When Good Shows Go Bad: The Wonder Years

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The History:


In 1986 Neal Martens and Carol Black (both also did Ellen) had both started to move on from Growing Pains and began work on a new sitcom together. The idea the pair reached was to create a sitcom about a family that existed during the late 1960s, which would appeal to the Baby Boomer generation out of nostalgia and help capture the changes going on in American culture during that period. ABC (who had Growing Pains) ended up being the only network interested. The program was picked up for a total of six seasons, Bob Brush and Topolsky taking over as execute producers after the first season. A total of 116 episodes were produced over the six seasons, with the third season being the highest rated and the sixth the lowest (though even by standards at the time it was still doing okay).

The Show:

Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) is growing up in * insert town here*, which is located in * insert state here* in the good ol' US of A. Kevin's family consists of his older sister Karen (Olivia D'Abo), older brother Wayne (Jason Hervey), and his parents Jack (Dan Lauria) and Norma (Alley Mills). Kevin's best friends are Paul Pfeiffer (Josh Sorvino) and Winnie Cooper (Danica McKellar). The series follows Kevin growing up in the 1960s and early 1970s (it was always exactly 20 years earlier than the year the show was being broadcast), as narrated by his older self (voiced by Daniel Stern). The Wonder Years is a nostalgic sitcom that also injects quite a bit of drama (the term dramedy is probably more accurate than sitcom really), as it pulls no punches in the realities of growing up. There aren't quite a few very special episodes per say, but quite a few episodes do offer some insight into the ways life can blindside you, often in dramatic ways. A major point throughout the show's run is Kevin and Winnie's relationship, being each other's first loves and Winnie often playing some factor in the major events of Kevin's life.

The Good:

I made the dramedy remark earlier so I might as well open with that. Dramedies aren't exactly anything new (you could argue Martin Scorcese has, for the most part, made a career out of them) but in a sitcom format it was still pretty new. Now, of course there were shows out there that had very special episodes and whatnot (felt like at one point every other episode of Diff'rent Strokes was one) but I think the balance The Wonder Years hits is worth praising. Really the pilot episode helps set the tone for the series, since it seems like a fun little nostalgic program (laugh-track free mind you) before you realize what the episode was really about all along (I won't spoil it even though it's the pilot). Really most of the drama is pretty relatable and while sometimes stuff gets a bit dark it doesn't feel like it's ever trying to teach you a lesson, just tell the story of people's lives.

A second thing to praise about the show is the idea of narration. Narrators are nothing new, as they date back to well before the time of radio with many plays featuring them in some capacity. Most television programs however (if they even had a narrator) were narrated by some other random voice that tended not to have much of a connection to events. The Wonder Years, the narrator is older Kevin. To the best of my knowledge this might be the first time such a narrator ever existed, and it helped since the program was a period piece. You don't just get Kevin's thoughts, you get and older and wiser Kevin's thoughts. While older Kevin would channel his younger self's sentiments at times he was reflecting on his life and the choices he made, noting how it shaped who he was. The older voice is reflective of that and adds character to events, while also being a handy exposition device.

Now I'm not saying the show wasn't funny, but since praising humour can be hard I want to instead talk a bit more about how the show managed to capture life quite well. People aren't typically one-dimensional (no matter how hard CSI tries to prove it), and they have layers. Now of course not every layer is that surprising (wow, you like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings?) but people can still pull one over on you. There's plenty of examples in The Wonder Years but my favourite has to be Season 4's A Very Cutlip Christmas (incidentally one of my favourite episodes of the show). Now Coach Cutlip (Robert Picardo, later of Star Trek Voyager fame) was a drill-sergeant coach of sorts and could be quite rough, though not without his emotional moments. This Christmas episode however revealed that Cutlip works as a mall Santa around the holidays. Initially Cutlip is embarrassed that such a sensitive part of himself has been exposed to his students (and rightfully so since a group at one point was planning to find and humiliate him), but people realize just how good he is at being Santa and accept it. The episode manages to convey quite a few solid messages while offering insight into how people act in public, or at a job, isn't necessarily all there is to them. That's something I think everyone should always try to remember.

