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
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Season
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Episode number
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Episode name
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Reference
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2
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34
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"Three Men and a Comic Book"
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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.
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5
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100
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"Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
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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.
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13
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274
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"The Blunder Years"
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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.
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22
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476
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"Homer the Father"
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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).
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24
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512
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"Gone Abie Gone"
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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.
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Common cast and crew
Cast
| Picture
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Name
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Role in The Wonder Years
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Role on The Simpsons
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Michael Paul Chan
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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.
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Voiced one of the Chinese spies in the Season 22 episode "Homer the Father".
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Seth Green
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Guest-starred as Jimmy Donnelly, one of Kevin's schoolmates, in two episodes.
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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.
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Daniel Stern
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Played the role of the Narrator: Kevin's adult voice providing commentary and reflecting on the events of his childhood.
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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".
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Crew
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Name
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Role in The Wonder Years
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Role on The Simpsons
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David Chambers
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Producer for the fourth season of the show.
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Co-wrote the Season 14 episode "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore", along with Julie Chambers.
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Lanei Chapman
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Guest-starred as Miss Shaw in one episode, "Kodachrome".
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Served as part of the ADR loop group for The Simpsons Movie (credited as Lanai Chapman).
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Robert Cohen
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Wrote one episode, "The Lost Weekend".
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Served as assistant to the producers in Seasons 1 through 3; also wrote the Season 3 episode "Flaming Moe's".
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Claudia De La Roca
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Assistant to producers for 63 episodes, in the fourth through sixth seasons.
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Assistant to Matt Groening in Seasons 7 through 10.
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Tom Gammill
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Co-wrote one episode, "Math Class", with Max Pross.
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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
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Seth Green
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Guest-starred as Jimmy Donnelly, one of Kevin's schoolmates, in two episodes.
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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.
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Max Pross
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Co-wrote one episode, "Math Class", with Tom Gammill.
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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)
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David M. Stern
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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.
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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".
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External links
The Wonder Years at Wikipedia
