The Wonder Years is an American television
comedy-dramaComedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
created by
Carol BlackCarol Black is an American television producer and writer. She is best known for work on the television series Growing Pains, The Wonder Years, and Ellen . Black also wrote the 1986 feature film Soul Man.-External links:...
and
Neal MarlensNeal Marlens is an American television producer and writer. He is best known for work on the television series Growing Pains, The Wonder Years, and Ellen .-External links:...
. It ran for six seasons on
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
from 1988 through 1993. The pilot aired on January 31, 1988 after ABC's coverage of
Super Bowl XXIISuper Bowl XXII was an American football game played on January 31, 1988 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, California to decide the National Football League champion following the 1987 regular season...
.
The show achieved a spot in the
Nielsen Top ThirtyNielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
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 seriesThe Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series is an Emmy given to the best television comedy series of the year.-Winners and nominees:...
in 1988. In addition, at age 13,
Fred SavageFredrick Aaron "Fred" Savage is an American actor, director and producer of television and film.He is best known for his role as Kevin Arnold in the American television series The Wonder Years and as the grandson in The Princess Bride...
became the youngest actor ever nominated as
Outstanding Lead Actor for a Comedy SeriesThe Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series is an Emmy presented to the best performance by a lead actor in a television comedy series.-Winners and nominees:...
. The show was also 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 received another 54 nominations for various awards. In 1997, "My Father's Office" was ranked #29 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.
Plot synopsis
The series depicts the social and family life of a boy in a typical American suburb from 1968 to 1973, covering his ages of 12 through 17. Each year in the series is presented as having taken place 20 years before the original air dates (1988 to 1993).
The plot centers on Kevin Arnold, son of Jack and Norma Arnold. Kevin's dad holds a management job at NORCOM, a defense contractor, while his mother is a homemaker. Kevin also has an older brother, Wayne, and an older sister, Karen. Two of Kevin's age peers and neighbors are prominently featured throughout the series: his best friend, Paul Pfeiffer, and his crush-turned-girlfriend Gwendolyn "Winnie" Cooper. Story lines are told through Kevin's reflections as an adult in his mid-30s, voiced by narrator
Daniel SternDaniel Jacob Stern is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles in the Hollywood films C.H.U.D., Diner, City Slickers and the first two Home Alone films, and as the narrator for the television series The Wonder Years.-Early life:Stern was born in Bethesda, Maryland to a...
.
In the pilot episode, Winnie's older brother Brian, whom Kevin looks up to, is killed in action in
VietnamThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
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 DaySaint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...
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 meeting Roger, a typical jock-type at her new school. Neither relationship lasts long, but Winnie and Kevin don't reunite until she is injured in a car accident. After graduating from Junior High, Kevin and Winnie both go to McKinley High and Paul attends a prep school. Paul would later transfer to McKinley High and join Kevin and Winnie.
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 has 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.
Final episode and epilogue
In the finale double episode, Winnie decides to take a job for the summer of 1973 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 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 where Winnie is working, 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 (by bluffing while only holding a pair of 2s) 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 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. Winnie was fired over the fight Kevin instigated at the resort. Kevin and Winnie begin to argue and the elderly couple gets fed up and kicks them out of the car. A 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, telling Kevin "I don't want it to end." Kevin moves over to Winnie's side as she extends her blanket to Kevin and they share a passionate kiss. The adult Kevin narrates that night they made a promise to always be together and "it was a promise full of passion." (It is implied that the two have sex for the first time in the barn.)
They soon find their way back to their hometown and arrive hand-in-hand to a Fourth of July parade. During this parade, the adult Kevin (
Daniel SternDaniel Jacob Stern is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles in the Hollywood films C.H.U.D., Diner, City Slickers and the first two Home Alone films, and as the narrator for the television series The Wonder Years.-Early life:Stern was born in Bethesda, Maryland to a...
) describes the fate of the show's main characters. Kevin makes up with his father, graduates high school in 1974 and leaves for college. Paul studies law at Harvard. Karen, Kevin's sister, gives birth to a son in September 1973. Kevin's mother becomes a businesswoman and board chairman. Kevin's father dies in 1975, and Wayne takes over his father's furniture business. Winnie studies art history in Paris while Kevin stays in the United States. Winnie and Kevin end up writing to each other once a week for the next eight years. When Winnie returns to the United States, Kevin meets her at the airport with his wife and eight month old son.
The final sounds, voice-over and dialogue of the episode and series, is that of Kevin (Daniel Stern) providing concluding narration with the sound of children playing in the background:
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 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.