The Bad:

So the narrator... I actually have a big problem with Daniel Stern's narration. Now it isn't really what he says (mostly, there were a few times I cringed at how he said something), just how he sounds. Initially Daniel Stern could conceivably sound like Kevin when he was older, but as the show went on it kind of became clear when Fred Savage discovered gravity that Stern wasn't a good choice after all. Now the show is kind of in a no-win scenario here, because suddenly replacing the guy who is supposed to be older Kevin is odd to say the least. At the same time since Kevin's voice probably isn't going to change much more it is more than a little distracting (at least to me) that younger Kevin and older Kevin no longer sound alike.

The character of Wayne Arnold is another issue. Now, Wayne is the classic older brother, being a dick to Kevin and often tossing insults his way. The problem with Wayne is he seemed to learn the same lesson several times over the years (respect thy brother), yet it took a long ass time for him to practice it. Wayne did eventually get better, but there were a couple of times he was a borderline psychopath. Those times, by the way? He learned he should calm the hell down, grow up, and respect his brother. The only real plus side to this was later on you can respect some of his character growth a bit more, such as the first time he ever asks Kevin about his well-being (which older Kevin notes as it happens).

The series finale... Now there are a few reasons the show ended how it did, which I will get into below. The two-part finale is very true to the show, Kevin's life going a bit nuts as he tries to pursue Winnie despite her apparent contentment to be away from him. After much drama happens Kevin and Winnie make up and return home in time for a Fourth of July parade, the Arnold family reunited as they watch everything going on. Then older Kevin narrates everyone's futures over the happy scene... And we learn two disappointing facts: Jack Arnold dies two years later, and Kevin and Winnie don't end up together in the end, though they remain close friends. Now, some people hated that Kevin and Winnie didn't stay together, but that is generally a fact of life (if a somewhat tragic one). I wasn't exactly thrilled about that one, but if that had been it, I'd have been fine with it. The part that really annoyed me was Jack's death. There was a death early in the show that helped cement the show's tone, and it was for a character we never really knew, but it worked. Casually narrating that Jack died however felt cheap, especially a mere two years later. There are reasons the show didn't end up with a (perhaps) more satisfying montage, but if stuck with narration casually mentioning a person's death is pretty harsh. The more an audience is shown something and its value, the more investment it has in it (which is why people were pissed about Kevin and Winnie not ending up together since their relationship was a key to the show's narrative). For me, killing off a character we've had significant investment in so casually (especially a main cast member, a guest star of a couple of episodes isn't such a big deal) will always feel like a slap in the face. Killing Jack how they did was just awkward and unwelcome, even though it did fit with the tone of the show, if nothing else just for the fact it was narrated to us. Movies can sometimes get away with this, but that's only because the time of investment is usually a lot lower.

The Blame:

While the stuff with Wayne and Daniel Stern are more tied to the people working on the show, the ****-ups in the finale tend to fall at the feet of ABC. Simply put, there was a big dispute between the writers and the network over what the show could include. Kevin was getting to that age where stuff like sex were on the menu, and ABC has fully admitted what The Wonder Years did manage to get away with only worked because of the standard the show had set for itself. The show's long-running nature almost meant increased costs, which wasn't great since it also tended to have a fair amount of location shooting and a supporting cast that rotated more and more. The series finale was shot open-ended because of how long ABC took to decide if they were going to cancel the show or not. Bob Brush has admitted he'd have liked to do more to wrap up the show (a montage was suggested), though he has defended the choices made and emphasized the point of the closing narration.

So can I recommend it? Yeah, I think so. The program sadly hasn't aged great, but thankfully the time period it's set in helps lessen the issues. Really just the way modern productions are to how it was back then might be the biggest off-putting element involved for people who don't care about the stuff I complained about. Besides, Fred Savage needs more love dammit.