Wedne🧸sday night’s episode of “The Gol🌠dbergs,” a spinoff episode of the popular sitcom, is getting a second chance to prove itself.
“The Goldbergs: 1990-Something Spin-Off” (8 p.m. on ABC) stars Tim Meadows and Bryan Callen reprising their “Goldbergs” roles as William Penn Academy teacher John Glascott and Coach Mellor, with Nia Long playing Glascott’s non-nonsense sister, Lucy. (“Goldbergs” mom Beverly Goldberg, played by Wendi McCဣlendon-Covey, appears briefly.) It’s set in the early ’90s and was filmed last year but wasn’t included on ABC’s scꦉhedule.
“It’s airing as a regular episode, as a ‘spinoff special’ … and hopefully people won’t be too confused,” says “The Goldbergs” creator Adam Goldberg. “We just thought a spinoff was a slam-dunk. It tested higher than ‘The Goldbergs’ pilot and we were excited about taking two of the most popular side characters and spinning them off into their own show. It had all the elements, all the nostalgia I do well, and is kind of like a family show.
“But ABC wanted a ‘workplace show’ and picked up ‘The Mayor’ [since cancelled]. I was incredibly bummed, since my goal was to make the first show on network TV that’s really positive about teachers … when you have crazy parents, teachers are the sane adults in your life.
“I know I could do another 150 episodes [of this series]. I was grateful they gave me the opportunity to do the pilot [and] then it died,” Goldberg says. “But with all the other spinoffs working this year — ‘Grown-ish,’ ‘Young Sheldon’ — ABC came back and said, ‘Let’s give it to the world and see wh💙at they think.’
“I got my heart broken once already and don’t want to get my hopes up, but maybe it will find another life with some fresh eyes,” Goldberg says. “If not at ABC, then at [sister cable network] Freeform … And if not, I think [‘The Goldbergs’ producer] Sony is going to go out and look for a place for it to land.”