Lazy writers won't set sitcom in specific year.
Jan 30, 2018 18:49:07 GMT
Post by My Avatar Is A Hot Babe on Jan 30, 2018 18:49:07 GMT
Do you notice songs in films set in the past from the wrong year?
So let's get the time question out of the way first. Why isn't The Goldbergs set in a specific year?
When I shot the pilot, in my head, [the show] was set somewhere in the mid-eighties. Then when we got picked up, and I had to think of new episodes, it came down to what I call the Power Glove Conundrum. To me, the three greatest things of the eighties, in my opinion, happened in '89: The Reebok Pump, the Nintendo Power Glove, and Say Anything ... Even though they just squeaked in under the line in the eighties, to me, personally, they define the eighties. So I was like, "Wait, if my show is set in 1985, I have to wait five years to do these episodes?" I should be so lucky to be five years in on a show. And for now I only have twelve episodes. I kind of realized that the only way to approach it is to not make it Mad Men. And [that show] is brilliant. They're literally changing haircuts according to the year. But I'm doing a comedy, and I'm doing it from a narrator who's just like me: When I think, When did I win Legend of Zelda? I don't remember what year it was. I only remember that it was somewhere in the mid- to late eighties. So the writers started going, "Okay, we have an undependable narrator." And we played with that: Maybe he's remembering things wrong, maybe he's exaggerating. He's probably mixing up things in the A and B story line. So we decided to set in "1980-something." He's literally pulling different memories every episode. And it became so liberating creatively. We could do anything ... It's kind of a melting pot of the eighties. It's how you remember it.
Other period comedies have attempted to be more precise about timing ...
That '70s Show tried to do it, but then they were on for ten years. So they stopped aging. Any way you swing it, it's kind of impossible to make your comedy this kind of chronological thing. The Wonder Years was my favorite show growing up. And they did it well. But the difference was, it was a dramedy. The end of the pilot, which I still think is the best pilot ever made, Winnie's brother dies in the Vietnam War. And that's just not what I'm doing. I'm just doing a show about my crazy mom, who dressed me in a train sweater. I applaud those creators who can stick to a year and make it legit. But it's a really tough place to be in. Being a huge eighties geek, I was impatient. I couldn't wait.
Adam Goldberg Explains Why The Goldbergs Isn’t Set in a Specific Year
And in another article:
“The Goldbergs” opens each week with an unseen narrator popping a videotape into a VCR. You’d think this would augur a degree of historical verisimilitude, but actually, it’s another autobiographical jumping-off point for Goldberg to deliver just the opposite. The show’s creator says he made many recordings as a kid, and adds that bits and pieces from his family’s life are strewn across dozens of unlabeled cartridges. “It’s not like today, where you have the digital stamp on it,” he says.
It is pretty ridiculous though how the main character is constantly wearing some 80s t-shirt and his room is filled with a hodge podge of posters signifying 'hey... it's the 80s man!' But... he was born in 1976 which means he never went to high school in the 80s even! And the show has the collective 80s compression of a young child who barely has any grasp as to what was happening when.
It's still a funny show. But as an '80s' show it's pretty ridiculous.
But The Goldbergs wants to have it both ways. They don't want to tie themselves down to any specific year in the 80s, fine, whatever, but they *also* want to pander to their audience's nostalgia with least-common-denominator "Hey! I remember that thing!" references. It's just laziness.
altaeria said:
The few times I’ve watched an episode of The Goldbergs, I feel like a lot of the details don’t make sense. Sure, I get that the show is set “in the 80s” but the hairstyles and references don’t appear to settle logically on any given period. You don’t watch the Bears win the Super Bowl with a Guns n Roses t-shirt on and a Flock of Seagulls haircut.ampmods said:
Yeah the Goldburgs don't even seem to have any sense of time. It's all 80s stereotype to them. If I had to guess the actual time period I'd put it between 1987-1992. But sure wear an ET shirt while your brother dresses like Boy George. ha.longaway said:
I simply can not watch The Goldbergs. Too much of a jumbled mess.uzn007 said:
My family likes to watch the TV show The Goldbergs, set in the 80s, which really bugs me with stuff like this. If the whole purpose of the show is supposed to be 80s nostalgia, it seems like they could make a minor effort not to be completely jarring to people who lived through the 80s. E.g., the characters will be talking about seeing Poltergeist in the theater (1982) but one character has a poster from Ghostbusters (1984) on the wall, and another character has a poster of the self-titled Whitesnake album that came out in 1987. It's just lazy.BadJack said:
"The Goldbergs" and films like "The Wedding Singer" generally treat the '80's like they happened over one really long weekend.mbrownp1 said:
Happens all the time on The Goldbergs. Even tho they state that each episode is set in 1980-something, I notice fads and pop culture tidbits that don't line up chronologically with the music that is chosen.Squealy said:
Producer Adam F. Goldberg:So let's get the time question out of the way first. Why isn't The Goldbergs set in a specific year?