A little boy (Stern's real life son) can be heard asking his dad to come out and play catch during a break in the final narration. Kevin's (Daniel Stern) narrative responds, "I'll be right there" as the episode closes.
In 2011, the finale was ranked #11 on the TV Guide Network special,
TV's Most Unforgettable Finales.
Setting
Co-creator Neal Marlens wanted the setting to be
Huntington, Long IslandThe Town of Huntington is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York, USA. Founded in 1653, it is located on the north shore of Long Island in northwestern Suffolk County, with Long Island Sound to its north and Nassau County adjacent to the west. Huntington is part of the New York metropolitan...
, where he grew up. ABC insisted that the location remain nonspecific (the colloquial "Anywhere, USA"). The production team endeavored to ensure that the suburb's name and location within the United States were never specified, but there are occasional, conflicting clues.
In the season 3 episode "Wayne on Wheels", the address on Wayne's
DMVIn the United States of America, a Department of Motor Vehicles is a state-level government agency that administers vehicle registration and driver licensing. Similar departments exist in Canada...
envelope reads "Culver City, 90230, CA". The writer of the episode, Mark B. Perry, has stated on
UsenetUsenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
that the crew member who created the envelope mistakenly used the address of the filming location. Similarly, other incidental visual details suggest that the setting is California. In another third season episode, entitled "The Family Car", a California license plate can be seen on the Arnolds' car as Kevin's father is shown repairing it. In one episode, Kevin displays his driver's license issued by the "State of
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
". When Kevin's high school basketball team advances to the state championship, the game is played in a large arena with a
Los Angeles LakersThe Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
logo on the floor.
A few elements hint at the show being set in the
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
area, as evidenced by Kevin's
New York JetsThe New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
jacket, though Paul reveals in the episode Nemesis that Kevin has never been to a Jets game in his life. The show also features frequent references to the
New York MetsThe New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
. In episode 16 of season 4 entitled "Road Trip", Kevin and his father get lost and end up in
Hillsdale, New YorkHillsdale is a town in Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 1,744 at the 2000 census.- History :The region was taken from the Town of Claverack in 1782. The Town of Hillsdale was established in 1788....
when they thought they were in
Loudonville, New YorkLoudonville is a hamlet in the town of Colonie, in Albany County, New York, United States. Loudonville was a census-designated place in the 1970, 1980, and 1990 US Census, but ceased to be in the 2000 Census.The area is not precisely defined...
which is conceivable considering that those two towns are within 50 miles of each other and both located near Albany, NY. In the episode "Back To The Lake", Paul's directions for returning home include taking
Interstate 91Interstate 91 is an Interstate Highway in the New England region of the United States. It provides the primary north–south thoroughfare in the western part of New England...
, which runs through
ConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
and
VermontVermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
; the trip takes only a few hours. Adding to the confusion is the fact that in a few episodes, palm trees are clearly visible in the background, yet in one episode Winnie says that it might snow. In Season 6, Episode 11 titled "New Years", Kevin has a chance to go to a New Year's Eve party at a Colorado ski lodge, which he says is just two hours away.
Major characters
- Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage
Fredrick Aaron "Fred" Savage is an American actor, director and producer of television and film.He is best known for his role as Kevin Arnold in the American television series The Wonder Years and as the grandson in The Princess Bride...
): Character born March 18, 1956, Kevin grew up in the turbulent late 1960s and early 1970s. The voice of Kevin as an adult (and the show's narrator) is supplied by Daniel SternDaniel Jacob Stern is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles in the Hollywood films C.H.U.D., Diner, City Slickers and the first two Home Alone films, and as the narrator for the television series The Wonder Years.-Early life:Stern was born in Bethesda, Maryland to a...
. (115 episodes)
- John "Jack" Arnold (Dan Lauria
Daniel Joseph "Dan" Lauria is an American television and film actor.-Early life:Lauria, an Italian-American, was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Carmela and Joseph J. Lauria. He also lived in Lindenhurst, New York...
): Character born on November 5, 1927 - Died in the year 1975, Kevin's father, was a laconic man and a Korean WarThe Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
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 LieutenantFirst lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...
. He works at NORCOM, a large electronics corporation in a middle managementMiddle management is a layer of management in an organization whose primary job responsibility is to monitor activities of subordinates while reporting to upper 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.
- Norma Arnold (Alley Mills
Alley Mills is an American actress best known for her role as Norma Arnold, the mother in the coming-of-age series The Wonder Years.-Life and career:...
