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The Wonder Years (http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=16256) is an American television dramedy created by Carol Black and Neal Marlens. It ran for six seasons on ABC, from 1988 through 1993. The pilot aired on January 31, 1988 after ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXII. Set in 1968-1973 (each season took place exactly twenty years before the then current year), the series tackles 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 learned from his experiences in an alternately nostalgic and ironic tone.

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Other Thoughts:

The casting of Andy Berman, the kid with the nervous twitch.
When Kevin finally got Winnie
Puberty was not kind to Fred.
Never really did, although a watching of the recent Nick at Nite marathon demonstrated that David Schwimmer was a ***** on that show too.
Couldn't the producers have let it run one more year so that Kevin and Winnie could graduate from high school? And then hearing Kevin talk about Winnie being there at the airport waiting for him and his six-month-old son - AAAARCH! Kevin didn't get Winnie, Sam didn't get Diane, Will Riker didn't get Deanna Troi - WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH THESE PRODUCERS? HAVE THEY NO SENSE OF ROMANCE? I'm sorry, but I just sat and bawled when I figured out that Kevin and Winnie didn't get together - one of the reasons that the recent episode of Fred Savage's new show "Working" with guest star Danica McKellar was so enjoyable ("She reminds me of a girl I grew up with" - great line!)
Two words...Marilyn Manson.
Never jumped. My persnal favorite TV show ever produced. Just like looking at myself sometimes!
The Wonder Years was consistently great through the final episode. Every show always tugged at your heart and was never patronizing. Maybe the show is special when the ensemble cast never goes on to anything great after the show ends (MASH, Cheers, Seinfeld?)
When Kevin's face lost that cute little boy roundness and his voice got a tad husky...he got OLD! Also i got hit pretty hard when paul stopped wearing his glasses *(oh the wonder of contacts)* and winnie lost her cute little girl roundness too. this is my all time favorite show ever. But i must say when all the gang hit puberty i was schoked. I had to stop watching the show near to the last episode because they were all just TOO old. I hated the lst episode with kevin and winnie in that stupid barn and the BIG BAD THUNDERSTORM. Oh please! That whole plot was just so UN wonder years! And then in the last episode when everyone is at the parade and kevin is getting all misty eyed looking at his mom and dad and wayne all grown up and his sister with the baby...can we say CHEESY? All in all this show was great, i identified with it more times than one and i feel it is a timeless portrayal of middle school to high school hormones/emotions that brings my so called life to shame!
The show never jumped. I liked that way that the show didn't always "take the easy way" to end a situation. The show portrayed a crucial time in the history of our country brilliantly. I can't believe the number of times that Kevin's thoughts & ideas were the EXACT ones that I had then too! A great show.
This show never did! The only thing is that the producers must have been on some sort of drug because KEVIN AND WINNIE DID NOT END UP TOGETHER! I hardly ever watched the show until I saw maybe 7 episodes on a marathon. Then I saw the last one. I cried for like an hour! I CAN'T BELIEVE they had Winnie go off TO PARIS and leave Kevin!!!!! Paris, um, yeah, that's realistic! And poor Kevin! He spent his whole life chasing her and what did he end up with? Nothing. Not Winnie. THAT EPISODE was sooooooooo sad and the ending was terrible! KEVIN was so so so cute!
Puberty? "Yum yum yum," said the shark.
Damn, Fred Savage got big and gross. He looked like a 17 year old with a beer belly who plays offensive line in his country bumpkin school. Puberty gave him a kick in the balls.
When Kevin refused to go out with the French exchange student because of Winnie. Maybe it was the right thing to do, but it was so unrealistic for a high school kid that I stopped watching.
When the kid with the twitch and his annoying whiny girlfriend were the first couple in the crowd to have sex. That kid was so clueless that I doubt if he knew how to have sex with himself much less with a girl.
The show was great throughout, but it got less-good (trying to put it nicely) when Fred Savage went through puberty. It wasn't BECAUSE he went through puberty, it was the effects of it. In the show he became this anal retentive, irritable jerk with a short temper. How come? He'd always be yelling at someone for something. You'd think he had a really heavy flow for the last 3 years of the show. Hey Fred.....up your ass pal!
The Wonder Years is one of the few shows I've watched faithfully that never jumped. So Kevin lost his cuteness? So do most teenagers. "Years" touched my mind and my heart. As a youth a few years older than Kevin when the series ran (and probably why Dawson's Creek is so popular today), I could relate with the then little tyke. I'm not very sensitive, but I actually shed a tear watching an episode once or twice--Kind of had to turn of the T.V. and think for awhile after the show. Sure, life doesn't always have a happy ending, but the writers could have indulged us with even the hint of a future Winnie/Kevin connection. Anybody willing to sell the whole series on tape? My children can watch this one...
As soon as you heard that God-awful VOICE OVER. RUINED that show permanently. This could have been one of the best shows on TV, but that running-dialogue-in-Kevin's-head crap sunk that show for good. It is unwatchable. What a friggin' WASTE.
The Wonder Years jumped in every episode that had Madeline chasing Kevin and he was to whipped by Winnie to go for it. Madeline was a fox who would have done anything in the world to get into Kevin's pants and Winnie "the tease" Cooper treated him like ****. The episode with the guy from Northern Exposure further illustrated how stupid people can be when it comes to relationships. He was a fool for cheating on the drop dead gorgeous Karen, and Kevin should have been the one screwing around.
The episode when paul lost his virginity was the episode where there this show jumped the shark. I mean when paul loses it before kevin it drives this wedge between the too and basically ruins their friendship. it sets up the episode where the guys are playing poker and kevin realizes that paul isn't his best friend anymore!
The show was ok but Winnie was such a snob and treated Kevin like crap so I dont see why he went after her in the first place!!! Thank God Kev married another chick.
The wonder years never jumped the shark, but if they would have tried to go on it would have. I truly think that this show is one of the most honest shows ever made. In the first show when Kevin and Paul are waiting for the bus and the new Winnie walks up to them and she is no longer just the girl next door, I thought that was extremely well done and over the years as they grew together and apart again finally to end up going thier seperate ways, come on people that is real life.
It never jumped the shark. Kevin Arnold is my hero! It is my favorite show of all time. And, I'm sorry but Paul is NOT Marilyn Manson!!!!!
I agree that the voiceover from the 'adult Kevin' was often a total BUMMER!! If they had the 'adult Kevin' give a prologue and/or epilogue to the episode as was done on 'Little House on the Prarie' and 'The Waltons' - summing up what was in the offing /telling what became of. . .at the close, that would have been fine! BUT to have Daniel Stern CONSTANTLY tell us what Kevin was REALLY thinking was annoying. .not to mention, that a great many of the observations seemed to have been closer to what he would have made in hindsight rather than at that MOMENT! Besides, there's another technique used to enable viewers to comprehend what the character is ACTUALLY thinking even if it's totally contradictory to what he/she is *saying*. .- it's called ACTING!!!
What's with you guys who are complaining about Kevin and Winnie not getting together in the end? Didn't you see that coming a mile away? What do you think this is, Saved By The Bell? Is anyone in real life married to the girl they had the hots for in the 7th grade? I agree with the above comments about the Madeline episodes. What teenager would be that *****-whipped? A boy that age would be physically unable to resist legs like that!
When three things happened:
1) Kevin Started being the superhero who was the only one who knew how to do the right thing and save the universe from itself.
2) Kevin acted like a turd dork over Winnie- long before puberty and the stuttering scandal.
3) Supremes, Judy Collins, Nat King This is a show that only made it completely to the bottom of the ocean during the barn scene in the final episode. Every time you thought the sharks got the Years there was Paul dancing like a stud, Wayne, those painter dudes, and the psycho dude. All of that ruled and kicked ass!!!! And letter writer- most teens do not act like Fred Savage. Savage is a major major turd dork. Your comparing him to other teens is an embarrassment to high schoolers all over the world. Also the V-Os mostly suck because Kevin Arnold also sucks as an adult. Who in the hell thinks it's cool to buy a teddy like that piece of jumbo crap he bought for Winnie. In real life she would of said leave me alone you dork and slammed the door on him. I bet Kevin is lying about Wayne. I bet Kevin and Wayne really act like in the Classic Football Nam episode. Wayne is the stud hero and Kevin is the dork. Wayne should have really kicked Kevin's sorry ass!
I liked the show, I thought it was what Happy Days could have been before they screwed it all up. Never jumped for me.
Could have been one of the greats if not for that annoying voice-over narration. It was so unecessary and intrusive. But Fred Savage cannot act- so I guess they brought in Stern to do the VO. I would have opted for another actor to replace Savage. ANYthing but that VO.
Never! this show is so cute. i cried all through the next episode after seeing the one where the teacher died. i even cried when i saw that last episode- i'm telling you- i'm one tough chick. I NEVER cry!!!!!! :)
When Kevin stopped hanging around Paul and started hanging out with those three new weird kids. The guy with the twitch, the fat kid and the kid who tries to be cool. It was never the same. It was then that Kevin started using these weird looks that showed us he was acting. The second glances, the confused look, the frustrated and pained expressions on his face. I stopped liking his character when he reached that very uncomfortable age. I realized then that what's his name couldn't act.
SOMEONE SMACK THAT DOLT WHO BELIEVES THE URBAN MYTH THAT PAUL IS MARILYN MANSON!
Wonder Years jumped the shark when Kevin grew older and lost his "cuteness." About that time I grew tired of Winnie's ever-rounding/widening face and the confusing, manipulative sentiment between her and Kevin. I thought one of the best episodes (really a series of three) was when Kevin joined the advanced math class by cheating. The "tough love" actions of the algebra teacher taught Kevin (and us viewers) so much about life. The episode in which Kevin learns that the teacher died was quite effective--very meaningful.
Listen, I for one think Wonder Years is great but that's not what I wanna comment about. I wanna comment about the people on here (not Wonder Years, the entire Jump the Shark website) who oh-so-smugly state something they are convinced is true and they want to seem oh-so-smart so they say something like "two words", and then they state something that is blatantly false such as the above "two words--Marilyn Manson" and then people respond saying "sorry he wasn't on there", I just want to see the people's FACES! I mean it would be a real hoot! And I'd like to see those people's faces when they're typing it. I just know what they're thinking: "Heh, this oughta teach them people who think they know everything about [this show]. I'm the smartest even though I never watched it!"
To the poster above: Two Words- Seek Counseling
It never jumped. It produced some of the most classic episodes ever aired on tv. Remember the Margareth Farthquire episode?? That weird girl that no one wanted to be seen with?? And that episode that took place entirely in the cafeteria?? Lets face it people, we all acted like that when we were in Junior high or in High school. This show is a classic 'cause it dealt with issues we were all faced with when we were pre-teens or teens.
This would have been a much better show if the voiceover of the adult Kevin had been used less. What is especially annoying is the way the adult Kevin insists on treating every single one of his childhood and adolescent experiences, no matter how mundane or common, as if it were some kind of spiritual awakening: "I didn't realize it at the time, but having my first paper route had opened one door in my life and closed another one. From then on, I would never look at the world in quite the same way again. Something special had happened to me, which happens to all of us at one time or another . . . etc." This waxing philosophic had already grown old by the first few episodes. Another flaw was how the writers refused to develop the characters of Kevin's siblings. Wayne was an unredeemable bully, and his underused sister Karen a caricature of a social dropout, and they stayed that way pretty much throughout the show while the other characters grew.
This was a great show that never jumped, but came close towards the end. Winnie was such a bitch towards Kevin, its a tough pill to swallow that he never got any, after putting up with so much crap. When I watched this show when it first came on, I felt for Kevin. But after watching it in my older years on Nick at night. I found myself relating to his poor father. He had his hands full with those kids and his pain in the ass wife. There were some great shows, when the teacher died, Winnie broke Kevin's heart and he hugged his father in the garage and when Winnie was out of control and got into the car wreck with those high schoolers.
The Wonder Years never jumped. Kevin and co. simply grew up, which was the whole point anyway. One of the few-- maybe ONLY-- instances where voice-over narration worked, and worked well. In fact, during the first season, the narration during the last scene of each show (well, most of them) was some of the best TV writing ever.
This show was one of the few shows to end while it was still good. I really liked the last episode even though I also thought Kevin and Winnie should've ended up together. I almost cried when they said that the father died shortly afterward. I thought he was, quietly, one of the most tragic characters in TV...the hard-working, gets no respect, does anything for his family even though the kids crap on him, 9-5 working father who ends up dying young of a heart attack. And ditto for the mother who, even though she was "only" a housewife, was the glue that held the family together with her wisdom, much like Edith Bunker, only smarter.
After the first season the Wonder Years seemed to ditch the rock and folk classics from its show. The new music direction did not invoke the nostalgia that made the first (and only consistently good) season it's best.
It got bad when Paul started talking about "the beautiful people" and told Kevin "We're all stars now in the dope show."
So many people I knew loved this show, that I thought I was the only one who couldn't watch it because of the Daniel Stern "voiceover". I'm glad to see that others felt the same way. As an earlier poster noted, the voiceover made the show "unwatchable" for me. The only memorable show for me was the one where the parents get into an argument with each other, and they show the kids' quietly upset reactions to it! A fact of life in most families, and I never saw it handled so sensitively.
Wonder Years never fully jumped like Happy Days or The Laverne Show. It just had a lot of annoying moments- smaltz set to stuff like Judy Collins, irritated people, v-os, Kevin being a bad student and not studying for the S.A.T and then out of nowhere getting a really high score, repetitive gimmicks like having the opposite of the v-o occur and so on. But like the early episodes had Paul's dancing saving the show- the later had stuff like the painting episode. The soccer episode was golden too. So was the one about Nam and football. Too bad Years couldn't have been a little different. With a few changes it would have nailed it. But there are classics from every season from the make-out party to that sex book to Paul getting down to the Soccer to the Psyco to the painting. And some of the episodes with some of the worst stuff also have cool stuff too. So. I mean it's not even close to a Happy Days disaster. But then not even The Laverne and Big Ragu show fell as hard as Days. I'm guessing a lot of the crap has to do with Syd Rosen. His credits are on the Wonder Years and when I have seen his name as creating episodes for other shows they are usually the bad ones. He is probably powerful enough that he can block much better episodes from getting created in favor of his own. That way his crappy episodes get all the residual checks and the better ones get nothing. Bastards- ruining my shows. Screw you!!!!
This is one of my all time favourite shows. Period. It never jumped. People complain that Winnie and Fred Savage didn't end up together. Duh! As if that would ever happen! The last episode was excellent. I cried for days. The voiceovers were what set the show apart from others. How else are you going to know what he really thinks? When they moved the show to opposite Bev. Hills 90210, I stopped watching BH. "Wonder Years" was way more important. I still watch the reruns on CTS sometimes. Makes you realize that this show is still leaps and bounds above anything that's on TV right now.
This show stayed pretty realistic throughout it's lifetime, and the scenarios that faced the cast stayed true to their age and the time. NO JUMPER!
There was an episode where the entire plot revolved around Kevin having a pimple. It ended where the girl he was chasing had one too. Shees, wish I had that 1/2 hour back. Overall a great show though. Excellent tunes.
How did a nerdy dork overnight become a studly basketball star? Completely unrealistic! The last season really lost me. Kevin became a hot-headed jerk. Probably repressed hostilities over an adolescence being jerked around by Winnie for all of those years. Should have moved on back in junior high. Madeline vs. Winnie: Yo Kev--are you an idiot?
When Winnie went from a childhood friend to an obsession. This show was a good warm-up for really GREAT shows that always seem to jump the shark WAY before their time like Brooklyn Bridge and I'll Fly Away. If it's REALLY quality, it's gone within a season.
I don't think that puberty affected the show. After all, the show centered on Kevin growing up. They didn't try to act like he wasn't getting older like a Leave It to Beaver. They dealt with the same issues as other teenagers. I think this show worked well to the end. If someone didn't like the whole concept of the show with the voiceovers then they shouldn't have watched it. Everyone changes friends through school, has an older sibling that moves away, or just has a lot of awkward moments. Some of the best moments were with gym teacher teaching sex ed or Kevin camping in the woods with his dad and brother. This had one of the best series finales of all time.
The Wonder Years jump the shark, Never! How could it jump the shark with that awesome opening sequence of the home video, it's like corn bread, ain't nothing wrong there.
You guys are insane, spending all this time watching stupid TV shows and then surfing the web 24/7 to comment and complain about them?! Or the other extreme- rant and rave and brag on them?! All of you are insane. The only reason I'm online right now is because I'm stuck inside sick. You should all get a reality check and GO OUTSIDE! Start to do something that doesn't involve staring at a screen. Get with it.
Never jumped! It was good through the last episode. Even though Kevin and Winnie didn't end up together, that's life. It's better to be real than portray a dream world like most shows do. That's why I say it never jumped!
Someone had posted that when Beverly Hills 90210 was on at the same time as the Wonder Years he/she watched the Wonder Years. Well, I watched the 90210. Because when Kevin and that Bitch Winnie were dating on a more regular basis the show became unwatchable. I hated Wiener I mean Winnie. And Wiener was a tease one minute she loves Kevin the next she doesn't know how she feels so she dates ever other guy then goes back to Kevin Make up your mind stupid!
So winnie and kevin didn't end up together. It's realistic, come on they were high school sweethearts, they grew out of each other. And so what, winnie was being sort of hard to get before, kevin is not exactly the cutest guy ever and winnie was cute and pretty. I think that the chase for winnie was actually quite realistic. I mean that it expressed how much a guy could like a girl, how a girl feels horrible when she doesn't like him back. I personally feel that winnie never liked Kevin. Just that she finally felt sorry for him.
It jumped when Kevin wouldn't get over Winnie Cooper!!!! she treated him like crap but yet he was like obsessed with her!!! from like when he was two to seventeen or something! like get over her already!!!!!
When Fred Savage forgot how to act.. As he hit puberty did anyone notice he kinda forgot how to act.. Like.. his.. pauses....all the.....time. It was like he was developing a speech problem. He seemed never to be able to speak one flowing sentence. But..a..chaa. .Winnie...ya know...Also Schwimmer episodes were lame.. Never capitalized on sister..less clothes, summer swimsuit episode... Was a great show however for its first 3-4 seasons.
