ABC’s The Goldbergs launched a new spinoff at the beginning of this year. Schooled sees Lainey Lewis (AJ Michalka) return to William Penn Academy as a teacher. Mr. Glascott (Tim Meadows) has become the principal and Schooled is set in the ‘90s, as opposed to The Goldbergs in the ‘80s.
Meadows was hanging out at the ABC party for the Television Critics Association and I couldn’t resist talking to him. Mainly because Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is one of my favorite movies and Meadows has my favorite line. He told me about this week’s “Rent” episode on Schooled and a little more about The Goldbergs’ ‘90s spinoff. Schooled airs Wednesdays at 8:30pm ET/PT on ABC after The Goldbergs.
I really just want to talk about Dewey Cox. I quote “You don’t want no part of this shit” in all life situations even though I don’t do drugs.
Tim Meadows: “That’s funny.”
I truly believe that was not only a brilliant satire of the biopics, but it is legitimately the American hero’s journey.
Tim Meadows: “Yeah, it sort of makes fun of those kinds of movies. Honestly, it was one of the most fun shoots I’ve ever been on. I became friends with Chris Parnell. Even though we worked together at SNL, we didn’t really hang out that much. So I got to know Chris on that shoot and I got to know Matt Besser a lot better on that shoot. John C. Reilly and I became friends.”
So are you doing both The Goldbergs and Schooled right now?
Tim Meadows: “Mainly Schooled. I did a bunch of episodes in the beginning of the season for Goldbergs. They’re basically trying to mix the two shows so it’s a bit of an overflow from our show to their show, back and forth. Mainly now my focus has been on Schooled.”
They scheduled it so you could focus on Schooled but still have a presence on Goldbergs?
Tim Meadows: “Yes, because they will still have storylines on Goldbergs that took place at the school. They wanted to keep the characters alive in the Goldbergs fandom world. We aired at the beginning of the year, it would be like, ‘Oh yeah, we just saw them on The Goldbergs last week and we haven’t forgotten who he is.'”
Did you create a backstory for the years between Mr. Glascott in the ‘80s and ‘90s?
Tim Meadows: “I did not create backstory because the character is based on two real people. So the stories I knew would be coming from Adam [F. Goldberg] and Mark [Firek]. So, I wasn’t really that concerned about doing an actory thing because I didn’t want to make the wrong choices. Everything I’m learning about the character I’m learning as I get new scripts. There hasn’t been any ‘I don’t know if he would say that or do that’ moments for me. It’s been more about ‘Why am I saying this’ or ‘Why am I doing this?’ I don’t have much of a bio on him yet.”
What funny stuff is coming up on Schooled?
Tim Meadows: “We have an episode that deals with the musical Rent. The kids are going to be putting on a performance of it and we learn that a lot of our athletes are also musical theater nerds. They’ve been hiding. They’ve been not talking about it. So it turns out they’re all into the musical. The show is sort of about a conflict between the jocks, Coach Mellor, and the musicians and artistic people in the school. It’s a really good show. It’s like a combination of Rent and West Side Story.”
Does Mr. Glascott get to sing?
Tim Meadows: “No, he doesn’t. Thank God.”
You were on SNL in the’ 90s. Would the characters of Schooled be watching SNL and would there be any overlap?
Tim Meadows: “I think there would be an overlap. I don’t think my character would watch SNL but I think the kids in high school would be watching SNL during the ‘90s. It was one of the most popular decades for the show was during that period.”
Would Lainey and her friends know The Ladies Man?
Tim Meadows: “I think Lainey and those guys might, but we’ve had no discussion about doing that kind of stuff.”
Anything after the Rent episode?
Tim Meadows: “We did 13. I don’t know what order they’re going to be aired but that’s another good one. There’s an episode where I’m trying to teach my niece how to drive and I’m sort of starting to question my ability as a role model.”
Does it feel similar to doing The Goldbergs?
Tim Meadows: “No, not really. It’s different especially for me because on The Goldbergs, I come in, shoot for one day, maybe two days. They give me a bunch of great jokes and then I leave. With this show, I’m there every day so that’s the biggest difference.”
