The Wonder Years
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Wonder Years | |
|---|---|
 (L to R) Hervey, d'Abo, Savage, Lauria, Mills, Saviano, McKellar. |
|
| Genre | Comedy-drama |
| Creator(s) | Carol Black Neal Marlens |
| Starring | Fred Savage Danica McKellar Josh Saviano Dan Lauria Olivia d'Abo (1988-1992) Alley Mills Jason Hervey |
| Narrated by | Daniel Stern as Adult Kevin |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 115 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Bob Brush (Seasons 2+) |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Original run | January 31, 1988 – May 12, 1993 |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
The Wonder Years was an Emmy Award winning television dramedy created by Carol Black and Neal Marlens. It ran for six seasons on ABC, from 1988 to 1993.
The Wonder Years, set in the late 1960s to the early 1970s, tackled the social issues and historic events of that time through the eyes of main character Kevin Arnold. Kevin also deals with typical teenage social issues, including those prompted by his main love interest, Winnie Cooper, as well as typical family troubles. The story is narrated by an older, wiser Kevin (voiced by Daniel Stern), describing what is happening and what he had learned from his experiences.
The show achieved a spot in the Nielsen Top Ten for two of its six seasons.[1] TV Guide named the show one of the 1980s' 20 best.[1] After only six episodes aired[1] The Wonder Years won an Emmy for best comedy series in 1988; it was awarded a George Foster Peabody Award in 1989, for achieving two seemingly contradictory effects. On the one hand, its concentration on one family evokes the tradition of American situation comedy, from Father Knows Best to The Cosby Show. At the same time, its imaginative use of the techniques of modern television push the boundaries of the sit-com and point the way to new modes of storytelling.[2]
The show's theme tune is Joe Cocker's cover of The Beatles song "With a Little Help from My Friends".
Contents |
[edit] Major characters
- Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) — An American teenaged student, growing up in the late 1960s/early 1970s. The voice of Kevin as an adult (and the show's narration) is supplied by Daniel Stern.
- Gwendolyne "Winnie" Cooper (Danica McKellar) — Kevin's main love interest. She lives on the same block as Kevin. Their first kiss and her older brother's death in Vietnam play an important part of the pilot episode. In one episode her parents decide to get separated out of their grief over the death of their son. According to the epilogue in the final episode, Winnie studies art history in Paris and is greeted upon her arrival back to the United States by Kevin--and Kevin's wife.
- Paul Pfeiffer (Josh Saviano) — Kevin's lifelong best friend, intelligent and an excellent student. In the final episode it is revealed that he went to Harvard for college. He is allergic to many, many substances. He is also Jewish, which is the focus on one episode where he get bar mitzvahed and Kevin feels to be a part of it since he is good friends with Paul.
- Jack Arnold (Dan Lauria) — Kevin's father, a sullen man and a Korean War veteran. Originally, he worked at NORCOM, a large corporation, in a middle management position he hated. Later, he started his own business, building and selling handcrafted furniture. The last episode reveals that he died a couple years after the last episode.
- Norma Arnold (Alley Mills) — Kevin's stay-at-home mother. She met Jack as a college freshman. When he graduated, she moved across the country with him and didn't finish college. She eventually finishes college late in the series, and starts working at a software startup called Micro Electronics.
- Karen Arnold (Olivia d'Abo) — Kevin's older hippie sister. She eventually gets married and moves to Alaska.
- Wayne Arnold (Jason Hervey) — Kevin's older brother, who enjoys physically tormenting Kevin and Paul. He takes over the furniture business when Jack Arnold dies, according to the epilogue for the last episode.
[edit] Other characters
- Grandpa Arnold (David Huddleston) — Kevin's paternal grandfather. Gives his last car (and Kevin's first) - a 1965 Oldsmobile Cutlass sedan - to Kevin for $1. Also gives Kevin a beagle named "Buster" (see below). He is also a widower, as his wife died before the series timeline began (Kevin's grandmother is seen in flashbacks). He also is very close to his family, taking the entire Arnold family to a funeral of a distant relative and reacting furiously when Wayne and Kevin are not taking the funeral seriously.
- Coach Cutlip (Robert Picardo) — Kevin's gym teacher who excels in bullying his students
- Miss White, later Mrs. Heimer (Wendel Meldrum) — Kevin's junior high school teacher, whom he has a crush on. Her name is changed to Mrs. Heimer when she gets married.