This show never Jumped. An Earlier posting mentioned how he wasted a half hour of his life on the episode when kevin had a pimple. I thought that was a great show? In grade 7, a pimple before a big dance or something WAS a disaster!! Also, Am I the only one who got the impression that Kevin and Winnie had sex in the barn in the last episode? My buddy and I had a disagreement on this issue, and it appears I am way out to lunch.
Overall one of the best shows that truly captured a long gone era of spitballs,pick-up football games, skating dates, and banana seated bikes. Great music tie-ins and pretty decent acting if you consider the ages of these kids. Told a message without being preachy...it may not have ever jumped the shark..but it did kind of jump the fish when Paul was no longer truly a nerd and Winnie moved away.
i was in high school when this show was in first run, and although the characters were abit younger than me, it was always topical. I didn't go for my drivers licence until i was 18, so as i prepared for my exam, Kevin Arnold was going through driver's ed. The episode about the math teacher mr. collins reminded me of an english literature teacher i had who went on to influence my adult life. we all had a friend like Paul and had a crush on a girl like Winnie. The music was amazing (except when they had cover versions of the songs). Olivia d'Abo...say no more. the final episode put me in reclusion for a week, i was so depressed.
The Wonder Years was one of the most powerful shows portraying adolescence and reality in history. It accurately explored the struggles of suburban life. To those who were upset the kevin and winnie didn't end up together - that IS reality. Adulthood changes everything and almost always changes a world which you once innocently thought would be permanent. There was not one episode which didn't make you reflect on your experiences and make you feel like kevin WAS you. Every one of us had a paul and a winnie in our childhoods and we all reflect back to how those relationships changed and grew as we got older. To say this show jumped is to ignore the realities of human nature. One of the best TV shows in TV history.
Kevin got old... and ugly!
I cant believe all the crap you guys are saying about the Wonder Years!! I think that the Wonder Years show is one of the greatest shows ever! Its not filled with false problems that teenagers supposedly have. It doesn't have ditzy blondes who are plain all the pimps with big money on TV today. I think that all of you complaining about the voice-overs, and Winnies future in Paris, are total nerds! This show is soo moving! Every episode is realistic and makes your eyes fill up with tears of joy, sorrow, or pain. The first episode was a time of youth, happiness and change. By the last episode, it was a time of adulthood, sorrow, and also a turning point in the Arnolds lives. Anyone who has watched even one episode must feel even an ounce of relativity or something of the sort. All I have to say now is, watch it, I think you'll be very pleased. --Maria-- if u have any comments, email me at MzPiggy86@aol.com
This show never jumped the shark. I think that it actually is the greatest tv show of all time. I have seen every episode 3 times. The reason the wonder years is so great is beacuase it is so true. i am a teenager, and I can identify with the feelings that Kevin has. Being a girl, it also helped me understand boys better. You can learn from the wonder years.
It NEVER did. I love everything about the show. Even after puberty. And I cried when Winnie and Kevin didn't stay together, but that is only because I love them and the show so much and I related to it. But I personaly think it made it better. It is a lot more realistic I would have been disappointed if they had gotten together. I was sad that Karen had to leave though :(...but I loved and still love everything about the show. I have a thing for Kevin...hehe. :)
This was a great show. I really liked the voice overs. They really improved the quality of the show. Some of the episodes produced some of TV's finest moments. Like the episode where the entire show happened in the cafeteria. That was great.
I never saw many of the major episodes of the Wonder Years that everyone commends... but I must say that I never walked away from the television after watching The Wonder Years without a tear in my eye. I learned alot about myself from watching the show, and the voice-over was in fact rather comforting and insightful. True, I enjoyed the show less when Kevin hit puberty, it was just a fact of life that happened to make him "less cute" and "innocent". But I don't think show ever actually jumped the shark, and I will always have that soft-spot for some good television that is truly a classic.
This show, in my opinion, never jumped the shark. Sure puberty wasn't that kind to the gang and sure that Lisa Berlini girl was kind of a ditz but the show had it's charm. I still love watching the reruns on Nick-at-Nite. I liked the episode where Kevin is taking piano lessons and the recital comes up. I can really associate with that from my childhood. I didn't particularly enjoy the last episode where Kevin and Winnie are caught in that barn during that storm. I mean, that was a bit lame. But the episode where Kevin is humiliated in the cafeteria kind of reminds me of how I met my wife. So, I don't really believe this show ever jumped the shark. This show must have been white or something because as the movie says, "White Men Can't Jump!"
The show "jumped the shark" after Craig Hobson (Craig Baca) left the 3rd season. He was the perfect irritating foil for Kevin, keeping his ego in check. Yet unlike his prickly brother Wayne, Kevin did voluntarily eat lunch with and hang around with Hobson as part of his gang of friends. Remember Craig Hobson's harassment of Kevin when his Mom didn't want him to play tackle football with the gang after school? Hobson represented the relentless masculine peer pressure that adolescent boys face. Remember when Hobson shamed Kevin about his Dad's cheapness in the episode when the Arnolds almost buy the Mustang? That was just the way guys give each other the needle. Kevin never had any other friend to act as that devil's advocate that would play on his fears and make him question himself. Hobson was the perfect match for Kevin's enemy Becky Slater. That was a great match up and the writers threw it away at season's end. The show lost a quality of realism with Craig Hobson's departure after that season that accentuated the other problems of the show such as a reckless historical accuracy and characters behaving out of character from show to show. You could see the difference in that first episode of the new season with the introduction of Madeleine and Winnie's attending Lincoln Junior High. Kevin no longer had realistic male friends who kept him in check for the rest of the series. Kevin's behavior became more and more unrealistic for his age and for that era. The scripts became more manic and more slapstick, begging for laughs. Kevin's character morphed into a self-centered, mediocre, unattractive, annoying loser you could no longer root for. After Craig Hobson left that 3rd season, the nostalgia the series evoked for that late 60s- early 70s era seemed to leave also.
To the guy that says we all need to get a reality check, I have a few words to say. For one thing, I do get outside. Plenty. Does being a Master Gunnery Sergeant in the Marine Corps counts as being outside. I bet I carry more weight every day than you weigh. What is the most weight YOU have ever picked up?? The weight of a beer can?? Now, if you want to sit there all high and mighty and feel as though you are the best person in the world, go ahead. But let me tell you this fact that is as simple as 1+1. You are not perfect! Only God is perfect. So, please, YOU need to get a reality check and maybe, a set of balls before you become that judgmental again. I bet you hadn't even hit puberty when I entered the military. So, as for you, Mr. Pant E. Waist, you can take your "Get with it"'s and your "?!"'s and put them up your @$$. Have a sucky day.
Am I the only person on this planet who thinks that The Wonder Years is a loose rip-off of the British book series called The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole? There were just two or three books I think and also a UK tv series, the books were written by one Sue Townsend who also created several very popular text adventures for Level 9 Computing. I do think the Wonder Years was well made and was certainly made at the right time. It was a bit too sugary for me at times, but there were enough little morsels of US nostalgia in there to keep me interested. Come to think of it, I guess I could also call it the same as The Waltons... narrated by the main boy character, full of melancholy and nostalgia etc.... grows up, meets girl, has probs with brother and sister and puberty and all the same stuff. Of course, The Waltons was an excellent show for quite a few years.
The character of Kevin Arnold changes when it comes to sports. In some episodes he is a jock while in other episodes he sucks at sports...hey writers, what gives?
Once Jason Hervey (Wayne) appeared as a manager/wrestler in wcw, i think the show lost a lot of credibility. that and also the fact that he was accused of attempting to rape a make-up lady on the show. also towards the end of the show, dan lauria (dad) didn't spazz half as much as he needed to. and they also didn't have the coach in it as much either. i mean, cmon, that guy was the man with his jellybean mouth. and schwimmer as karen's boyfriend? that's really a miscast if there was one. also, it would have been nice if chuck coleman had won the poker game instead of randy, who was the biggest flamasaurus in the whole of the world. winnie cooper was flat as a wall. and paul minus glasses = big disappointment. hell, i bought those frames just so i could look like that suave-ass minivan shilling mofo. ok, jeeves.
Basically, when Kevin became cool it stopped bearing any resemblance to my life.
My favortite wonder years episode will always be the one where Kevin and his friends go cruising Kevin going through puberty never bothered me but Paul going through puberty was disturbing. Even though he was a nerdy looking kid he was kinda cute but puberty happened and BOOM! He was just a nerd with a really annoying face.
The Wonders Years was a great show. I watched almost every episode faithfully and then again in re-runs in the middle of the night. The show jumped the shark at the finale! It sucked! What a dissapointment. It was too depressing. Life is depressing enough, do we really need TV to be that upsetting too?
I didnt get to watch this until it hit Nick at nite ( I was too young when the originals aired) I love this show!
I agree with the post a dozen or so up; some of these comments take on an absolutely my-life-is-so-pathetic-I-must-show-hatred-to-any-and-everything tone. Listen, do not blame others because you are 19-27 and still stuck at entry level! Some of the comments are insightful and wickedly clever. However, many of them smack of Yahoo! chat, particularly the Politics Lobby and Books and Literature rooms. I am positive that at least one of these folks is the guy who once told a chat room, "you would sh*t if you knew who you were talking too." Or, "my intellect if far and away above yours." LOL! Gees, it is TV people! If you want a good laugh, go the postings about the Rosie show. Those morons actually waxed intellectual about that empty headed pig's politics for at least six pages!
Never jumped, not even after all the new characters started coming into the picture. I thought the guy with the twitch was really funny and added alot to the show. David Schwimmer was pretty wimpy, but he was supposed to be a laid back hippie, so that wasn't a problem. This is one of the few shows that I believe never jumped.
This show never jumped the shark. As Kevin got older, the show was realistic to the life he was leading. When you get to high school you may not keep the same best friend, and you find new ones who may wind up being your friends for life. Also Kevin and Winnie not getting married proved that Kevin kept growing as he got older. I thought one more season would've been nice to finish the show with them graduating high school, but the tv gods didn't seem it that way. Most likely my favorite show of all time, along with MASH.
This show NEVER jumped! Every episode brought back some memory of my childhood and would give me a lump in my throat. I always needed a few minutes to think after I was done watching. I agree with the other comment that the last show was disappointing. Kevin and Winnie remaining "good friends" just isn't good enough.
this show was the best from the day it started to the day it ended.. i still miss it...
YEAH, THINGS CHANGED WHEN KEVIN GOT PIMMPELIE AND IT'S A GOOD THING IT ENDED WHEN IT DID, BUT IT'S A CLASSIC SHOW.
Did you all miss out on the fact that Kevin was an obnoxious jerk? Sure, when he was 12 you could accept it a little easier. Puberty is an awkward time and people don't know how to handle themselves socially. Eventually though I had to stop watching because I couldn't possibly see Kevin make his father or his mother or one of his friends or an acquaintance or the mailman or the lady next door or the bagger at the grocery store feel like total sh*t one more time. 90% of the time you felt like crying at the end of an episode, it was because Kevin was flat-out mean to someone and then eventually felt bad about it. It all ads up to, KEVIN SUCKS!
Never. This show still rocks. The quality of the writing, the great acting. We need more shows like this one.
perfect delineation of what it's like to be a kid. wonderful show. i miss it.
For a show that never jumps sure are a lot of jump the shark moments. One of the all time worst is when Wayne's chick falls for Kevin. In real life at the most she'd pat "Kev" on the head and say oh isn't your brother cute. Then Wayne would make jokes about "Kev" being cute and "Kev" would say shut-up butthead. But no on this episode the chick is all over "Kev" and wants to do him. "Kev" only stops from getting it on because he is too much of a good guy superhero/savior to the rest of the community and he wants to do the right thing and give his can never make it with the ladies brother a break for the one and only time in his life. All while the Band's whiny version of "I Shall Be Released" (How can you make a Dylan song sound more whiny?) plays in the background. Like Kevin's light is shining because he is the superstar in the song? Pathetic. Oh and to put the icing on the cake Fred Savage trumps the situation by doing his patented cute kid type expressions. Amazing.
When Kevin didn't lay the pipe to Margaret. As we all know, the smart girls are always the kinkiest. Plus, any chick with three pigtails would probably take it in the pooper. "Do you like apples, Winnie?" "I turned her butt into a finger puppet. How ya like them apples?"
The show never jumped. It has always been a great show. It was very realistic, and very touching.
This show never jumped the shark. This is the phattest mofo show ever yo! word up to all da peeps yo. THis show is phatter than your mom. And you gotta roll her around in flour jus to find the wet spot, thas how fat she is. Yeah, but it is a phat show and never jumped yo. WOrd Word.
Loved "The Wonder Years"...it was so authentic in one classroom scene a girl was shown wearing the same dress I had in high school in 1970! I found it a little strange during the last show, though, when Kevin's "voice-over" said that he had NEVER gone back home. What the hell happened to him that he couldn't bear to go home even one time in decades?? Not at all realistic.
After the first season. At the end of the first season the writers abandoned the humorous aspects that drove the show into a good position. They instituted the damn Friends premise of obsessing over someone and not working it out. I lost all respect for that drip when he kept fussing over Winnie and ignoring all the other sweeter, more intelligent and prettier girls who were interested in him. The writers also seemed to have a problem creating realistic characters. Dan Lauria's father character bounced back and forth between terminally abusive and compellingly caring. He was much better in the first season when the majority of his presence was the personification of the stereotypic "worn out father of the late sixties". Someone should have shot this show down after the first season.
this show never jumped the shark. I could watch it anyday all day, and it is the greatest television show ever produced. absolutely wonderful. always left you with a happy feeling after watching it and a show never had a more wholesome meaning than did the wonder years.
I liked the voice-over most of the time. To the guy that said it sounded like hindsight, well, DUH! Its IS! If it hadn't been they'd have been using Kevin's voice! Glad he didn't end up with Winnie, more real-life and bitter-sweet.
Working backwards here: The last season was lame, culinating in the absolute worst episode of the series: The final one. The middle three years were variable - in all three there were excellent shows, and "forgettable" shows. The first season was *trancendently* superb! I am suprised that no one else thus far has noted that the show was under the complete supervison of Marlens and Black during it's first season. Their name continued to appear after that, but they left the show to go to other projects beginning with the second season, and their "touch" (it was essentially their creation) was immediately apparent in it's absence - at least to me. It continued to be a very good show, (especially in the second season), but the magic was gone. I agree with many of the comments above, in regards to Kevins personality changes, etc, (more below on that), but "Wonder Years" shares with "Mash", another all-time great show, a dubious distinction: The very last episode was that worst they ever filmed. I disagree, however, with those who hated the voice-overs. That was a critical part of the shows concept, and I don't think it would have lasted more than a season or two without it. Hearing "that voice inside Kevin's head" was what made the show so totally believable to those who had already "been there" (adults). I was basically a rooter for Kevin most of the series, but I do rememeber an episode about the second season, I think, when an excellent young actress named Maia Brawton played Kevin's lab partner, and the girl he ultimately took to a dance when he couldn't take Winnie for some reason. The story demonstrated that while the girl wasn't willowy (she was a shrimp), and wasn't beautiful in the same way as Winnie (though she was as cute as a bug's ear in her own way), she had a million-dollar personality and sense of humor, two things that never grow old in a relationship. Kevin was accurately portrayed as most boys his age would be - she's not the "starlet" chick he wanted to teake, so he treated her in a quasi-gentlemanly but still shabby fashion. I understood why they wrote it that way, (and assumedly he did see the error of his ways at the end), but I wanted to slap him and shout "Open your eyes and look at her, you dummy!!" all through that episode. But an adult sees it much differently than a 13 year old boy would. Kind of a commentary on how well the show actually could and did work for most of the time it was on. It definitley worked on two different levels. Still, that final episode . . . UGH!
This show never jumped the shark for me. It touched me in a way that no other sitcom ever has. Maybe it's because Kevin is a few years older than I was at that time and his parents are similar to mine and also has an older sister that gradually becomes a women's libber just like my older sister. Kevin's junior high school days are stunningly similar to my own. Although in his later high school years, he has more of an edge than I did- I was more of the laid-back immature party-animal type. It was a huge disappointment when the show was cancelled early. It was obviously intended to run at least through his high school graduation, and the premature cancellation caused the writers to have write a premature end to all the existing story lines and it made the final episode look rushed and sloppy. Although the very end (the parade scene where he explains how everyone ends up) was very moving. It was a great show because of the way it told the story. I see some people here didn't like that approach, but I thought it gave deeper meaning than most other sitcom drivel out there.
Wonder Years never jumped. True the earlier episodes were better, but this was a damn good show. They don't make t.v. like this anymore.
It never jumped the shark. I wish they had more shows like this now. It wasn't riddled with sex, violence, and rich brats, it was a realistic show with realistic characters. Most of us grew up like the Arnold family with sibling rivalry and minor crisises likes crushes and pimples. It was a great show that I grew up with (Kevin and I were always in the same grade. He graduated on the show the same year I did and didn't skip grades/ repeat grades like most other shows-- Beverly Hills, for example.) the best show ever!!!
This show never jumped. The only time it ever came close was Paul losing his virginity, it just was out of character. I thought the last episode was great, I mean, how many people end up with the girl they dated in grammar school! The greatest coming of age show ever!
I love this show, does anyone remember the one when Kevin was friends with that fat kid and he had a dream that he was at his house and the kid's room was filling up with junk food? :) that show rocks. the last one was sad though...
This show has to be the coolest, most realistic show ever made about junior high kids. They all had problems that kids could relate to, and unlike some teen shows nowadays (like Dawson's Creek, even though I am a fan), The Wonder Years actually cast actors who looked 12-17 years old, like they were supposed to. It was an all-around great show, and the last episode was a good way to end the show, and it was sad too.
Also how is it that not only Wayne but also Karen bombs her SAT and Kevin without studying nails it. I mean he doesn't do anything to make you think he is some genius who is disinterested in school.
This is one of the greatest shows of all time. It's the reason who have Dawson's Creek, it's the reason you had My So Called Life. This show was great, from start to finish, i just wish they would have aired another year to see them graduate. I admit Kevin did have PMS for the last season and a half, and only a blind man would have picked Winnie over Madeline. (I might have even picked Becky Slater, Winnie's real life sister!) Just a couple notes: Marilyn Manson's real name is Brian Warner. He was a high school band geek who got beat up daily. He finished school and worked at a newspaper in Miami, reviewing local bands. He finally realized that if he started his own band, that even if he sang horribly, as long as he pretended to worship the devil, SOMEBODY would buy his albums. He was right. So please stop saying that Paul from the Wonder Years is Marilyn Manson. Also: Jason Hervey works for WCW. He edits all the vignettes and promos that the wrestlers do, and has helped produce their entrance themes. That's why he was on the wrestling show you mentioned above.
