We Finally Know How The Goldbergs Season 10 Will Kick Off Without Murray
With nine seasons of sitcom lunacy under its belt, and a tenth soon to debut, ABC's long-running laugher "The Goldbergs" has become not just a reliable ratings grabber for the network, but one of its best-loved comedy series. Longevity and popularity aside, fans of "The Goldbergs" were no doubt stunned late in 2021 when longtime series star Jeff Garlin (who'd portrayed patriarch Murray Goldberg in every prior season) unexpectedly left the show. He did so under a cloud of controversy after internal investigations found legitimacy to several complaints of Garlin's abusive behavior on set (per Deadline). And yes, many fans of "The Goldbergs" were left wondering if the show would continue without the family's paterfamilias.
Those fears were eventually put to rest when ABC gave Season 10 of "The Goldbergs" a green light in April (via Deadline). With the welcome renewal, however, came a bigger question of how the show would handle Garlin's absence in the new season. That topic was discussed in depth by co-showrunners Alex Barnow and Chris Bishop in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. And it's safe to say their plan for forging ahead with "The Goldbergs" without Murray will sound a little familiar.
The Goldbergs is taking the Roseanne approach for the series' upcoming season
Given the speed and timing of Jeff Garlin's departure from "The Goldbergs," series creatives had to get, well, more than a little creative (via Slate) in handling Murray Goldberg's initial absence from Season 9 episodes. In the end, they took a "he's out of town" approach with Murray as cast, crew, and producers tested the Garlin-less waters in the season's final few episodes. It seems the break between seasons allowed Alex Barnow and Chris Bishop time to forge a more concrete plan to progress the overarching narrative without Murray Goldberg. And much like ABC's post-"Roseanne" hit "The Conners," they decided the best option was to simply kill the character off.
"The Goldbergs" showrunners confirmed as much in their Entertainment Weekly interview, with Barnow stating that the new season will begin months after the fateful event and that, "This is going to be a family that has not reconciled the fact that their father's gone but has sort of moved on and has dealt with a lot of that." He also added that new storylines are specifically designed to be forward-thinking, "So far the stories have been largely about looking forward rather than looking back."
Bishop would add that moving forward without Garlin opened the door to many narrative possibilities: "It honestly feels like a huge reboot for us. So we have tons of momentum rolling into this new season." It remains to be seen how well "The Goldbergs" will work in the long term without the towering presence of its departed star. But if the final few episodes of Season 9 are any indication, "The Goldbergs" will likely be just fine.