"The Wonder Years"
Original Airdate 1/31/88
Written by Carol Black and Neal Marlens
Directed by Steve Miner
The pilot episode of The Wonder Years begins with a montage of events from 1968. The adult Kevin Arnold describes life in the suburbs, and how the era was a golden age for kids. His brother, Wayne, starts beating up on him in the street, when Winnie Cooper's brother, Brian, warns him to stop. According to the narration, Brian epitomized the word cool. We also learn that in June of that year he was sent to Vietnam.
Probably the most incredible aspect of these opening scenes is purely from the standpoint of how different the actors look from the way they look today. They were such kids, but delivered incredible performances.
As stated earlier, most of the early material in the pilot essentially introduces us to the characters, and really does seem to epitomize the home life of a sixties child (at least it does mine - how about yours?). Next morning, Kevin comes down dressed for his first day of junior high school in the loudest psychedelic outfit one could imagine. When Wayne bursts out laughing, Kevin decides to change into more traditional attire. At the bus stop, Winnie Cooper shows up, looking entirely different from the wall flower persona she presented at the beginning. For the perfect comparison, check out the original Rocky, and look at the transformation of Talia Shire's Adrian. The effect is the same.
Junior high is not easy for Kevin. Girls don't take him seriously and as a seventh grader he finds himself the victim of bullies. During lunch, Winnie joins Kevin and Paul. Wayne comes over and starts taunting him, resulting in Kevin inadvertently insulting Winnie, then leaving the Cafeteria in anger. Enroute, he tests the assistant principal and ends up in detention. Not an auspicious first day at school.
Jack and Norma pick him up and the narration lets us know that Kevin is expecting a beating when he gets home. However, when the family car pulls into the driveway, they learn that Brian Cooper has been killed in Vietnam. There is a very subtle, tender moment when Jack's anger drains from his face, and all he does is squeeze Kevin's shoulder with affection. Problems in school somehow can't compare.
Kevin goes for a walk, noting "back then kids could still go for a walk without ending up on a milk carton." Heading to Harper's Woods, he finds Winnie sitting on a large rock. He sits down next to her, places his jacket around her shoulders and tells her that he didn't mean what he said in the Cafeteria, which she was already aware of. The two of them share their first kiss, and hold each other as we fade to black.
For a half hour television show to have the impact that the pilot of The Wonder Years does, is incredible. It's occasionally funny, occasionally touching, but always realistic thanks, in large part, to the fine ensemble of actors. The script perfectly encapsulates what we can expect from the ensuing series, and Steve Miner's direction effectively captures the era.
"Swingers"
Original Airdate 3/22/88
Written and Directed by Neal Marlens and Carol Black
Guest Starring: Robert Picardo (Coach Cutlip), Bently Mitchum
(Brian Cooper), William Bogert (Preacher), Bobbie Eakes
(Bookstore Clerk), Douglas Emerson (1st Kid), Danny McMurphy (2nd
Kid), Dante Basco (3rd Kid)
"Swinger" open at a cemetery - an image that immediately sweeps you into the moment, as we glance at rows and rows of tombstones. Taking place among them is the funeral of Brian Cooper, which the Arnolds attend. Through narration, Kevin tells us that Brian's death had changed his life forever - after all, this was the first person he'd ever known who had died. In addition, we learn that he hasn't stopped thinking of Winnie since the night they kissed in Harper's Woods. With "life's two greatest forces - love and death - tearing me apart at the waist-", Kevin is confused by his feelings. At the Cooper's house he starts talking to Winnie and is excited just to be near her. Then he has a fantasy that Brian is there, commenting on the fact that on the day of his funeral, Kevin's trying to "jump" his little sister. Surprisingly, this "vision" compliments him for being a man after his own heart, but suggests that the time isn't right; that he should wait it out. The image of Brian disappears. This would be the first of many such fantasies Kevin would have through the course of the series, and it's an effective way to tap into the imagination of an adolescent, bringing to life all of the things that he - and therefore we could only dream of.