): Kevin's stay-at-home mother. Unlike her husband Jack, she is friendly and upbeat. 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 feminismFeminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
in the 60s. (100 episodes)
- Karen Arnold (Olivia d'Abo
Olivia d'Abo is an English actress and singer-songwriter, best known for portraying Karen Arnold in The Wonder Years and Nicole Wallace, the recurring villain in Law & Order: Criminal Intent.-Acting career:...
): 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 SchwimmerDavid Lawrence Schwimmer is an American actor and director of television and film. He was born in New York City, and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was two. He began his acting career performing in school plays at Beverly Hills High School. In 1988, he graduated from Northwestern...
) 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)
- Wayne Arnold (Jason Hervey
Jason Robert Hervey is an American actor, television producer and former public relations agent. He is best known for his role as "Wayne Arnold" on The Wonder Years.-Early life and acting:...
): Kevin's older brother, who enjoys physically tormenting Kevin and Paul. One of his nicknames for Kevin is "butthead," which he calls him usually while picking on him. 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
Joshua David "Josh" Saviano is an American lawyer and former actor who played Kevin Arnold's best friend, Paul Joshua Pfeiffer, in the comedy-drama television show The Wonder Years.-Biography:...
): 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 UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. There is an urban myth that the character is played by shock rocker Marilyn MansonMarilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
, however this is untrue; Saviano is currently an attorney with the firm Morrison Cohen LLP. (94 episodes)
- Gwendolyn "Winnie" Cooper (Danica McKellar
Danica Mae McKellar is an American actress, academic, and education advocate. She is best known for her role as Winnie Cooper in the television show The Wonder Years, and later as author of the three The New York Times bestsellers, Math Doesn't Suck, Kiss My Math, and Hot X: Algebra Exposed, which...
): 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. However, Kevin does state near the end of his final narration: "Like I said, things never turn out exactly the way you plan them." (88 episodes)
Minor characters
- Randy Mitchell (Michael Tricario): Kevin's friend, described as loyal and brave, though noticeably lacking Paul's intelligence. (He gets a 730 combined score on his SATs.) Though he appeared throughout the entire series, he usually had only minor parts in episodes. Randy and Paul are the only characters to remain on throughout the series as Kevin's friends in both junior high and high school. (21 episodes)
- Doug Porter (Brandon Crane): Kevin's junior high school classmate. In one episode, he briefly replaces Paul as Kevin's best friend after the two have a falling out. Doug is very agreeable and loves to eat junk food. In later episodes Doug befriends both Kevin and Paul where they engage in activities such as touch football or sneaking to a sleepover attended by older teenage girls. (19 episodes)
- Chuck Coleman (Andy Berman): One of Kevin's high school friends, who often appears with a "nervous tick". Chuck dates Alice Pedermeir and, on one episode, confides that he may have gotten her pregnant. However, much to his relief, the pregnancy test turns out negative. On another episode, Chuck punches Kevin in the face after he catches Kevin in a compromising position with Alice, who was helping Kevin to get a good deal on a used car. (19 episodes)
- Brett (Jon Frear
Jonathan Shane "Jon" Frear is an American actor, author, children's educational series host, and former model...
): Kevin's classmate. He was featured a few times during the series. 1992–1993. (19 episodes)
- Coach Ed Cutlip (Robert Picardo
Robert Picardo is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayals of Dr. Dick Richards on ABC's China Beach, the Emergency Medical Hologram , also known as The Doctor, on UPN's Star Trek: Voyager, The Cowboy in Innerspace, Coach Cutlip on The Wonder Years , Ben Wheeler in Wagons East, and as...
): Kevin's gym teacher, who excels in bullying his students and always wears a red cap to hide his bald head, which has a steel plate in it. He enjoys drawing diagrams on the board that nobody can decipher. Kevin describes him as having an inferiority complexAn inferiority complex, in the fields of psychology and psychoanalysis, is a feeling that one is inferior to others in some way. Such feelings can arise from an imagined or actual inferiority in the afflicted person...
. However, he is shown to be somewhat of a more sensitive person than usually indicated when he plays a department store Santa in a Christmas-related episode, where Kevin is the only student to know of Coach Cutlip's part-time job. Coach Cutlip is also aware of his mean personality towards the students, and admits to Kevin, "kids like me when I am Santa". (15 episodes)
- Jeff Billings (Giovanni Ribisi
Giovanni Ribisi is an American actor. His film credits include Gone in 60 Seconds, Boiler Room, Saving Private Ryan, The Mod Squad, The Gift, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Lost in Translation and more recently, Public Enemies and Avatar...
