Season 8 Discussion

[PumpkinLumpkin]

R.I.P George Segal

https://deadline.com/2021/03/george-segal-dead-the-goldbergs-1234720483/

[Mr. Meatball Man]

This is terrible news. Assuming that production is ongoing, they'll most likely kill him off and write an episode about him. 

Pops was consistently one of the best parts of the show. Just the way he would react to the weird things his family did was enough to make a scene memorable. 😢

[Kiddvideo]

Pops is my favorite character.The early seasons he was the only one who could talk to Beverly at times and lead her to the right decision. You could see George’s health declining over the past couple of seasons, but I’m still saddened. Godspeed, sir.

[Robert Lynch]

Jesus, this is so depressing. On top of George Segal being used less in the past few seasons and me worried about him health wise just hit a core right through me. I don't think there would be anyone to salvage this show. He was the only bright spot there. Now with him gone, I don't think they could expand it now.

[nelroy78]

14 hours ago, Mr. Meatball Man said:

This is terrible news. Assuming that production is ongoing, they'll most likely kill him off and write an episode about him. 

Pops was consistently one of the best parts of the show. Just the way he would react to the weird things his family did was enough to make a scene memorable. 😢

It might not be that easy, considering he doesn’t die in real life until 1995. But without the real Adam running the show, who knows. 
 

RIP Pops. My heart is broken. He will be missed so much.

[Cowgirl]

So sad about George Segal.  It had looked like his health was declining, but I was glad they included him when they could this season.

One of my biggest gripes all along on this show is the non-accurate fashion for Erica's character.  Beverly's was realistic. (And yes, I know it was over the top, but still realistic), and Barry's has been good, especially this year with the rugby shirts.  They have NEVER done Erica's hair right (Most of the females' actually.  We all had carefully feathered hair in the 80's.  Nearly ALL of us!!) A few weeks ago she was even in a modern shirt with the strap accross the front!! That just came into fashion 2-3 years ago!!  

I loved the 80's sitcom version of Wandavision  The hair and clothes were spot on! (Okay, maybe no feathered hair, but the half updo ponytail look was good too.)

[Mr. Meatball Man]

4 hours ago, nelroy78 said:

It might not be that easy, considering he doesn’t die in real life until 1995. But without the real Adam running the show, who knows. 
 

RIP Pops. My heart is broken. He will be missed so much.

I don't think they have a choice, unless they just decide to write Pops off and have him move to Florida permanently. But the show has rarely ever dealt with serious situations before (except for.....that racism episode) so this will be a new thing for them. Pops (and by extension, George Segal) deserves a proper farewell.

Also, the show hasn't been renewed yet for another season, has it? It's in a pretty unfortunate place right now.

[rmontro]

What a shame about George Segal.  I wonder if they're even still filming this season, or if they've finished it.  There may be no need to address his character, but I'm sure they'll put up some sort of tribute message at least.  Pops spent a lot of time in Florida anyway, they could just say he's there.

[alexa]

The article said that episode 16 was his last and they are on 14 now, I think.  They had a small thing at the end, but I am sure more is planned when they have more time.  
I liked tonight’s episode.  It felt a bit like some of the older ones, and Barry was really cute in this episode.  

[tennisgurl]

It was hard to watch this one so soon after the passing of George Segal. He has been the best part of this show since it started, and has been the consistent bright spot since the show began its decline in quality. Pops is really the heart of the show and I don't know where they go from here without him. Pop's didn't die until the 90s, but considering this show has long since abandoned following the real Adam's life, they could easily write his death into the show to give George Segal and Pops the send off he deserves.

Edited March 26, 2021 by tennisgurl

[Aryanna]

I hate to hear this about George Segal. Pops was so great.

Bev promised again to never meddle in Adam's life. That promise will be broken by next week. I used to really like this show. The characters are so flanderized now and the real Adam is no longer involved in the show. They need to call it quits.

[rmontro]

12 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Pops is really the heart of the show and I don't know where they go from here with him. Pop's didn't die until the 90s, but considering this show has long since abandoned following the real Adam's life, they could easily write his death into the show to give George Segal and Pops the send off he deserves.

Pops is about the only likable character lol.  I don't know that I want to see a Pops death episode, complete with funeral though, it doesn't really fit the tone of the show.  If it were me, I would wait until the last episode and then at the end have Adam do a narration of what happened in the years afterward.  Like "Barry went on to become a doctor.  In 1995 we lost Pops" and put a nice video montage there.

I keep thinking this is the last season though, and that may not be the case.  But I feel like it should be. 