What was Kevin thinking?!?! Madeline so wanted him and like an ass, he dumped her for Winnie! Come on, Kevin should have boned Madeline until she passed out...man, was she awesome. And then he never did get with Winnie anyway. She "reeked of suckitude," to quote Edge & Christian. This show jumped the shark at that point, but it was still occasionally good in spots after that.
At some point after around 3-4 seasons, I lost interest and it's hard to figure out why. I think many of the above posts help me to realize some factors: the foil who used to abuse Kevin left, the episodes featuring other characters stopped, and Kevin became a whiny version of Casper. I just lost interest in him. I agree that the phasing out of Paul was realistic--people DO fade away. But I vaguely remember watching him be unable to get it on with some gorgeous blonde because he was stuck on Winnie. Yea, a boy will pine for a girl for awhile, but to turn down this girl in full Marcia Brady regalia was really unrealistic. Boys also will settle for a girl even when pining, and she was amazing looking--certainly worth a roll in the hay or two. And don't forget, folks, this is TV--role models must be presented so the kiddies don't pick up bad habits. There is a definite thread between Kevin and Zach and the idiot on Blossom who wouldn't lay Six, and the kid from Boy Meets World--even James @ 15. Kevin just 'lived' in the 60's, that's all. You'd think after all this time somebody would write an edgy comedy that had boys who thought with their tools and girls that loved to debase and abuse them. Network TV is not meant to stimulate, folks; it's there to reinforce the status quo.
ok right i would just like to say to all the ppl who have made comments....get over it....wonder years did suck, but there was always something good in every episode...and i don't think that it is possible to say that life doesn't change...ok i think the directors, whom so many of you have blamed, did an incredible justice to the life of a boy growing up...not everyone gets the girl, sometimes life is 'CHEESY' especially when you get emotional. and if you haven't experienced this then you, my friends, are the ones who suck!
This show jumped when Kevin got the job delivering chinese food. By then the show had lost it's oomph! and the plots began to become easy to predict 5 minutes into the show. Before that Wonder Years was one of my favorite shows, and their are many CLASSIC episodes. The Walk Out episode where they protest the Vietnam War is very touching.
Denise the Grease...Kevin was the man, but if he could have hit that it would have been the best lay in television history.
Here are a few thoughts. 1. Why doesn't anyone know the character's names? Madeline, Chuck, Jeff, Ricky, etc... 2. For those complaining about the voice-over, it was the main idea of the show - someone looking back at growing up - 20 years later. For those 5 voters who said it JTS when the v/o started - hey, it was always there! 3. Careful analysis of the narration during the barn scene leads to the inevitable conclusion that Kevin and Winnie actually did do it. "Every single thing that ever happened to me that mattered, in some way, had to do with her." They would not have gotten together again after that argument it they hadn't done it. (Or Kevin would really have been whipped.) 4. Not every song lyric is supposed to exactly follow the situation. In fact, in a few cases, it is just the opposite, but those parts were not used. The later eps had some good music, too. 5. Dan Lauria at first thought a show about a pimple was "not gonna fly", but it generated a lot of fan mail about kids with the same problem. 6. Wayne's girlfriend, Sandy, going for Kevin was creepy. Most of the girls were older (Julie Condra, playing Madeline, was 20...) but Sandy was the worst... 7. I have a large TWY page at http://members.xoom.com/kyleg.1 , which includes 2 fictional scripts I wrote. One, "The Lost World" is an ending to "The Lake", where Kevin and Cara actually do it at the drive-in, and the other, "Salvation", is a reunion show based (mostly ) on the finale :-)
I would have loved to see TWY continue for ten (10) more seasons and cover the years 1974-1983. The events and music (which according to most TWY fans was only the background) made the series, and without them it would have been just another show. The events I am referring to include Watergate, the Gerald Ford Administration (plus the two assassination attempts in 1975), the end of the Vietnam War, America's bicentennial, Happy Days (plus Joanie Loves Chachi), Laverne and Shirley, The Waltons, the 1975-76 Big Red Machine, The Brady Bunch (the original show, the '77 variety hour, and the movie and series about Marcia and Jan's double wedding), Barney Miller, Alice (plus Flo), Taxi, WKRP in Cincinnati, Saturday Night Fever, Grease, The Urban Cowboy, the Atari (heck, I'll even throw in Pong--and Intellivision and Colecovision!), pet rocks, President Jimmy Carter, Star Wars (both the movie and Reagan's missile defense system), the Dukes of Hazzard, the Iranian hostage crisis of '79-'81, the Russians' military intervention in Afghanistan (and the boycott of the Moscow Summer Olympics by the USA, West Germany, and Japan), oil shortages (and 15 mpg clunker cars--ahhgh! when you consider gas was $1.30 a gallon), double-digit inflation, disco, 1980 USA Olympic Hockey's 4-3 win over Russia in Lake Placid, Mt. St. Helens' eruption in Washington State, the Space Shuttle Columbia (remember they talked about space in the series!), the 1981 baseball strike, the 1982 NFL strike, the Reagan Administration (and his assassination attempt), the deaths of Karen Carpenter, John Lennon and Elvis Presley, E. T., Sally Ride (the first US female astronaut), plus a whole lot more! As for the music, I would have loved to have heard selections by Billy Joel, Orleans, Ray Parker, Jr., Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blondie, Juice Newton, Mickey Gilley, Conway Twitty, Alabama, Air Supply, 10cc, Irene Cara, The Clash, Molly Hatchet, The Pretenders, .38 Special, the Oak Ridge Boys, Christopher Cross, Al Jarreau, Dan Fogelberg, the Little River Band, and Kenny Rogers, as well as one-hit wonders (no pun intended!) like The Knack, Donnie Iris, and Soft Cell. Come to think about it, would any of these episodes have featured a McDonald's restaurant?
It never did! It still is the best show ever to be produced. It's so morally good, and it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside!!
This show never jumped the shark. It was a TV classic, and we need more shows like it. Also, the voiceover for Kevin's thoughts was one of the things that made the show truly great and unique.
A few years ago Nick at Nite ran all of the episodes in order,i saw the first episode and I was hooked. I watched every night for the week that they ran the episodes. What disappointed me was Winnie. When she moved away, when she was so mean at the eclipise/museum, when she left to be lifeguard, and when she didnt end up with Kevin! Why did they have to make Kevins dad die, and have him not marry Winnie!? That was a horrible way to end the show. They should have come up with some other way, the only reason I watched that show was because it was for Kevin and Winnie. I didnt want something realistic, something that said "these things happen in real life" I wanted something that said "ahh..life is good! you run into hard times but everything works out in the end." Thats all I want from tv!
I agree with exec producer Bob Brush when he remarked that the network moving the show to an earlier time slot limited the earlier daring and adventure. He commented that as Kevin got older the censor restrictions increased. The mistake was believing this was a kid's show. It really was for adults, written by adults, performed by children. It was adults looking back at themselves, not children at themselves. Like Malcolm in the Middle has child actors but could hardly be called a kid's show.
This show had only minor problems but it never really jumped. The characters were real for the most part, and I didn't mind the voiceovers. I didn't really enjoy the last season as much as the others because Kevin transformed into a stereotypical high schooler. I was also at a lost when Paul went from a dorky kid to some kind of genius. They shouldn't have made Paul lose his virginity, especially when he later rebukes Chuck Coleman (the kid with the twitch) for losing his. I always thought Winnie was kind of hot, but she looked like a dog compared to Madeline. Kevin should have banged her when he got the chance. They should have drawn out the sister's character more. The family didn't seem to keep in touch with her after she got married. The mother's transition from a thankless housewife into the new working woman was priceless. Wayne was the person I loved to hate, but I actually felt sorry for him in that episode where he tried to join the army. Kevin's dad was the best character on the show. Sure, he was stubborn sometimes, but he worked his tail off for his family, which caused him to die young. I also thought puberty was an improvement for Kevin. He no longer looked like a wussy kid who Winnie could never have fallen for. He looked more like a man. This show had minor problems, but it was a classic nonetheless. I still watch it when I get the chance.
wonder years jumped the shark on day one. the show was phony. the show was sugary sweet like sacharine. the show was soo sacharine and phony, that the exact moment an episode begins, it makes you cringe.
This show was basically, good. No other way to describe it. I am not one of these people who sit here and can recall every episode. I liked the first few seasons; I had nothing better to do at that time of night. After junior high (for Kevin) it kind of lost me. I did not like the show as much. Basically, I saw it as a kid chasing after his childhood sweetheart. But that is how life is for a lot of people, especially in high school. I did catch a few shows in here and there and after a while started to watch it again. In fact I watched it through the last episode. I thought it was sad; but that is how life is! Basically what I am trying to say is that this show is a brilliant portrayal of a boys journey to adulthood. Who cares about looks, not everybody can retain their childhood cuteness. In the direction the writers took, they have to phase out certain characters to make way for characters who will build to the plot more (in essence keep the show going). As for acting ability; well we sometimes cannot do things as we first appear to (Mark Hamill Star Wars). Still I do think that Fred Savage did a decent job. The voice-overs, well, were needed. I say that carefully: One, because it is someone telling about there past (eighties-nineties show telling about the sixties and seventies). And two it helped me to sometimes better understand the situation and the characters thoughts and feelings. My final thoughts on this farewell just watch the show (again) and realize what it is in comparison to some the shows we have on TV currently.
Hmmm...when did it jump the shark? Depends on how you define it, if you define it as going too far but still being watchable, it did jump the shark a few times, but I've only seen each episode once so I don't even remember some of those times, I'm just going to comment on some stuff. For one, MARILYN MANSON was NEVER on the Wonder Years. Hell, Marilyn Manson was what, 25 when the Wonder Years ended? That and it's a highly spread urban legend that's not even true. He just looks like Paul from the Wonder Years. Ok, I may have been raised in the 80's and 90's, but my parents say this show was pretty realistic. The Pimple episode, God, I'm 19! I remember back when I was 12 and got a pimple, it was a big deal! That episode was truly realistic in that, I mean, to seriously watch this show you have to remember when you were a kid and if it was like that. Kevin doesn't go for the super-hot babe. Ok so what? He loves Winnie, sure he may be a teenager but just because he's a teenager doesn't mean he can't be in love or faithful. I know quite a bit of guys who are...oh my god total shocker...totally faithful to their girlfriends and meet lots of better-looking women in real life. Anyway, if he's like any average straight (Yep I'm gay, so I'm not being prejudiced by pointing out average straight because I'm also thinking average gay teen) male teen, he'd be in bed that night giving himself a reward for not sstraying to far..."Oh Kevin, why are the sheets wet?" asks his mom. Which makes me think, why didn't they ever have a Masturbation episode. I mean, Roseanne had a masturbation episode, and I'm pretty sure that people masturbated quite frequently in the 60's. It just would've added to the realism of the show, lol! Ok to the person who said Paul couldn't become a stud if he was a dork before, that's a load of bull****. I mean, a person can change a lot in a year or two, and considering that some of the most popular people in High School back when I was going were dorky-looking when they were kids, I'd say a dork can become a hunk. Oh and Kevin and Winnie never got together...boo-hoo-hoo! Ok so I was upset, but thinking about it realistically it could've gone either way. He could've married her, or he could've married someone else. Methinks someone flipped a coin for that decision. But seriously, a masturbation episode would've been funny. Anyone but me think that maybe Wayne swung BOTH ways when it came to women? What else to say about this show...oh yea. It's supposed to be assumed that Kevin and Winnie had sex in the barn, gotta remember it's on at 8, when kids are still up, can't even have a sex scene then. You can mention sex but can't have one. That or Kevin had to rely on old righty once again that night...
This was the best show ever made. I grew up with it and many childhood memories are tied into the wonder years.
Never, absolutely never. True, Kevin didn't get Winnie, thats life. To anyone who is reading this, are you where you pictured yourself when you were Kevin's age in the first episode? More than likely not, but there was so much more to the show and especially that dramatic last episode. The really blow for me was when Kevin tells us how his father passes away.
This show never ever jumped! It was so realistic, watching it was like living it and you really got caught up in it. Several episodes made me cry...especially the last one, it was soo sad..but I'd be dissapointed if Kevin and Winnie did end up together, it's be a sellout on the reality of the show.
I'm not sure it ever fully jumped, but i think it came the closest when Kevin took Marylin's, er, I mean Paul's little sister to the dance and her earring or whatever fell in the pool. She started balling and he dove in after it. that was a horrendous episode. However, an equally great episode was when the mom was taking pottery classes which started an argument between ma and pa. Kevin thought they needed a distraction so he flicked a spoonful of mashed potatoes on Wayne's face. Wayne just stops, pauses, turns his head and calmly says "tonight....while you sleep...PAL!", that was hilarious. I remember seeing that for the first time when i was young and just laughing hysterically with my brother, that was great.
This show was a mirror of the lives that we all lived going to school in the early 70's. It is perennial as grass, and because our lives continue so to did the show have an endless supply of topics to share with us, our own.
Never jumped for me. I loved this show, but hated it because it always, always made me cry. I never cry, especially for TV! I grew up in the 80s and am a woman, but could totally related to Kevin's feelings. The show was so honest and just beautifully done. There has never been a show like it, and I doubt there ever will be.
When the opening credits changed from home movie footage of the Arnold family to snapshots of current events of the 60's and 70's set to only the last half of "With a Little From My Friends" winding up with Kevin's class picture, The Wonder Years jumped the shark.
Hmmmm.... Where to start... The Wonder Years for it's time was one of the best thought out and portrayed shows on growing up that was on T.V. Think of it more on it's beauty and simplicity. Sure there are going to be a couple of episodes I could DELETE from the overall series, but come on this is one of the few shows that I think alot of people could watch with their families if you were married and had kids near this age, if you grew up in that time period of the late 60s and early 70s. A majority of the issues and situations are pretty true to life ie. love, hate, Rock and Roll, Hippies, drugs, Go-go boots, contacts, Vietnam, garage bands, girls,dating, field trips, protests, teachers, the wrong friends, characters, first jobs, first kiss, first sex, etc..., etc..., etc... This provides people who grew up in that era with an outlet to reminesce about a time,place and similar, a mddle america town they grew up in plus the subjects they touched upon. Most episodes were simply things that kids faced each and everyday... For those who watched every week I'm sure during the course of the entire series there must be a dozen things that you could relate to or have experience yourselves... I'm not from that era but I found just simple things that occurred were relatable. Being part of a group of students that I classify as typical middle class, we were neither overly blessed athletically or academically , but we weren't part of groups that were shuned, ridiculed, despised, etc... Just your ordinary every day kid with similiar problems and issues that most normal kids face even today. It made the viewers go through a roller coaster of emotions as it chronicled the life of our hero. The music was fitting for the time it portrayed. Rocked out or romantic or sad when the situation called for it. With music that at least came from that era. The Voice Over by Daniel Stern in my opinion wasn't that bad. It served its purpose as our guide as we looked back to a time past. Giving us his thoughts on what he was feeling, the tone of the setting and some other insights that just added to what was happening. Some events I NEVER liked: It's too bad that Kevin didn't at least try being with Madeline, even though she was 3-4" taller and about 2 years older. I for one always looked for opportunities such as a hot babe wanting me that much. It may have made Winnie want him more (female competition thing). Plus Kevin told Madeline off at the most inopportune time, when Winnie drove off with that other guy from her new school. When Karen (Kevin's sister) moved off to Alaska after getting married. Alaska? Was that the newest haven for hippie communes or what? Definately when Paul got contacts was that supposed to make him look more attractive? He probably argued the producers saying that he was too old to be portrayed as a nerd any longer although his character's roles were.What he should gotten was a nose job. Go figure. The changing of Kevin's circle of friends. Natural occurance, but they should have a least kept as a some time reoccuring character in Craig Hobson (there's always a braggart in most groups) plus Becky Slater (Winnie/Danica's sister in real life -- the constant reminder of a woman scorned) just to throw wrench here and there... I think with the 70s they could've added more ethnic characters (after all there was alot of people moving to the suburbs from everywhere East Coast, Europe, Asia, Mexico, etc...) The close ethinic character was Paul family (Jewish) or Dina Delgado (stuffing cheerleader, hmmm... hispanic in name only?) The addition of the three stooges (Chuck, the fat guy and Giovani Ribisi) were an interesting group they should've gone more in depth with them but since it's only a half hour show. Chuck should've gotten rid of that whiney chick Alice Peidermeyer (Who according to a friend happens to pop up in a recent movie "Bring It On" ). Talk about two of a kind. There really are people like them in our own lives (sad but true)...Like most people Kevin does alot things wrong in waning years typical of most everyday guys... we all have faults, problems, regrets on alot of issues... but that's the whole premise. Who else could've wrote about alot of the truisms that appear unless they themselves(the writer, producers, directors, etc...) actually experience the same or something similar... I always thought they patterned alot of the exploits with the things and people that I experienced or felt myself. Pain in the butt bro, sister who thought they were sophisticated and cool... Nerdy best friend, parents always trying to keep the family together and getting ahead in this rat race. But to tell you the truth, these things are common place with common themes in most peoples lives as they grow up here in the U.S. and a few other places in the world then and now....For Kevin it's tough being the leader of the group of misfits he's associated himself with. So I guess that's where he's always stuck with trying to keep the group in somewhat a semblance of togetherness, happiness and humaness (is this a word -- common look at who we're talking about.That's where it took away from him probably experiencing alot of things or PEOPLE (girls). As far as the finale, it's been almost 8 years since it aired a much longer time then the time it actually aired (go figure). It brought somewhat of a melancholy end to a magical 6 year ride. First Kevin chases Winnie to this summer resort , takes a job with a bunch of sleazy waiters and resort staff, not only loses his car,job and girl but his self-respect. Even the old people that pick Winnie and him up can stand them. My big question is when they wind up in the old barn and they wind up kissing. Did they do more than that? At least it seemed that they really cared about each other. Afterall they got back to town were holding hands and had their arms around each other. That seemed like they reached another level in their relationship. But then he goes into the narration of "Paul went to Harvard, of course". What's this? Not everyone gets to go to the college of their dreams... "Karen had her baby and she looked like me, poor guy" (what's that suppose to mean he seemed pretty cute when he was little -- not too bad then as long as he doesn't look like Ross /Michael -- aka David Schwimmer), Wayne takes over the furniture business because their Dad dies (probably from all the stress from 20yrs at NorCom. He didn't smoke but must've died from coronary artery disease, all that fatty food from the 50s, 60s, 70s and stress of the new business -- he seemed happier). Kevin's becomes VP of a new start up company (this ones a bit reaching for that time, maybe in the late 80s or 90s). Then the gut rencher of them all Kevin mentions that he writes Winnie every week as she went off to Paris to study (long distance relationships are okay, hard but possible) and a few years later he meets her at the airport with... his new son. What was that all about? Why have those guys kiss and spend the night together and walk into town hand in hand? What's with going off to France? There's no mention of her intrigue with impressionists, the french language or an affinity for berets and cappucinos. They always have the girls running off to far off romantic places it seems. I must be some dream of some of the females involved in the show... I understand things like this can happen but with no real explanation of their relationship . The only thing I can think why they did that was for shock value. Plain and simple. If not then they should've just made everything not turn out the way we think it would. Overall, it was one of the BEST shows on life from a child's point of view, how complicated could you make it growing up filled with new things, old things, happy times and sad times... A time which was a little simpler but growing ever more complicated, changing times that bring new experiences, new people, new chapters but at times truly amazing... the times of all our lives which we'll only experience once... times that we can ALL call... "THE WONDER YEARS"...