- Mr. Cantwell (Ben Stein) — Kevin's junior high school science teacher.
- Becky Slater (Crystal McKellar, sister of Danica) — Kevin's junior high school classmate, who is briefly his jealous girlfriend in one episode. Her character is physically aggressive.
- Chuck Coleman (Andy Berman) — One of Kevin's high school friends.
- Delores (Juliette Lewis) — Wayne's girlfriend in high school.
- Dave "Wart" Shafter (Scott Menville) — Wayne's best friend who gets shipped off to the Vietnam War.
- Bonnie Douglas (Paula Marshall)
- Jeff Billings (Giovanni Ribisi) — Plays Kevin's good friend in the later end of the series. His parents are divorced and he lives with his mom, which is why he moves in late.
- Alice Pedermeir (Lindsay Sloane) — One of Kevin's classmates in high school.
- Joey (Dustin Diamond)
- Madeline Adams (Julie Condra) — Kevin's temporary flame in his last year of Junior High
- Debbie Pfeiffer (Torrey Anne Cook) — Paul's younger sister, who has a crush on Kevin.
- Alvin Pfeiffer (Josh Moskoff) — Paul's father. He entrusts Kevin to escort his daughter Debbie to a dance.
- Ida Pfeiffer (Stephanie Satie) — Paul's mother.
- Eric Antonio (Don Jeffcoat) — Kevin's classmate in Junior high.
- Young Kevin (Eric Lloyd) - Seen in flashbacks in the form of family movies, such as where he is playing with a younger version of his sister or meeting his grandparents.
- Michael (David Schwimmer) — Karen's live-in boyfriend and then husband. Kevin's father is happy that Michael will be a good husband to Karen and got a good job to provide for her; but is dismayed to learn his job will be to work on the Alaska pipeline.
- Mr. Collins (Steven Gilborn) — Kevin's rigid algebra teacher. Kevin admires him at some level. He dies in episode - 43 "Goodbye!"
- Buster Arnold (Skippy) — a beagle given to Kevin by his paternal grandfather. Skippy was a descendant of Cleo, the "talking" dog on the mid-1950s TV show, "The People's Choice" (NBC: 1955-1958). Skippy lived to a ripe old age and fathered many offspring, several of whom had supporting roles in the short-lived "Beethoven" TV series (USA: 1994-1995).
[edit] Episodes
[edit] Story
The Story begins with Kevin (Fred Savage), Paul (Joshua Saviano) and Winnie (Danica McKellar) on the verge of starting junior high school. In the pilot Winnie's elder brother gets drafted and sent to Vietnam and gets killed there. Kevin meets Winnie in a nearby wooded area called Harpers Woods, and they end up sharing their first kiss (for both of them).
This unsaid relationship between Winnie and Kevin remains dormant for a long while though. Winnie starts dating a popular 8th Grader named Kirk McCray. Kevin briefly goes steady with Becky Slater, but soon breaks up with her realizing his feelings for Winnie are too strong. Kevin also has a major crush on his English teacher Miss White, who soon becomes Mrs. Heimer. Winnie eventually dumps Kirk as well.
Kevin and Winnie share a second kiss at the start of their Summer break. Winnie's parents start having differences between themselves due to the grief of their son's death. Soon Winnie's father moves to Chicago and starts living separately. But Winnie gives a very emotional performance in a school play Our Town and eventually her father comes back to live with them.
Near Valentine's Day Paul's girlfriend Carla breaks up with him, and to raise Paul's spirits Kevin asks Winnie to ask him out since Paul expresses an interest in her. The plan back-fires when Paul seems to fall for Winnie, and Kevin becomes extremely jealous. Winnie however breaks up with Paul, telling him that she likes someone else, and hints at Kevin. Kevin rushes to talk to Winnie but she gets mad at him. She tells him that she just wanted to let Paul down easy, and thats why she said Kevin's name even though it's not true. After Kevin's apologies on Valentine's Day, amidst confusion Kevin and Winnie finally start dating each other. Kevin admires his math teacher Mr. Collins in junior high, and is devastated when he dies in the episode Goodbye. Paul has a brief crush on Kevin's mom, and Norma handles it really well, puts Paul down without breaking his heart.
