The Goldbergs Series Finale Wasn't Planned as the Final Episode

[Warning: This story contains spoilers for The Goldbergs series finale, "Bev to the Future."] Videotapes? Where The Goldbergs are going, they don't need videotapes. The ABC sitcom set in 1980-something wrapped up after ten seasons with Wednesday's series finale, "Bev to the Future," riffing on Back to the Future as fanboy Adam (Sean Giambrone) meddled with mother Beverly's (Wendi McLendon-Covey) would-be romance with old flame George (Rob Corddry) at their high school reunion. Meanwhile, Barry (Troy Gentile) and Joanne (Beth Triffon) eloped to prove they're serious adults, while new parents Erica (Hayley Orrantia) and Geoff (Sam Lerner) experienced another milestone when baby Muriel said her first word — a fitting "bubbe" — on her first birthday. 

If the episode felt more like a season finale than a series finale despite the show-ending montage reflecting on a decade of The Goldbergs, that's because "Bev to the Future" wasn't written as the final episode. 

"We weren't quite positive it was going to be our [series] finale when we wrote the final episode of the season," co-showrunner and executive producer Alex Barnow told TVLine. "I think, truthfully, had we known it was really the final episode, we would have done a more full-bodied tribute to the show."

It was revealed in February that The Goldbergs would end after ten seasons, sending off the family that lost Pops (the late George Segal, who died in March 2021) and patriarch Murray (Jeff Garlin, who exited ahead of season 10 in the wake of an HR investigation into the comedian's alleged on-set inappropriate behavior).

Had the creators known network ABC and producers Sony Pictures Television weren't pressing play on more episodes of The Goldbergs, added co-showrunner and executive producer Chris Bishop, "We would've dug in with a more emotional story and had more flashbacks and seeing the characters and how they grew across the decade."

Instead, The Goldbergs ended its 10-season run with a mini-montage set to REO Speedwagon's "Time for Me to Fly" as the extended family gathered for Muriel's birthday — including party guest George, hinting at a reignited romance for the widowed Bev.

"They told us like four days after we wrapped our season. So, like, two days before our wrap party," McLendon-Covey said of learning The Goldbergs would not return for season 11. "In retrospect, I guess [it] was the best way for it to happen because if we knew ahead of time, nothing would've gotten done. We would've all been sobbing." 

"You got to know our time is not expanding. We're going to be ending at some point," she continued. "So I think we went into that last week, thinking this could be it, so let's savor every moment. We were coming in on our days off and just walking through the set and taking pictures of every single thing, or stealing things, or telling people we loved them. Like I said, I think it's best that we didn't find out until we were all safely at home, ensconced in our beds, because I was a wreck."

The Goldbergs series finale, "Bev to the Future," is now streaming on Hulu.