When Kevin grew into a fire-breathing hothead. This guy was the most unlikeable teen character in television history. Constantly belittled Paul, who changed for the better, and constantly obsessed over a girl who treated him like dung. I always imagined adult Kevin as an unemployed alcoholic and his V-O's occur with a bottle in one hand a picture of Winnie in the other.
Okay, whoever said "the pimple episode" is a total idiot. That one was great. Especially when he covers it up with a band aid and tells everyone he got in a fight, and then that girl says "That must have hurt because he hit you on that big zit"
Absolutely the lamest, gushy show on t.v. (context)The show was on during those godawful years when the "self absorbed yuppy boomers" were dragging us through their prism of the wonderful late sixties. If I am correct this show came on right before thirtysomething (see context). The show could have worked (Happy Days did in its first couple of years). A show cannot work when the lead character is unlikable. No kid then would have lived back then with so smart an attitude toward his parents, teachers, etc. His dad would have whipped the kid's butt. The show: It jumped every episode when Kevin (Savage) had wide eye stares and incessantly licked his lips to show the child was acting or reacting to the voice over. I would roll over in a second on the water torture of this particular O.C.D. acting each and every show.
Hey, so like summer is over and all of the 8th graders got passed...but really...go back and watch very closely...Winnie goes to the dance, maybe a junior prom with the jock...Kevin walks out on the deck...Winnie is getting totally porked by the creepo jock...Kevin stops...looks...and it is the loss of innocence...his Winnie is being bonged right on the deck...
The show was great from start to finish. However, Winnie was in fact a bitch to Kevin and probably really needed to have him give it to her (from behind). Maybe that's what happened in the barn.
this show had so many great episodes that made it last. It jumped the shark on the very last episode when kevin is there telling you all about what happened after the fact. We never even saw them graduate. isn't that what high school was leading up to. we watched for so many years and didn't even get to see one of the things the loyal viewers had been waiting for!!!!
Wonder Years never jumped the shark. Yeah, so maybe Kevin is somewhat of a jerk, but if we admit it, that's what we're like when we're going through our teenage years. We get embarrassed when our mother talks to us in public, like the time when Mrs. Arnold finds Kevin during the fire drill. We often have little respect for our parents, like Kevin did for most of the shows. We have some kinda goofy friends, like Ricky and Chuck and even Paul. We are so enamored by the beautiful but empty (Susan Fisher) that we fail to acknowledge the plain but beautiful on the inside (Linda Sloan). We want to look cool so badly that we rip apart other people to make ourselves look better, like Kevin did to Peter in the yearbook ("let's eat", "oink oink"). If we admit it, we're not exactly the nicest people, and that's what makes us so much like Kevin. All in all, a wonderful show, and one that I'd watch reruns of over and over. Let me just say one more thing, about the controversial last episode. That's the episode that really makes the series. How many people end up with the girl they've loved since they were 7 years old? It's incredibly realistic.....how far a guy will go to win the love of a girl who really doesn't love him anymore. I think it's the only show of any program that's made me cry. I don't care how many people say Paul is really Marilyn Manson, or the voiceovers are tacky, or the last show is horrible. I watched the last episode a few days after I graduated from high school, and it made me so incredibly sad. Awesome show.
Once kevin grew taller than Wayne, the show went why down. Once Kevin could punk his older brother, Wayne's character could have just been cut out of the show. Wayne picking on kevin was the best part. After that, it sucked.
The best show ever. To say it jumped the shark because Kevin got older is ridiculous. Some of the best episodes were the older ones. The poker game, the fishing trip, and Wart's return home were all great. The distancing of Kevin from Paul was right on base. I can relate to trying to maintain a friendship with your best friend as a kid with the reality that it's not the first person you call anymore. His temperment changing as he got older is just natural. Think of any group of adolescents, their down each others throats every five minutes over nothing. This was perfectly illustrated in the episode riding aroud in Hasselback's car. I can remember a ton of nights like this in high school (meaningless, stupid, glorius). There are shows no matter how many times I see such as the day at Jack's work, the trip to the ocean, Mr. Collins dies, that are always moving. The best post I read and never really thought about was Hobson leaving. Hobson was great, always there to prey on the insecurities the guys were feeling. When the guys got older and their lives revolved more around girls Hobson would have ben great. Imagine the episode in which Kevin claimed to sleep with Winnie with Hobson getting to the bottom of it. That would be classic. I miss the show but I'm glad it ended when it did. I could have lived with one more year but the college years and any other nonscence would have been awful. The great appeal of the show was the adolescence, the coming of age, the WONDER YEARS.
The fact that Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) didn't grow up to sound like Daniel Stern, who narrated every episode as a retrospective Kevin. In the last episode where they made up a completely unrealistic future for everyone, couldn't they have at least made up an accident where his throat was injured to cover their asses?! :)
Wonder Years never jumped the shark it was great all the way through i loved that show and still do i was the same age as Kevin during that time period what is more interesting i that the show was filmed in my home town of Burbank California at the malls i went to and the schools i attended the parks i played in,even the names of character in the show like lisa bertolini and mr. di perna i dated a girl by the name of diana bertilini and had a friend named ronald di perna i really related to the wonder year. and as for kevin not getting winnie in the end how many people do you know that marry their childhood sweetheart that one true love, mine was diana betolini we are both married to other people but i still think about her.
This show never jumped the shark. It was always good. I wish that it had gone on longer. It ended so quickly that it was just plain sad. It's like one day there about to graduate and planning there whole life ahead, making it sound like the show was going to stay on longer. Anyway, the next minute the show ended. I wished that Winny and Kevin got together, but at least the finale was realistic. How many people actually end up with their High School sweethearts. And every sitcom with couples always turn out that way. It was kinda nice to see a change.
You cannot possibly say that the show jumped after puberty. The show was entirely based on the coming of age of this group of kids and like it or not, puberty is part of the aging process. There is supposed to be an akward period where kevin and paul and winnie all hate the world and get zits and boners in class,(at least paul and kevin) Some people will just say that because it's a category, the show must have jumped due to it. Ted McGinley was never a cast member, but might as well blame him since half of you people feel every category must be filled.
This show jumped the shark when young Kevin threw an apple behind his shoulder in the cafeteria, hitting a minor acquaintance of his. The apple killed(!) the acquaintance of Kevin's. Why must everything happen to Kevin?? Kevin becomes a hippie with his sister! Kevin becomes a superhero! Kevin MURDERS A BOY WITH AN APPLE?! I swear I am not making this up!!
Great show. Never jumped. Why is everybody so upset that Kevin and Winnie didn't end up together? This was supposed to be about real life, and it was. Just in case nobody noticed it, life doesn't turn out the way you expect it to. You don't marry your high school sweetheart, you don't live happily ever after, and your kids don't turn out to be mini-yous. Get over it. If they had gotten married I would have said that's when it jumped.
The show never jumped. It showed what life was like growing up in the late '60's and early '70's fairly accurately and it was done very well. Puberty can't be a factor in the show's jumping because the show was about a boy growing up and going through puberty. But The show never did Jump. it is possibly one of the best shows ever.
To whoever said Kevin accidentally killed someone with an apple;that never happened (though I can see how you might get that impression). On the 1st episode (I think) Kevin did throw an apple in the cafeteria. He got sent to the principal's and his parents took him home.When they got home, Karen told them that Winnie's brother was killed in Vietnam.
NEVER!!! But Kevin Arnold was the whiniest little puke ever. That kid would have had the crap beaten out of him in every high school and you all know it. Yet mystifyingly he could still get chicks, but for some reason unknown to man was hung up on one Winnie Super Cooper-who was nothing to write home about. He should have dropped her like a bad habit and screwed madeline in the field trip to the planetarium episode.
Never really jumped, but they should've either done the '60s setting right or done without it. In any ep with a scene on board the school bus, you can count up the '80s cars visible through the windows, for example
When every espisode featured Kevin Arnold becoming the scapegoat for things he didn't do. Kevin always got Sh_ _ On by everyone else!
The show was ridiculous from day one. Kevin Arnold couldn't get laid if he had a pocket of $100 bills in down town Bangkok. Everyone wanted to screw this kid? I know it had to be Fred Savage's idea. He made the writters do it. I heard he was a big ***** hound ....chasing every chick on the set because he thought he was Mr. Stud. I hope they found Kevin Arnold ODed dressed in drag listening to his buddy Paul's record...btw Paul grew up to be alice cooper.
NEVER!!! One of the best shows to ever grace the American small-screen. Witty writing, great actors, and memorable soundtrack had you laughing and crying all in one episode. And give Fred Savage a break---people grow up and change. THAT was the whole point of the show in the first place . . . to show kids growing up and life changing in the 60's. And though I did want to see Kevin and Winnie together in the end, that ending would've been too easy and obvious.---The show would've lost credibility. NEVER JUMPED, BABY!
You people are crazy! The adult voice-over thing was one of the brilliant signatures of this show's style! The voice-over combined with Fred Savage's extraordinarily expressive face showed you minute details of thought the way they happen in real life, and in a way most lame-ass shows never think to approach. And no, you can't replace that with the actor "acting" (delivering more lines). You'd lose all the tension between what the character shows on the outside and what he's really thinking, which is what makes those moments powerful. This show was all about what the kid was thinking anyway, how he processed his life.
The voiceovers were a bit sappy and overused, there are just some things that are not THAT life altering. You got the feeling that every event, no matter how small, was somehow profound. I don't know anyone that deep. Way too much analyzing. When it was on a year or so ago in reruns, in order, my son and I watched them together. I would have been a year younger then Kevin during the setting of the show. My son was around 12 when we watched it and it was kind of fun as he was amazed at the clothes we wore and the decor. He was also interested in the news clips that they showed. He wanted to know what the era was like when I was in Jr. High and High School. It was fun to share things that I remembered since so many memories were triggered by the show. If they would have toned down the analytical voice over stuff, it would have never been near a shark.
THE FINALE, IT WAS SO DISAPPOINTING. I KNOW NOW THAT THE SHOW WAS CANCELLED AND THEY THREW IT TOGETHER BUT PLEASE. I FELT BETRAYED , I FOLLOWED THESE CHARACTERS FOR YEARS AND THEN WITHIN 30 SECONDS, I FIND OUT EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED, NEVER SEEING THE OLDER KEVIN
It NEVER jumped the shark! This my absolute favorite show ever. Some people think it jumped when Kevin hit puberty, but those people are wrong. When the characters got older it made the shows different, but definitely not worse. It just made the plots suited for an older audience. Come on people how can you say that the Daniel Stern narration was bad?? It totally enhanced the effect of everything. The show would've been totally different without it. You get the perspective of younger AND older Kevin. Plus, the narration can add a lot of comedy at times. Overall, a genius idea on the part of the producers/writers.
Wayne's character was extraordinarily annoying and boorish at times, yes. But he was not an irredeemable bully, at least on the show. He had real feelings of compassion for his friend Wart when he came home from Vietnam,and for that woman and her kid later on in the series. But he and Kevin had a good relationship in a lot of ways, i.e. they had a hard time getting separate rooms, and the ep where Wayne accidentally kills Kevin's gerbil and Kevin realizes he really can hurt his brother, emotionally at least. So Wayne wasn't all bad. Just most of the time.
This show never jumped the shark, it is one of the best shows ever to air, and even up to the end it was like a true story for a kid growing up.
Annoying characters, whose self-absorption grew and grew. The Savage brothers are 2 of the worst "actors" to ever appear on television. Period. I grew up in this time period, and The Wonder Years bears no resemblance to that time. Whining wasn't in vogue until the '80's, and this show was full of self-centered, depressing whiners. Yeah, I get a "tear in my eye" the times I've watched it too, because it hurts to see television abused by such sorry programs as this one.
Even though it happened during the last minute of the final episode of the show, why did they have to kill off Jack? Of all of the TV dads he was one of my favorite, and at the end they were like 'oh by the way he's dead'. Great. Kill off one of the great TV dads.
This was a truly classic show. Though it did jump the shark when Kevin mistakenly refers to school yard rival, Craig Hobson, as "Hodges". What the hell? I can't believe the editors didn't catch this. This is simply an unacceptable error! It was the episode where Kevin regularly was playing TACKLE football after school, AGAINST MOMS WISHES. Check it out.
This show was kinda neat when it started. It was fun to make fun of that dork Kevin Arnold. Jeez, the kid's voice changed when he hit puberty, but he never grew another inch. He looked like an 8 year old high school junior. I liked Wayne though. He made the show. He was so mean and hateful to that pathetic loser Kevin and equally worthless Paul. The show jumped when Winnie went out with those high school kids and got in the accident. Kevin climbed up to her window. It just got too sappy. I missed the days, when Wayne slept in his car and the parking brake let go. And Karen, they didn't show enough of her. She was a cutie. The parents were so incredibly ugly, Karen must have been adopted.
I don't think this show ever jumped the shark. That's what made it so good. When it first aired on ABC, I watched the opening credits and felt this deep longing within me, coupled with an odd kind of sadness. I immediately turned it off. I couldn't watch it. I was born in 1961, so I was about the same age as Kevin, and I can still remember the way the late 60's and early 70's felt...how the clothes looked, how things smelled, the feeling of a new LP in your hand, riding your bike to the shopping mall, watching the vietnam war on the nightly news, acne cream, longing for that first kiss and knowing you'd never get the prettiest girl in your class. America still had a tinge of innocence that was rapidly being whittled away by the war, but for us kids, well, we were still allowed to be kids. No MTV, no nintendo, no internet porn. Hell, we were lucky to cop a Playboy back then. They were simpler times, though not without all of life's complex problems, and when I finally got around to watching the show on Nick, I found that it summed up those times and all that I went through in an amazingly accurate and heartfelt way--especially for TV. As a bonafide cynic, I can only marvel at the other comments on this page that dish the show for being too cheesy or sappy. Sure, it had its moments--after all, it's still TV--but I would often wonder how the writers had managed to crawl into my head and drag out all those ancient, private feelings and put them on the screen with such clarity. For anyone who grew up during that time, Wonder Years really hits home, despite the occasional cheeseball moments, and captures an era that I will never be able to explain to my own daughter but that I hope she will one day watch and get an idea of what it was like when daddy was growing up. And as for Kevin and Winnie, well, I'm a hopeless romantic and I wondered if the producers would get them together at the end...but I also have a penchant for realism, and in the real world, you rarely end up with your first love. Instead you remember them for the rest of your life and wonder what it would have been like. So it seemed only fitting that Kevin didn't get the girl he had chased for so long, and if he had, well, you know that they would have had a kid and then gotten divorced a few years later and perhaps that would have been the most really ending of all.
why was kevin so stupid and never got with marilyn? Winnie was a DORK. There was an episode were Marilyn wants kevin to taste some pudding off her finger and hes all like no... what will winnie think... What a dumb A**.
This show was very good, but it may have done a little shark-jumping from time to time when Winnie seemed to date every guy in town anytime she and Kevin broke up.
Kevin climbing through the window to see Winnie is one of the many examples of Jewish style feel-good: I.E. Jewish Smaltz that appear throughout the run of the series. Another painful example would be when they had endings with Judy Collins or Nat King Cole music and the fake home movies/photos. Come to think of it the titles to WYs are also a painful example of Jew Smaltz. Should have stuck with the cool non sap more- tackle football & Buster Brown, Hopson, Wayne, the Painter kids... Having said that the Vietnam Homecoming episode where Wayne gives up his shirt or whatever really was "touching" and not Jewish smaltz.When it comes to Smaltz- as Howard Stern says just being honest. Personally I like Jewish Schtick better than Smaltz. Producers is cool!!
I wanted to tell how much I love this show,how I enjoy the characters (especially Dan Lauria as the Dad, the most realistic dad in the history of TV) and the humor, the wistfulness and pathos, but I can't. I have to ask the poster above: what the hell do you mean by "Jew Schmaltz"? Is it any different from Arabian schmaltz, or Canadian schmaltz, or Siberian schmaltz, or any other schmaltz for that matter? If you find the show schmaltzy or corny or whatever, that's one thing. But please keep your bigotries to yourself, ok? I've watched each episode of this show at least 5 times each, and I for the life of me cannot find ANYTHING (except for the Pfeiffer family) even remotely Jewish about it! So go ahead and find the show schmaltzy, but have an INFORMED opinion if you don't mind! Sorry if that puts you off, but, hey I'm just being honest! (Any time anyone says "I'm just being honest", it usually means "I have a half-assed opinion which I'm incapable of expressing with any clarity.") Now, cue the great closing theme...
Never jumped. True to it's original purpose up to the end.
