“The Goldbergs” will incorporate the death of George Segal into its season premiere episode, which has traditionally been a tribute to a classic movie from the 1980s, the era the ABC comedy is set in.
“He passed away two days before we wrapped for the season, so we couldn’t address it,” star Wendi McLendon-Covey said on Thursday during the Television Critics Association press tour. “Our first episode of season nine — it’s tradition every time we open a season, it’s always a movie tribute — so I gotta hand it to our writers that we are doing a movie tribute that actually takes us on the journey of where to spread Pops’ ashes. So it is not only a traditional tribute, but it’s hysterically funny.”
McLendon-Covey did not say which movie they were doing a tribute to; previous premieres have parodied “Vacation” and “Airplane!”
Segal was a series regular on “The Goldbergs” since its debut in 2013, playing Albert “Pops” Solomon, the Goldberg family’s eccentric but lovable grandfather.
He died in March at the age of 87 due to complications from bypass surgery.
In April, “The Goldbergs” aired Segal’s final episode, which was followed with a 45-second compilation of some of Segal’s memorable scenes from the show was accompanied by the message, “We will miss you, George.” The Sony-produced series previously honored Segal with a card at the end of the March 24 episode, and the show’s producers released a statement at the time remembering the actor as “kind, sweet, beyond talented and funny.”
“George was the true epitome of class and he touched all of our lives so deeply. It was an honor and a privilege to have him as a colleague and friend all of these years,” the statement said.
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