Next day, Coach Cutlip starts teaching his class sex education. Intrigued, Kevin and Paul take their textbook into Kevin's room and try to check out as much as they can on the subject. Wayne picks up the text, gives them a hard time and suggests they pick up a copy of Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex, But Were Afraid to Ask. They go to a bookstore, where Paul actually steals a copy of the book and the two boys make it back to Kevin's room. Norma walks in, and is shocked to see the book. She takes it away, and expresses her displeasure with Kevin, not so much because he was looking at the book, but because he had apparently gone through her drawers to get it. Certainly a telling moment for Kevin, as he learns that his mother is actually a sexual being, something he apparently had never considered before.
Later, Kevin and Winnie, who is still trying to deal with her grief, go back to Harper's Woods. However, instead of picking up where they left off on their previous visit, they act their age, the older Kevin stating that they decided to remain kids just a little while longer.
"My Father's Office"
Original Airdate 3/29/88
Written by Carol Black and Neal Marlens
Directed by Jeffrey Brown
Guest Starring: Sandy Helberg (Stan), Ken Swofford (Al), Gregory
"Mars" Martin (Pete), Deborah Rose (Phyllis), Cherie
Franklin (Marian), Nancy Fish (Betty), Zachary Benjamin (Little
Kevin)
Kevin gets to explore another aspect of being a kid in "My Father's Office." Older Kevin informs us that when his father had a bad day at work, he sat in the living room with the lights off and the TV on, when a really bad day would mean that dad would be in the back yard, peering through a telescope. It was the signals by which the boys gauged their behavior. We see this cycle repeat itself the following evening, resulting in Kevin's crying in bed. He simply doesn't unterstand why his father is so hard on them, because there were happy times that he clearly remembers.
Things hit the proverbial breaking point the next day, when he and his friends are riding home from school and none of them really knows what their fathers do for a living. Upon arriving home, Kevin asks Norma exactly what his father does, but she doesn't have a satisfactory answer for him. At her urging, Kevin asks Jack himself, but, as usual, he snaps at him, essentially sending Kevin out of the living room. Further on in the evening, Norma tries explaining to Jack that Kevin is only trying to get closer to him. These words seem to affect Jack, who tells Kevin that he'll take him to the office the following day.
That morning, dressed in a suit, Kevin joins his father and is introduced to the office staff, then brought to Jack's office, which impresses him to no end. At first, Jack is really warm and open, going over the daily routine with Kevin, and impressing the boy with the way he manages to keep things running. As usual, there's a fantasy, this one with Kevin as the boss, Karen and Wayne cowering around him, begging for approval.
On a coffee break, Kevin and Jack start talking, and this is the moment where father really opens up to his offspring. It turns out that Jack had wanted to be a professional baseball player when he was a kid, and when he was Kevin's age he wanted to be the captain of a ship; to be out in the ocean during the night, navigating by the stars. Kevin wants to know why he didn't follow through with that dream, and Jack responds that he met Norma and they got married, had children and the rest is history. As he explains it, a man makes his decisions and lives by them. By the end of the coffee break, Kevin realizes that his father is "a great man."
Then, Jack's day starts in force. People he's been depending on have screwed things up, and his superiors start screaming at him, humiliating the man in front of his son. Jack barely responds, keeping his rage hidden inside, which goes a long way in explaining why he is the way he is when he gets home at night. That night, upon returning home, both Jack and Kevin walk in the house, furious over the preceding day. Later, Jack is peering through his telescope and Kevin steps into the backyard. Father invites son to look through the lens and the two men peer at the stars.
"My Father's Office," besides being a touching episode, is the first to look at the human side of Jack Arnold, adding depth and providing understanding of the man's make-up as a person. Thankfully, it elevates him from being a one-note character, and makes it three hits in a row for the series.
"Angel"
Original Airdate 4/5/88
Written by Neal Marlens and Carol Black
Directed by Art Wolff
In "Angel," Karen comes into the house, decked out in her hippie clothes, music blaring. This instigates a fight with her parents, which goes well into the night. Next day, a classroom discussion of values leads Kevin to want to figure out what Karen is all about, and why she's interested in a psychedelic van-driving hippie named Louis. Louis joins Karen on the Arnold lawn in a passionate embrace, which does its share in exciting the nearby Paul. Later, Kevin is watching the color TV that the family finally got (this is a bit of a continuity screw up, as in the episode "Christmas," Kevin's narration told us it would be two years before the family would ever get a color TV).