Well the fact that I never even saw the final episode is proof that this show did jup shark at one point or another.. Let me start off by saying to all who are posting that their lives were not like this when they were in Junior High, you are totally right. Being that You and I were of Gen X, our Mommies worked and going home to an empty house was quite the norm. So there was in fact always time to experiment and such. This show however is about a time before ours so it cannot be looked at in the exact same light as they had no mall to hang out in. A couple of posts refer to Kevin as being whipped because he did not check out this other chick Madeline and give the fing to Winnie the Poop. Well fact of the matter is that this was Kevins 1st true love. Have all of you forgotten what your first love was like? Being male and being in love for the first time and being in puberty kept me after that one girl that I really cared for. Growing older, loving more and being with more and more kept me just wanting more. I was always true though to the first. My eyes did not even wander. So I can completely believe this. As for the narrator. Some of you seem to be missing the point of the narrator. At any point in your life you always assumed that you knew everything and that every situation was explainable to yourself. The narrator points out just how wrong Kevin was about life and he is poking fun at himself for being a child at the time. There were many good episodes in this show. Some touched things that every one of us have to deal with at one point or another. The fact remains that eventually you cannot give up your whole life to watch this show every week at whatever time. Notice Kevin himself never followed a show religiously! Very little was said about the Dad, but the Dad was by far the best character in this show. He was the one who had become whipped as he was doing everything for his family and very little for himself. You almost see this when you see Kevin Spacey in American Beauty. It actually took this movie to make me realize what an impact Kevins Dad had on the show. The moments when he would just talk to Kevin normally or smile at him reminded me of close times that I had with my parents because as a child they seemed to be few and far between. (I knew everything then of course) In short, this is the most realistic show I have ever seen on television, but unfortunately it is just a show on television. Yes Schwimmer was a Bitch in this show too. I was happy he moved to Alaska.
A stint of 5 or so years was just perfect...they covered all that needed to be covered and ended the show when the "wonder years" actually end in life. If only other shows knew when to stop (with the exception of the Simpsons). Peace. I love your website.
In response to the previous poster about the "final solution".Bravo,ole,hip hip hurrah and hi five.to the creep you were responding to,what exactly did any jew ever do to you?Answer:NOTHING!Nazi germany collapsed in 1945 meathead.The wonder years was one of the most beautiful examples of "AMERICANA"in the history of tv.there was nothing "jewish" about it, and if it was an entire city block of jews,SO WHAT!My god,intolerant *******s like you make me so sick.I suppose "sanford and son" was too black,"hogans heroes" too german,F-troop too indian, "golden girls" too (GASP) feminist or "family ties" too white. In other words pal, stop hating and start looking for the good in all people. I promise you that in the end you will feel better about the human race and more importantly, better about yourself. If not,may your mother and sister drop dead in front of you.
First off, let me say that, when it began, The Wonder Years was WAY ahead of its time. And the quality was generally maintained for the first two or three seasons. But then things started to go downhill. Little cute Kevin started to grow up. He had to deal with adult issues. It started to get weird when Fred Savage's voice got deeper than Daniel Stern's (who did the narration and was supposed to be "grown up Kevin") Too bad. They should've known to end the show when these cracks started to appear.
NEVER JUMPED! Came close a few times...but really one of the most tender, poignant and REAL shows in TV History.
This show was so great from the first episode through the last one. Every episode was hilarious and realistic (to the best of my knowledge, anyway- I grew up in the 90's!). The two things that made it great were: the fact that there was no laugh track or studio audience and the music was so perfect. I loved how everything was from Kevin's point of view. I can relate to a lot of the things they said about school and friends and family. This show never jumped the shark, and I'm even glad that they said Kevin and Winnie didn't marry, because who marries someone they've known all their life anyway? They kept it real and consistent till the end.
The Wonder Years never jumped the shark. The show accurately exemplified many of those situations that we all encountered growing up. What made this show great was the fact that its viewers could emphathize with Kevin and his akward moments because we experienced them too.
My loyal heart says "Never" buy my realistic brain says the last episode. This series is one of the best works of art in television, but maybe you had to be born before 1975 to appreciate this. Although I am younger than the character Kevin, my experiences mirrored his so much. "Poignant" is the best word to describe it, especially as the voice-over reminds us we rarely understand what we're learning at the time life is happening to us. I did hate the end because the separation was even harder to believe than Winnie and Kevin's staying together would have been. Yes, I know that school loves don't usually last, but not many girls at that time would go to college in Paris as a freshman, and after all, my favorite definition of romance (as a genre) is "life, not as it is, but as it should be." I would have been happy with just enough info for the audience to decide what happened. Then again, it would have hurt even more if the voice had told us Kevin and Winnie did marry only to divorce later.This show was possibly one of the best network shows seen on modern day television. Other posts accuse the show of jumping when "Tiger: A.K.A Kevin Arnold grew up. WRONG! This show was about growing up! If it wasnt then why did they start the show when Kevin was in his first year at Junior High! It was also about love, not giving up and someone finally making a show about how a teenager felt and grew up in the 60's and 70's. When Winnie the **** moved away Kevin still thought about her and even though he didnt know it at the time he still loved her. When the obnoxiouse BITCH A.K.A Winnie was in a car accident and Kevin visited her from the rooftop and said "I love you" showed that true love always prevails and although Kevin was a bit of a ***** he didnt give up! And who are the ********s saying "It wasnt like that when I was in junior high" Of course it wasnt, this was from one persons point of view which most people could to relate. But now as we move into the future it isnt like that anymore, mothers and fathers both work, divorce is more common and people are more independment. HELL! I've been coming home to an empty house since I was eight and not seeing family till about 5 o'clock at night and being away from my mum and dad for two hours extra after school was alot for a kid in grade 2. But seriously, who was that complete ****** that said Kevin killed a kid with an apple. He came home from school, was greeted by Wayne and his sister and they told him Bryan Cooper was killed in VIETNAM, not in the SCHOOL CAFETERIA with an APPLE. Bryan was Winnies brother and Kevin then went on to explain that he was like a hero to Kevin and someone he looked up to. Anyway the show half jumped on the last episode when Kevin explained what happened after that. End of STORY and a great show. By the way anyone else who says Paul turned out to be Marlyin Manson I'll send to the ****HOUSE mentally!
Truth be told, this show jumped the shark when Winnie moved and thus was featured on the show less. But come on Kevin! Madeleine is so much hotter than Winnie! You totally could have scored!
I am surprised that no one has mentioned this; it is one thing for your first love to cause you to do things like missing out on making with with the really hot girl, but Kevin was obsessed for the entire 5 years of the show! Thats not first love, that's pathological. Why do I have the feeling that they did not tell us that 6 months after Kevin met Winnie at the airport she had to get an order of protection.
This show never jumped permanatly but when i was younger and i watched it i was like, yeah stuff madelen, winnies the one you want! But now im older, Kevin was so dumb not going for madelene, can you imaging saying "try and guess who the best lookin girl in the school or possibly COUNTY got laid by? ME!" man, i watched the one where paul threw a party for Kevin and i seen madelene sitting next to kevin and her legs are AWESOME, she is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo HOT!
I could never relate to this show. I grew up in Suburban Massachusetts. In fifth and six grade even, the girls were a lot sexier and racier than on Wonder Years. Half of them always wore mini skirts and go go boots. I'm not making this up. There were a lot of fights, some pretty serious. A lot of the parents were drunken and brutish. And crazy stuff was always happening: ie: a lot of kids were getting laid at that age. I walked in on a few at parties. A lot of kids were drinking and smoking marijuana. I grew up at the same time period as portrayed in the show. A show with an Antoine Doinel type of narrator protagonist would have resonated more with me. Many people say that The Wonder Years show resonated a lot with them, and that the show had a great feel. But for a lot of us the show is just a gloss. Is my experience atypical or is the Wonder Years just a wash. The show makes me want to see the "Real Wonder Years".
I loved this show, and I don't think it ever jumped. But the last season or so, Kevin did become very anal, whiny, and quite an *******. Like when his dad starts up the furniture company (or whatever it was) and gives Kevin a job there. All Kevin does is scream at him about how he hates it and doesn't want to be there. I have to agree with the people who feel for the dad. All he ever does is try to provide for his family, and his reward is Kevin's disdain and an early death. I feel so bad for him, but this is very realistic. Also, I hated the way Winnie treated Kevin. She likes him, she doesn't, she does, etc. And the way when she has a problem, she doesn't tell Kevin. Then when he finally finds out or pries it out of her, she makes him feel like an ******* for somehow not intuitively knowing and understanding. Why does he continue to pursue her? Because that's how people are sometimes. I've known people in this situation many times in my life. When I was in junior high and high school, we couldn't figure girls out (not that we can now). They were inconsistent, but you couldn't just stop talking to one you liked because of this, because most of them were like this. As far as the twitchy kid that nobody seems to like, his name was Chuck and I LOVED that character. I think we all knew the kid who wasn't popular, and kind of geeky, etc. Many of us WERE that kid. He was a likable, genuine person. Not everyone is one of the beautiful, popular crowd. I wasn't. Most of my friends were the Chucks of the world back in junior high. Finally, my friend that turned me on to this show have discussed the barn episode a bit. We feel that they possibly did have sex, but at least did some petting and things of that nature. Certainly we're not the final answer on that, as the episode did seem to leave it open. Overall, a great, funny, and often very realistic show about a very awkward time in life. Not every episode kicked ass, but most had a pretty high quality.
Wonder Years NEVER JTS. I found it extremely well written, and very much in tune with the time period it was representing. I grew up in the same time period, and my age would've correlated with Kevin's. They nailed the clothes, and other styles, like the Arnold's house. I've read alot of other people were annoyed by the voice over, but it never bothered me, I thought it added to it. Also, it was VERY realistic that Kevin and Winnie didn't end up together -- how many people do you know that end up marrying their junior high love? Great show. I taped the N@N Marathon a few years back, and every once in awhile I pop the tape in, and go back to that era.......
This show never jumped. Because the show never really had happy endings for the sake of having a sappy ending. The episode when his teacher died and the episode where his zit showed up at the wrong time. The part where the blonde girlfriend punched him in the stomach and he imagined being Captain Kirk on the Enterprise, and Paul was Spock was one of my favorite bits of all time! And yes, David Schwimmer is a ***** on just about any show that he signs up for. And I like the fact that he changed friends (dumping Paul for those other three guys because face it, that's what happens and Paul was douche bag.)
I disagree about the ending being bad.. I think that 1 thing that will make that show live forever in my mind is that ending! If Kev and Winnie live happily ever after, then the show takes the predictable route and hence creates a typical, forgettable ending. When we learn in the end that Winnie is going away, and in the narration that the two do not wind up living happily ever after, the show throws us for an unexpected turn, and shows us a touch of reality that the Wonder Years had been so good at doing for so long. The hero dosent always ride off into the sunset, hit the winning shot, or in this case, get the girl. I replay that ending over and over in my mind and cannot think of a more beautiful and poignant ending to such a good show.
Never Jumped! Came close in the second or third season when Mr. Collins (Kevin's math teacher) was featured in like 9 straight episodes. Thankfully they killed the bastard off and the show had a nice run.
C'mon folks -- for those of us who DID grow up in suburbia in the same time period (I was one year younger than Kevin's character), TWY is almost dead-on. We lived in the most boring white-collar suburb of Columbus Indiana and it could have been on the same street as the Arnolds! I didn't grow up Indiana, but I spent my pre-teen years there before moving on to another similar town in Georgia. So many things on TWY mirrored my life it's almost like watching home movies: best friends leaving and making new friends, learning to drive, the demise of the neighborhood Christmas party, buying a new family car, fixing the leaky basement, and of course my first love -- all set to the Vietnam war playing insidiously in the background. It truly was a more innocent adolescence, with sex in everyone teen's mind but only hinted at in those pre-MTV days, pot and beer available and occasionally used but not prevalent, and everyone in my 7th grade class knew that Jared Breman's big brother had been killed in VietNam and his parents got divorced shortly thereafter even though he didn't like to talk about it. Life is messy, and so was TWY. Kev didn't always do the right thing, he blew his chance with Madeline, Winnie left and married someone else, and Jack died of a heart attack only a few years after leaving the rat race to be his own boss. Get over. There were a few bad episodes, Fred Savage's lifted eyebrow annoys me even more in reruns, but the V/O is a major premise of the show and there really were millions of preteens/teens like Kevin and his friends. I know because I was one of them.
This show got old because the kids did. Everyone really needed to move on, but I think they ended on a really good note. The last episode was a tear jerker....
They already told us what happened to the characters in later years so doing a sequel/TV movie would be pointless and a shameless attempt at grabbing ratings by appealing to everyone who loved the show. Although I would have loved to see Kevin and Winnie get together at the end, I can live with the ending. Life doesn't always (or even, rarely) have a storybook ending.
There was one episode which was supposed to take place in 1968, and they're at a dance, and one of the songs in the background is Smokey & the Miracles' "Tears Of A Clown", which is from 1970!! That just bothered me. Anyways, it was a great show.
The wonder years jumped it in it's 2nd season when: Kevin & the cast started dressing & wearing clothes from the 90's even though the show took place in the 70's. I don't get it, didn't they have a costume dept. Why didn't someone say something when Kevin started wearing his hair in a typically 90's style or when his brother Wayne started wearing Nike's even though they weren't available to the General Public until the late 70's and when Kevin's sister started playing with her Rubiks Cube...forget about it!
I'll always remember this show because it debuted directly after my 49ers won SB XXIII in what was one of the most dramatic games of all time. Oh, the show itself (even though I didn’t watch it on a regular basis), I though was funny, insightful, and ingenious. I really don't understand all the complaints. I mean come on, with the trash that's on today - "Watching Elle" and shows of that ilk only wish they could be as smart. Oh, and "Years" was one of the **ONLY** shows to use voice over effectively, without seeming patronizing, irritating, or gimmicky.
Puberty really did a number on this not-too-great to begin with show. All those kids grew from reasonably cute TV youngsters, to a crowd of mutants & they still ACTED like the 12 year olds thwey started out as. They were the most irritating gang of high-school kids (even for high-school kids) on TV, made those Sweat Hogs look like honor students! God bless Ben Stein, the only redeeming feature.
It never did. I think it was always great by showing true live the way most middle class, white, suburban kids live their lives.
This was one of the greatest shows of all time. It was very relatable for a few generations. It was a throw-back to the old fashioned, middle America, traditional way of life. However, the last episode was very depressing (even when I watched it recently as an adult.) Although, that could have been my memory association and what was happening in my life when The Wonder Years originally aired. Why didnt the producers give us all a little hope and have Kevin and Winnie living happily ever after. Also, they should have ran it one more year and let them graduate.
Puberty destroyed the show. Kevin went from minor dork to major dork. And Winnie turned into a dog.
Normally, when shows run their course, there is one specific event where the show JTS. To me, the Wonder Years never had that event take place. The only thing that killed it was puberty and I can't classify that as JTS because the show actually got better as it remained on the air. The Wonder Years was one of the most clever made episodes. I saw the movie "The 60's" and the previews for "American Dreams" and from what I see, "The Wonder Years" kicked off those kinds of movies/shows. Wonderful acting and plots is what made this show excellent.
Having missed this era of life, but watching my older brother "groove" his way through the "turbulent, troubled times of the late 60s and early 70s" there was allot (I mean allot) of it that hit home here. The very first episode when Winnie's older brother was killed in Vietnam, I was too young to appreciate/understand then when it happened on our street - but I know now. The biggest thing though the only girl for Kevin was Winnie when Madeline was so hot, so ready and willing and so wanted Kevin. As much as a goof that Paul was at least he got it before old Kevin there...
The show jumped for me when Punky Brewster (Soliel Moon-Frye guest starred. Not because Punky was on the show, but because that wuss Kevin (Fred Savage) doesn't bang her. His family was at a picnic or something. Kevin & Punky are out on the lake in a canoe. Punky (who has aged wonderfully by this time) is wearing a white t-shirt showing off her assets and offers to take off her shirt. Big wuss Kevin jumps out of the boat and swims back to shore. The only wondering I did about "The Wonder Years" is if Kevin was gay.
my memories this episode are hazy...but the one where paul loses his virginity to his cousin. i was about 9 or 10 when i saw this episode, and even then i was horrified.
I was sad that Kevin and Winnie didn't get together, but I had the same experience in real life. The girl I grew up with and was in love with since 3rd grade slipped away from me too. It is real life. We were steady through junior high and in high school I was the cutting school rebel in rock bands and she was the lead in the school play and a cheerleader. By the time college rolled around she was attending and I was living the high life. She got married I went to Japan. When I found out I was devastated even though I hadn't seen her for 3 years. Life goes on. I still dream about her, but that is all fantasy. I have my own wife and kid now. It is fun to guess what might have been, but we just weren't meant to be together due to our own choices. Wonder Years would have jumped if Kevin and Winnie ended up together. I cried after the last episode too.
WHEN MARLENS AND BLACK STOP PRODUCING AROUND THE THIRD SEASON THE SHOWS CHARACTERS CHANGED FOR THE WORST. KEVIN ARNOLDS CHARACTER BECAME AN UNAPPEALING BRAT! THE SHOW BECAME LESS AUTHENTIC AND UNENTERTAINING
It never did -- it was a great show. Although I missed the last couple seasons, I was able to identify with Kevin. I was a couple years older than the character, and I think the show helped me learn some of life's lessons earlier because of the thoughts that went through Kevin's head (the Voice-Overs, as I see they are called). I thoroughly enjoy the show, and if anyone knows where you can buy the full set of shows, please post!
Wonder Years never jumped but it had a few symptoms of phoniness that my friends and i like to pick at. 1)Basically, the kids were too good. 2) Kevin and Wayne slept in pj's which I find alot on Tv and I find it very fake. Who, on a hot summer night, wears sweat pants and a t-shirt to bed??? I know we're being picky, but it's true.
First of all Kevin Arnold was the most pathetic person in TV history.WTF? He is rude,mean,and more than likely psychotic. Why else would he not take--his dads bosses daughter (Punky Brewster with DD knockers,hot),Cara (hotter),or Madeline (the hottest) and stick with Whiney Cooper---I believe Kevin was a stalker! Thats what it was Kevin Arnold grew up to become a stalker! He was practicing for his future life by targeting Whiney and only Whiny...The only person on this show that likable was Jack Arnold and the morons killed him at the end of the series,he probably died while thinking about what a screwed up family he has! Right now old Kevin is probably peeping into Whiny Cooper's window while planning his revenge about the restraining order she's got on him!! Oh yeah,Paul is not Manson, I heard he joined the Village People,lol.....
