1980 something
This is bugging me, but why does every episode, Adam (the real Adam Goldberg) always says "1980 something) at the start?
shareTo stress the fact that it isn't any particular time in the 1980s. This way they can mix things from different parts of the 1980s in each episode.
Some people say he said something different in the very first episode. I can't remember back that far.
Edit: btw that is the voice of Patton Oswalt narrating the show, but I believe it is supposed to be Adam speaking.
Ahh right I see, thank you
shareCripes, if you can't remember three years back, you mind is truly on life support.
In the pilot, it was clearly established that the action was taking place in August of 1985. Goldberg altered it later and did away with the timeline because he's too lazy to write in linear. Better to just jump all over the 80s map (and sometimes, the 90s) and just capitalize on whatever was popular. '
Soon, you'll see a Batman episode, I'm sure.
Well it's really getting mixed up when Quicksilver is opening (1986) and Adam has on a Back To The Future II (1989) shirt on in the same scene.
I've only begun watching current episodes so if this is a running gag, I get it.
Yeah. I pointed that out in another post. That kinda annoys me. But I do know the premise. They can zip around the decade from ep to ep and even within a single ep. Truth be told, the real Adam went to high school in the 90s. So he wasn't a true 80s kid like his 2 older brothers.
shareIt's not a running gag but it is intentional and part of the design of the show.
Btw, I don't notice the timeline inaccuracies, I'm lucky to recognize a lot of the references at all. I'm older than the characters by 10-15 years.
There is a website about the show, specifically about the characters and the real people they are based on. I just remembered it earlier today and looked it up.
http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/the-goldbergs/
I guess they make other websites like this about shows that are based on real people.
It starts with these sections:
REEL FACE - REAL FACE
(six pairs of pictures of characters from the show and the real people they portray)
(then excerpts from articles and interviews about the show)
QUESTIONING THE STORY:
Where did the real Goldberg family live?
Why is The Goldbergs set in "1980-something" instead of a specific year?
(this section describes why the show does what it does about time)
The way I look at it is that instead of making the episodes strictly chronological, they mix an assortment of things from the 1980s in each episode. If it was strictly chronological, there would be many weeks when nothing happened! The way Adam puts it in this section, without doing it this way, they would have to wait for later seasons (and hope they get renewed!) to be able to use events from later years.
I never saw the pilot. But others have pointed out that they did say the yr in the pilot. So they definitely changed course after the show was picked up. Would have been interesting if they started in a set time. Wonder Yrs did it great. But Adam has said he didn't want to wait to get certain touchstones of the decade. I do find it fascinating that the biggest music star of the decade, Michael Jackson, is barely touched upon. But that is because of music rights from what I've heard. Glaring omission anyway.
shareThe pilot said August of 85. And Barry was celebrating his 16th birthday.
shareThey probably made a wise choice on a couple of fronts there. Zipping around the decade let them do different things each week instead of being the slave to the particular yr. And another wise act was deaging Erica and Barry. They would be in college by now.
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