Difference between revisions of "The Wonder Years"

Revision as of 03:22, October 16, 2021

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 several times in The Simpsons media.

References

Television episodes

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.
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.

Books

Picture	Book	Reference
	The Krusty Book	One of the items in Krusty's executive office at Krustylu Studios is a coffee table which he got from Jason Hervey, "that kid from The Wonder Years". (Hervey played Kevin Arnold's older brother.) Hervey owed Krusty money, but couldn't pay back the full amount, so he gave the coffee table to Krusty to make up the difference.

Common cast and crew

Cast

Name	Role in The Wonder Years	Role on The Simpsons
Michael Paul Chan	Guest-starred in three episodes: In two of them, he played Mr. Chong, who was Kevin's boss when Kevin had a job making deliveries for a Chinese restaurant. In the third episode, Chan played an unnamed Chinese chef.	Voiced one of the Chinese spies in the Season 22 episode "Homer the Father".
Seth Green	Guest-starred as Jimmy Donnelly, one of Kevin's schoolmates, in two episodes.	Voiced the Nerd in the Robot Chicken couch gag in the Season 28 episode "The Cad and the Hat"; also served as executive producer for both of the Robot Chicken couch gags.
Daniel Stern	Played the role of the Narrator: Kevin's adult voice providing commentary and reflecting on the events of his childhood.	Provided the voice of Bart's adult self reflecting on the implications of his getting a job (a la his narrator role in The Wonder Years) in the Season 2 episode "Three Men and a Comic Book".

Crew

Name	Role in The Wonder Years	Role on The Simpsons
David Chambers	Producer for the fourth season of the show.	Co-wrote the Season 14 episode "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore", along with Julie Chambers.
Lanei Chapman	Guest-starred as Miss Shaw in one episode, "Kodachrome".	Served as part of the ADR loop group for The Simpsons Movie (credited as Lanai Chapman).
Robert Cohen	Wrote one episode, "The Lost Weekend".	Served as assistant to the producers in Seasons 1 through 3; also wrote the Season 3 episode "Flaming Moe's".
Claudia De La Roca	Assistant to producers for 63 episodes, in the fourth through sixth seasons.	Assistant to Matt Groening in Seasons 7 through 10.
Tom Gammill	Co-wrote one episode, "Math Class", with Max Pross.	Consulting producer: Seasons 10 and 11 Producer: Season 12 to present Co-writer (with Max Pross): "Hardly Kirk-ing" (Season 24) "Monty Burns' Fleeing Circus" (Season 28) Comic story co-writer: There's No Business Like Shoe Business and Donut Disturb with Henry Gammill Dolls Well That Ends Well with Alice Gammill
Seth Green	Guest-starred as Jimmy Donnelly, one of Kevin's schoolmates, in two episodes.	Served as executive producer for both of the Robot Chicken couch gags: the first in the Season 24 episode "The Fabulous Faker Boy", and the second in the Season 28 episode "The Cad and the Hat". Also voiced the Nerd in the second Robot Chicken couch gag.
Max Pross	Co-wrote one episode, "Math Class", with Tom Gammill.	Consulting producer: Seasons 10 and 11 Producer: Season 12 to present Co-writer (with Tom Gammill): "Hardly Kirk-ing" (Season 24) "Monty Burns' Fleeing Circus" (Season 28)
David M. Stern	Credited as story editor for sixteen episodes, executive story consultant for eight episodes, executive story editor for two episodes, and writer (or "story by") for eight episodes.	Creative consultant for 39 episodes, writer for nine episodes, and producer for twelve episodes. Almost all of these credits are in Seasons 2-4 and 8-11, except for writing the Season 28 episode "Kamp Krustier".

External links

The Wonder Years at Wikipedia

Cultural references

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Cracked • MAD • The New Yorker • Playboy • Rolling Stone

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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

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