THE WONDER YEARS SERIES
The Wonder Years is an American television comedy-drama created by Carol Black and Neal Marlens. It ran for six seasons on ABC, from 1988 through 1993 and each season took place exactly twenty years before the then current year (thus the show takes place in 1968-73). The pilot aired on January 31, 1988 after ABC's coverage of SuperBowl XXII. The show achieved a spot in the Nielsen Top Thirty for four of its six seasons. TV Guide named the show one of the 20 best of the 1980s. After only six episodes aired, The Wonder Years won an Emmy for best comedy series in 1988. Moreover, at the age of 13, Fred Savage gained the honor of being the youngest actor ever nominated Outstanding Lead Actor for a Comedy Series. In addition, the show was awarded a Peabody Award in 1989, for achieving two seemingly contradictory effects: evoking a traditional family sitcom while pushing boundaries and using new modes of storytelling. In total, the series won 22 awards, and was nominated for a further 54 more. The show's theme is Joe Cocker's cover of the Beatles' song "With a Little Help from My Friends“.
PLOT
The story begins with Kevin and his best friend Paul who live in a suburban neighborhood in 1968. The actual town is never actually named, but hinted to be in the New York area, as evidenced by Kevin's often donned New York Jets jacket as well as frequent references to the New York Mets. However, other things indicate a west coast setting. For example, it never snows in the series, in one episode you can see Kevin's license and it says "State of California". Also, Kevin's older sister attends Berkeley and in one episode decides to spend her summer at college- the timing of the events in the episode suggest that Berkeley is within easy driving distance of the Arnold's home. In the pilot, Winnie's older brother Brian, whom Kevin looks up to, is killed in action in Vietnam in 1968. Kevin meets Winnie in a nearby wooded area called Harpers Woods, and they end up sharing their first kiss. This unsaid relationship between Winnie and Kevin remains dormant for a long while, with Winnie starting to date a popular 8th grader named Kirk McCray, and Kevin briefly going steady with Becky Slater (played by Crystal McKellar—Danica's sister). After Kevin breaks up with Becky due to his feelings for Winnie, Becky becomes a recurring nuisance for Kevin. Winnie eventually dumps Kirk as well, and Kevin and Winnie share a second kiss at the start of the 1969 summer vacation. Around Valentine's Day 1970, Winnie temporarily dates Paul, who has broken up with his girlfriend Carla. Winnie and Kevin start dating each other soon after.
Just before the summer break, Winnie and her family move to a house four miles away. Although Winnie attends a new school, Lincoln Junior High, she and Kevin decide to remain together and maintain a successful long distance relationship. A beautiful new student named Madeline Adams joins Kevin's school and quickly catches Kevin's eye, but it is Winnie who breaks up with Kevin after she has met Roger, a typical jock-type at her new school. Both relationships don't last long, but Winnie and Kevin are not reunited until Winnie is injured in a car accident. After graduating from Junior High, Kevin and Winnie both go to McKinley High and Paul goes to a prep school. Earlier seasons of the show tended to focus on plots involving events within the Arnold household and Kevin's academic struggles, whereas later seasons focused much more on plots involving dating and Kevin's friends. Kevin has several brief flings during the summer of 1971 and the 1971/72 academic year. After Kevin's grandfather gets his driver's license revoked, he sells his car to Kevin for a dollar. Paul transfers to McKinley High after his first semester at prep school when his father runs into financial troubles. Winnie and Kevin are reunited when they go on a double date to a school dance and find themselves more attracted to each other than their respective partners. Facing peer pressure in the episode "White Lies", Kevin implies to his friends that he had had sex with Winnie, but the spreading rumor causes Kevin and Winnie to break up for a few episodes. In late 1972, Kevin's older brother Wayne starts working at NORCOM, and starts dating his co-worker Bonnie, a divorcee with a son, but the relationship does not last. Kevin's dad quits NORCOM, and starts up a furniture manufacturing business.
