Difference between revisions of "The Wonder Years"

Revision as of 00:20, August 9, 2017

The Wonder Years is an American comedy-drama television series which aired for six seasons on ABC, from January 1988 to May 1993. The storyline focuses on the teenage years of main character Kevin Arnold, during the years 1968-1973, with each TV episode being set twenty years before it aired.

The Wonder Years was considered innovative for its storytelling style of having Kevin's adult self (voiced by Daniel Stern) providing a narration of the events of his childhood from an adult perspective. The show was ranked in the top thirty of the Nielsen ratings for its first four seasons and is generally considered one of the best shows of the 1980s. It was cancelled in 1993 due to increasing production costs and declining ratings. Also, the producers found themselves in a bind due to Kevin's increasing age (turning 16, and later 17) calling for more mature storylines which the network executives felt would be inappropriate for the show's 8 p.m. time slot and out of character with the tone established in the show's earlier seasons.

The Wonder Years has been referred to in several television episodes of The Simpsons.

References

Picture	Season	Episode number	Episode name	Reference
	2	34	"Three Men and a Comic Book"	When Bart wants to buy a copy of Radioactive Man #1 and Marge suggests he get a part-time job to pay for it, the scene pauses and Bart's adult voice (provided by Wonder Years narrator Daniel Stern) reflects on the ramifications of his getting a job, in the same style as The Wonder Years.
200px	5	100	"Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"	The episode opens with home movies showing Homer and Marge as young adults, similar to the opening sequence of The Wonders Years in its first five seasons (showing scenes with Kevin and his friends and family). The music playing in the background is Joe Cocker's cover of "With a Little Help from My Friends", which is also the same as the opening sequence of The Wonder Years.
	13	274	"The Blunder Years"	The episode's title is an obvious pun on The Wonder Years and a sly hint at the episode's storyline involving a grown-up perspective on Homer's teenage years. The flashback portion of the episode, however, is strongly reminiscent of the 1986 film Stand by Me.
	22	476	"Homer the Father"	While watching the classic TV channel Tube Town, Homer sees an ad for an upcoming showing of The Voiceover Years. The show's title is an obvious reference to The Wonder Years and Daniel Stern's role as narrator. In addition, the teens kissing on the couch resemble Kevin Arnold and his on-again-off-again girlfriend, Winnie Cooper (except that Kevin had brown hair, not blond).
	24	512	"Gone Abie Gone"	When Grampa went missing, Homer read the book The Wander Years: A Guide to Finding the Walking Dad for ideas on how to find him. The book's title is a pun on both The Wonder Years and The Walking Dead.

External links

[[wikipedia:{{{1}}} ({{{2}}})|{{{1}}}]] at Wikipedia

Cultural references

view • talk • edit • past Television
The A-Team • All in the Family • Alvin and the Chipmunks • America's Funniest Home Videos • Animaniacs • Barney & Friends • Battlestar Galactica • Baywatch • Beauty and the Beast • Bewitched • The Big Bang Theory • Black Mirror • Bob's Burgers • The Brady Bunch • Breaking Bad • Charlie's Angels • Cheers • The Critic • CSI • Dallas • Davey and Goliath • DC Comics • Dennis the Menace • Dilbert • Disenchantment • Doctor Who • The Dukes of Hazzard • Family Guy • The Flintstones • Frasier • Futurama • Game of Thrones • Garfield • Gilligan's Island • Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. • Happy Days • The Honeymooners • Gunsmoke • I Dream of Jeannie • I Love Lucy • The Jetsons • King of the Hill • Late Show with David Letterman • Law & Order • The Lone Ranger • Looney Tunes • Lost • Lost in Space • Married... with Children • Marvel • MAS*H • Matlock • Monty Python's Flying Circus • Mork & Mindy • The Munsters • The Muppets • My Little Pony • MythBusters • The Odd Couple • Orange Is the New Black • Peanuts • Pokémon • Popeye • The Powerpuff Girls • The Ren & Stimpy Show • Rick and Morty • The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show • Sailor Moon • Scooby-Doo • Sesame Street • Seinfeld • The Smurfs • The Sopranos • South Park • SpongeBob SquarePants • Stargate • Starsky & Hutch • Star Trek • Stranger Things • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles • Teletubbies • That '70s Show • Thriller • The Tracey Ullman Show • Transformers • The Twilight Zone • The Walking Dead • When Animals Attack! • Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? • The Wonder Years • The X-Files

view • talk • edit • past Films
2001: A Space Odyssey • Alice in Wonderland • Alien • Alvin and the Chipmunks • Apocalypse Now • Avatar • Back to the Future • Beauty and the Beast • Ben-Hur • Das Boot • C.H.U.D. • Charlie's Angels • Casablanca • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory • A Christmas Carol • Citizen Kane • A Clockwork Orange • Close Encounters of the Third Kind • DC Comics • Dial M for Murder • Die Hard • Dracula • The Dukes of Hazzard • The Exorcist • Fantasia • The Fly • Frozen • Garfield • Ghostbusters • The Godfather • Godzilla • Gone with the Wind • Harry Potter • Home Alone • The Hunger Games • Indiana Jones • It's a Wonderful Life • James Bond • Jaws • Jurassic Park • King Kong • Laurel & Hardy • The Lion King • The Little Mermaid • The Little Rascals • The Lone Ranger • Looney Tunes • The Lord of the Rings • MAS*H • Mad Max • Marvel • The Marx Brothers • The Matrix • The Odd Couple • Pirates of the Caribbean • Planet of the Apes • Pokémon • Popeye • Psycho • Pulp Fiction • RoboCop • Saw • Scooby-Doo • The Shawshank Redemption • The Shining • The Silence of the Lambs • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs • The Sound of Music • Soylent Green • SpongeBob SquarePants • Star Trek • Star Wars • A Streetcar Named Desire • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles • Terminator • Thelma & Louise • They Saved Hitler's Brain • The Three Stooges • Thriller • Titanic • Toy Story • Transformers • When Harry Met Sally... • The Wizard of Oz

view • talk • edit • past Video games
Angry Birds • Candy Crush Saga • Donkey Kong • Grand Theft Auto • The Legend of Zelda • Mario • Minecraft • Pokémon

view • talk • edit • past Magazines
Cracked • MAD • The New Yorker • Playboy • Rolling Stone

view • talk • edit • past Books
Alice in Wonderland • Beauty and the Beast • Ben-Hur • The Catcher in the Rye • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory • A Christmas Carol • A Clockwork Orange • Dial M for Murder • Dracula • The Exorcist • Fahrenheit 451 • The Fly • Game of Thrones • The Godfather • Gone with the Wind • Goosebumps • Harry Potter • The Hunger Games • James Bond • Jaws • Jurassic Park • The Little Mermaid • The Lord of the Rings • Moby-Dick • The Old Man and the Sea • Planet of the Apes • Psycho • The Silence of the Lambs • The Shining • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs • A Streetcar Named Desire • The Wizard of Oz

view • talk • edit • past Comics
DC Comics • Dennis the Menace • Dilbert • Garfield • Life in Hell • Marvel • Mary Worth • My Little Pony • Peanuts • Popeye • Sailor Moon • The Smurfs • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles • Tintin • The Walking Dead

view • talk • edit • past Other
Art references • Gilbert and Sullivan • Hindenburg disaster • References in other media