): Plays Kevin's good friend in the later part of the series. His parents are divorced and he lives with his mother, which is the reason that he moves in late. He has a girlfriend from his old town but breaks it off with her midway through the final season.(15 episodes)
- Ricky Halsenbach (Scott Nemes): Kevin's classmate. He was Kevin's first friend to get a driver's license. He fell in love with a new student named Haley but broke it off with her after Kevin and Jeff made fun of the size of her nose. (13 episodes)
- Carla Healy (Krista Murphy): Kevin's junior high school classmate and one-time girlfriend of Paul. (12 episodes)
- Mr. Cantwell (Ben Stein
Benjamin Jeremy "Ben" Stein is an American actor, writer, lawyer, and commentator on political and economic issues. He attained early success as a speechwriter for American presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford...
): Kevin's junior high school science teacher. He often shows filmstrips to the class while speaking in a monotone voice with steady emotion. (12 episodes)
- Rebecca "Becky" Slater (Crystal McKellar
Crystal Dawn Scripps McKellar is an American attorney and former child actress.McKellar was born in San Diego, California. When she was seven years old, her family moved to Los Angeles. She and her sister Danica were both students at the Diane Hill Hardin Young Actors Space school...
, sister of Danica McKellarDanica Mae McKellar is an American actress, academic, and education advocate. She is best known for her role as Winnie Cooper in the television show The Wonder Years, and later as author of the three The New York Times bestsellers, Math Doesn't Suck, Kiss My Math, and Hot X: Algebra Exposed, which...
): Kevin's junior high school classmate and one-time girlfriend. He dates her purely to make Winnie jealous and she punches him when she finds out he still likes Winnie. She holds a grudge against Kevin and becomes a recurring nuisance throughout junior high school. Her character is physically aggressive and hostile towards men. (10 episodes)
- Mr. Diperna (Raye Birk
Raye Birk is an American film and television actor famous for playing the role of Papshmir in the first and last of the Naked Gun movies. He was the main villain in Naked Gun 33: The Final Insult...
): The principal of Robert F. Kennedy Junior High. In the earlier episodes, Kevin gets in trouble and spends time in his office. He fires Kevin's mom shortly after she is hired by the school as a receptionist. (10 episodes)
- Craig Hobson (Sean Baca): Kevin's junior high school classmate and friend. He often teases Kevin and Paul over their emotional hang-ups resulting from girlfriend problems, only to accidentally start a relationship himself by falling for Becky Slater when she hits him with her bicycle (her intended victim was Kevin). Craig's relationship with Becky stops her from harassing Kevin and allows the couples to happily co-exist. However, Hobson ends the relationship with Becky when he gets sent to military school for his ninth grade year, reviving her hatred of men and blaming Kevin. (10 episodes)
- Miss White, later Mrs. Heimer (Wendel Meldrum
Wendel Anne Meldrum is a Canadian actress best known for her roles of Leslie the "low talking" clothing designer from the 1993 Seinfeld episode The Puffy Shirt, and school teacher, Miss White, on The Wonder Years....
): Kevin's junior high school teacher, upon whom he has a crush. Kevin simultaneously has to deal with his crush as well as foray into drama when Miss White asks him to play the role of Robert Kennedy in a performance she wrote about American leaders of the 1960s. Her name changes to Mrs. Heimer after her marriage. She is later pregnant in an episode, causing Kevin to have to drive her to the hospital to give birth. In the episode "Goodbye" her name is shown being spelled with a Y as "Mrs. D. Hymer". (7 episodes)
- Kirk McCray (Michael Landes
Michael Christopher Landes is an American actor. He is known for his roles of Jimmy Olsen in the first season of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Detective Nicholas O'Malley in Special Unit 2, Officer Thomas Burke in Final Destination 2, and David Conlon in The Wedding Bells.-Lois...
): An 8th grader who dated Winnie. Kevin becomes friend with him. However, the friendship quickly dissolves when Kirk finds out that Kevin also has a crush on Winnie. (7 episodes)
- Debbie Pfeiffer (Torrey Anne Cook): Paul's younger sister, who has a crush on Kevin. In a later season Kevin is made to be her date to a dance while his friends are checking out cheerleaders at a football game. (6 episodes)
- Ida Pfeiffer (Stephanie Satie): Paul's mother. (6 episodes)
- Alice Pedermeir (Lindsay Sloane
Lindsay Sloane is an American actress. She is known for her role as Big Red in the first Bring It On and as Valerie Birkhead on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch .-Personal life:...