My favourite TV show, but even I have to admit that only a fool (or a very gay man) would pass over Madeline Adams (Julie Condra, one of the most beautiful women ever) for friendly, attractive but whiny and unexceptional Winnie Cooper. Still, great show
It jumped like after the first few episodes when all of a sudden the characters just started showing up with mullets and using nineties expressions instead of being like 70's kids. It wouldn't have killed the costumers to dig through old yearbooks or watch some Nick at Nite to get the greasy, brushed parted hair look down or to fit the kids in bell bottoms and polyester. I would have loved to hear at least one kid say, "Loooooking gooood!"
Almost immediately jumped. The characters morphed into present-day kids who wore sort-of older looking clothes, etc. But the issues were right out of the '90s. Fred Savage is by far the most nauseating "actor" to contaminate a TV screen in a long time. If they had picked ANYONE else to play his part, the show would have been worth a lot more.
I absolutely agree with a previous poster that the departure of Marlens and Black dealt a body-blow to the show. It was their baby and their vision, and the finest episodes were during their tenure. The show carried on after they left but the magic was gone. There was no way the new producer could have the same feel that Marlens and Black had for the show. I have the first season and a half on video and still enjoy watching them. Those shows were truly incredible. One other observation: TWY made the same mistake Leave It To Beaver did: it went on too long. Kevin Arnold was no longer a cute, little kid...he was turning into a snotty punk. Too bad.
Man, I loved this show! I was in high school when it aired and could totally relate to Kevin ( in the junior high years, at least). What I don't get is why he didn't try to get with that stone fox Madeline? She represented all the pretty girls I sat next to all throughout school but never had the grapefruits to even talk to. And on the very first day of ninth grade she kisses him while he's supposed to be thinking about Winnie? If I was Kevin, I would have done her right on the track and not cared who saw what! And that episode where he leaves the ID bracelet Winnie gave him at Madeline's house? There was another opportunity to poke her right there! Damn, she looked SO good in her tied-off top with the matching skirt! What were you thinking, Kev?
During the last season, it got horrible. Everything up to 9th grade was pure gold, and I absolutely love those episodes. Even 10th grade was pretty good, but that Chuck guy kinda got on my nerves, at least, as the season went on. What ever happened to good ol' Doug Porter? And about the girls, Whinnie was really, really cute as a little girl, even up through 9th grade probably..loved the way she looked at that dance..8th grade I think. But time wasn't too kind to her, either. And Kevin had the opportunity for very hot women, Madeline, and that Julie girl from the episode where she wants to "change" him, like the rest of the family had done to her dad, but damn she was cute though, one of the cutest girls I've ever seen on tv, period. And Cara was hot too, but at least he tried for her. But like I said though, this show ruled, it brought forth every emotion during the first few seasons, but went south with puberty and loss of writers. And I swear, I think Kevin says "What's that supposed to mean?" in every episode 8th grade or later...you'd think he'd have figured out what people meant by then.
The music they used in the show made it nostalgic, but when the show was set in the 1960s, they played an awful lot of seventies music. An example would be "I can See Clearly Now," a song from 1972. And they played a lot of sixties songs when the show was set in the 70s. Go figure.
I agree that the show jumped when Winnie was being a total bitch and Kevin has the opportunity to go for Madeleine and doesn't. Most guys would have gone for it just to spite an ******* like Winnie. She DOES remind me of a girl I grew up with, like every one I detested. However, I think the show jumped back when Kevin goes to high school and starts hanging out with friends other than just Paul. Things like that happen quite a bit when a person changes schools and I thought they recaptured it quite well. They didn't completely eliminate Paul from the cast (wouldn't have been a jump), but they did depict how Paul and Kevin grew apart. The lunchroom episode was classic (and SO TRUE!). He's still too damn obsessed with Winnie (such LOYALTY to a girl who won't put out!), which is irritating, but I can't really call that a jump as you pretty much expect that from ep. one. When it comes to this show, the less Winnie, the better.
To the poster who remembers "I Can See Clearly Now" being used in an episode set in the 60's: I can cite an even worse example. At the end of "The Accident," when Kevin climbs onto Winnie's porch roof to exchange "I love you's" with her through the window, Bob Seger's "We've Got Tonight" can be heard on the soundtrack. This episode was set in 1970 and the song wasn't released until 1978.
While I somewhat enjoyed this program, I could never relate to Kevin, was he supposed to be a nerd? (not a good enough scholar) a jock? (didn't seem to fit there either) a tough guy? (nope) But the killer for me was the actor playing him always looked about five years younger than he was supposed to be; in the early episodes he looks more like eight than 12, the later years (when he's working and driving) he looks about thirteen. And I couldn't believe his ill-tempered father didn't occasionally deck Wayne for his boorishness around the house.
I was born in 1959, so I figured the Kevin's character was maybe two years older than me. I was completely riveted by episode one. The clothes (like the Jets jacket, and Kevin's first bell bottoms) were dead on, and the experiences often mirrored my own. I've read some questions about the lack of diversity on the show, but I too grew up in a comfortably middle class area of Orange County, California. Our neighborhood and our schools WERE lily-white. As kids we were able to roam freely for miles on our bikes without fear of being kidnapped, shot, robbed etc. You were expected to be home at dinner time, and every father in the neighborhood would have a different "whistle" that would signal for his kids to come home. It's funny looking back, but we were really like dogs. We'd recognize our master's whistle, and come running home. No one thought it was the slightest bit weird. When I was in grade school, I knew exactly one kid whose parents were divorced. He didn't publicly admit it until two years later. So yes, that idyllic world really existed. Getting tattled on, or getting in fist fights with my bullying pain in the ass older brother were probably my biggest annoyances at the time. (Just like Wayne was to Kevin). My only criticism of the show was that somewhere Kevin became WAY TOO POPULAR with too many good looking girls. In reality, he was kind've small, didn't play any varsity sports, wasn't considered overly cool, wasn't remarkably good looking, and didn't drive a cool car. In real life, Madeline wouldn't have looked at him twice. In my high school, a babe like that would be dating a junior or a senior when she was a freshman. When Winnie was introduced, I thought she was the prettiest little girl that I had ever seen. She had a striking face, but was obviously too young to have a body to speak of. I assumed that she would grow into a great beauty. As she grew up, she was certainly attractive, but not as gorgeous as I thought she'd be. I actually thought that this made the situation more credible. She may have been a little better looking than a Kevin Arnold would usually score, but since they had known each other all of their lives, it was the typical boy / girl next door scenario.
This is such a wonderful show. The first two or three shows were absolute perfection. It's on every night (reruns) and tonight's show actually beat perfection. It was the one where Kevin betrayed a girl buddy over more particular hormonal urges. It sounds shallow, but it was quite seriously one of the best half-hours of television I've ever watched. Certainly the last five minutes were some of the most powerful I've experienced through an artificial medium. God, I love this show.
Ok, am I the only one that remembers the episode with the PE coach, who is played by the same guy who is the doctor on Star Trek Voyager. Every time he was on the show was hilarious. I still remember the slow motion scene when the coach is yelling at Kevin and the gang and a volleyball? comes flying and whacks him right in the head,his whistle goes shooting out of his mouth, and it's all shot in slow motion. The expression on the coaches face is priceless. I laugh everytime I think of that scene. I'm laughing now. I loved Wonder Years, it was my life, I grew up in the 70's and alot of the things hit home for me. Unfortunately like many other likeable shows it lost it's steam when the kids grewup, and I am glad that Winnie and Kevin didn't get back together and instead remained friends.
TWY never jumped. It was one of the best-written shows of the 1980's and 1990's. Long after The Cosby Show has ceased being popular on TVLand or Nick-At-Nite, TWY will still be playing. For youngsters, and even for adults, the writing on the show will go down comparable to The Mary Tyler Moore Show for quality. I didn't get into the show until the 2nd year, and I was in my late 20's at that time, but even though the young Kevin had 7 years on me, boy, could I relate. As for the last show: yeah, it would have been nice if Kevin and Winnie had gotten together, if Jack Arnold had lived another 25 years and enjoyed his retirement after all the years of S*** he had to put up with at NorComm or wherever he worked, and if the furniture store had made them all rich and gone public in a successful IPO. But the haunting, eerie, tear-jerker in the last 5 minutes of the final show -- from a crying and cuddling Winnie and Kevin, to the silhouette of a uniformed marching band on July 4th, 1973, with a background music second only to the background score of "Love Story" for sadness -- all of that helps to make the show a television classic. It's a powerful lesson for all of us: that sometimes, life doesn't turn out the way you want. And for all those who say how could they announce that Jack would die 2 years later in 1975, well, if you have fathers or mothers or loved ones, don't assume they'll be around forever. Sometimes they will. Sometimes they won't. Kevin and his dad came back together. And that, more than any jumping or non jumping of sharks, is what makes the final 5 minutes of the last episode some of the most powerful television I have seen in all my years of watching current and past TV shows.
Wayne was a puke... I wanted to see his ass kicked so hard that he would sneeze crap. The rest of the show was ok.. just that.. to touchy feely. Althought I wanted to see Kev "touchy feely" that little tease Winnie. That would have been a great show ending. Then fade out with Wayne on life support.
This is one of my favorite TV shows of all time... I taped about 90% of the episodes from its run on Nick at Nite (only fair quality, unfortunately). This is one of the few favorites of mine which I was in on from the beginning; I was a freshman in high school when it began, so I could relate very well, in spite of the different time and place. But this one jumped with the classic "Night Out" episode, when Winnie flees Kevin at Robbie Hudson's makeout party (I THINK that was his name). Then Winnie appears at Kevin's window, her hair flowing in the wind, and they take a midnight walk in the shadows to an old, obscure Elton John tune. Such a beautifully done episode, but to me that was the pinnacle; Kevin's fantasy of having Winnie for his own was his, whether the scene was supposed to be a dream or not... and from then on, reality could only set back in. His ditching that gorgeous Madeline, and turning more and more into a rude jerk, put the show over for good... but I knew that night in February 1990 that the show would never be quite the same again.
What a boring ending! Gee, let's all stand around and watch a parade as if it's the 4th of July and we can all be such a close group of friends and such a close family... BORING!
This show jumped at the beginning of the third season. It settled in, and stopped changing and growing. I guess that's just because The Wonder Years grew up, but I still liked it better when the show was a kid. There's one episode in the third season that I loved (and that is in my opinion the best Wonder Years episode ever) and that is, "Don't You Know Anything About Women?". That's the one where Kevin ends up breaking the heart of his science lab partner (if only I was Kevin in that episode...). The final five minutes of that episode are amazing. Wow. But other than that, the third season wasn't up to the standards the show had set before. It very wearily clambered over the shark, lacking even the energy to jump it anymore...
This show never jumped. The last episode wasn't what everybody wanted but it was still touching and powerful if you were a fan of this show. Someone else commented on the stirring music that is played during the powerful final five minutes of the last episode. This music is from the soundtrack fron "The Natural" (starring Robert Redford) and was composed by Randy Newman. They play this same music at the very end of that movie when Redford is playing catch with his son. It was a brilliant decision by the show's producers to use this music. I highly recommend this soundtrack.
Has anyone mentiones the cars that Mom And Dad drove yet. As a bona fide car, I can attest to the fact that Dad's '69 Galaxie and Mom's '64 Impala were the most beautiful cars of their era despite their puke green paint jobs. I also would like to give an xample of inaccurate music: On the episode where Kevin trades in his Olds F-85 for a Triumph TR-3, the producers chose Johnny Rivers' "Slow Dancin'" to open the Show. HELLO! This episode was Set in 1973 and song was released in 1977. Get with it, people!
The best episode is the one where Kevin and Winnie split up in the diner and it's all flashbacks until the end when they kiss in the middle of the road. I cried like a baby. I loved Winnie, I think the congress in the barn was an adaquate payoff for years of unfulfilled sexual tension. But she wasn't the fittest bird in the show, or the easiest to live with.
I wonder (no pun intended!) why so many people refer to Kevin and Winnie going their separate ways at the end of the series as not a storybook ending, insinuating that it is a negative thing. The way the narration went, Winnie went on to study art and Kevin ended up married to another woman and had a baby son. Those are happy, positive things and they also constantly stayed in touch and reunited, as friends, when Winnie was through with her studies. That is a wonderful story of a friendship that will last a lifetime. It doesn't always have to be about romantic love to make an ending a happy one. The reality is, most childhood loves are outgrown, but how many of them turn into beautiful friendships such as their's?
The Wonder Years never jumped the shark. It was totally realistic from the first episode to the last. I think every man who lived his teen years through the 60s/70's can relate to a lot of what Kevin Arnold went through. Of course peoles' friends change when they change school and of course there are always girls you look back on and think..if only I had...
In the show's third season, I saw a lot of inaccuracies in terms of history. The Arnolds would be watching tv episodes of shows like LAUGH-In or SMOTHERS BROTHERS that had aired in 1967 or '68, but WONDER would be set in 1970. Then in an episode set in the fall of '70, there was BTO's song "Taking Care of Business," a song from 1974, in the background. I remember thinking, "Did I miss four years?" The shows set in 1972 were the worst. A character mentioned KOJAK, which didn't start until 1973, and couples at a party danced to Johnny Rivers' song "Slow Dancing," a song that came out FIVE years later! That's when I lost it. I didn't know if I was watching WONDER or QUANTUM LEAP.
I never understood why Kevin always chased after Winnie. It may have been because she lost her brother in the war, and he felt sorry for her. But the girl treated him like crap. He did everything possible to let her know he cared for her. I can see why he started treating his friends and family so awful. It was because he was confused due to Winnie. She was nothing to write home about. The skinny little thing. She looked like her face was smashed in with a shovel. I think Kevin should have ended up with Becky Slater. Atleast she was interesting. You know the girl in school all the other girls liked to poke fun of until that girl tattled on you? I think if I went to school with Winnie she would be the one I would do that to.
When Kevin passed over Madeline. When Kevin missed this opportunity to hook up with extra-hot Madeline, I stopped watching the show for a long time. It just made me sick. I had an experience with an older, sexy girl when I was a geeky 9th-grader and it didn't ruin my life. (Hey, we didn't go all the way but it sure was a confidence builder.) There is no way that a boy that age would hold out, no matter how much in love he was. I was in love with another girl but lust and hormones won out. The best episode of TWY was where Kevin worked the spot light while Winnie starred in Our Town. The love comes through so strongly with Wilder's short but pointed statements about life and its meaning. A play within a play always works well when the original piece of art is great, which Our Town is.
This show was simply amazing. With its touching stories to its humorous look at true to life situations, I'll go as far as to say it's the greatest show to ever come through the television set. From beginning to end, the Wonder Years took the cake!
What the...holy ****, almost every comment on this thing is about Kevin now "scoring" with Madeline! I'm rather surprised, really. You know, speaking from my own experiences, not EVERY geeky high schooler must jump at the first opprotunity to have sex. Some of us have our virtues. I'd say the show jumped the shark (at least, it became less entertaining for me) when Winnie, who was destined to be with Kevin from the start turns into this mean bitch annoying skank slut who dates everyone on campus and continues to break Kevin's heart over and over and over. Proud though I was of Kevin's fortitude, I really just think Winnie wasn't worth it. Winnie's skankiness sent the show over the shark.
In one of my drama classes, we had to list what we considered to be the Top 10 Televisions Shows of Our Generation. The Wonder Years was on my list. This choice is based on content, writing, dynamics between the characters, and the sense of identifying with the premise of the show. The Wonder Years met those criteria on every level. The entertainment factor is relative to the individual viewer. There are many shows on TV which were and are "well written" but not entertaining. Then there's the other group of shows that are NOT well written yet very entertaining. To me though, a show is truly excellent when it can invoke the viewer to both laugh and cry in the same episode. Think about it.
"The Wonder Years" was extremely entertaining the first two seasons. But it became overly formulated, you could tell exactly what time it was when the Daniel Stern's voice-over began at exactly 25 minutes into the show with its typical smarmy and overt sentimentality. Some jarring things stood out. Where were the bell bottom jeans? Karen wore them but she was the only one. Where was the long hair on the guys? I overlooked a lot of this stuff because some things were so on the mark.... like the Phys. Ed. teacher, Kevin's nifty Sting Ray with the sissy bar, Norma Arnold's lime-green kitchen and her quest for making the perfect mashed potatoes. Kevin's dad was truly the only consistant and driving force in the show, so was Wayne's. But Kevin's character slowly transformed from a believable laid-back kid into an unbelievable aggitated ill-tempored wise-beyond-his years and judgemental little creep. That simply does not happen, no matter how many hormones are raging in a teen. I must say though that "The Wonder Years" was a lot more true to the times than "Happy Days" ever was or hoped to be but I'll reserve that for the HD's board. I think "The Wonder Years" never jumped but it did nudge the dorsal fin a few times. The last episode could have been much better and by the time it aired, I could not have cared less about what ever happened to Kevin and Winnie's future together, they would have ended up in divorce court anyway.
Officially, "The Wonder Years" never JTS. It was still a well-written and executed program across the board (certainly compared to, say..."Full House"!). But the very moment the kids stepped onto the high school campus in Sept. 1991, was when ALL of the charm/glory/magic and wonder was GONE FOREVER! It wasn't just puberty, it was also the fact that it was no longer a top 30 hit, a media darling, or fresh. Adding the god-awful Andrew Mark Berman was not a clever move either! While the high school episodes are fine, I only want to remember those glorious junior high days! (I'm the same age as Fred Savage and grew up on this show!) The first 3 1/2 seasons ('88-'91) of "The Wonder Years" are as great as anything network TV has ever broadcasted. I'll stand by those words. My favorite episode is the 'Square dancing with Margret Farquarith'...I knew a similiar girl too!!
The Wonder Years was a good show until the high school years. After that Kevin became this irrational hothead. He started treating the world like he would treat Paul. It was believable that Paul put up with this because he was the bitch in the relationship. Anyone else would have told him to eat s**t. I never got over the Madeline incident. He would have gone for her in a second, how old was he 13? That was the shark for me. Also his obsession with Winnie was unhealthy, Jack and Norma should have called him on it. Wayne was a great character, some classic scenes. The show got lame later on, he was so p-wiped by Winnie that it was excruciating to watch. Craig Hobson was great as Arnold's comic foil. Puberty was bad for Savage and McKellar.
