WEEKEND REWIND: The Wonder Years

THE WONDER YEARS
January 31, 1988 - May 12, 1993
115 episodes
Starring: Fred Savage, Dan Lauria, Alley Mills, Danica McKellar, Paul Saviano, Jason Hervey, Olivia d'Abo, Daniel Stern

There is no show in TV history that can be better defined as a "coming of age" show. The critically acclaimed The Wonder Years is a brilliant dramedy told by an adult narrator (Daniel Stern) looking at his childhood in the turbulant late 1960s and early 1970s. Sometimes very funny and sometimes very serious, it was a sweet yet evocative dramedy that is still relative today even though the show was made over 20 years ago and is set over 40 years ago. Premiering after the Super Bowl in 1988, it was an Emmy-winning and very popular show.

Set in an unspecified suburb, the protagonist is young Kevin Arnold, brilliantly portrayed by Fred Savage. In the beginning of the show, he's a wide-eyed 7th grader and by the end, nearly a senior in high school. Every major event is shown through Kevin's eyes and the tag-team portrayal of the child Kevin by Savage and adult Kevin by Stern makes us feel very connected to the character. We go through all the "firsts" a teenager goes through with Kevin. There were two other kids Kevin's age who are integral to the series. Josh Saviano perfectly captures the nerdy yet endearing best friend Paul Pfeiffer who always has Kevin's back. Danica McKellar plays Kevin's love throughout junior high and high school - Winnie Cooper. Winnie and Kevin were childhood friends and we go through the ups and downs of their relationship starting with their first kiss in the pilot. Sometimes they are dating, sometimes they hate each other, but everything Kevin goes through is somehow connected to Winnie. McKellar isn't always an amazing actress, but she plays the object of Kevin's affection well and even has her own music that is played most times she is referred to, particularly early on.

The friends are just part of the equation in this terrific cast. Kevin's family is full of wonderful and dynamic characters. Dan Lauria is fantastic as loving yet sometimes distant patriarch Jack. Some of the show's most tender moments are between Kevin and his dad's complicated relationship. Alley Mills is equally fantastic as Kevin's mom, Norma. Always trying to keep order and peace at home even when there are flaring tempers, we also see her wrestle with her role as a housewife. She also has many sweet moments with Kevin. Jason Hervey is hysterical as older brother Wayne who is often Kevin's arch enemy. Most of the time Wayne is simply the most annoying (yet hilarious) sibling in TV history, but he is also a dynamic character as we can sometimes see his vulnerability. Even though he beats up on Kevin, he's not exactly a big man on campus at school or with girls and that allows us to feel for him, even as he is often mean to Kevin. Finally there is sister Karen (Olivia d'Abo) who is a typical late 1960s hippie. Often disconnected from her family physically and emotionally, she is not seen all the time but does have some interesting storylines throughout the show's run.

Another integral part of The Wonder Years is the music. Set against the 1960s, it uses music to tell the story in very powerful ways. While there is the occasional "error" (a song is playing that came out after the supposed setting of a particular episode), it adds so much to the show. Unfortunately it is also the reason we do not have this great series on DVD yet. The Wonder Years became a hit and miss show as Kevin went to high school but those early junior high episodes are a perfect mix of humor and poignancy. It's a classic show about a classic era.

THE 10 BEST EPISODES OF "THE WONDER YEARS"
Note: This is solely based on personal opinion.

Close Calls: #12 "Pottery Will Get You Nowhere," #55 "A Very Cutlip Christmas," #10 "Steady as She Goes," #53 "The Ties that Bind," #114/115 "Summer/Independence Day"

10. #37 "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre" (first aired February 13, 1990)
Kevin and Winnie are on the rocks just as Valentine's Day nears but Kevin tries to fix things by giving her a Valentine. He has a 7th grader (a young Ben Savage in a funny guest starring role) give it to her, but he inadvertently puts it in the wrong locker which happens to be Kevin's psycho ex-girlfriend Becky Slater. A very funny look at how serious things like this can be in junior high.

"Don't You Know Anything About Women?"

