ABC's hit comedy "The Goldberg's" kicked off its third season this fall with a tribute to the classic Tom Cruise movie "Risky Business," and for series star Troy Gentile, who plays eldest son Barry Goldberg, the new season got off to a great start.
"It started out with me doing the whole Tom Cruise thing. Now I've done Matthew Broderick and Tom Cruise - yeah," Gentile tells HNGN exclusively.
"It actually hurts not to be around these people," McLendon-Covey told HNGN and a small group of reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour in August. "I genuinely miss them, when I get to see them every day so I'm thrilled."
"The show is a blessing in every way whatsoever," adds Gentile. "We love one another, and that's the absolute truth. I think that's why the show is so good."
Read more of our exclusive interview with Troy Gentile below.
"The Goldbergs" airs Wednesdays at 8.30 p.m. EDT on ABC.
How was your summer, did you do anything special?
I didn't do anything; I really just wanted to take a break. Next year I'm planning to do something big.
Maybe a dream project?
Well, I love to make movies, and I believe my dream project would be working on a movie with an all-time great director like Martin Scorsese. He's my favorite director, but I know that's pretty far-fetched.
What do you love most about doing the show?
Our cast really, really, really gets along. We are such a real group of people and not a lot of fake actors piled in a room. We are comedic real people, Haley is straight from Texas; Wendy is an amazing comedian, a professional and the most real down-to-earth person ever. Jeff is a crazy out-there lunatic and just the best, he lightens the mood all the time, and George Segal is a veteran and another of the best.
How excited are you about the new season?
We are on season 3! We're almost at syndication and almost 100 episodes, that's the goal. So were trying to get there.
Is it hard to keep a straight face of such a funny show?
Well, if you saw the gag reel you'd see a lot of that. We do struggle to hold a straight face a lot of the time.
What can you tell us is in store for Barry this season?
I just got the first two scripts, and I really only read half of the first one. "Risky Business" is the first episode.
Do you have a checklist of '80s characters and movies you want to do on the show?
I love the movie "Big." But that one's a hard one because you have to implement all the characters on our show into the movie.
And the FAO Schwarz toy store with the giant keyboard has closed down now.
Oh no! But they can recreate it; they create magic on the show all the time.
Are you having crazy fan encounters now?
I don't get stopped all the time, but when I do I always get great comments about the show. People usually ask, "Are you Troy?" I was at Chipotle recently ordering food, and the cook from the back came up to me and asked, "Are you Troy Gentile?" I said, "yeah"; people usually just say are you from "The Goldbergs?" He asked for and an autograph. That's kind of unusual, normally people asked for selfie. That makes a lot more sense to me than my autograph; I'm not Kobe Bryant or some huge sports star. Then he asked if he could take a picture with me, he holds out his hand and it's just shaking. He couldn't keep his phone straight for the picture. I was really taken aback by it. I can't believe I was that much of a shock to him and that he was shaking because he was so shocked at meeting me. That was weird, but it was also awesome. I really do appreciate all the love we get from all of the "Goldbergs" fans; there are so many fans of the show, its great.
So people know you as Troy and not Barry?
Well they'll usually say I'm the guy from "The Goldbergs," then it's Barry then Troy [laughs], but I'm working on it. You know that's fine; I'll make a name for myself one day.