When I shot the pilot, in my head, [the show] was set somewhere in the mid-eighties. Then when we got picked up, and I had to think of new episodes, it came down to what I call the Power Glove Conundrum. To me, the three greatest things of the eighties, in my opinion, happened in '89: The Reebok Pump, the Nintendo Power Glove, and Say Anything ... Even though they just squeaked in under the line in the eighties, to me, personally, they define the eighties. So I was like, "Wait, if my show is set in 1985, I have to wait five years to do these episodes?" I should be so lucky to be five years in on a show. And for now I only have twelve episodes. I kind of realized that the only way to approach it is to not make it Mad Men. And [that show] is brilliant. They're literally changing haircuts according to the year. But I'm doing a comedy, and I'm doing it from a narrator who's just like me: When I think, When did I win Legend of Zelda? I don't remember what year it was. I only remember that it was somewhere in the mid- to late eighties. So the writers started going, "Okay, we have an undependable narrator." And we played with that: Maybe he's remembering things wrong, maybe he's exaggerating. He's probably mixing up things in the A and B story line. So we decided to set in "1980-something." He's literally pulling different memories every episode. And it became so liberating creatively. We could do anything ... It's kind of a melting pot of the eighties. It's how you remember it.
Other period comedies have attempted to be more precise about timing ...
That '70s Show tried to do it, but then they were on for ten years. So they stopped aging. Any way you swing it, it's kind of impossible to make your comedy this kind of chronological thing. The Wonder Years was my favorite show growing up. And they did it well. But the difference was, it was a dramedy. The end of the pilot, which I still think is the best pilot ever made, Winnie's brother dies in the Vietnam War. And that's just not what I'm doing. I'm just doing a show about my crazy mom, who dressed me in a train sweater. I applaud those creators who can stick to a year and make it legit. But it's a really tough place to be in. Being a huge eighties geek, I was impatient. I couldn't wait.
Adam Goldberg Explains Why The Goldbergs Isn’t Set in a Specific Year
And in another article:
“The Goldbergs” opens each week with an unseen narrator popping a videotape into a VCR. You’d think this would augur a degree of historical verisimilitude, but actually, it’s another autobiographical jumping-off point for Goldberg to deliver just the opposite. The show’s creator says he made many recordings as a kid, and adds that bits and pieces from his family’s life are strewn across dozens of unlabeled cartridges. “It’s not like today, where you have the digital stamp on it,” he says.
ampmods said:
So my estimation of 87-92 was pretty on the money. 
It is pretty ridiculous though how the main character is constantly wearing some 80s t-shirt and his room is filled with a hodge podge of posters signifying 'hey... it's the 80s man!' But... he was born in 1976 which means he never went to high school in the 80s even! And the show has the collective 80s compression of a young child who barely has any grasp as to what was happening when.
It's still a funny show. But as an '80s' show it's pretty ridiculous.
Squealy said:
Did you read what he said and consider it at all?ampmods said:
I did. But what I interpreted in his words is the following statements: "I wanted to make a show about the 80s even though I barely remember them and it was easier to sell to a network rather than a show about growing up in the era of pump up shoes and ABC's TGIF." uzn007 said:
If he's consciously not setting the show in any specific year, then he shouldn't include specific historical artifacts. It's easy enough (and can be extremely entertaining) for shows/books/movies to come up with their own versions of pop culture (e.g. when Seinfeld used the movie Rochelle Rochelle) and it gets the producers of the show off the hook for any inaccuracies. But The Goldbergs wants to have it both ways. They don't want to tie themselves down to any specific year in the 80s, fine, whatever, but they *also* want to pander to their audience's nostalgia with least-common-denominator "Hey! I remember that thing!" references. It's just laziness.