[bad things are bad]

Quote

I keep thinking this is the last season though, and that may not be the case.  But I feel like it should be. 

1000% agree. We'll watch the first couple of minutes, then get annoyed at the yelling and the repetitive plot lines, and change the channel. Say a dignified goodbye to Pops, show, and then ride off into the sunset.  

[Robert Lynch]

Jeff Garlin's complexion scares the crap out of me more than the late George Segal. White-gray hair, thin ruby red lips, and unhealthy pallor...I tell you, when Garlin yells, I expect a heart attack and him keeling over. I hate to sound tragic, but when he yells, I say things like please take it down a notch. And I thought John Goodman's unhealthy skin was worrisome. Since the last few seasons, Garlin's skin tone was off and with the drastic weight loss, I am concerned.

[nora1992]

It was especially bittersweet, watching Adam and Pops at the chalkboard.  I hadn’t heard of Segal’s death until the memoriam segment at the end.  And then yesterday, the news of Jessica Walters and Richard Gililand.  Sad week for tv.

[rmontro]

5 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

Jeff Garlin's complexion scares the crap out of me more than the late George Segal. White-gray hair, thin ruby red lips, and unhealthy pallor...I tell you, when Garlin yells, I expect a heart attack and him keeling over. 

That scene where he came out of nowhere to gang tackle Adam was not realistic at all.  And the stand ins were more obvious than usual.  This is another scene where I can't picture Murray conjuring up that kind of energy.  There have been a lot of those this season.  Like the one where he switched everything around in the dark during the mystery party.  It's like he has secret super powers or something, super speed being one of them.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

I still LOL at that tackle scene, especially when we see Murray. I thought at first the tackler would be some college prick,lol.  

[Kiddvideo]

6 hours ago, rmontro said:

This is another scene where I can't picture Murray conjuring up that kind of energy.  There have been a lot of those this season.  Like the one where he switched everything around in the dark during the mystery party.  It's like he has secret super powers or something, super speed being one of them.

Murray was activated! Lol. We saw it before when Erica surprised them with dropping out of college. She’d missed all the deadlines for registering for classes and getting housing and Murray even climbed stairs to make everything right. 

[nelroy78]

On 3/24/2021 at 7:49 PM, rmontro said:

What a shame about George Segal.  I wonder if they're even still filming this season, or if they've finished it.  There may be no need to address his character, but I'm sure they'll put up some sort of tribute message at least.  Pops spent a lot of time in Florida anyway, they could just say he's there.

They finished filming this season yesterday https://www.instagram.com/p/CM4-IqxljlV/?igshid=7ikyujt3q0j5

[nelroy78]

Good episode last night, though I was disappointed that Barry didn’t end up trying out for the Eagles. But he nor Adam never have been athletic. As for the Beverly plot the thing that strikes out at me is that two seasons ago this episode would have been “Erica-lé.” I could’ve totally seen Erica doing something like that during her slack year. It was weird seeing Erica as the sensible one this episode. She’s changed a lot since Season 6. I loved her and Adam’s presentation at the end.

Edited April 1, 2021 by nelroy78

[tennisgurl]

This was a bit of a better episode, especially because I think the used a lot of the supporting characters well. None of it was anything new, but it got some laughs out of me. "I taste colors and smell feelings." 

Seeing Pops now is extremely bittersweet. George Segal was a pro until the end. 

Edited April 1, 2021 by tennisgurl

[reggiejax]

I am totally of the mind that Murray's encouragement of Barry trying out for the Eagles was his diabolical plot to rid himself of the most moronic of his three morons. Because seriously, who in their right mind would encourage Barry to try out for the NFL? Thankfully, Barry showed a rare moment of clarity and realized he would have been killed out there. And I have no doubt Murray knew it too. 

[Bobbin]

16 hours ago, nelroy78 said:

Good episode last night, though I was disappointed that Barry didn’t end up trying out for the Eagles. But he nor Adam never have been athletic.

LOL. Energetic and enthusiatic bordering on manic, but definitely not athletic.

[Robert Lynch]

How many episodes did George Segal did?

[Vgmastr]

I know this show has always played fast and loose with timelines, but Barry and Murray being upset about the Eagles game being cancelled due to the strike in March might take the cake.

[Kiddvideo]

Saw a tweet from Sean Giambrone that Wednesday is George’s last episode, and they’ll have a tribute at the end. 

[mtlchick]

While I can't find the original post, Wendi wrote that George was written out for the rest of the season due to the unexpected surgery and recovery.  So if they do get to season 9, it will be addressed then. 

