Related: Complete Coverage of TCA Summer Press Tour
Beverly Hills, Calif. — The Goldbergs star Wendi McLendon-Covey did not sugarcoat her feelings for the decade in which her ABC sitcom takes place.
“I hate all the fashions of the 80s. None of them need to come back in daily life,” she said Tuesday during the show’s TCA summer press tour panel. “I’m pretty much horrified every day when I get dressed. But it’s what the character would wear.”
That 1980s fashion doesn’t look like it will be going away any time soon. The show is not set in a specific year of the 80s, creator and executive producer Adam Goldberg said, and he hasn’t aged the kids yet. “It’s basically a live-action Simpsons,” he joked.
“I’m not locked into any specific time,” said Goldberg, who based the show loosely on his childhood.
The third season, which returns to ABC Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 8:30 p.m., sees “Adam Goldberg,” played by Sean Giambrone, struggling with puberty as he transitions into high school. Goldberg added that if they were to do a Bar Mitzvah episode, it would likely be this season. “We’re just trying to figure out what the story would be,” he said.
Not only is the show nostalgic for the 80s, said costar Hayley Orrantia, but people can watch the show and see a character that reminds them of their family. “So many people can relate to it,” she said.
Take Murray Goldberg, played by Jeff Garlin, the family patriarch who prefers to be dressed down to his underwear.
“When we first started doing the show, I just wore a pair of tighty-whities and the sensor said, ‘I see movement,’” Garlin said. “I go to craft services in my underwear. They’re all pretty much used to it.”
Other highlights from the panel included:
— Asked about Curb Your Enthusiasm,Garlin said he is in touch with Larry David. “I can do Curb if it comes back,” Garlin said, though he assured that Goldbergs is his top priority. “Larry David is so goddamn rich that he doesn’t have to do anything unless it’s good.” Garlin said there’s a decent chance Curb comes back, calling it a “51% chance.”
