The Family Sitcom

I can't get enough of family sitcoms. I'm specifically talking about the family sitcoms that were the product of the time period between about 1983 and ending around 1998. Growing Pains, Who's The Boss?, Full House, Step By Step, Family Matters, and other great shows marked a certain era of television for me. Considering that I wasn't even alive during a portion of this period, and was too young to enjoy this type of television for several more years after I was born, it's interesting that these programs have such a special place in my heart.

My siblings, who are all older than me, don't seem to be as fond of this era of television, even though it was what they watched. Especially the TGIF block on ABC. These are my shows! And yet I'm the one who wasn't even alive or old enough to appreciate them when they aired live!

Of course, I don't care for much TV that would be considered "for me" given my age. It's like there's a black hole of television from 1999 to the present that I just don't care about. There are a few shows that I love and appreciate, such as Batman Beyond, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Breaking Bad, and Better Call Saul that fall within this "black hole" timeframe, but none of those shows are a family sitcom.

After Home Improvement with Tim Allen went off the air, it seems like sitcoms became cynical toward the traditional American family and began to push a narrative of dysfunction. This is evidenced by shows such as Grounded for Life, The War at Home, Titus, and many others. Following the dysfunction narrative, the next wave of shows featuring families depict a "new normal", seemingly bent on a cynical narrative of the traditional American family. This is evidenced in The New Normal and Modern Family. Consider how these shows are even named. The aim is to show that the traditional family is antiquated and something new and radical has taken its place.

That's not to say that these shows are not funny or have poor production values. Modern Family is a pretty funny show. What I'm saying is that these are not the classic family sitcom that has been missing for a long time.

Two shows from the aforementioned "black hole" stand out as examples of families being depicted as realistic and traditional. These shows are Everybody Hates Chris and The Goldbergs. Tim Allen's Last Man Standing also falls within this category, but I'm not as familiar with it as I am these other two shows.

The Goldbergs is a show that was recommended to me on Hulu because I watched Home Improvement. I avoided the show because I assumed it was another one falling in the genre of "let's skewer the American family," like Netflix's F is for Family. But after a while, I gave in and tried it.

I just finished the first season of The Goldbergs, and I think it's great! The characters are well-developed and well-written, the acting is top-notch, and the show is based on the life of its creator, Adam Goldberg. This is similar to Everybody Hates Chris, which is based on Chris Rock's life and experiences, too.

While the plotlines in The Goldbergs may not always be entirely realistic, they are still far more grounded than the later plots of Full House or Family Matters (or in the case of Full House, virtually any plotline). I love the dynamics between the siblings, the overbearing mother, and the obsessions of Adam, the youngest. The father is a pretty realistic depiction of a dad who's decently involved with his kids, but also wants to enjoy his TV time. The grandfather is funny and pretty believable in his role as an elderly womanizer type.

I can't get enough of the show for now and I can't wait to see what's next. I haven't enjoyed a show like this in years because a good show in the genre hasn't existed for so long (Last Man Standing being the exception, I suppose). I'm glad that I came across it, because I honestly thought that shows in the genre were going the way of Fuller House, which ditches any emotion and instead combines Disney Channel acting with Disney Channel writing (a mistake that Girl Meets World made). I am hungry for a show like The Goldbergs, which is why it's such a delight to me. If you're a fan of the genre and you haven't watched this one yet, then I highly recommend you get a Hulu subscription or another means of watching it and enjoy it right away.