[alexa]

I might have missed some of the dialogue, but Adam has worked before, so this wasn’t his first job or exposure to work.  I remember his dad saying, all three of my kids have a job!  And that was a while ago....  

 

Didn’t see the breakup coming.  And tribute to George was nice.  

[nelroy78]

10 hours ago, mtlchick said:

While I can't find the original post, Wendi wrote that George was written out for the rest of the season due to the unexpected surgery and recovery.  So if they do get to season 9, it will be addressed then. 

Also I just started following a writer. They want to have Adam come back and write a proper goodbye to Pops. 
 

 

[Stats Queen]

So Adam called his girl friend a smoke show. How is is that from the 80’s? 
I’m old, and graduates from college in 1986 and the first time I ever heard that term was on the last season of the Bachelor.

Historically accuracies seem to be MIA the last couple of seasons.

[tennisgurl]

The tribute to George Segal was really nice, the show just wont be the same without him. He and Pops were the heart of the show. 

Its kind of funny that we had this whole talk on the forums about the real Goldberg's being rich and this episode was about Adam realizing that their family has money just that he's never noticed. 

I might be remembering it wrong, but didn't Adam have a job at some point? It did lead to some decently funny lines though. "The school paper described my performance as borderline offensive." 

I was not expecting Eric and Geoff to go on a break, although its not permanent as we know they're together again in by Schooled. 

[Whimsy]

12 hours ago, Stats Queen said:

So Adam called his girl friend a smoke show. How is is that from the 80’s? 
I’m old, and graduates from college in 1986 and the first time I ever heard that term was on the last season of the Bachelor.

Historically accuracies seem to be MIA the last couple of seasons.

While you're not wrong with it 100% not being from the 80's, it's been around a lot longer than the last season of Bachelor.  Google shows the first online presence of that term is 2003. 

[rmontro]

Are we supposed to believe that this is the first time that Erica has noticed that Geoff does everything for her?  Yeah, no, that's been their main plot point all along.  Thought his line "Like everything else, I'll give this to you because this is what you want" was a nice touch.  I liked the look of concern on Barry and Joanne's face when Geoff walked off.    

[Kiddvideo]

8 hours ago, rmontro said:

Are we supposed to believe that this is the first time that Erica has noticed that Geoff does everything for her?  Yeah, no, that's been their main plot point all along.  Thought his line "Like everything else, I'll give this to you because this is what you want" was a nice touch.  I liked the look of concern on Barry and Joanne's face when Geoff walked off.    

Right? Even their break-up was all about her. She doesn’t think ‘I need to listen better and take his wishes into consideration.’ It’s “I don’t want you to resent me.” It’s about how his acts of deference and kindness make her feel guilty or less worthy. So she breaks his heart. Geoff’s sister fits in with all the other shitty, entitled people.

I liked that for George’s last show he taught Adam a pretty important lesson. Maybe it’ll keep him from going down the same path. Also liked the tribute, but was expecting more than a 30 second clip show. A few kind words maybe. And I really hope the show isn’t renewed. I don’t want them to kill Pops.

[Robert Lynch]

Well, it did happen for John Ritter when he died on the set of Eight Simple Rules and they were renewed for next season without him. Probably after this season is over, they would be renewed. It happened before on other shows. Remember the actor that played Coach on Cheers and that went on for how many seasons? Exactly.

[Kiddvideo]

5 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

Well, it did happen for John Ritter when he died on the set of Eight Simple Rules and they were renewed for next season without him. Probably after this season is over, they would be renewed. It happened before on other shows. Remember the actor that played Coach on Cheers and that went on for how many seasons? Exactly.

? Of course they can. It’s also not at all what I was talking about.

[joanne3482]

13 hours ago, Kiddvideo said:

Right? Even their break-up was all about her. She doesn’t think ‘I need to listen better and take his wishes into consideration.’ It’s “I don’t want you to resent me.” It’s about how his acts of deference and kindness make her feel guilty or less worthy. 

But it isn't fair to her that he always defers and it seems like she's not even aware of the level of his deference, like the spaghetti.  I didn't even understand WHY he ordered spaghetti every time even though that wasn't his favorite. I didn't get the impression that she asked him to get spaghetti so they could split or share.  She's not wrong that he could end up resenting her, and he kind of did on the camping trip.  She may have bulldozed him into going, but he is also a grown ass adult who was not kidnapped so he could have said no, I have this thing and I'm not going. It was ultimately his choice to give in and appease her.

