Wendi McLendon-Covey On ‘The Goldbergs’ Killing Off Jeff Garlin’s Character: “That Was A Long Time Coming”
For the past two seasons, The Goldbergs has been led by now-widowed Beverly Goldberg (Wendi McLendon-Covey). During an interview on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live Tuesday, the Bravo star asked McLendon-Covey how she feels about Beverly being a widow following the exit of fellow series star Jeff Garlin, whose character, Beverly’s husband Murray, was killed off.
“That was a long time coming, and that it finally happened it was like, ‘Okay, okay. Finally, someone is listening to us,'” she said.
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Over a 12-month period, The Goldbergs had to navigate through the loss of two cast members, George Segal, who died, and Garlin, who exited following HR investigations. Segal’s character, Pops, also passed away on the show.
“We had lost George Segal in real like, and then to have to go through another loss on a sitcom, you can’t keep asking your audience to mourn people… That’s not why they tune in,” McLendon-Covey said.
Cohen brought the conversation back to Garlin’s exit, getting McLendon-Covey to confirm that it was the result of a long period of people complaining before she asked to change the subject.
“If we cannot talk about that would be great. I’m exhausted-by that topic and the PTSD of it all,” she said and later added, “I feel like the less people know about that, the better. No one, no one benefits from knowing anything.”
The Goldbergs is now in its 10th and final season, with the series finale set for May 3. Meanwhile, McLendon-Covey was recently tapped to lead another single-camera broadcast comedy, NBC pilot St. Denis Medical.
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