): One of Kevin's classmates in high school and girlfriend of Chuck Coleman. Occasionally whines to make the person she's with feel bad to satisfy her for what she wants. Her dad owns a used car lot and she uses him to help Kevin get a deal on a car. This causes Chuck to get jealous and punch Kevin in the face.(6 episodes)
- Tony Barbella (Tony Nittoli): Kevin's classmate in junior high. He is a typical school bully who occasionally harassed Kevin, although Kevin provoked their first run in when he lied about fighting him. (6 episodes)
- Alvin Pfeiffer (Josh Moskoff): Paul's father. He is an optometrist. Mr. Pfeiffer trusted Kevin to escort his daughter Debbie to a dance and complimented Kevin for doing so. (5 episodes)
- Grandpa Albert Arnold (David Huddleston
David William Huddleston is an American actor, best known for his roles in Blazing Saddles, Santa Claus: The Movie and The Big Lebowski.-Early life:...
): Kevin's paternal grandfather, Jack's father. He sells his last car (and Kevin's first) – a 1965 Oldsmobile CutlassThe Oldsmobile Cutlass is a line of automobiles made by the Oldsmobile division of General Motors. The Cutlass began as a unibody compact car, but saw its greatest success as a body-on-frame intermediate car....
sedan – to Kevin for $1. He also gives Kevin a beagle named "Buster" (see below). Unlike his son he is jovial and outgoing. Grandpa is a widower, as his wife died before the series timeline began and is only seen in flashbacks. In one episode, Grandpa takes the entire Arnold family to a funeral of a distant relative and in a rare instance of anger, furiously roars at Wayne and Kevin because they do not take the funeral seriously. (4 episodes)
- Mr. Collins (Steven Gilborn
Steven Neil Gilborn was an American television and film actor.Gilborn was born in New Rochelle, New York. He attended Swarthmore College, where he was awarded a bachelor's degree in English and earned a Ph.D...
): Kevin's rigid but dedicated algebra teacher who Kevin comes to admire at a certain level. The character unexpectedly dies of a heart attack which caused Kevin some grief, as he had drawn funny faces on Mr. Collins' last test as a form of protest. When Kevin is informed that Mr. Collins had misplaced his exam (apparently an implication that Collins had intended to give Kevin a second chance at the test) and is told to take a test from scratch, Kevin diligently applies what he has learned, then momentarily sees Mr. Collins' ghost who commends him for good work. The episode "Goodbye" was nominated for three awards. (4 episodes)
- Dave "Wart" Wirtschafter (Scott Menville
Scott David Menville is primarily an American voice actor, actor, musician, and comedian.-Early life and career:The son of Chuck Menville, he was bassist for the Southern California rock band Boy Hits Car, which released three albums until he left the band in 2006. He was with the group since...
): Wayne's best friend, who gets shipped off to the Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. After he comes back, he shows signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He frequently repeats whatever Wayne says. (4 episodes)
- Madeline Adams (Julie Condra
Julie Michele Condra-Dacascos is an American film and television actress.She was born in Ballinger, Texas, the daughter of Priscilla Condra, and grew up in San Antonio, Texas. During her teenage years, she modeled in various catalogs and commercials.In 1982, Condra had a very small role in the...
): Kevin's temporary flame during his final year in junior high. Madeline was exemplary in French class, while Kevin struggled in the class. They break off their relationship some time later when she makes a comment about Winnie Cooper. During a time when Kevin felt left out and that nothing had been going his way, it was his relationship with Madeline that helped him out as she said it was hard to find guys who were sweet to her. (4 episodes)
- Michael (David Schwimmer
David Lawrence Schwimmer is an American actor and director of television and film. He was born in New York City, and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was two. He began his acting career performing in school plays at Beverly Hills High School. In 1988, he graduated from Northwestern...
): Karen's live-in boyfriend and later husband. Kevin's father is happy that Michael will be a good husband to Karen and has a good job to provide for her. However, he (Kevin's father) is dismayed to learn he (Michael) will be working on the distant Alaskan pipeline. Kevin's father later comes to terms with the fact when recalling that when he first married Norma, he took a job far away from home. (4 episodes)
- Eric Antonio (Don Jeffcoat
Donald Lee "Don" Jeffcoat, Jr. is an American actor.-Biography:Jeffcoat an American actor, who got his big break playing Eric Antonio on The Wonder Years, has starred and appeared on a number of films and television shows, including the children's game show Wild and Crazy Kids broadcast on...
): Kevin's classmate in junior high who competes with him for Winnie's affections. (4 episodes)
- Brian Cooper (Bentley Mitchum
Bentley Mitchum is an American actor who has appeared in about 40 films and TV series, including Sundance grand jury prize winner Ruby in Paradise, Man in the Moon, The Wonder Years, Conviction, Susie Q, Meatballs 4, Demonic Toys and Shark Attack...