We know that Jeff doesn't necessarily think he is worthy of Erica.  She was always Barry's hot older (?) sister who he had a crush on. To me, his behavior, his deference is about him not seeing her as an equal but seeing her as a trophy to hold on to. To me, this is typical "nice guy" behavior who paints the girl as the crazy bitch ex while he was the nice one always giving in to her increasing demands.  Yes, she obviously should have thought about his feelings, but if she wasn't always aware of his feelings (again the spaghetti and I kind of feel like the cello bit), how can she be responsible for his behavior? Erica has always been exactly who she is to him, the good/bad/ugly she's never painted herself as something other than she is (to my recollection). It's him who has presented an image of who he is not to her. 

[rmontro]

59 minutes ago, joanne3482 said:

But it isn't fair to her that he always defers and it seems like she's not even aware of the level of his deference, like the spaghetti.  I didn't even understand WHY he ordered spaghetti every time even though that wasn't his favorite. 

I think he said he got it so she could have a few bites of it.  If it's her favorite though, there's a good chance she ordered it for herself.  How much spaghetti does the girl need?

1 hour ago, joanne3482 said:

We know that Jeff doesn't necessarily think he is worthy of Erica.

Well, she is pretty hot.  He has a bright future though.  But it appears that his constantly accommodating her is a personality trait of his, I don't really see him changing it.  He's like a human doormat.  I've always been a little skeptical of their relationship anyway, for that very reason.  He doesn't seem like the kind of guy she would choose, unless it was just to use him, which doesn't seem to be the case.

[Mr. Meatball Man]

I just realized George Segal's final scene ever filmed was Pops being disappointed in Adam. A little bittersweet. 😥

And I have to give them credit for the final scene because it's rare that the show doesn't wrap everything up in 22 minutes. It's been a while since they went that route and the acting was great, too.

It's interesting. I feel like the show can still pull off genuinely emotional moments when it's allowed to step outside of the formula. 

[Cherpumple]

Has Adam always been this insufferable? Good god, between his obnoxious behavior at the ice cream parlor last week and his raging insecurity about the school play, Brea should have dumped him five times over. I may have given him a pass when he was in middle school, but the dude's supposed to be a high school senior now. Is it too much to ask for him to show an ounce of growth?

The Erica/Geoff storyline is boring because we know they won't stay broken up. Ideally, they will both mature during their break and get back together with a healthier dynamic, but I'm not holding my breath. Not when everyone on this show needs to learn the same lesson fifty times in a row.

I have a feeling that the ending info was supposed to be about the real life Brea Bee becoming an actress, but I was happy to see a clip of young George Segal instead. He was quite handsome!

[chediavolo]

I love the movie “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe”! 
Adam is an obnoxious entitled little piece of shit sometimes, isn’t he?  Ugh. I could barely stand to watch his juvenile asinine antics.  
Geoff would  probably be sorry some year down the line if he and Erica married, when he realized he gave up his own life, likes, and wants for someone else. This, unfortunately, is what happens to quite a few woman so at least it is interesting to see it reversed. 
I can’t imagine how f***ing annoying it would be to have Beverly as a mom. You see where Adam gets his rancid behavior from. 

[Mr. Meatball Man]

I think I'm over Adam and Brea's relationship, if you can even call it that. Every episode is centered around Adam's insecurities and the fact that Brea is more popular than him or more talented than him or she is more aware of things than him. It's annoying because I don't know why they're even together. I don't think they really like each other, either. It's obvious that Adam sees Brea as a trophy that he doesn't care about that much and Brea sees Adam as beneath her. Didn't they say in the lasagna episode that the basis of their relationship is Brea is better than Adam, and she just agrees like "Yeah, it's true"? I think from Brea's first appearance, it was about her always having the power over Adam, in every story they get.

And even when they try giving Brea flaws, it's always at Adam's expense, not hers. In the season premiere where Brea shows Adam her headgear, it's not, "Oh, look, Brea is a loser for this embarrassing thing she wears." It ends up being "Maybe if Adam stopped referencing Airplane! so much, he would have been able to listen to his girlfriend." Or in last week's episode with Brea having to work all the time while Adam lives a charmed life. It's not, "Brea is jealous of Adam for never having to work for anything while she struggles. It's a flaw she has to work on." It ends up being, "Adam is a privileged boy that doesn't understand what Brea goes through to provide for herself." 

Then in this episode, Brea once again proves how great she is at something and Adam's mediocrity shines through. It's not, "Adam had only one thing he was good at, and Brea took that away from him." It ends up being, "Adam couldn't be supportive of his girlfriend for something she was really good at." The relationship is grossly one-sided in Brea's favor. Adam is always the one that messes up or doesn't understand something. He acts like an asshole and Brea is irritated by it, then she just takes him back because of reasons. I think the only really good relationship Adam had was with Dana. They felt more like equals. Jackie was fine, I guess, could have been better. And Brea's just been a mess since the first time she showed up. 