Just before the summer break, Kevin finds out that Winnie and her family are moving away from their block to a house 4 miles away, and for a while it seems Winnie will break up with him because it is infeasible to maintain long distance relationships. But they seem to hold on to each other. Winnie starts going to a different school. A new girl called Madelline joins Kevin's school, and openly flirts with Kevin. Even Kevin seems to be attracted to her, but his love for Winnie keeps him an honest man, just barely though. Eventually Winnie breaks up with Kevin when she meets Roger, a typical jock-type student who is a couple of years older than Winnie. But Winnie seems to be emotionally unstable for a while after that, and she gets hurt in a car accident.
Karen goes away to college, and she meets Michael at the college. They start living together, which forms a wall between Karen and Jack (Kevin's dad). She eventually marries him and they move to Alaska because Michael gets a job there.
Kevin, Winnie and Paul graduate from Kennedy Junior High, and Paul starts going to Prep School the next year. Winnie and Kevin go to the same high school. Kevin almost misses his graduation as he goes with Mrs Heimer to the hospital when she goes into labor.
The following year Kevin has brief flings with Denise the Grease, and Wayne's then-girlfriend Sandy. Kevin's grandfather gets his licence revoked because of too many accidents, so he gives his car to Kevin for a dollar. Winnie and Kevin get reunited when they go on a double date to a school dance, and end up feeling a strange attraction towards each other.
In the final year of the series, Wayne starts working at NORCOM, and starts dating Bonnie who is also an employee of NORCOM. She is divorced and has a son, which makes the situation awkward between Wayne and his parents. She finally goes back to her former husband, and Wayne is heart-broken (The scene where Wayne & Kevin are having a conversation in the laundry shop is one of the most touching scenes in The Wonder Years (The scene depicts lot of things from life to growing up). Kevin's dad quits NORCOM, and starts up a business of manufacturing furniture. Paul returns to Kevin and Winnie's high school, and they take their SAT's that year. Kevin gets 650 in verbal and 560 in math, while Winnie shines with 725 in verbal, and 757 in math. Kevin has problems digesting at first, but he eases up soon.
[edit] Final episode
In the finale double episode, Winnie decides to take a summer job as a lifeguard at a resort. Kevin, anxious to experience a taste of adult life, plans a cross-country trip with his friends. Kevin's dad, Jack, vehemently objects to Kevin's plan and ultimately Kevin abandons his planned trip. Kevin returns to his job at his father's furniture factory and telephones Winnie, who by all accounts is distant and seems to be enjoying her time away from Kevin. Eventually, Kevin and his father have a huge fight and Kevin announces that he is leaving, reasoning that he needs to "find himself". Kevin hops in his car and heads to the resort that Winnie is working at, hopeful that she can secure him a job and they can spend the rest of the summer together.
Much to Kevin's chagrin, Winnie does not appear too pleased with Kevin's arrival and maintains her distance. Kevin is finally able to secure a job at the resort's restaurant and resides in the bus boys' dorm. Feeling confused and frustrated over Winnie's behavior, Kevin searches out other activities to occupy his time. Kevin decides to play poker with the resort's in-house band members. Kevin wins big and goes searching for Winnie, anxious to share the tale of his good fortune. When Kevin finds her, Winnie is engaged in a passionate kiss with a male lifeguard.
The next day, Kevin confronts Winnie about her actions and they have a huge fight. The fallout with Winnie leads Kevin to play another round of poker with the band. This time Kevin ends up losing everything, including his car. Desperate, Kevin confronts Winnie and her new beau at the restaurant and ends up punching him in the face. Kevin then leaves the resort on foot.
On a desolate stretch of highway, Kevin decides to begin hitchhiking. He finally gets picked up by an elderly couple and much to his surprise he finds Winnie in the backseat. Kevin and Winnie begin to argue and the elderly couple gets fed up and decides to drop them both off. The proverbial flash rain storm begins and Kevin and Winnie search for shelter. They find a barn and discuss how much things are changing and the prospects for the future. At first Winnie tells Kevin that she doesn't see them ending up together but quickly recants. Kevin and Winnie share a passionate embrace and spend the night together. The next day they find their way back to their hometown--just in time for the annual 4th of July parade.
Winnie ends up studying art history in Paris while Kevin stays in the United States. Winnie and Kevin end up writing each other "once a week" for the next eight years. In the final epilogue, Kevin mentions how he is there to greet Winnie when she gets back to the United States--accompanied by his wife and his infant son.