): Winnie's older brother. He was drafted and killed in the Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. (3 episodes)
- Mr. Chong (Michael Paul Chan
Michael Paul Chan is an American television and film actor. Some of his recent television work includes Judge Lionel Ping on Arrested Development, Robbery Homicide Division, Dr. Lee in the Joel Schumacher directed "Batman & Robin," the voice of Jimmy Ho on The PJ's, and Lieutenant Michael Tao on...
): Kevin's boss in high school and owner of Chong's Chinese Food. He was known to shout rapid Cantonese and Mandarin at Kevin but speaks perfect English to his patrons. In order to work at his restaurant, he mandates that Kevin paint the company logo (a gigantic dragonA dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
) on his Oldsmobile, which Kevin does not bother to paint over even when he quits the Chinese restaurant to go into his father's furniture business. Chong's Chinese food also employs several kitchen workers who only speak Chinese, but are also aware of Kevin's relationship with Winnie and enjoy chuckling about it. (3 episodes)
- Donally (Seth Green
Seth Benjamin Green is an American actor, comedian, voice actor, and television producer. He is well known for his role as Daniel "Oz" Osbourne in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as Dr. Evil's son Scott in the Austin Powers series of comedy films, Mitch Miller in That '70s Show, and the voice of Chris...
): Appearing in the episode "Lunch stories", he plays a kid who asks Kevin to ditch class in order to watch an x-rated movie. He also is hired by Kevin at a low rate to help paint his teacher's house in "Sex and Economics," but hustles Kevin out of money without doing work. (2 episodes)
- Delores (Juliette Lewis
Juliette Lewis is an American actress and musician. She gained international fame for her role in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear for which she was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress...
): Wayne's girlfriend in high school; who was almost always seen with chewing gum in her mouth. Although by and large Delores was seen as a gum-cracking airheadAn airhead is a designated area in a hostile or threatened territory which, when seized and held, allows the air landing of further troops and material via an airbridge, and provides the maneuver and preparation space necessary for projected operations. Normally it is the area seized in the assault...
, there were times she was attentive, such as when Wayne was goofing off and harassing Kevin, Delores scolded Wayne that he needs to take his driver education textbook seriously. (3 episodes)
- Cara (Lisa Gerber): Kevin's summer romance while vacationing with his family at a lake. He meets her before he begins high school and returns to see her after getting his driver's license. (2 episodes)
- Buster Arnold: A beagle given to Kevin by his paternal grandfather. He had major roles in the episode "The Powers That Be" (third season) and "Buster" (fourth season). He appeared in scenes in "She, My Friend, and I" in the third season and "Growing Up" in the fourth season.
- Mr. Nestor (Charles Tyner): Kevin's slightly eccentric shop teacher. He has minor parts during the fourth season when Kevin is in ninth grade. (2 episodes)
- Lisa Berlini (Kathy Wagner): Kevin's love interest in "The Phone Call" and "Dance With Me". (2 episodes)
- Linda Sloan (Maia Brewton
Maia Luisa Brewton is an American actress who enjoyed success in the late 1980s and early 1990s.Brewton was born in Los Angeles, California...
): Kevin's lab partner and went to the dance with Kevin as friends in "Don't You Know Anything About Women?" (2 episodes)*
- Susan Fisher (Kelly Packard
Kelly Chemane Packard is an American actress who has starred in TV shows such as Baywatch and California Dreams and has also hosted shows such as Ripley's Believe It or Not!....
): A love interest of Kevin's in "Don't Know Anything About Women?" (1 episode)
- Eddie Pinetti (Robert Jayne
Robert Jayne , sometimes credited as Bobby Jacoby, is an American actor.Starting his career as a child, he has appeared in many television series. His credits include: Knots Landing, The Greatest American Hero, St. Elsewhere, Manimal, The Love Boat, Highway to Heaven, Murder, She Wrote, Diff'rent...
): Appeared in the episode "Fate". He plays the school bully who Kevin stands up to. Pinetti also attempted to muscle in on Winnie, but she quickly realizes the true nature of himself and his flunkies when they do things such as lift up her skirt. Though Kevin confronts the bully, he is beaten up by him in at end of the episode. Never seen again in the series. Possibly expelled from Kennedy Jr. High (along with his cronies) by the principal for beating up Kevin and more than likely moved away from Kevin's town along with his family. (1 episode)
- Brad Gaines (Mark-Paul Gosselaar
Mark-Paul Harry Gosselaar is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Zack Morris in NBC's Saved by the Bell, Good Morning, Miss Bliss, and Saved by the Bell: The College Years, Detective John Clark in NYPD Blue, Jerry Kellerman in TNT's Raising the Bar, and more recently Peter...