[tennisgurl]

If I was Brea I would have dumped Adam right then and there, apology or not. That was some grade A asshole behavior, they have really made him extra insufferable the last few episodes. I guess we shouldn't be surprised that the Goldberg kids grew up so entitled and selfish, considering that's how Beverley raised them to be, but this was especially bad. I was cringing so hard at his on stage antics trying to make Brea's big moment about him, I wanted someone to use one of those vaudevillian hooks to pull him off the stage. 

I don't care about the angst over Geoff and Erica bring up because we know that they end up back together again anyway. That's what happens when you do a sequel series. 

I love Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf, a really nice way to pay homage to George Segal. I was wondering if they would reference real life Brea's acting career, but the reference to George Segal's was even better. He was amazing in that movie. 

[Cherpumple]

4 hours ago, Mr. Meatball Man said:

And Brea's just been a mess since the first time she showed up. 

I could be misremembering, but I thought that in the episode when she was introduced (as one of the cool kids who was actually nice to Adam), the ending tag showed a picture of her with a caption indicating that she was too cool to go out with him in real life. If this is true, then their whole romantic relationship never happened, which not only makes it weird to watch, but could be a reason why it's not working. They clearly have nothing in common and, as you said, have a very lop-sided dynamic.

[rmontro]

I hope for the real Adam Goldberg's sake, that wasn't based on a real incident, because wow what a jackass,

I couldn't care less about Beverly learning her lesson that she's too meddlesome for the 500th time.  I just wanted Erica to realize she was wrong to break up with Geoff, so we could end this nonsense storyline.

[chediavolo]

9 hours ago, rmontro said:

I hope for the real Adam Goldberg's sake, that wasn't based on a real incident, because wow what a jackass,

I couldn't care less about Beverly learning her lesson that she's too meddlesome for the 500th time.  I just wanted Erica to realize she was wrong to break up with Geoff, so we could end this nonsense storyline.

Thus family is abhorrent for the most part. Feel bad for their neighbors. Although if I remember correctly, their posh home had plenty of land as a horrid neighbor bumper. I wonder what is was like dealing with these entitled assholes in an every day basis?  Nothing about what Adam pulled was funny in the least. Beverly is a Whack-O, to put it nicely. etc etc. I’d love to hear how they treated “the help”etc. something , gee I wonder what, makes me think they were nasty.  

[Cherpumple]

On 4/16/2021 at 6:36 AM, chediavolo said:

Thus family is abhorrent for the most part.

This is a big reason I am hoping the show will end with the current season. Yes, the primary reason is that the plot lines and jokes are running on fumes, but a close second for me is that the basic premise has run its course. I used to be able to laugh at the over the top antics of the characters, but after the past year, which has brought out so many people's worst impulses, I find nothing fun or entertaining about watching a bunch of spoiled, selfish, entitled brats steamroll their way over everyone else. IMHO, the cultural zeitgeist is changing and this show feels really dated now due, ironically, to the obnoxious behavior of the characters rather then because it's set in the 80s.

[chediavolo]

1 hour ago, Cherpumple said:

This is a big reason I am hoping the show will end with the current season. Yes, the primary reason is that the plot lines and jokes are running on fumes, but a close second for me is that the basic premise has run its course. I used to be able to laugh at the over the top antics of the characters, but after the past year, which has brought out so many people's worst impulses, I find nothing fun or entertaining about watching a bunch of spoiled, selfish, entitled brats steamroll their way over everyone else. IMHO, the cultural zeitgeist is changing and this show feels really dated now due, ironically, to the obnoxious behavior of the characters rather then because it's set in the 80s.

AMEN!

[nelroy78]

On 4/15/2021 at 6:44 PM, Cherpumple said:

I could be misremembering, but I thought that in the episode when she was introduced (as one of the cool kids who was actually nice to Adam), the ending tag showed a picture of her with a caption indicating that she was too cool to go out with him in real life. If this is true, then their whole romantic relationship never happened, which not only makes it weird to watch, but could be a reason why it's not working. They clearly have nothing in common and, as you said, have a very lop-sided dynamic.

Adam and Brea did date in real life. However I doubt he treated her as badly as portrayed in Season 8. (Airplane and the past two episodes).

[Cherpumple]

5 hours ago, nelroy78 said:

Adam and Brea did date in real life.

Ok, thanks. I guess I did misremember the ending tag. I hope their real relationship wasn't as cringey as it's being portrayed.