Wendi McClendon-Covey's mother lode

Mother knows best -- and don't dare think otherwise around Beverly Goldberg, the laugh-out-loud funniest character on network TV.On the surface, the matriarch of "The Goldbergs," a sitcom based on the creator's real-life upbringing in '80s small-town Pennsylvania, is every kid's worst nightmare, a pampering parent who treats her three teenage children as if they've just been toilet-trained, assaulting them with a steady barrage of kisses, compliments and casseroles.