray. After Pops reminded Murray’s of his only successful long-distance relationship, that not only made him realize the power of love (random ’80s reference = self-high five!), but it brought him closer to his youngest son.
When we fall in love, we fight for it. Everything else is blurry. Nothing else matters. Love is the best, yet strangest feeling of them all. It requires faith and a fearlessness within ourselves.
As we enter season 3, The Goldbergs continues to be fearless with unapologetic heart.
Hopefully, you were able to read all of this in less than 10-minutes.
A is for “As You Wish”
Spoiler Alert: Content from this blog entry was featured in the April 22, 2015 episode of The Goldbergs
(The Goldbergs Twitter)
During the summer in 1991, The Rocketeer flew into our imaginations with rocket-fueled fun (don’t forget about the gum). To a six-year-old, it was a spectacular time to be alive. What was better than the idea of flying like Superman, without needing Kryptonian genetics, through the skies to save the world?
The answer was nothing.
Mesmerized, I took it upon myself to scrounge through my very own tool shed/kitchen drawers to find the necessary pieces to build my own personal flying machine. With an old garage door opener in hand, I was one click away from soaring to unknown heights and adventure! This enthusiasm was shared by Adam Goldberg in last night’s episode, except his cinematic obsession was the cult favorite, The Princess Bride. Specifically, it was the film’s famous sword fight that drew him in. Fought on a dramatically set cliff, the battle was intense and immensely entertaining. And the dialogue was surprisingly equitable and conversational.
Another battle fought on a cliff of sorts was between Adam and Murray, underscored by a jockeying of similar interests and ulterior motives. Using Westley-level charm, Adam convinced his stingy dad to buy him two fencing swords to practice in his “pursuit” of becoming a future Olympic champion. Unfortunately, the overly dramatic hijinks in The Princess Bride were no match for Murray, who saw right through his son’s grand manipulation. It also didn’t help that immediately after quitting fencing, Adam was sword fighting Dave Kim in his basement in full Princess Bride gear.
Plus, stabbing your father in the neck rarely helps anything.
Meanwhile, Beverly was busy being a yenta hell-bent on cross-fitting athletics with music. The result was the sweet sound of faculty romance (and kissing at school). The only downside was ruining Barry and Erica’s lives. Oh, and can’t forget about altering the stable career path of a certain music teacher. Besides that, this social experiment was a rousing success.
In order to fix everything, Beverly had to match up the unmatchable, romantically bitter teacher in his brown clothing from head -to-toe. But if this series has taught us anything, it’s that there are three words that inspire the greatest from Beverly Goldberg:
“Can’t be done.”
Back to Adam, he would need magic that could only be found in one place. The question was whether Murray would play along. This situation called for both sides to realize to be bigger than their own self-interests, no matter how embarrassing. Adam discovered his fencing inspiration from The Princess Bride for his fencing battle in front of a large crowd at school, including his dad and grandfather sitting front row center. And would you believe it? Embodying the goofy personalities from a movie led to an unexpected point for the swordsman-in-training. And in perfect harmony with his son, Murray literally embodied a giant character’s clothes (André, to be precise) from The Princess Bride movie for a scene of bonding with his youngest son and his friends after the match.
One of Adam’s dreams came true: His father understood the importance of an influential movie in his life.
You could say it was an inconceivable reality.
Whilst engaging in misguided hilarity, Beverly did manage to match the unmatchable with a little help from a future yenta. Erica couldn’t fight it, she has meddling DNA. In this instance, Beverly’s excitement nearly reached the adrenaline level achieved at a Jazzercise session.
This episode beautifully revealed that no matter how much we may resist things that we swear to ourselves are foolish and/or ridiculous, we are uncontrollably drawn to the foolish and ridiculous because, despite all logical reasoning, we know deep down that wishes are meant to come true.
Sometimes, all it takes is clicking play on a VCR…or an old garage door opener.
By the Power of Grayskull, Fools Will Fall
Spoiler Alert: Content in this blog post is from the April 1, 2015 episode of The Goldbergs
When the creation of the Momager (Mom + Manager) isn’t the highlight of the show, that’s a sign the Goldberg family hit the right notes in their special April Fools’-themed episode (did you notice Barry’s t-shirt flash changes between the Flyers and Flames?). In a half hour that featured one of those pandemonium-filled free concerts in malls across America of yesteryear by the it performer of that time and a prank war that rivaled the Cold War, suburban Philadelphia could not be prepared for what would transpire.
The picture that developed from these events will haunt our dreams forever…
From pretending to destroy the cherished shoe of a 76er great to obliterating Castle Grayskull to removing all susceptible targets of destruction from one’s room to dismantling a video camera, Adam and Barry did not participate, but were heavily invested in winning April Fools’ Day. It got serious really quickly and elevated to a level that could have broken them. But, after completely confusing 3-4 major conflicts, Barry did manage to understand the importance of the Berlin Wall falling down.
A truce was necessary. Adam’s livelihood at school was saved (you’ll see).
Meanwhile, Erica was busy obsessing over the parties she and Tiffany would inevitably host together once they were both touring pop superstars. Like every girl alive, she dreamed of singing to thousands of screaming, adoring fans. Then came the “pusher” and the “smusher” (ie- Beverly and Murray). It was Beverly’s surefire parenting trick to encourage her children to do anything, but with a contingency (the practicality of Murray) to push them back to reality. Except in this case, Murray flipped the script on his speechless wife. The result was a labyrinth of role reversals between the three that eventually led to Erica’s fiscally tight dad giving his aspirational daughter $200 to follow her dreams in recording a demo tape.
