'The Goldbergs' is not 'Wonder Years', despite trying

Caught the pilot episode of The Goldbergs on Hulu this week and it was...okay. I feel like it is trying to be Wonder Years, but Wonder Years it is not. The youngest kid (the narrator) is cute, but he's no Kevin. It's hard to tell if he is an observer, the one watching and telling the story of his family, or if it's his story to tell, if he's the main character.

There were some good jokes - but they were mostly funny because of the 80s references, the nostalgia. I'm not sure how long that can last.

I haven't always been pleased with pilots of sitcoms (New Girl, for example) and they turned out to be better. If Goldbergs can figure out how to best work the storytelling with their ensemble cast, if the jokes can stand on their own without the 80s references, and if we can get less sappy, lesson-in-30-minutes happy endings, it just may work.