ABC’s The Goldbergs is a love letter to the 1980s and is chock-full of pop culture references to the decade that brought us Prince, The Breakfast Club, and leg warmers. While it’s nearly impossible to mention every single 1980s reference on The Goldbergs, we’re going to run down some of each episode’s geekier and more obscure pop culture moments.
Please note that this column tries to cover only the “unique” references that appear in each episode, while passing on the posters, toys and other background pieces that appear in every episode and are irrelevant to the plot.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Video Dating
The episode does a pretty accurate job of capturing the weirdness that was video dating during the 1980s. People paid companies like Teledate and Great Expectations to record themselves give horrifically cheesy and cringeworthy “profile videos”, which would then be screened by other providers.
While video dating was a slight step up from mail order brides, it (thankfully) went the way of the dodo with advent of the internet. Here’s a montage video showing just how awful dating videos were:
Of course, offering to give away “I Love VD” bags is a terrible idea, as VD is shorthand for venereal diseases, a type of sexually transmitted disease.
A Body Like Jane Fonda
Bill Lewis claims that his ex-wife had a body like Jane Fonda, the famed actress/workout enthusiast. Fonda has a storied acting career, but she also became known for her series of popular workout videos released over much of the 1980s. Fonda’s workout tapes helped popularize the then fledgling VCR and also made her even more of a pop culture icon. At one point, the Jane Fonda Workout Video was the best-selling home video for several years in a row.
Fonda retired from the workout video business in 1995, but she made a brief return in 2010 with new videos aimed at an older generation of workout enthusiasts.
Macho Man
Adam chose to base Bill’s dating video off the popular Village People song “Macho Man”, which was first released in 1978. “Macho Men” was the Village People’s second big hit and referenced the group’s original call for “macho types” when searching for singers/dancers for the group.
And yes, the Village People have always been a symbol for the gay community. In fact, the group’s costumes are all references to costumes worn by gay men at parties in Greenwich Village.
Ewoks Shirt
Adam rocks a vintage “Ewoks 2” t-shirt from 1985 at one point, a reference to the 1985 Ewoks: Battle for Endor TV movie. Battle for Endor was the sequel to the Caravan of Courage: An Ewoks Adventure, a television movie focusing on a family who gets trapped on Endor and befriends the same tribe of Ewoks that later helps Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance overthrow the Empire.
The sequel was a bit darker than the first movie, as it killed off most of the human cast of the first movie and focused on a violent battle between the Ewoks and a group of marauders trying to take over Endor. The movies were well-received at the time (mainly for the special effects) but they’re now just a mostly forgotten footnote in Star Wars lore.
Interestingly, the shirt that Adam is wearing during the episode is a cast and crew t-shirt given out during production, and is a pretty cool piece of Star Wars memorabilia. Take care of that t-shirt, Adam Goldberg!
Clash of the Titans
Murray implored Barry to sit down and watch Clash of the Titans with him instead of training to become a gym teacher. Clash of the Titans was a 1981 movie retelling the story of Perseus and his slaying of Medusa and the Kraken. The movie is best known for its use of stop-motion special effects. The movie became a cult classic and later got remade in 2010, this time starring Liam Neeson and Sam Worthington.
Three’s Company/Who’s The Boss
The final scene of this week’s episode sees Barry rambling off references to Three’s Company and Who’s The Boss, two popular sitcoms that ran during the 1980s. Three’s Company featured a group of three co-ed roommates living together in an apartment building. Although their landlord forbids co-ed apartments, he eventually agrees after the male roommate lies and says he’s gay. Three’s Company eventually got two failed spinoff shows and ended in 1983.
Who’s The Boss featured Tony Danza as an ex-baseball player turned housekeeper for a rich female ad executive played by Judith Light. Alyssa Milano also starred as Light’s daughter. The show played up the reversal of various gender stereotypes for laughs, but Who’s The Boss was a remarkably progressive show for its time.