MAJOR CHARACTERS
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Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage): A teenage American student, growing up in the turbulent late 1960s and early 1970s.[9] The voice of Kevin as an adult (and the show's narrator) is supplied by Daniel Stern. (115 episodes) Jack Arnold (Dan Lauria): Kevin's father, a moody man and a Korean War veteran; he mentions having grown up during the Great Depression and having been in the US Marine Corps and he is seen in photographs wearing the uniform of a First Lieutenant. He works at NORCOM, a large electronics corporation in a middle management position he loathes. Later, he starts his own business, building and selling handcrafted furniture. The last episode reveals that he dies in 1975, around the end of Kevin's freshman year of college i.e. two years after the time of the show's finale. (Though this directly contradicts the narrative script of a previous episode where an adult Kevin says his father would later be the grandfather of Kevin's sons.) His character was meant to be a reflection of the older and more conservative generation with the ideology of the Second World War / 1950s era being confused and angered by the changing world and ideologies of the '60s that were becoming mainstream at that point. The character name "Jack Arnold“ may have been based on director Jack Arnold (director) of The Brady Bunch, another kids show actually taking place in the late 1960s/early 1970s. (103 episodes) 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 gets her degree late in the series, and starts working at a software startup called Micro Electronics. She is shown to be more moderate (in contrast with her more conservative husband) and increasingly becoming bored and yearning to break away from her homemaker role hence reflecting the rise of feminism in the 60s. (100 episodes) Karen Arnold (Olivia d'Abo): Kevin's older, hippie sister. She continually clashes with her overbearing father due to her free-spirited ways and his traditional views while her mother usually acts as the mediator. She has a falling out with her father when she moves in with her boyfriend Michael (David Schwimmer) during her freshman year of college. A year later, the pair get married in an outdoor wedding and move to Alaska, where Michael has secured a good job. Karen ultimately has accepted some of the conservative lifestyle of her parents by having a baby and a husband who realizes the importance of hard work to support his wife and child. (67 episodes)
MAJOR CHARACTERS •
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Wayne Arnold (Jason Hervey): Kevin's older brother, who enjoys physically tormenting Kevin and Paul. He takes over the furniture business when his father dies. Wayne is typically portrayed as a loser when it comes to serious romantic relationships. For a time he did date a girl named Dolores, but that was a more casual relationship than most others. In later seasons, Wayne shows a little more maturity. In the final season, he begins a serious relationship with a divorcee named Bonnie but is left heartbroken when she reconciles with her husband.(102 episodes) • Paul Joshua Pfeiffer (Josh Saviano): Kevin's long time best friend, an intelligent and excellent student. He is allergic to several substances. Paul is Jewish, which is the focus of an episode where he has his Bar Mitzvah. While Kevin and Paul are best friends in the early seasons, their relationship becomes somewhat strained in later seasons. Kevin begins to hang around Chuck and Jeff more and this causes tension with Paul. On one episode, Kevin forces Paul against his will to take a trip with him to a cabin town to reconnect with his summer fling, Cara. On another episode after Paul loses his virginity, Kevin gets jealous and blabs to the guys which causes further tension with Paul. In the final episode it is revealed that he goes to Harvard University. There is an urban myth that the character is played by shock rocker Marilyn Manson, however this is untrue; Saviano is currently an The Wonder Years 5 attorney with the firm Morrison Cohen LLP.[10] (94 episodes) • Gwendolyn "Winnie" Cooper (Danica McKellar): Kevin's main love interest. In an episode entitled "The Accident" and in the final episode, it is stated that every important event in Kevin's life somehow involves Winnie. She lives on the same block as Kevin. Their first kiss and her older brother's death while serving as a soldier in the Vietnam War play an important part of the pilot episode. In one episode, her parents separate over their grief of the death of their son. In the epilogue of the final episode, it is revealed that Winnie goes on to study art history in Paris. Kevin and Winnie write a letter to each other every week for eight years until she returns; in the last moments of the finale Kevin states that when Winnie returned to the States Kevin met her along with his wife and first child. This caused much grief amongst Wonder Years fans due to a large following of people wanting a Kevin and Winnie pairing. (88 episodes)
RATINGS Season
Timeslot (ET/PT)
Season Premiere
Season Finale
Nielsen Ranking
1
Tuesday 8:30 pm
January 31, 1988
April 29, 1988
#16
2
Wednesday 9:00 pm (November 30, 1988 – February 15, 1989) Tuesday 8;30 pm (February 28, 1989 – May 16, 1989)
November 30, 1988
May 16, 1989
#14
3
Tuesday 8:30 pm
October 3, 1989
May 15, 1990
#9
4
Wednesday 8:00 pm
September 19, 1990
May 15, 1991
#27
5
Wednesday 8:30 pm (October 2, 1991 – February26, 1992) Wednesday 8:00 pm (March 11, 1992 – May 13, 1992)
October 2, 1991
May 13, 1992
#37
6
Wednesday 8:00 pm
September 23, 1992
May 12, 1993
#44
Reference • Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • Links supplied by the own page: The Wonder Years (http:/ / www. imdb. com/ title/ tt0094582/ ) at the Internet Movie Database The Wonder Years (http:/ / www. tv. com/ show/ 208/ summary. html) at TV.com
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