Sheesh. This show was great up until (but not including) the final show. Jack Arnold is the finest working class hero to date...not to mention the best walking-talking Rolaids advertisement. "Kevin Arnold' was great...but if I were him, I would have taken a baseball bat to Wayne's kneecaps much earlier in the show. MAN that kid was mean. Great show...and they almost NEVER ended an episode with a Full House-esque mushball ending. CLASSIC. HEH.
I'm one of the few people who believes this show actually improved as the kids got older. When Kevin stopped hanging out with Paul and started hanging out with the Giovanni Ribisi character (can't remember his name on the show), he became less of a neurotic. Also, the episode that completely centers around a typical high school lunch period was classic, possibly their best and most realistic episode about the "school lunch" experience. Maybe it was because of Wayne's having to approach the psycho guy to find out his name. Maybe it was because of Winnie's greatly reduced role in that ep. Maybe it was because Kevin gets sweet revenge on the three *******s who skipped on him when he was painting his teacher's house (they are forced to donate blood to cover the fact that they were attempting to cut out of school to see a porno and one of the 'stiffos' doesn't have the belly for it and passes out). All I know is, it brought back a lot of cafeteria memories.
As soon as Schwimmer arrived on the scene, I knew there were problems.
This show did have one or two moments that I enjoyed. But over the span of the years it was on, that does not make a good show. By and large my problem with it is that Kevin almost without fail screwed up and did the wrong thing in every situation EVERY SINGLE TIME! Whatever choice he could make that would hurt himself, hurt the people he loved, cause problems, and get him in trouble the most was invariably what he decided to do.Look I know that when you are that age you are not the wisest person, but we were all 14 once. Do any of us really feel we screwed up that many times? We may have actually once in a while manage to walk out the front door and nod hello to a girl from school or something equally mundane, without that being the first in a series of events which spring from it that ultimatley by dinner time that very day threaten the very balance of our family's peace. The mother was a ditz, the brother was a sadist, the father was a total jackass, the older sister was ungrateful, and Kevin led the team in unnatural ignorance. The single greatest moment in the history of this show, (that I was forced to watch by family) was when a girl named Becky Slater punched Kevin right in the gut so quickly and powerfully, that Kevin crumpled like a used napkin and collapsed onto the floor. I swear that I applauded out loud. I laughed until I puked. Never has a female character in the history of television that I am aware of performed an act that I adore more. I wept at the beauty of her standing over Kevin Arnold moaning. I would have married Becky Slater that moment!
First of all, this show never jumped. It never even came close to jumping (in my opinion). If it had jumped, it would have (by definition) sucked at the end. Anyone who watches the final episode can tell you it is one of the most moving shows you can find in all of television.
Actually, this show did jump in its closing segment. The whole explination as to what became of everyone while they mindlessly cheered at a parade shows this. It was strange how the narrating older Kevin Arnold tells us that he and Winney did not marry, yet he was there with his wife when she came back from Paris. (Is it just me??) Anywho, it was all good up until then. You know, there was uncertainty as to whether they'd go for one more season, so they filmed that sequence. When the producers decided to scrap it, that dialogue was thrown together.
Never jumped. From episode 1 to the finale, one of the all time best shows ever made. It is one of those rare shows that I can watch every episode over and over again and never become bored.
Never jumped - I'm guessing most of the people who are saying puberty are females who are suckers for the cute "12 year old boy" and disapointed that Kevin didn't turn out to be more attrractive. I thought the show got better with time. Somebody above said it was hard to relate to Kevin because he was neither a jock or a nerd, I'm guessing you went to a small high school where there wasn't much middle ground...but for those of us who went to a suburban public school with 200+ people in our class, it was easy for a lot of people to relate who weren't on either extreme end of the spectrum. In fact at times it was easier to be a "dork" because at least while getting picked on, they're still "somebody" and everyone knows who they are...sometimes it was easy to feel left out when you were "Joe average" as Kevin and myself were. Sure, you had a bunch of acquaintances inside of school grounds, but on the weekends you really only had 2 or 3 close friends that you felt comfortable calling on the phone to hang out with outside of school; at least until the 10th grade or so. If for no other reason, Kevin was one of the most relatable characters in TV history. Clearly, he made a horrible mistake by not throwing a little bit of Arnold inside of Madaline...but again, the mere fact that we all care so much about this mistake indicates that the writers succeeded in getting us to like Kevin. Think about it, if Zach from Saved by the Bell or Brandon from 90210 made the same mistake would anybody have cared? Personally, I would've been like "whatever dude, you're a worthless piece of garbage anyways". But with Kevin you really WANTED him to make the right choice and score whenever he could. Don't get me wrong - I'm still baffled at how that happened at Paul's party after Winny dumped him...I mean Madeline had the common courtesy to inform him Winny was making a fool of him, the least he could've done was return the favor and shove his tounge down her throat instead of being a jerk and telling her off. But life goes on...looking back, I probably could've bagged more chicks too if I wasn't so oblivious to female signals and didn't care so much about my "pride and values". Terrible mistake by Kev, but that doesn't necessarily mean the actual show jumped the shark right there and then. The biggest problem I had with that episode was the fact that so many people from school showed up to Paul's party when Paul was such a dork. Otherwise, I agree with most of the other posts...the mom and dad were terrific. The close friendship with Paul that diminishes when he realizes they don't have much in common anymore is sad but very realistic....and Winny is a piece of crap, but shame on Kevin for putting up w/ it. What about the basketball episode when he goes to the diner and with his dad and he says "Ya know Kev, it's not easy being a hero" and the voiceover jumps in with "I knew he wasn't talking about basketball". I really wish the show could've gone another year, because it really was the only show that can make me laugh and cry in the same episode; and I'm no softy.
Just about anybody who grew up in the suburbs could relate to this show, no matter what decade they grew up in. I loved the ep where Kevin and his dad build the treehouse and discover the hot neighbor lady. It is truly mortifying when you learn your dad is just a horny guy like everybody else. Also, I just wanted to add to all the people who nitpick the songs being played during a year that is earlier than when the song was released: ok, the easy way out of this one is to say who cares but it could also be argued that since the show is being told in past tense and it is Adult Kevin's memories, the songs don't have to "match" the year, just like your memories aren't all picture perfect and accurate either.
this was my favourite show ever. literally never have cared for a show nearly as much as this 1. unlike dawson's creek the characters werent perfect and his family werent all behind him in everything he did. the concept of looking back on his life was incredible. yet the last episode pissed me off tons. call me boring but i always wanted winey and kevin to get together. to have kevin chase a girl for so long then to completely get over her yet still remain best friends (going as so far as to pick her up from the airport with his kids and wife) is unrealistic). i wouldnt have minded if they grew apart and the voice over said that they grew apart and never saw each other again and would have loved to hear that they got together permenantly but to simply have them remain friends is a kop out. i havent met 1 person who likes this last episode. ive know ppl who have loved each other for years and they eventually lose contact with each other as u cant remain friends with them. having winney and kevin marrying or winney dying would have been the perfect ending. instead whenver i think of this greatest tv show ever i have to down enough tequilla in order to forget the ending.
All in all, this was one hell of a show. Intellectual, realistic, poignant, nostalgic, and I really liked it back when it was on regularly. Kevin went from a cute kid to a completely mediocre-looking adult, but that happens. Paul got kinda weird towards the end with his sex issues, which was kinda scary but n.m. I couldn't believe he lost it before Kevin did. Winnie Cooper was a coquette-ish character if I ever saw one. Poor Kev had one hell of a youth with that gal. That guy with the twitch was hysterical. The fat guy was cool. All in all, they were just a bunch of losers-- nothing special but nothing too strange. It was a cool show, made me realize how much more angst-y my life could be.
I don't think this show really jumped..It agree with the person that it ended while it was generally still pretty good..I always found the dad amusing with his constant exhausted, demoralized expression..A great show,no doubt..That last episode was a bummer though
It never did- and Jack Arnold ranks as one of the great underrated TV characters of all-time, right up there with Dan Connor-
TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO VOTED 'PUBERTY' AS THE SHARK-JUMPING MOMENT: Hello! Get with the program! The show is called THE WONDER YEARS, as in adolescence. What good is showing 12-year-old Kevin all the time? The show is ABOUT growing up and maturing. How can that be a shark moment? So, techically, the syllogism is as follows: 1) Puberty is a JTS moment 2)the show is about puberty HENCE 3) the show JTS day one. Using this logic, Puberty=Day One in terms of defining the shark moment.
When Winnie moved across town at the end of the 2nd season I was pretty upset, but I began watching the 3rd season with wonder and interest. However, I was pretty disappointed that EVERY one of the first few episodes of that season dealt entirely with sex! The cute innocence of the show's beginning was gone. (sigh) I was no longer a diehard fan, but I managed to watch a few of the last episodes.
I think this show was pretty consistently good. I was glad Kevin didn't stay with Winnie, because Winnie was a horrible, horrible, horrible person. Kevin, much like Cory in Boy Meets World (also a Savage... sheesh), constantly ignored the perfectly desireable girls who were throwing themselves at him to stay with someone unattractive and annoying that I couldn't stand. I don't see anything wrong with the fact that Kevin turned "cool." It happens in real life all the time. He was kinda mean, and that was a little disconcerning, but he's allowed to be mean, since it was inflicted by abuse from Winnie for the first 86 seasons. And I liked Chuck and Jeff more than Paul. Even though Chuck was a huge loser. And his girlfriend had braces.
Very good storyline throughout since it really presented a glossy portrait of a kid growing up. The parents were definitely the best actors on the show, Dan Lauria made the dad an unhappy working grunt whom life trampled over very well, as did Alley Mills as a picture perfect housewife. I liked this show a lot even when i was a little kid, and its still good in reruns! Kevin not going for Madeline sucked, especially because it reminded me of my own missed opportunities. Great finale, extremely sad. Who wouldve thought cute little geeky Paul would've grown up to be the prince of darkness.
this show never really jumped the shark. they just did the right thing by ending it. i think they had a good series finale. the show did go a little bit stale when kevin and paul got older. the shows were great the first couple seasons. Wayne was is like my idol on that show. that guy is total me. well sometimes.
It was in this episode that we learned of Kevin's long hidden foot and leg cast fetish. During the scene of Kevin and Winnie sitting on the front lawn one evening discussing their future, Kevin gazes dreamily at Winnie's casted foot. During a close up camera shot of Winnie's toes wiggling out the end of her cast, the narrator says, "God, that cast was driving me crazy!" Although I agree totally with the narrator's assertion, it was still a turning point for this program in my book.
people are complaining because the show didn't have a happy ending or because he didnt wind up with the girl he loved or because he looked different after puberty. well these are the things that made the show great. it was like real life
This show never jumped the shark. It was my favorite show growing up and continues to be my favorite show of all time. It was just very enjoyable to watch on many, many levels. I fell in love with Winnie Cooper from the first day I saw her. The friendship between Kevin and Paul parallels that of my friendship with my best friend. Though I've never lived in the suburbs, I have been through much of what Kevin Arnold went through, and it was nice to be able to watch and at the same time, relate.
1. If you stick with facts, it makes you look like you know what you are talking about. a. Kevin fell out of the boat - not jumped - on the lake with Mimi. b. Mr. Collins was in 3 episodes - not "like nine", and the final one earned many Emmy's. c. According to a large TWY website poll, the top favorite episodes were the Pilot (duh), the Finale (also duh) "Goodbye" (Mr. Collins dies) ,and the "Accident" (I barfed at the end). Mine is "The Lake". d. The release dates of music is not really that important. e. It is hard (expensive) to control all external elements - such as vehicles, in a bus-traveling scene. Big wow. I don't care what your opinion is, but please think first. Comprende?
I think the tone of The Wonder Years changed drastically when the opening montage was changed from the home videos of the characters to the still photos of 60's events. It became less of a coming-of-age show about a boy, and more about the era.
"things were never the same between me and winnie" got tired of hearing it after about the 10th time!in fact, i think he said it at least once about every person on the show.
I would say never jumped, or at least, it made it to the last five seconds of the last episode, and then it went. Not the parade scene, though. That was sheer realism. Who actually ends up with the girl they had a crush on when they were growing up? And the father dying brought tears to my eyes, because it was real. It was fine, until they go back to the house, and the voice-over talks to his son. That was too much. The poster above talks about how often they say "things were never the same between 'x' and me". I think the one quote that has that beat would be "I learned a lot that (night, day, summer, weekend, etc.)"
Never jumped. It went off the air at just the right time. Kevin was getting old enough that hearing from the voice over wasn't going to work. But the series was an incredible coming of age show set during the most turbulent times. The final episode was fantastic, but heartbreaking when you finally find out that he and Winnie still have contact, but they don't end up together. And to top it all off, it was set to the greatest soundtrack of all time.
Wonder years- a really nice little show, however it was somewhat unrealistic. I think it jumped the shark when they started having Kevin be 13 going on 30! I mean he would do stuff that 13 year olds didn't do. He led that peace march in seventh grade, please,I mean how many 13 year olds care so much about world peace that they do something like that. by the time Kevin was 14 he had gone thru a soap opera like romance with Winny.
It never really did jump, but came very close the last season. When did Kevin become such a jerk? I never understood why he had such a big chip on his shoulder. Also, the last episode was interesting. What I don't understand is why did they kill of Jack (well, 2 years later) - What point did that serve? The show had 45 seconds of life left, and they tell us the dad is going to bite the bullet 2 years later? That was just so unnecessary. One of the best 30 minutes for sitcoms on tv was when the algebra teacher died. What an awesome episode! That definitely is my favorite one.
I just skimmed through the comments and almost fell out of my chair laughing at the "Square Dancing with Margaret Farquhar (sp?)" reference. Who doesn't remember getting stuck with a girl(or a guy, depending) you'd never be caught dead with under normal circumstances? But anyway... Did TWY really jump? People cite the maturing of the characters as one reason. Yeah, kids grow up. And think about it: TWY started the kids at the age when kids generally lose their cuteness quotient on most shows, which is around 11 or 12. That had to have been tough to do, because 11-12 year olds just ain't that cute, folks! That said, I don't think TWY ever really jumped. I would've liked to have seen Kevin, Winnie, et al graduate from high school, but one more year probably would have been the true kiss of death. (Just thought of another classic episode: When Kevin is part of the really sucky eighth-grade boys' chorus that can't sing at all, and they get the annoyingly positive just-graduated teacher as directress. They have to sing "Stout-Hearted Men" and find out that Warren Somebody (big kid with a crewcut in my memory) has a singing voice (although it's WAY too soprano-like in my opinion). So he's their secret weapon against total humiliation, until his voice changes in the middle of their performance and everything goes to hell. (Didn't somebody even end up falling off the stage?) Classic!
This show was the best EVER! how can you say it jumped shark?! THAT HORRIBLE! other shows i could understand... but The Wonder Years? come on now. i practically grew up with this stuff. okay thats not the only reason but i seriously cant see anywhere in the series where it could have jumped. that show was near perfect in my eyes.
The show was a good idea, and I did watch it at the time, however...it was one of those shows that annoyed you but you kept watching because something was going to happen. If that makes sense. I hated how Kevin Arnold blew every tiny occurrence out of proportion - making even the most common, daily elements of growing up seem like earth-shattering calamities. And yes, it does seem like that to many teens, but come on! "I like this chick but she don't like me and worlds are gonna collide and I'm never gonna get over this oh why Lord why Jesus?" Get down off the cross! It's called growing up! You've got a what? A pimple? Someone call 60 Minutes! I never thought Winnie was that attractive, maybe as she got older, but even then...
The Wonder Years has to be my all time favourite show. It struck a chord in me that no other show ever has. I related to it so much, even though I grew up in Australia. I think the voiceover was cool, always added to the show for me. I was quite dissapointed that the show did not go on to show Kevin's life as a college kid. Imagine the potential there!!! Frat parties, sex etc. The last episode was actually proposed differently when it was shot. Winnie and Kevin DO actually sleep together in the barn, but at the time, Fred Savage was being charged for the sexual harrassment of a crew member, so the network decided to keep it clean and didn't really go into the details of their last night like they were supposed to. The series ended because Fred Savage wanted out...no other reason. They already had shows in the pipeling for his college years. After all those years on air, i actually felt like there was something missing in my life when the show ended. Sorta like an old buddy had died, and even though i thought the last epside could have been better, it still brought tears to my eyes. My fav episode was the one where Kevin had the job at Chongs Chinese and he was out delivering all night and having drag off with the Pizza dude who hated him.
I loved this show, mainly because it didn't always have a happy ending. During a time when the airwaves were polluted with saccharin-sweet, dumb-as-a-post shows like Full House and Family Matters, it was great to see a show that at least sort of resembled real life. I loved how all the characters were sort of how Kevin saw them- the gruff and somewhat distant father, who nevertheless provided well for his family; the perky and helpful mother; the hippie sister who drifted in and out of the house; and of course the pain-in-the-butt older brother who always made life miserable for Kevin. I liked the show, even towards the end as the characters were growing up. The fact that Kevin and Paul grew apart and Kevin made a new set of friends rings totally true to real life. I think I had maybe one friend who was the same between seventh and tenth grade. I admit the finale episode was a little disappointing, not because it was bad, but because I thought it would focus more on all of the characters that we'd come to love over the years- not just Kevin and Winnie's relationship. I think it's also totally realistic that they didn't ultimately end up together. I never thought they would; the show never had that fairy tale flavor, and it only makes sense that they would eventually find other people. Who marries their girl-next-door childhood sweetheart, anyway? Not too many people. Frankly, I'm surprised that they were together for as long as they were on the show. I always hoped Kevin would find another girl who was better looking and not so goody-goody. I always thought he had to put up with a lot from Winnie.
For me the show never jumped. This was may all-time favorite show. I hope it comes out on DVD sometime. The actors were great. The stories always interesting. And thankfully they didn't use a laugh track, and the voice over was terrific. Kevin and Winnie, and the voice over put the polish on this show. I found myself living some situations vicariously, just wishing I had actually experienced some of them myself. The two original writers were the best. When they left it was noticeable. I am so glad I discovered this show!
