Nineteen Eighty-something: Anachronisms, and Cultural Touchstones

[Kromm]

I personally love the vagueness.  It allows unfettered freedom to all of the 80s on the show.  It's all about Adam's compound memories of the 80s, where he's mixed up the details based on thirty years passing, so things appearing right next to each other that shouldn't are just fine.  He's no more accurate a narrator than Ted Mosby.  Does he have to be?

In addition to discussing that theme (the imperfection and how we feel about the sliding timescale), there are also the actual 80s references to be discussed and savored.  Seems like this is a good place for all of that.

[Stinger97]

I had my eyes peeled for any anachronisms when Barry showed up at the airport looking for Fanny and, surprisingly, didn't see any. I thought it would be difficult to keep anything and everything out of the scene that didn't exist in the 80s, but I was pleasantly surprised nothing slipped through. Although, I don't recall having to walk through a metal detector at the airport as a kid, and that was in the 90s. Although, now that I think about it, I didn't fly for the first time well into my teens. I do remember, however, being able to walk to the gate with your family and friends to see them off. Nowadays, it's all Kiss & Fly at the terminal. 

[lokison]

I was born in 1969 and so I was a tween/teen in the 80s, and honestly, except for a couple of milestone dates (March 13, 1983 - my first concert, Duran Duran) it's all a blur, and it wasn't even because I was on drugs, I'm just not a person who pays attention to dates. I flew once when I was a little kid, so I'm not sure about the scanners to get on the plane in the 80s that Barry had to go through. I do remember going to the airport with my Aunt Eileen a few times to watch planes take-off and land, and I don't recall any security at all.

[Kromm]

I was born in 1969 and so I was a tween/teen in the 80s, and honestly, except for a couple of milestone dates (March 13, 1983 - my first concert, Duran Duran) it's all a blur, and it wasn't even because I was on drugs, I'm just not a person who pays attention to dates. I flew once when I was a little kid, so I'm not sure about the scanners to get on the plane in the 80s that Barry had to go through. I do remember going to the airport with my Aunt Eileen a few times to watch planes take-off and land, and I don't recall any security at all.

This all may varied by airport.  The Goldbergs is set near Philly, so it would be a big city airport (and thus might have had more security, sooner).

 

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Huge early 80s tie-in.  The biggest, in fact.

'The Goldbergs' Sets 'Star Wars' Day Tie-In With Lucasfilm (Exclusive)

Edited April 3, 2014 by Kromm

[Kromm]

Because we got reference to it in "The Age of Darkness", here is the spectacle of a LIVE PERFORMANCE OF PAC MAN FEVER on American Bandstand.

 

Thanks, Dick Clark, you magnificent bastard!

 

Or what show was even MORE stereotypical 80s than even American Bandstand?  Here's one hit wonder Buckner and Garcia serenading us about Pac Man on SOLID GOLD!

 

Now THAT'S the eighties personified.

 

 

We need, I repeat NEED, a Solid Gold tribute episode of The Goldbergs.  If the showrunners are indeed spying here... DOOOOOO EEEEEEET NOOWWWWWW!

Edited May 2, 2014 by Kromm

[Stinger97]

Pretty sure the Hulk Hogan Wrestling Buddy we saw Barry wrestling with at the end of the episode wasn't released until 1990. I did a cursory Google search following the episode and the sources I found say '90. Anyone remember them in the late 80s?

[Kromm]

Pretty sure the Hulk Hogan Wrestling Buddy we saw Barry wrestling with at the end of the episode wasn't released until 1990. I did a cursory Google search following the episode and the sources I found say '90. Anyone remember them in the late 80s?

I see the same eBay auction you did, I think.  I don't know if we can regard that as reliable, but that said if it's true then yeah.  A bit of an error for the show.  Not that Hulk himself didn't fit into the bit--the problem is just the doll.

 

EDIT - But this page disagrees with the ebay auction:  http://www.ilovethe80s.com/toys_toys_wrestlingbuddies.htm

Now that doesn't mean the auction isn't correct.  Maybe the exact piece being sold was originally bought from a store in 1990--but there's no saying it wasn't simply a later run of the toy.  Clearly Hulk would have been one of the first kinds produced, and that page I just referenced is clear the line as a whole is from the 80s.

 

EDIT 2 - Time Magazine also agrees they are from the 80s:  http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2049243_2048660_2049215,00.html

Edited May 7, 2014 by Kromm

[Arynm]

I thought that toy was a stuffed Ronald McDonald and I squeeled with joy because I had that toy! Imagine my sadness that it turned out to be Hulk Hogan. Another solid episode, this show deserves a renewal, we should get the news this week or next. The upfronts are soon.

[Kromm]

One thing we've discussed a bit in the episode threads that really changes perception of the whole "Nineteen Eighty-something" and how it relates to the vagueness of the episode dates is this: the whole CONCEPT is necessary for the show to exist at ALL.

 

What do I mean?  Well, think about the fact that the real Adam was born April 2, 1976.

 

So think about what that does to the timeline of the entire show if it wasn't so loosely interpreted. Adam would be FOUR years old for the earliest 80s references. Heck, even only around NINE for the mid 80s ones.  So rather than allowing the show to be a celebration of the entire 80s decade, we'd be shoehorned into it being about the late 80s melded into the early (almost to the mid) 90s.   And how do you market THAT?  There's no clever half mumbled "Nineteen Eighty-something" line for that, and within the episode voiceovers you couldn't have breezy "back in the 80s, we..." type lines.  

 

You could kind of have the show address the past the way The Wonder Years did, for example, but The Wonder Years wasn't able to milk the anachronisms of the past for specific comedy the way The Goldbergs has.

[readster]

 

You could kind of have the show address the past the way The Wonder Years did, for example, but The Wonder Years wasn't able to milk the anachronisms of the past for specific comedy the way The Goldbergs has.

 

 Which is very true and I remember an interview with the WY creators they wanted to touch on specific moments in history with the WY and why they set it in the year they did. Even saying no matter how long the show goes on they have the historical references to work out the storylines but they didn't want to focus or milk off of that. It worked too coming off of the hippy and vietnam era of the 60s to the midpoints of the 70s before the disco era. Goldberts works with the various 80s references. I was two when the 80s begin but I can watch and get tons of references and toys, TV shows, ect. My wife who is the same age as real Adam has several go over her heads while many she goes: "I remember that." 

[ajsnaves]

While I agree that the whole nineteen eighty something works for this show, there are some stumbling blocks.  For me it is when they include individual, historical events such as the recent 1984 election or Charles and Di's wedding. When you use particular events it can be jarring when you mix it with other pop culture things that occurred at a significantly different time.  If they would have used the 88 election with Bush and Dukakis, I would not have batted an eye to including The American Gladiators, even if they would be about a year apart.  So, if they are going to mix history and pop culture is some episodes, I think they need to take a little more care to keep them at least close to each other.