): Appeared in only one episode (titled: "Dance With Me"). Kevin asks Lisa Berlini to go to the dance with him and she agrees, but then decides to go with Brad Gaines when he asks her. (1 episodes)
- Louis (John Corbett): Karen's first-season hippie boyfriend whom Kevin takes a dislike to, and also enrages Jack by shooting his mouth off about political and military issues at the Arnold's dinner table. (1 episode)
- Julie Aidem (Wendy Cox): Appearing in the episode "Of Mastodons and Men", she was Kevin's girlfriend. Kevin is pressured to spend all his time with her, while his friends begin to feel neglected and begin to ignore him. Finally, Kevin begins to have second thoughts and breaks up with her. (1 episode)
- Sandy Tyler (Carla Gugino
Carla Gugino is an American actress known for her roles of Sally Jupiter in Watchmen, Dr. Vera Gorski in Sucker Punch, Lucille in Sin City, Amanda Daniels in seasons 3, 5 and 7 of Entourage, Ingrid Cortez in the Spy Kids film trilogy, and as the lead characters of the television series Karen Sisco...
): Appearing in the episode "Triangle", she was Wayne's girlfriend who fell for Kevin. She dumped Wayne because of her feelings for Kevin. (1 episode)
- Bobby Riddle (James Caviezel
James Patrick Caviezel, Jr. is an American film actor, usually credited as Jim Caviezel. He is known for the roles of Jesus Christ in the 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, Bobby Jones in Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, Detective John Sullivan in Frequency, Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte...
): Appearing in the episode "Hero", he was the star of Kevin's high school basketball team. (1 episode)
- Arlo Bottner (Scott Jaeck
Scott Jaeck is an American actor who was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on October 29, 1954. He attended New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, graduating in 1973. He attended the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. He is married to actress Mariann Mayberry, a member of the Steppenwolf...
): Appearing in the episode "Day One", he uses Kevin as a whipping boy in his American history class. Bottner has an ear injury from the Korean WarThe Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
and thus dislikes the ripping of paper from spiral notebooks. After Bottner gives Kevin detention, Kevin leads a revolt where all students in his class rip paper from their notebooks.
- Gary Cosey (Breckin Meyer
-Early life:Meyer was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Dorothy Ann , a travel agent and former microbiologist, and Christopher William Meyer, a management consultant. As a child of divorced parents, he lived in California, Texas, West Virginia and New Jersey. He has an older brother,...
): Appearing in the episode "The Heart of Darkness," he cheats on Kevin's math work and invites Paul and Kevin to smoke and drink around a bonfire.
- Joey Harris/Joey Lapman (Dustin Diamond
Dustin Neil Diamond is an American actor, musician, director, and stand-up comedian best known for his role as Samuel "Screech" Powers in the television shows Saved by the Bell, Good Morning, Miss Bliss, Saved by the Bell: The College Years and Saved by the Bell: The New Class.-Career:Diamond's...
): The character of Joey Harris first appeared in the episode "Loosiers". The character again appeared in the episode "The Glee Club", but with the last name of Lapman. There was never any explanation as to why the name change, so it is assumed that it is the same character in both episodes. (2 episodes)
Ratings
| Season |
Timeslot (ET/PT) |
Season Premiere |
Season Finale |
Nielsen Ranking |
| 1 |
Sunday 9:00 P.M. (January 31, 1988)
Tuesday 8:30 P.M. (March 22, 1988 – April 19, 1988) |
January 31, 1988 |
April 19, 1988 |
#16 |
| 2 |
Wednesday 9:00 P.M. (November 30, 1988 – February 15, 1989)
Tuesday 8:30 P.M. (February 28, 1989 – May 16, 1989) |
November 30, 1988 |
May 16, 1989 |
#14 |
| 3 |
Tuesday 8:30 P.M. (October 3, 1989 – May 8, 1990)
Wednesday 8:30 P.M. (May 16, 1990) |
October 3, 1989 |
May 16, 1990 |
#9 |
| 4 |
Wednesday 8:00 P.M. |
September 19, 1990 |
May 15, 1991 |
#27 |
| 5 |
Wednesday 8:30 P.M. (October 2, 1991 – February 26, 1992)
Wednesday 8:00 P.M. (March 11, 1992 – May 13, 1992) |
October 2, 1991 |
May 13, 1992 |
#37 |
| 6 |
Wednesday 8:00 P.M. |
September 23, 1992 |
May 12, 1993 |
#44 |
Syndication
Reruns of the show aired in syndication between September 1992 and September 1997.
