The Goldbergs bid farewell to their fictional patriarch Murray this season 10 premieres Wednesday night.
It’s a farewell that balances the long-running ABC comedy’s signature sense of humor with its “80 Time to really look at the emotional spectrum of grief. It’s also a character send-off following former star Jeff Garlin’s exit last season , following an HR investigation and multiple complaints about his behavior on set.
The aptly titled episode “If You Build It” for the Goldbergs and the final show Set the stage to build (or rebuild) their lives — and a show that will captivate audiences. It features Patton Oswalt’s narration of a few moments between the season nine finale and Wednesday’s premiere The month’s retrospective begins. Through a series of quick sequences, viewers get to know each family member.
But when Adam (Sean Gibrone) starts talking about his father , the montage slowed down. “That year, there was a change that stopped everything,” Barton said, panning to Murray’s chair to cast the spotlight. “Just a few months ago, we suddenly lost my father. We will always love you, Dad. always. We will find ways to continue working together. Because, after all, we are the Goldbergs. “
For the rest of the episode, each family member grieved Murray in their own unique way. Beverly (Wendi McLendon-Covey), Erica (Hayley Orrantia) And Pop Pop (Judd Hirsch), along with a few other familiar Goldbergs faces, are wrestling with whether to give up the Murrary chair, leading to a swift and emotional change in Beverly Mind, the torch passed a generation.
Meanwhile, Adam was caught in a dream prank. In his sister’s After making his own James Earl Jones-inspired “If You Build It, They’ll Come” voice-over with the help of a baby monitor, Adam convinces Barry (Troy Gentile) that he has received a message from the other side to build a Wivel Field is in the backyard, a move that will reunite him with their father’s ghost.
Until Barry’s friends reveal the multiple emotional meanings behind the Kevin Costner film , Adam only realized he might have made a mistake. It’s all part of saying goodbye to a character that came a season after the show paid tribute to late star George Siegel, and the show’s 10-year anniversary The season reboot of ABC comedy.
The Hollywood Reporter interviews Alex Barneso, producer of the ABC comedy Barnow and Chris Bishop, on how they came to the role, why it’s different from their tribute to the late George Siegel, and how the cast and crew went into them without Garin 10 Season 1.
Why What did you both do at the premiere, Adam and Barry saying goodbye to their dad? What do you ultimately want to say about Murray and Jeff’s absence, the show itself and moving on? 180
Alex Barnes & Noble Dreamland is kind of like a last second chance to reconnect with someone who has passed away, whether that relationship is worrisome or not, you’ll think that in life The people who are here for granted. And then when they leave, you wish you had a second chance to work out those relationships. We worked really hard to put the needle on this emotionally. We really lost George W. Siegel, this affects us all, we hope last year’s premiere was a tribute to him first and foremost, also A tribute to this character. It’s more original, and it’s real. Losing not people but characters in the season one premiere just needed a more delicate touch, in a way.
In a sense, we wanted to honor the character, but the actor wasn’t dead. So we wanted to capitalize on something, and I think it was an important movie for a lot of people who grew up in the ’80 years. This is an opportunity to not make it sad. Building the site in the backyard gave the opportunity to be fun and silly, but in the end all had that sweet memory. Sometimes the movies we’re used to seeing fit the theme of what we want to do, and we fail too. ( Laughter. )
Chris Bishop Everyone has a different interpretation of the realm of dreams. It’s about hope, reconciling with your past and moving forward – and of course we do that with the nostalgic power of waffle balls. ( Laughs. ) This movie means a lot to me personally and I really like it. So, it was a very moving episode for us. The feedback we got was positive. Really emotional. So we are really happy.
and a storyline with Beverly Agree to donate Murray’s chair, then 1235063600 do a 180 – an emotional turn. Viewers later learn that Pop Pop saved it and took it into the nursery. Can you talk about why you wanted to do this struggling to let go of the chair storyline, and why Pop Pop was the one to save it?