Wonder Years was a great show. I didn't figure out until around the 4th season that this show was supposed to be 20 years earlier. It seemed very modern. I guess I was too young to really understand. I would say the show went down hill once he graduated middle school. Once he entered high school, his voice changed and Paul was no longer the geek. His peers weren't that funny in high school. One of my favorite episodes was the one where Kevin, Paul, Doug Porter, Randy Mitchell all try to go to a slumber party and Kevin's voice narrates it like they were going to war. Great episode about teenagers. Whoever said that Winnie wasnt that great looking was right. In the 4th season, there was this Swedish chic that Kevin took to the dance, and then he hooked up with Winnie. The Swedish chic was probably easy. He was a fool for not hooking up with her. The last episode wasnt that good, until the very end. That was a tearjerker. Great music and great narration. The one exception was that his father died. That was bad writing because they could have a reuinion show one day and they will have to write out the father.
The only time the Wonder Years slightly jumped was when Kevin hit puberty which coincided with a change in the opening credits. Otherwise it never really jumped. Everyone who is saying that they are soo mad that Kevin and Winnie didn't end up together are misssing the whole point. In every great show the main characters don't end up together because that is the opposite of what the viewers expect to happen therefore it provokes more emotion. If Kevin and Winnie HAD ended up together everyone would have said that it was a stupid ending because it was what everyone expected to happen.
Probably the one television that I related to the best. The story lines and the characters were easy to relate to and the show just had a certain charm that guys from my generation understood. The fact that Kevin and Winnie didn't end up together didn't spoil it for me. How many of us actually end up marrying the first girl or guy we did it with. The issues the program dealt with were never earth shattering, but it certainly was a good look into the mind and the everyday life of the average kid. One of my favorite episodes is the one were his math teacher died. Yeah, I cried during that one. The show brought memories and made me forget about life for 30 minutes, which is what good television is supposed to do, isn't it?
This show totally lost it for me when kevin and his dad built the treehouse and accidentally discovered their lovely neighbor sunbathing next door..in a bathing suit....and went on as tho she was au natural, (as the episode must have been originally conceived by the writer)..If the producers didnt have the stones to let her be starkers, they should have just pulled the episode..the shared embarrassment/excitement of Kevin and his dad ONLY made sense if they caught her naked.. as it aired, it was just stupid, and JUMPED the SHARK most painfully.
Never jumped. This was a great show, especially if you're a guy. So many things that Kevin did or thought (thanks to the voice-over) really hit home...what about the girl he meets at camp, who he falls in love with and she promises to write to him everyday...and he gets one letter and never hears from her again. Or when he broke up with that annoying girl who's father's life was a living hell in a houseful of women who marginalized him (including the dog). Kevin's breaking up with his daughter gives him the inspiration to grow some balls and drive that old sports car he had stored away...or when the family gets a new car, but are all sad to see the old one being towed away. Excellent television.
"As I looked up at the sky, I realized something. About life. About hope. About how the dreams of a young boy..." Sorry, just couldn't help it. Never Jumped. I was 14 when the show premiered, and this is one of the only things I was into then that doesn't make me wince today (I had a Poison poster on my wall. No kidding.) One classic episode after another: Kevin goes to work with his dad. Kevin steals a copy of "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex..." Calling Lisa Berlini. Winnie's parents split up. "Our Town". The Glee Club (my personal favorite.) The cafeteria episode. The treehouse. Karen's birthday. All the Mr. Collins episodes. The first day of high school (My mother and several of my teachers told me that episode was dead-on.) Wayne tries to join the army. Kevin spends the night delivering Chinese food. Kevin and the guys cruising around. Hell, I even liked the one when Paul loses his virginity. In spite of what others have said, this is practically the only show I can think of that let its' adolescent cast grow older with a modicum of grace. The transitions between Kevin's cliques of friends was flawless; even when Paul fades from the picture, you find yourself thinking, "Yeah, that happens sometimes." And I liked how they weren't afraid to let Kevin act like a jerk; he always learned his lesson afterwards and it was far preferable to having him be a let's-teach-our-viewers-positive-values mouthpiece that was so common on other "family" shows. If anything on the show toyed with a shark jump, it was Winnie Cooper. She was fine during the first few seasons, but it sometimes got to the point when Kevin was stalking her. I just don't believe that he could have pined for her that long, especially considering how cruelly she strung him along once they started high school. They should have written her off permanently after the third season and let Kevin move on to greener pastures (And I know it's been said, but I'll say it again: Madeline, Madeline, Madeline. What the hell was the matter with you, Kev? She was right there, half-naked and offering you cake batter on her finger!!! At the very least, you should have felt her up!!! What the...Sorry about that. I temporarily turned 14 for a moment. Won't happen again.) Moving on, I enjoyed reading the comments about Hobson, but I think the writers were wise to let him fade away when they did. He would have turned into Eddie Haskell if he had hung around any longer, and Kevin had no shortage of other friends to hang out with. And in spite of my joke at the beginning of this post, I think the voice-over worked beautifully, and I couldn't imagine the show without it. IMHO, "The Wonder Years" is (at least) one of the top 20 shows of all time and manna from heaven compared to the sludge clogging up network TV nowadays. I'll be there with bells on when it comes out on DVD.
Never jumped. This show was an excellent representation of its time, Kevin's insecurities, and the normal evolution of relationships and experiences.
the first season and half the wonder years was the best sitcom in the history of television but when Marlens and black stopped producing the wonder years all of the magic was gone. That's when the wonder years jumped the shark!
There are only a handful of shows in the history of TV that held me spellbound for 30 minutes once a week. From the reality of just growing up to the reality of war and its effect on a whole generation this show reminded us that although life is not always easy, it is worth living
This show jumped, when Kevin decided not to jump Madeline's(Julie Condra) bones! What the hell was wrong with Kevin? Comparing Madeline to Winnie, is like comparing a Ferrari(Madeline) to a Pinto(Winnie).
NEVER. For the idiots who said paul is Marilyn Manson, Duh! If you ever even watched the beginning you would see that his name is Josh Saviono. Marilyn Mansons name is Bryan Warner. And for the morons who said it jumped when Kevin went through puberty, duh, THATS WHAT THE SHOW WAS ALL ABOUT (GROWING UP). FRED SAVAGE was the best actor on that whole show, and he went through puberty fine. Winnie Cooper was NOT a bitch she was hot. And for the moron that said Jacks wife was a real pain in the ass, are you crazy, have you ever even seen her, she was perfect, you'd be lucky to get a girl half that good. The voiceovers (narration) made the show a classic just like A Christmas Story and The Sandlot (which also had voiceovers).
The WYs was easily one of the best shows ever plus flaws. Of course the v-os, the sentiment, the trying to hard to reflect 80s life instead of being 60s/early 70s universal were major flaws. I knew that when I took the dump that it was the most significant moment of my life- no one else could make such a perfect dump like me... But the ability to focus on relatively small events that we can relate to and make them dramatic and the characters like Wayne, and assorted kids from Hopson to the painter dudes were as good as it gets. Too bad they added the flaws or the show might have done even better. Another problem for me was that sometimes they focused on building up the 60s in a way that seemed a little unrealistic. But then they would show the reality- the great kitz and all- the cool hilariousness and nail it. And everything was allright. But the flaws such as the V-Os that's where a show like the Twilight Zone has it over Wonder Years. Best episdoes for me include in no order: The Math teacher dying, Tackle Football, Rating Kevin's mom, the joy ride, the sexo book, the homecoming game, Wayne and Kevin's car wreck, the Basketball game (exactly how you can take a little moment and make it very dramatic and entertaining), painting the house, Margret and to add one too many the make-out party. If the creators had ditched the flaws it would have been even better. My idea for a 6th season: Winnie goes to some art school within driving distance and falls for some creppy art guy Kevin doesn't like. Paul goes to a small local that isn't very good because it happens to have the best Psychology program. The goof-offs go to the same school as Paul. Wayne gets into Disco/70s furniture early and has a Disco girlfriend. He becomes really trendy. Karen becomes very active in the woman's movement and one of the leaders. Mom joins the movement as a volunteer. Kevin gets into a big school and doesn't go to class. He flunks out by sleeping through tests. He works a while at home- maybe with Wayne before Wayne becomes the Disco King of furniture and thinks Wayne can't make it. Wayne makes it big with Disco later. Kevin finally goes to the small school with the goof-offs and Paul who is there for the Psychology program and its excellent research department. The goof-off stuff continues like before. Kevin keeps an eye on Winnie and her creepy guy at the other school in the process. Maybe a road trip or two Dad of course is dead. The show deserved another 2-4 seasons with those kind of eposodic storylines. And without the v-os. Just have John-Boy talk at the start and the end.
Great show from Day One. The best episode had to be when the boys were learning about reproduction from the crabby P.E. teacher. He drew a (poor) picture of a uterus and asked the kids who knew what it was. Paul said, "A cow?" The coach was disgusted, and went on to draw the ovaries as two little lumps on the upper sides of the uterus. Paul thought they were "the ears." Hysterical. Truly a great show.
This show never jumped, but it did suck that Kevin never got Winnie. He waited for her for so long and she crapped on him? He could of gotten more ass than toilet seat if he tried?
Simply put, this show was the cleverest, funniest and tenderest of them all. It never once put a foot out of line and remains the show that has the best repeats.
I personally identified a lot with Kevin Arnold's character, having gone through elementary school during roughly the same era he did. And who among us guys didn't have young lust for a girl like Winnie Cooper? Winnie (aka "Super Cooper") reminded me so much of the object of own personal obsession when I was eight/nine/ten years old--a girl named Sharon, who looked a lot like Winnie in the face, only with light brown hair instead of black. The big difference between me and Kevin was that he actually had the stones to try and pursue Winnie, whereas I was too shy and scared to do anything about Sharon! But I digress...My favorite TWY episode was a latter-day one where Kevin was working his ass off delivering Chinese food for that tyrannical boss who wouldn't pay him squat, busting his balls just to scrape together enough money to buy Winnie the fancy-schmancy overpriced sweater she so badly wanted for Christmas. And what did Winnie reward Kevin with in return? A Bread album--Whoopie! The band 10CC sure nailed it when they sang about "The Things We Do For Love", didn't they?!? As for the rest of the show, I could have done without Kevin's annoying older brother Wayne--who was far less mature than Kevin--as well as his sister Karen, who was too stereotypically rebellious for my liking--not ALL older sisters from that era were disenfranchised flower children, in spite of what TV/movie producers would have you believe! Still, we could use another show or two like TWY these days, considering all the tripe that passes for network TV series today...
What I think made this show so successful was that in every episode there was at least one character or situation to which everyone could relate. I saw old girlfriends in Winnie Cooper, my mother in Norma Arnold, and myself in almost every main character. This show inspired me to become an actor.
Many of those posting here are missing the entire point of "jump the shark". This is when a show you like starts to go downhill, when it loses its creativity/originality/good writing/good characters..etc. Just because the characters get older doesn't cut it. Everyone gets older.(If the writers don't deal well with the characters getting older, that's another story.) Just beacause you don't like voice overs,or Kevin and Winnie not getting together, or Fred Savage's acting skills doesn't count as jumping the shark either. These were ALWAYS PART OF THE SHOW! Remember folks, you have to like a show to begin with, before you can pinpoint the beginning of its decline. For example, I never liked Three's Company to begin with, so how can I say when it jumped the shark? If you never liked the show, please don't post.
I chose "puberty" as the point in time when the show started to decline, however, there were some good episodes in the '92 and '93 years. There were also some duds in the first few seasons. I think it's hard to deny, though, that The Wonder Years was best in its first three years; more specifically, years two and three. It had largely to do with Savage's acting: The first year or so his acting was a little on the amateurish side, but there were some true gems, like episode #3, in which Kevin goes to his dad's workplace (the son-father admiration is so true-to-life!). During the last two years of the show his acting was annoyingly self-conscious (as others have mentioned, the stretched mouth to indicate chagrin, the wide-eyed stare to indicate surprise; it was overdone), but there were some good shows then too (#82, with the cool English teacher who is eventually fired by Diperna; #86, when Kevin idolizes the school's basketball star, who ends up embarrassing him in front of his dad; #89, the big house party that ends up being blamed on Wayne; #95, the fishing trip; #103, when Jack leaves Norcom to start the furniture business, but is abandoned by partner Charlie; #108, when Kevin tries out wrestling and learns some life lessons from the coach, played by the inimitable James Tolkan). During years two, three, and part of four ('89, '90, '91), on the other hand, Savage was terrific, and there were times when his performances were truly incomparably masterful, as if he weren't acting at all. I'm thinking of the series' best episodes, such as: the three shows with the math teacher, #25, #32, #45; #66, when Winnie is hanging out with an older crowd and Kevin climbs onto her roof and looks into her bedroom (heartbreaking); #68, middle-school graduation, when Kevin walks past the playground and reminisces; #19, when Kevin and Paul's birthday parties intersect, and Kevin learns about other cultures; #13, when Kevin strives to play the piano well; #12, when Norma takes pottery classes, and is dismayed that Jack shows no interest; #53, when Jack's promotion forces him to travel a lot; #71 is a classic, with arrogant Mr. Botner, and Wayne and Wart administering "the bwoosh"; #72, jobbing at the hardware store; #38, the construction of the tree house, for which Kevin is too old; #27, when Kevin symbolically "falls out of his mother's nest". Worst episodes: #73, when Kevin, for no discernable reason intercedes in the relationship between the meathead mechanic kid and his gum-chewing ditz girlfriend. Certain parts of the last two episodes were weak. It seemed as if the show's writer's had been told the day before they'd been canceled. The Madeline episodes were lame. The episode with Alice, her father, and the car was irritating.
Didn't jump. TWY was a great show about growing up in the suburbs in the late 60's. I know some people do not care for the voiceovers, but every now and then I hear a voice over when I return to my little home town. The Kevin character was one year behind me which I suppose is one of the reasons I can identify with him so much. Ah the first loves, the crushes on the girl down the street/next door/new in school. This was a show that captured a particular moment in history. It shall never pass this way again.
The Wonder Years had a reasonable following in Australia. There were many aspects that struck a chord Down Under. The Viet Nam war, music, getting along with parents. The last show was awesome. Although I must admit Kevin and Winnie's relationship started to wear thin. I wanted to shout "Just build a bridge - and get over it, kid." Personally I think it went one season too long. But still quality Television.
The Wonder Years jumped during the episode where Kevin plays Poker with the boys on Friday night. Paul became a condescending jerk at age 17. Even I was annoyed about Paul's preaching about the boys snacks and "what they're putting in their bodies". Incredibly, Paul had the nerve to say Kevin is the one who changed!
This show turns out episode after episode of solid television. It tends to have over-the-top or implausible developments, especially in season 2, but that's because the show leans towards noir detective mystery, where stuff like that fits in. Once you realize that and stop trying to make the show be what it's not, it's really amazing. Plot realism is not one of the show's top priorities, but character realism is, and it's very deep and rewarding to watch.
It never jumped. It was one of the finest shows of its time. Kevin Arnold represented every red-blooded boy who grew up in the suburbs. I watched so many episodes and said, "Jeez, I can relate to that." Winnie was adorable but lost her attractiveness as the show went on. And, yes, very few of us marry the girls we liked in the seventh grade. Terrific show all the way through.
It never jumped, it was a lot of fun, but when we found out that Kevin DOESN'T marry Winnie, that was sad. Great show, reminds me A LOT of my childhood.
I have to agree that this show only jumped the shark at the END of the last episode. I was a 22 year old university student back then. That last episode brings back a lot of memories - Bob Seeger - We've Got Tonight. Man, how many times I have associated that song with Winnie and Kevin? My extremely beautiful girlfriend at the time was sitting my lap when we watched that episode together and I JUST BAWLED... especially when they said that the father died pretty soon afterwards... I have never cried that much watching a show or a movie. Needless to say, it was SO SAD that Kevin never ended up with Winnie. Sort of like Before Sunrise ... we just never knew until 10 years later... at least Before Sunset gave us some closure as well as that warm feeling inside that it all turned out great in the end.
This show never jumped the shark. At the time it aired, I was very young, only about 6 years old but when the show ended I was 11 and understanding more about life. My dad always used to watch this show so I remember I would sit on his back as he laid on the floor and watch. Of course I didn't always understand what was going on, but I understood Kevin's anger, I understood his feelings for Winnie, his first crush. There was just a lot of things in general I understood about the show at such a young age. When I was little and I saw the last episode, I was so sad that Winnie and Kevin didn't end up together...but now that I'm much older (23) I realized a lot of things about this show that I have realized about my own life. Normally people don't end up with their first love. I didn't--and I'm glad that my life worked out the way that it did. But the young love that was protrayed in this movie along with the time line in the 60's was immensly accurate. Studying sociology in school and being extremely interested in the history of the 60's, so many of the events that went on at the time could account for Kevin and Winnie's behavior as they got older. I love this show...I wish that they would put it out on DVD because that time in a person's life is truly the years of "wonder".
Wonder Years never jumped. About the only episode that really stunk was the final one. I fail to see how puberty caused the show to jump as some voters claim. Puberty is what The Wonder Years was all about. Saying puberty caused The Wonder Years to jump would be like saying The Korean War caused M*A*S*H to jump.
It reminded me so much of my youth in many ways. There were many episodes that reminded me of very similar incidents that took place in my own life while i was growing up. Kinda freaky. I think one of the writers must have grown up in my neighborhood, because Kevin's dad was exactly like my dad. There were times that i just stopped and did a double take because what was being said and done on the show was exactly what happened at times between me and my dad. Just a great, great show. Wished there would have been one more season so that we could have seen Kevin and all of his friends graduate from high school.
Is it possible for a show to jump the shark after it goes off the air? I loved watching this show when I was growing up, but when I watch it today, I don’t enjoy it so much. I think the major thing that happened is America never got over Kevin and Winnie. You see people here who still cry fowl at Kevin and Winnie not getting married. There was a show where Kevin and Winnie got married, it was called Boy meets World, and it sucked. I used to date a girl who would refer to the guy who grew up across the street from her as her “Kevin Arnold,” like it was something significant. I thought it was really obnoxious. I know that the narrator wasn’t a real person, and that they had to string us along with the “will they or won’t they” story line, but have you ever stopped to think what this man would be like? I think the whole idea of an older married man still talking about the real love that existed between him and his neighbor when they were thirteen doesn’t sound all that healthy. Unfortunately, America is still just as obsessed as he is.

This will take me awhile but I will read this and comment LOL

Some people have no life lol, the show jumped the shsrk in season 5 episodes were strange