Nick at NiteNick at Nite is the nighttime Cable network that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon on Sundays from 8.p.m.-7.am., Monday through Fridays from 9 p.m.-7 a.m. and Saturdays from 10 p.m.-6 a.m. . Though it shares channel space with Nickelodeon, A.C. Nielsen Co...
then reran the show from October 13, 1997 to February 3, 2001. The show was later rerun on
ABC FamilyABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...
from 2001 to 2004. It was also seen on Ion Television from April 2 to October 4, 2007. As of October 10, 2010,
The Wonder Years can be seen each evening on the cable network
The HubThe Hub is an American digital cable and satellite television channel that launched on October 10, 2010. The channel, which replaced Discovery Kids, is a joint venture of Discovery Communications, Inc. and Hasbro...
. In
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the show aired on
CTS OntarioCITS-DT is a Canadian English language religious broadcasting television station based in Ontario. It is licensed to the city of Hamilton, although its studios are located in Burlington. CITS uses the on-air brand of CTS...
from September 2010 until September 2, 2011.
Home video releases
Unlike most long-running popular American television series,
The Wonder Years has still not yet been released on DVD as official season box sets, allegedly due to
music licensingMusic licensing is the licensed use of copyrighted music. Music licensing is intended to ensure that the creators of musical works get paid for their work. A purchaser of recorded music owns the media on which the music is stored, not the music itself...
issues. Because of this,
The Wonder Years routinely appears high on the list of TV shows in-demand for a DVD release. Some episodes of the series were included in two official "best-of" DVD sets (
The Best of The Wonder Years and
The Christmas Wonder Years) without the original music. Anchor Bay also released two volumes (four episodes total) on VHS in 1997.
In a blog update on the
NetflixNetflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...
website on March 30, 2011, and a press release issued the next day, Netflix stated that they would be adding
The Wonder Years to their instant streaming service. The other three
20th Century FoxTwentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
series noted as part of the deal were added to the Watch Instantly service by April 2, while
The Wonder Years remained unavailable. On October 1, 2011, 114 full-length episodes of the series were added to Netflix streaming. The clip show from the end of Season 4, which was released on DVD, has not been included.
On September 26, 2011 it was announced that Amazon Prime's streaming video service would be adding
The Wonder Years, describing the series as "available on digital video for the first time", although Netflix added the series ahead of Amazon's release. All 115 episodes (including the clip show) became available to Prime members starting October 6, 2011.
On both digital streaming services, portions of the soundtrack have been replaced. The show's opening theme,
Joe CockerJohn Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
's rendition of
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "
With a Little Help From My Friends-Joe Cocker version:Joe Cocker's version was a radical re-arrangement of the original, in a slower, 6/8 meter, using different chords in the middle eight, and a lengthy instrumental introduction...
," has been replaced on Netflix and Amazon with the version of the song that played in UK and other overseas airings. The majority of the show's soundtrack remains unchanged. Songs such as "
Light My Fire"Light My Fire" is a song by The Doors which was recorded in August 1966 and released the first week of January 1967 on the Doors' debut album. Released as a single in April, it spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and one week on the Cash Box Top 100, nearly a year after...
" by The Doors and "
Foxy Lady"Foxy Lady" is a song by The Jimi Hendrix Experience from their 1967 album Are You Experienced. It can also be found on a number of Hendrix's greatest hits compilations, including Smash Hits and Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix...
" by Jimi Hendrix have been replaced by generic sound-alikes with different lyrics.
Audio soundtrack
The official soundtrack was released in 1988 by Atlantic/WEA and contains a total of 13 tracks, featuring
Joe CockerJohn Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
's cover of
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "
With a Little Help from My Friends-Joe Cocker version:Joe Cocker's version was a radical re-arrangement of the original, in a slower, 6/8 meter, using different chords in the middle eight, and a lengthy instrumental introduction...
", which is the show's theme song.
Also, after the series' original run was over, Laserlight Digital released a 5-disc compilation box set under the title "Music from 'The Wonder Years'" in 1994. This is the same company that later released the only two DVDs for the series,
The Best of The Wonder Years and
The Christmas Wonder Years. The disc included 40 oldies favorites and 5 original songs (each is repeated twice in the set) written exclusively for the series by W.G. Walden.
External links