While TV sitcoms can often seem like the cheeriest places possible to work on a daily basis, that’s obviously not always the case. And for a few years now, audiences have been aware that ABC’s The Goldbergs was just such a place where behind-the-scenes tensions were having an effect on at least some of its lead actors. Things came to a heated head in late 2021, with star Jeff Garlin exiting the show under unclear circumstances, despite his character living on in various ways until being officially killed off going into its tenth season. Star Wendi Mclendon-Covey has addressed the troublesome topic in the past, and recently shared some more honest thoughts about the situation, while making it clear it’s not a fun topic for her.
Speaking with Bravo’s Andy Cohen on his Sirius radio show, McClendon-Covey talked about the long-running ABC sitcom coming to an end this year, though she already has another comedy project lined up.When Cohen asked her about Bev becoming a widow after Jeff Garlin’s somewhat mutual ousting, she spoke in a measured tone, clearly not wanting to dig into things too much. In her words:
That was a long time coming. It was a long time coming. That if finally h appended, it was like, ‘Okay…finally someone is listening to us.’ That was kind of hard, though, because we had lost George Segal in real life, and then to have to go through another loss on a sitcom, you can’t keep asking your audience to mourn people.
Not to apply tone (or a lack of it) where it’s unwarranted, but Wendi McClendon-Covey’s answer did not appear to be overtly displeased over the concept of Garlin leaving, and any foul feelings seemed to be aimed more at the fact that it took so long for that outcome to happen. She also appeared to indicate that she and others made complaints that weren’t listened to, though she didn’t go into detail on that front.
In fact, when Cohen pushed a little further and asked whether it was a sudden thing, or if there had been a lengthy lead-in, the Goldbergs star and Reno 911 fave pulled back as politely as can be with a frank request:
If we could not talk about that, it would be great. I’m exhausted by that topic, and the PTSD of it all.
Though she apologized for asking, Andy Cohen found it to be quite refreshing for her to plead the fifth in such a way, as opposed to dancing around the topic and offering empty answers. It’s obviously her right to keep her thoughts and memories to herself until deciding to talk about it openly, if that point ever comes. No other co-stars have shared lengthy details about Garlin’s exit and on-set behavior, either, so she’s not alone in keeping mum about it.
Ahead of the big exit, Jeff Garlin addressed rumors that he would be fired, saying that would never happen, but spoke in non-specific terms about being aware of his actions on-set being bothersome and against the wishes of his superiors. At the time, he called it “silly stuff,” but for Wendi McClendon-Covey to feel shades of PTSD about that time makes it sound a bit more serious. Here’s hoping she and her fellow Goldbergs stars can reach the point where it’s no longer a struggle to dwell on that topic.
The Goldbergs airs Wednesday nights on ABC at 8:30 p.m. ET, with the next new episode set for April 5, taking place in part in Pop-Pop’s former apartment. Episodes can be rewatched on demand and with a Hulu subscription.