The fluorescent t-shirts are ready for sale (contact the Momager for more information).
By having two older sisters, I never experienced the glorious prank battles between brothers. My sisters and I had an insane amount of fun together with unforgettable memories and sometimes the dynamic was like I had an older brother, but there was no Big Tasty rapping his horribly specific rhymes in my childhood. Regardless, I remember idolizing a famous singer/band and going into a record store and buying their CD (that’s the physical version of a digital download, young people) or, like Adam, enjoying everything amazing by Steven Spielberg.
I had/have dreams of one day acting in a Steven Spielberg movie. Crazy, right? Well, whether it happens or not, that’s a good thing. Just like Beverly and Murray, it’s important to promote the idea that anything is attainable. Murray “The Smusher” Goldberg put it best: He told his daughter that while there are millions of other girls trying to become a famous pop star like her, she needs to remember that she is an original.
And Tiffany Renee Darwish had to work hard to take the improbable journey to become Tiffany. Everything seems crazy until it happens.
Including this:
(The Goldbergs Twitter)
(The Goldbergs Twitter)
The Real Beverly 1, The Real Adam 0.
Everyday is April Fools’ Day with Beverly Goldberg.
Back to the Family
Spoiler Alert: Content from this blog is from the December 3, 2014 episode of The Goldbergs
“We have as dish named after that one: Big Tasty Pork”
When a food dish at a restaurant is named after you, odds are pretty high that you’ll be visiting that establishment with some frequency…as in everyday. This was the dilemma facing Beverly, with her enemy clearly identified as “Dave Kim’s mom.” After discovering the new Chinese restaurant in town (run by Dave Kim’s mom), the Goldbergs were hooked. Hot plates were being brought out left and right and the family couldn’t get enough of this great new food. But, as we all know, Beverly needs to be the source of every moment of her family’s happiness.
So, this meant war…and lots and lots of cheese.
Aside from eating the insanely delicious sweet and sour chicken, Adam was facing an embarrassment of Wham! proportions. All of us guys like rock ‘n roll, but we also enjoy that tantalizingly catchy song. George Michael’s song, “Faith” is one that comes to mind. Fortunately for Adam, it did in the form of a videotaped, choreographed dance number while wearing clothes straight out of George Michael’s closet.
Adam was clearly feeling good and flawless.
But when Beverly’s little snuggle monster got too overzealous with his groovy moves, his right arm broke like the book shelves he crashed into. This humiliating musical and dancing expression led to a chain of events that included lying to his best friend Emmy, lying to his science class and science teacher all the while learning how to lie from his older sister Erica. And what was the lie, you ask? Well, the star of his lie was certainly not going to be centered on the former lead singer of Wham! No.; Instead, one of the greatest sequels in movie history would provide the source for his most epic lie: he told everyone that he rode a hoverboard like the one from Back to the Future: Part II.
After promising a video recording of him riding a hoverboard (which he impressively built himself) that was gold except for the rope showing, Adam had no choice but to do the right thing…He faked a letter forbidding the proof he rode a hoverboard. But, as well all do, we have our moral limits to our cover-ups. While Dave Kim enjoyed shrimp parm and cheesy watermelon at the Goldberg residence as part of Beverly’s plan to get back at Dave Kim’s mom for leading her family to say they enjoyed her cooking more than Beverly’s, Adam prepared a devastating presentation to his science class and teacher: the truth. Demonstrating the bravery to humiliate himself in front of everybody with his George Michael moves, as well as his touching plea to Emmy about forgiveness and being part of his family, the dynamic duo reunited in their spot: the tree house.
Speaking of pleas, perhaps the best of the episode was Beverly’s to her family. She sincerely explained how dinner time was her time to spend with her family and just how valuable it was to her day. Clearly, cooking Chinese food completely alluded her (ketchup as a base?). But, sensing her genuine nature, the Goldbergs returned to their dinner table as a family.
It was a little cheesy, but good cheesy.
This episode reminds me of a movie marathon of sorts I recently had with my nephew just a couple weeks ago and we actually watched The Back to the Future trilogy, which included those unforgettable scenes with the hoverboards. And watching those moments, while also watching my nephew watch them for the first time with wide-eyed wonderment, was like traveling back in time myself to when I first saw that movie magic unfold before my eyes. It was the same excitement that Adam showed and this storyline in the show underscored not only the magnificent and lasting impression a movie can have, but also the pure joy of dreaming of and for the presently impossible.
Returning back to The Goldbergs, Adam’s science teacher relentlessly proclaimed his belief in science and fact: hoverboards, in the 1980s, is impossible. Adam, on the other hand, relentlessly envisioned a world in which hoverboards are possible. This was back in 1980-something (had to be 1989).
How fitting it was that the eternal dreamer Adam sang and danced to George Michael’s popular song “Faith” because people will have the opportunity to ride the very first hoverboard in Silicon Valley early next year.
Having faith in family, friends and the existence of Marty’s hoverboard: That’s a recipe for success that worked back in the 1980s and still does in 2000-something.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 