9. #34 "Don't You Know Anything About Women?" (first aired January 16, 1990)
Kevin is pals with his quirky lab partner Linda (guest star Maia Brewton). Kevin wants to ask the beautiful Susan to an upcoming dance but she has a boyfriend so Linda asks him if he wants to go as friends. He accepts but Susan wants him to save a dance for her when she and her boyfriend break up. One of the rare occurrences where Kevin is somewhat of a jerk, his obsession with Susan makes him miss the sweet secret affection Linda is harboring for him. This episode is on the list due to a standout guest performance by Brewton.

8. #20 "Brightwing" (first aired April 18, 1989)
Kevin discovers that his sister Karen is skipping school so he follows her to a hippie gathering that she regularly goes to. The hippies of course embrace Kevin and although Kevin does not become a part of the culture, it brings him and his distant older sister much closer. A rare episode that explores the Kevin/Karen relationship, it's a very sweet one.

7. #39 "Glee Club" (first aired February 27, 1990)
The dysfunctional junior high boys choir is taken over by a wide eyed new teacher, Miss Hancock (guest star Andrea Walters). The overly perky Miss Hancock  manages to do the unthinkable as the boys soon embrace choral singing, but all goes wrong on concert night. It is hilarious and pitifully sad at the same time. Walters is another standout guest star in this episode.

6. #14 "Hiroshima, Mon Frere" (first aired February 15, 1989)
Kevin and Paul are keeping hamsters at home but Wayne in full annoying brother mode is torturing them to Kevin and Paul's horror. When he goes too far and kills the hamster (via vacuum) a huge fight erupts between Kevin and Wayne. The rest of the episode deals with the healing that must occur in this complicated relationship. It's a very interesting and dramatic exploration of the brothers dynamic and also hilarious in the beginning as Wayne tortures the hamsters.

5. #3 "My Father's Office" (first aired March 29, 1988)
Kevin accompanies his father to work in an early and powerful episode that explores Kevin's complicated relationship with his son. Kevin's eyes are opened as he sees the stress his Dad goes through in a job he doesn't really like. They share a tender moment watching the stars in the end as father and son are brought closer together.

4. #25 "Mom Wars" (first aired October 31, 1989)
It seems that Kevin's relationship with each family member is explored in one of these top ten episodes and perhaps none is as great as this episode with his mom. Norma doesn't want Kevin playing football in the park and a fight occurs between them as Kevin is embarrassed by her overprotection. But when Kevin gets hurt, they must reconcile this complicated issue. It's a very sweet episode.

3. #1 "Pilot" (originally aired January 31, 1988)

"Pilot"

One of the best pilots to any series, this episode sets the tone between humor and drama that will define this series. Kevin is getting ready to attend his first day of junior high and all the drama that goes with that. He gets himself in trouble on day one and his father is ready to beat him for it when they get the news that Winnie Cooper's older brother was killed in Vietnam. When Kevin finds Winnie in the woods where they used to play, they share their first kiss and the series is off and running as "When a Man Loves a Woman" plays in the background.

2. #9 "Christmas" (first aired December 14, 1988)
One of the sweetest Christmas episodes, the Arnold children are preoccupied with getting a color TV for Christmas but Jack says they can't afford it. Meanwhile, Kevin is stressed about getting Winnie a Christmas present when he learns that she has one for him. As tension mounts between the family, it takes a rainstorm to bring them back together and Kevin gets a simple four leaf clover from Winnie in a touching end to a great episode.

1. #6 "Dance with Me" (first aired April 19, 1988)
This was incredibly hard to put the top three episodes in this order, but this one wins out. A junior high dance is coming up and Kevin asks Lisa Berlini to a dance and she accepts before being asked out by a more desirable option. Then he falls for Winnie again over lunch and asks her but she is going with her beau Kirk McCray. When the dance finally happens, Kevin observes that everyone including Paul, Winnie, Lisa Berlini, and the janitor are having the "time of their life" and he "is in hell," he goes outside to escape it all until Winnie appears and the two dance together for the first time in a sweet ending. It's an episode that perfectly captures the early dynamics of the brilliant early years of this show. And it has a brief I Dream of Jeannie dream sequence to boot!