BARNOW Murray The character’s chair is the ultimate totem pole. Nothing represents him more than that. This indicated his lethargy. He just sits there as the captain and growls at people. So it looks natural. It seems like an obvious sign that if you take it away, everyone will instantly miss it. It sits in the middle of the room, you ignore it, and then when it disappears, it’s heartbreaking. My dad passed away when I was a kid and I just want to say that anyone who’s been through grief knows that you don’t want to hold on to these things endlessly, just desperately trying to find from the inanimate value, and remind you of ways in bad situations.
But there are things like you that you can never get rid of, and you can never give up. So we think the story should be like this. As far as Pop Pop goes, his history on the show is that he’s a terrible father, and he’s a rude guy in general. Murray raised his younger brother Marvin. We tried not to make the storyline too sad, but we thought it was a very sweet idea that he would miss his son. He couldn’t tell when he was alive, but he couldn’t stand watching this piece of himself disappear. So I don’t think we have to say it explicitly. I think it’s a nice elegant illustration of this episode that he’s the one who picked it up.
One of the ways you’re comically exploring Murray’s death is that Barry missed his college housing application deadline, so He returned home. Obviously, this excuse of his is a joke, but it does illustrate how messy your life can get. When you’re sad, things big and small fall to the side. What do you want to tell the audience about Barry and his personal reaction to Adam?
1235063600BARNOW I Think we’ll spend more time talking about it in future episodes. Adam is obviously not going to college this year, and I don’t want to give up too much, but he’s also having a hard time getting out of the lair. But Chris came up with the act of landing on a chair in the cold open air, which I thought was really a smart way to deal with what happened without feeling too sad. In that regard, hopefully you can remove the feeling that people don’t want to leave. During this time of grief, they circled the wagon to support each other. They transcended the immediacy of death and are now a little scared to move on with their lives.
BISHOP I think you hit the nail on the head with the fact that grief has thrown your world into chaos . Especially since Murray is someone who cares so much about college and puts everything on the ball. I think he drives a lot. Whether Barry didn’t do it subconsciously or did it on purpose, I think it’s all part of the whole.
Alex, you’ve kind of hinted at that, but this season will continue to explore the impact of Murray’s absence on the family ?
1235063600BARNOW I Would say it’s not over, but I think our goal is to really look forward. Baby is coming and there is reason to be optimistic. While our cast has changed, [the episode] because we’re dealing with sentimentality, I think the show will really go back to what it was. It’s going to be fun and you’ll see the driving storyline.
BISHOP Yes, at the end of the day, we’re in a comedy. So we need to mitigate it. Calm down a little. ( Laughs. ) Obviously it will affect their lives, but I think we will find a lot of new happy stories going forward.
1235063600 Murray died early in the season. He has no visual echo, and the circumstances of his death are a bit murky. Why don’t you want to have visual memories or details surrounding the circumstances of his death, but instead focus on the various family members’ ways of grief?
1235063600BARNOW1235063600 We are considering the need for storytelling. Frankly, Adam Goldberg created the show, his father was a real person, and I think when we separate fact from fiction, you have to be careful to respect real people and not get into that realm. But also for the needs of the show. It just doesn’t seem necessary. It’s a fictional character, so it feels important to deal with what’s going on with the characters we’re there instead of dwelling on what happened in the past.
BISHOP Likewise, we dealt with the previous year when George Siegel died this problem. We really lost there, so I think it’s too similar.
After losing Siegel and Garin’s early departures last season, both on-screen and off-screen, Some tough. After your 10 season and those regroups, how do you, the cast and the production staff feel about things now?
BARNOW very positive. Everyone is very keen to do it. We’ve gotten to the point where everyone feels lucky. No show to do 10 years. I think everyone appreciates what we have and I think its legacy at this point is doing 10 episodes. It’s such an important part of our lives. I really like what we do. I think the actors love what they do. I know the staff are very enthusiastic about it. Like any family, any business that’s been around for 10 years, there are highs and lows. It’s been a very long season. But I have to say that my conversations with Wendi Deng and the rest of the cast have been very positive and grateful for what we have.
BISHOP This sounds corny, but here we are a extended family. That’s what we’ve become over the years, we’ve grown, we’ve had our ups and downs, but it’s been fantastic. Everyone seems to be very, very positive moving forward.
Interview edited for length and clarity.
The Goldbergs airs Wednesday on ABC.
