The Goldbergs: The Story of America's First Family Sitcom

The family sitcom has been around since the early days of network television and has never gone out of style. The style of the shows themselves has certainly changed over time, but in essence there is almost no difference at all in the basic set-up from Make Room for Daddy to Even Stevens. What may surprise you is that the very first family sitcom in American history actually told the story of a Jewish family.

When you consider that even during the 70s, 80s and today there have been preciously few family sitcoms that focus on a distinctly Jewish family, the very idea that America's oldest and most beloved sitcom genre originated from the basis of a story that not only was populated by a family whose religion and culture were at odds with the overwhelming majority of the populace, but much of the humor stemmed from lead character Molly Goldberg's Jewish advice given in a manner of speech that came to be known as Mollypropisms.

The show was called The Goldbergs and while it was mainly a big hit among the urban crowd with a high incidence of those who immediately understood its uniquely ethnic sense of humor, it maintained a certain level of popularity even in Middle America. After all, despite the Bronx setting and the Jewish milieu, America's first family sitcom was basically a representation of many actual households.

There was a mother, father, and two kids. (Back then sitcom kids were polite and respectful.) Much of the credit for the success of a show that featured a cast outside the mainstream demographic was that The Goldbergs had already been a big hit on the radio. Since radio listeners were already intimately familiar with Molly Goldberg and her clan, the transition to a visual medium was perhaps far smoother than it would have been otherwise. The fact that the actress playing Molly Goldberg fit the visual image that had been created for her also helped a great deal.