Kevin's father dies, due to a heart attack, two years later. The last few episodes also show us the transformation of Wayne, who matures over the years. Especially after his love affair with Bonnie, he becomes more understanding and it is a fitting finale when he is shown taking over his father's family business (indicating that he had finally matured and realized his responsibility). The fates of many supporting characters are resolved, and the narrator states:
| “ | Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers, the next day you're gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. I remember a place, a town, a house like a lot of other houses, a yard like a lot of other yards, on a street like a lot of other streets. And the thing is, after all these years, I still look back, with wonder. | ” |
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— Daniel Stern as the narrator, The Wonder Years (ABC TV)
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[edit] Trivia
- Arye Gross was the narator for the pilot episode when it originally aired after the Super Bowl. The narration was re-recorded using Daniel Stern's voice for the pilot episode when it re-aired later and Daniel Stern remained the narrator throughout the entire rest of the series.
- A few of today's biggest television and film stars made guest appearances on The Wonder Years. John Corbett (Sex and the City, My Big Fat Greek Wedding) as well as David Schwimmer (Friends) both made early appearances as Karen Arnold's boyfriends, but on different episodes. Alicia Silverstone made a brief appearance as Kevin's love interest when he was getting his drivers' license.
- An early episode of The Simpsons - Three Men and a Comic Book, had a scene aping The Wonder Years, with Bart looking up to his father — "Turn! Turn! Turn!" by The Byrds playing in the background — and Daniel Stern providing the narration.[3] Another episode of the Simpsons began with the theme song "With a Little Help from My Friends" and it shows old Super 8 style films of Homer and Marge as a childless couple. Homer has a long prophet's beard which is accidentally burned off. Bart wishes to take the film to school for show and tell, but Marge cautions him that revealing secrets about a family can be embarrassing. Marge's argument convinces Bart when the film shows the next scene of him as a toddler proudly saying he has completed toilet training.
- The series was known for frequently exploring situations of adolescent awkwardness and eliciting feelings of embarrassment from sympathetic viewers. This prompted some [1] to adopt the phrase "Wonder Years moment" as a label for a similar circumstance occurring either for a television viewer or for a third party engaged in a social situation in which another has committed a faux pas.
- In the 1990s, an Internet rumor spread that stated Josh Saviano (who played the character of Paul Pfeiffer) grew up to become American musician Marilyn Manson. This rumor has since been proven to be false. As of 2007, Josh Saviano is a licensed attorney in New York. He has, however, commented on the rumor, and thinks it is neat people believe him to be in a goth band.[4]
- In the Justice League Unlimited episode entitled "Hawk and Dove", Savage and Hervey reunite as brothers. However although they were originally cast with Hervey to play the older brother they reversed it and Savage played Hawk to Hervey playing Dove.
- Fred Savage, who plays Kevin Arnold on The Wonder Years, is the real life brother of Ben Savage, who played the lead role of Cory Matthews in another "growing-up comedy-drama", Boy Meets World. In one of the later episodes, Fred plays a teacher at the university that Cory & his friends attend. In an episode of The Wonder Years, Ben appears as a seventh grader who Kevin enlists to help him deliver a valentine. Dan Lauria guest-starred on another episode of the sitcom as a judge. Lauria and Savage later appeared within weeks of each other in major guest-starring roles on Law and Order: SVU.
- The actors portraying Kevin, Wayne, and Karen Arnold's parents, Alley Mills and Dan Lauria, are, in reality, childfree. In fact, the two also dated for a brief period early in the series run.
- The Wonder Years is one of five successful sitcoms that carry the tradition of being produced two decades later than the setting in which the show takes place. The Wonder Years takes place in the 1960s and was produced in the 1980s. Others shows include Happy Days and M*A*S*H which were produced in the 1970s and depict the 1950s, That 70's Show began production in the 1990s and depicts the 1970s and Everybody Hates Chris which began production in the 2000s and depicts the 1980s.
- Crystal McKellar, who plays Becky Slater, the romantic rival of Winnie Cooper, is the real-life sister of Danica McKellar who plays Winnie. Crystal was also originally up for the part of Winnie.
- In episode 45, Daddy's Little Girl, there are 19 candles on the birthday cake instead of 18.
