Today’s Sweet Streams selection, The Goldbergs, comes with a volume warning for any viewers who are sensitive to screaming and yelling. This fantastic family comedy is currently streaming on Crave TV in Canada and Hulu in the U.S. It’s set in the 1980s and follows a very loud, rowdy family-of-five. The Goldbergs are the kind of people who fight hard and make up even harder; squeezing in moments of deep affection between lots and lots of hollering.
The series, which is currently in its fourth season on ABC, was created by Adam F. Goldberg and is loosely based on his teenage years as the youngest member of the Goldberg family. Adam spent his childhood videotaping the antics of everyone around him and most of the series episodes end with the real home videos that inspired that week’s story.
In most respects, The Goldbergs feels like a classic family sitcom – the kind you may have actually watched in the 80s. It’s wholesome, feel-good and very traditional. But it’s shot single-camera style, laced with modern humour, and full of tongue-in-cheek moments. It’s loveably dorky and well aware of it – so even the ‘cool kids’ can watch without feeling silly.
The cast is perfection and every single member of the Goldberg family is equally compelling (a rarity in family series!). Wendy McLendon-Covey (Bridesmaids) plays overbearing matriarch Beverly, Jeff Garlin (Curb Your Enthusiasm) is loud-mouth, pants hating patriarch Murray and relative newcomers Sean Giambrone, Troy Gentile, and Hayley Orrantia play Goldberg kids Adam, Barry and Erica. And let’s not forget the incomparable George Segal as the suave grandfather (Pops).
Disclaimer: If you’re a student of 1980s history, you’re going to have to let a lot of things slide. Every episode takes place in ‘1980-something’ and pop culture references are pulled liberally from all over the decade. How else could New Kids on the Block be blasting in the same year as the 1984 presidential campaign?! But as long as the laughs keep coming, who are we to judge!
You’ll Like This If: You were a fan of Growing Pains, Family Ties and Who’s the Boss or are currently digging The Middle, Fresh Off The Boat or Black-ish.
Photo Courtesy of ABC