How ‘The Goldbergs’ Honored George Segal Last Night

George Segal made his final appearance on ABC’s The Goldbergs Wednesday night, and the hit ABC series took a moment to remember the late veteran actor. The 1980s-set family comedy, now in Season 8, ended with a 48-second video tribute to the actor, who had played Beverly Goldberg’s father, Albert “Pops” Solomon since the series launched in September 2013. Segal died on March 23 due to complications from bypass surgery. He was 87.

As the episode ended, a video tribute aired that began with a message reading, “Dedicated to our friend, George.” The video then launched into a series of clips highlighting Segal’s Pops, including Pops offering words of wisdom, playing the banjo, and scenes from the many film and TV re-creations he did, such as Pops as Batman, Pops in a straitjacket, and Pops as one of the Ghostbusters. The tribute ended with the message, “We will miss you, George.”

In the episode itself, Segal’s character helped his grandson, Adam, in one final film project: a re-creation of pencil-sketch animation of A-ha’s 1985 “Take On Me” music video. For the animation, both Pops and Beverly co-starred, though Pops humorously admitted, “I still don’t understand why we have to be animated.”

As fans prepared for the episode, the series’ stars also took a moment to reflect on their time with the late actor. Wendi McLendon-Covey, who plays Beverly, tweeted, “We’ll love you forever. See you in our dreams,” later adding in another tweet, “Tonight’s episode was the last that George filmed, but not the last of our season. We had no idea at the time we filmed it, that it would be our last with him.” Hayley Orrantia, who stars as Segal’s onscreen granddaughter Erica, wrote, “We love and miss you so much.”

While Wednesday’s episode marked the final onscreen appearance for Segal, it did not necessarily mark the end of his storyline. Series creator Adam F. Goldberg, who stepped down as showrunner after season 6, shared his desire to help the series give Segal and his character a proper send-off, writing, “Fans are asking what’s planned for Pops. Even though my input and stories have not been used this season, I know the way to address this loss is to use my real experience of losing my Grandpa to honor George and my Pops. Hope I’m welcome S9!” McLendon-Covey also shared, “if we get a season 9, we will address it then.”