- In episode 6 the plot revolves around the Apollo 8 mission. The Arnold's watch the video footage of the astronauts passing the moon on December 24th (Christmas Eve). However there are no visible Christmas decorations in the Arnold living room. An earlier episode shows a home video of the Arnold's celebrating Christmas.
- In 2002 "TVography" produced a documentary about "The Wonder Years". You can watch it here: [2]
- Fred Savage, who played Kevin Arnold, went on to star in the comedy series Working. In one episode of the series, Danica McKellar, who played Winnie, guest starred as Savage's boss's daughter. In one scene after the two talk, Fred Savage thinks and comments on her: "You know, she reminds me of a girl I grew up with".
- Fred Savage and Wonder Years narrator Daniel Stern would go on to appear as father and son in the film Little Monsters, which was released during the show's tenure.
- The series' original distributor was Turner Program Services. Interestingly enough, series star Jason Hervey was making appearances for then-Turner-owned World Championship Wrestling.
- A Prince Edward Island hardcore band named themselves after lead character Kevin Arnold.
- An Australian Hip-Hop act, The Winnie Coopers, named themselves after The Wonder Years character.
- Alley Mills (Norma Arnold) appeared in character on a 1995 episode of Roseanne entitled The Clip Show: All About Rosey (2), where she joined sitcom mothers from Lassie, Leave it to Beaver, and The Jeffersons. She even made an allusion to the series with voice-over saying "I should have had the voice-overs".
- Both Dan Lauria and Orson Bean (Alley Mills' real life husband) appeared in the 2 hour season finale of 7th Heaven entitled "Life and Death" in 2003. They were both patients in the hospital that Eric Camden visited while looking for his assistant minister's father.
- The background soundtrack heard in the series finale was actually originally produced by composer Randy Newman for the 1984 Robert Redford film The Natural.
[edit] DVD releases
Unlike most long-running popular American TV sitcoms, The Wonder Years has still not yet been released on DVD as official season box sets, probably due to the cost of securing the music rights. Officially, The Wonder Years has so far only been released as two 'best-of' DVD sets. They are the following:
- The Best of The Wonder Years July 24, 1999 : 1 Disc
- The Christmas Wonder Years July 24, 1999 : 1 Disc
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- These sets only have 2 episodes each, and do not contain the original music that was used in the original episodes. Despite that, though, these out-of-print DVDs are extremely pricey -- according to Amazon.com, "The Christmas Wonder Years" DVD now retails for $74.99, while "The Best Of The Wonder Years" retails from $97.84 used to $186.99 new. [3]
- Amazon.co.uk and Play.com have been advertising an official 'Wonder Years' DVD release for R2 since the start of 2006. The release date was first slated as March 2006, but was then changed to August and then December, with all these advertised release dates falling through. At the moment Play.com are not offering a set date for the impending release anymore, whilst amazon.co.uk are now listing a possible September 2007 release [although, based on what happened throughout 2006, any release date seems very unreliable]. Although no further information is yet available, this release, to be distributed by Fox, will probably be the first season only, with others to follow soon after. It must be noted that there is still no word on an official American release, or whether these UK Region 2 releases will feature the original soundtracks. [4]
[edit] Reruns
- In the United States, the rights to air The Wonder Years are held by ION Television. [5] Starting Monday, April 2, 2007, ION Television [6] began airing the show on weekdays at 10 & 10:30pm ET/PT. In the past, reruns have aired on Nick at Nite, TNN, and ABC Family.
- In India the series ran in Star TV from 1993 till about 1999. It has received a cult status and has affected teen pop culture in the nineties a lot even though it showed the sixties .
- In Canada, TVtropolis began airing the series on September 11, 2006. It airs Monday-Friday at 1:00pm and 4:30pm (same episode, also repeated the following day at 4:30am) and Saturday-Sunday at 10am. As of January 6, 2007, the show was taken off the TVtropolis schedule due to low ratings. However the station still own the rights and the show will most likely come back in a few months once they figure out a better time slot for it.
- In the UK, The Wonder Years sometimes airs on Paramount Comedy 2. It currently runs on TMF between 12 and 1pm every weekday, except during school term-breaks.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c The Wonder Years from the Museum of Broadcast Communications
- ^ Peabody Award Winners Archive
- ^ Three Men and a Comic Book from The Simpsons Archive
- ^ The Heirophant - Marilyn Manson Frequently Asked Questions
