The Goldbergs
ABC | Release Date: September 24, 2013
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
12
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
50
Wall Street JournalDorothy RabinowitzOct 3, 2013
Season 1 Review: It has its strengths--most of them derived from the skilled cast--but none related to any capacity for originality. Read full review
60
HollywoodChicago.comBrian TallericoSep 26, 2013
Season 1 Review: The comedy on The Goldbergs is loud, aggressive, and somewhat abrasive. Read full review
50
Under The RadarCody Ray ShaferSep 26, 2013
Season 1 Review: The Goldbergs banks on nostalgia for its charm, but needs to build on something more for us to really care about this family. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Matt Zoller SeitzSep 24, 2013
Season 1 Review: There are a few lively moments--Barry flipping out when he thinks his mom gave him car keys for his birthday when it's really a locket with her picture in it; a montage that collects dad's malapropisms, the better to teach viewers "How to speak Murray"--but it's all too strained, too obviously written, and too dependent on the sort of easy-laughs memory-lane-tripping that VH1 did to death about fifteen years ago. Read full review
50
TimeJames PoniewozikSep 24, 2013
Season 1 Review: What it needs to make it a lasting family comedy and not a VH1 special is heart and a sense of its characters as individuals. It shows signs of the former, but the latter gets lost in the deafeningly loud pilot and the pop-culture-reference humor. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushSep 24, 2013
Season 1 Review: So far so generic, and I'll decide later once my ears stop ringing. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesMary McNamaraSep 24, 2013
Season 1 Review: For all that it springs from original material--a coda to the pilot shows some of the actual home movies, which are indeed hilarious--The Goldbergs--is all style and no substance. Read full review
40
Philadelphia InquirerDavid HiltbrandSep 24, 2013
Season 1 Review: There are some sharp jokes here, but they get lost in the bile. The Goldbergs is like The Wonder Years infected by Married... With Children. It's a half hour of annoying people yelling at one another. Read full review
50
HitfixAlan SepinwallSep 24, 2013
Season 1 Review: The characters are all broad types, the '80s references (Gobots, Sam Goody, an REO Speedwagon singalong) mostly feel shoehorned in rather than creating the feeling of the era, and the hostility of the family doesn't turn out to be great fodder for humor. Read full review
50
People WeeklyTom GliattoSep 19, 2013
Season 1 Review: It is nice but overly familiar in its reliance on pop-culture signposts and snuggly sentimentality. [30 Sep 2013, p.53]
50
Slant MagazineLuis SanchezSep 18, 2013
Season 1 Review: The Goldbergs's ostensibly endearing premise is sadly also its biggest flaw. Goldberg's on-screen representation as prepubescent Adam (Sean Giambrone) fails to complement the voiceover narration and meaningful asides of adult Adam (Patton Oswalt) in any substantial way. Read full review
40
VarietyBrian LowrySep 17, 2013
Season 1 Review: As fertile as the mid-1980s are for comedy, however, the pilot is too often grating--with a little of Garlin, in particular, going a long way. Read full review
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