Karen and Louis come into the house, and, while Karen goes into the other room to get them something to drink, Louis makes a phone call to Marissa, talking about a protest march, mentioning that she can crash at his place and that he loves her. This infuriates Kevin. In a fantasy sequence, he punches Louis out, and Karen hugs him in gratitude for "saving her." Fantasy over, Kevin asks him who Marissa is and is told by Louis that he and Karen have an open kind of love, that he can love both Karen and Marissa. The boy is confused, which grows worse when Karen walks into the room and Louis mentions that he had been speaking to Marissa, who will go to the protest. Karen is pleased, because it makes her feel less guilty about not being able to go with him.
Norma, trying to be friendly, invites vegetarian Louis to stay for dinner. Things begin to get a little tense when Louis starts asking Norma if she's fulfilled in her life as a housewife and mother, and that many women wouldn't be happy playing servant to their family. Angry at this, Kevin goes to Wayne for support, but his brother's response is, "So what, it's only Karen." Ah, nothing like love for the family.
Things get even crazier at the dinner table, beginning when Jack is told that Louis doesn't eat meat. The conversation shifts to the fact that a boy was recently killed in Vietnam, to which Louis responds that it was another meaningless death. Jack retaliates that dying for democracy is not a meaningless death, to which Louis states that the government has turned people into "brainwashed morons" who believe that Vietnam is a noble cause. A screaming match ensues in which Jack tries to defend America's involvement, but Louis points out that Brian Cooper should still be alive, and that if Jack doesn't change his way of thinking, Wayne and Kevin could be next. Louis and Karen leave the house, and everyone else but Wayne leaves the table.
As Kevin lies in bed, his older self says he doesn't know who was right and who was wrong. He does point out that after a while the ideas and disagreements sort of dissolve, and you're just left with the people. People were no different then than they've always been and always will be. Outside, Karen is dropped off, crying. She's upset because Louis had told her that he loved Marissa, but not that he was sleeping with her.
A hell of an episode, doing what The Wonder Years does best: begin a story one way (Kevin is upset about his sister's boyfriend), and allow it to flow casually into much bigger issues, without losing sight of the characters. This story is the type that made All in the Family famous, but is made fresh by the dual perspective of Kevin Arnold and the general slant of the series.
"The Wonder Years was and is a very special television program," notes "Angel" director Art Wolff. "The writing is great, and I loved being part of the first season, although we only did six. I don't know if there's ever been a situation where a show has only had six episodes and yet it wins the Emmy as best series. Amazing. For me, it was a terrific experience and one of those experiences where you could see what you've done on the screen, as opposed to its losing something.
"When I first heard the premise," he adds, "it seemed like one of those simple concepts where you say, 'God, where have I heard that before?' Before I started to see the scripts they were doing, you kind of get concerned about the tone. It really has to be just right for it to work, otherwise it could get too sentimental, too cartoony. But the tone was just right on. I think what it has in common in terms of the production of it with a lot of other terrific things that have been on television, is that the people who created it were perfectionists. I think anyone you ask would agree that Neal and Carol are, as evidenced by their work. I think the care that went into both the writing and producing of it was exceptional. Now everyone asks, 'Will it be able to continue?' Who knows? But so far it's done very well. You always tend to ask, 'Can that kind of excellence happen on a weekly basis?' It's an enormous drain, but I think it's worth it.
"I thought 'Angel' was very powerful. I remember the way we shot it, especially the dinner table scene, and it affected us all. Dan Lauria was a marine and served in Vietnam. Of course now he was coming around and trying to be the father viewing it from the other side. I just thought it was very powerful. It was also interesting that Brian Cooper's death was tied in to the episode, though only insofar as you're aware that what's happening to Kevin is that he's beginning to understand. He's seen someone he was close to die, then of course he's also seeing the imperfection of people you look up to who you think have all the answers. You realize that they don't. Nobody has all the answers. Basically you have to realize that somehow, as he says at the end, everything will all come together. In the meantime, all you can do is toss and turn and at some point you just have to let it go.
"I remember when I read the script and thought, 'Boy, this is heavy duty stuff.' Also, what it allows you to do, and I think this is another reason the show is so successful, is set up the conflict of the jealousy the kid feels about this wiseass boyfriend of his sister's. He just can't stand him for all sorts of reasons. You're laughing at the fantasy sequence where he imagines he's the western guy who knocks the boyfriend out, thinking that this is where the episode is going to go. But then you have that dinner table scene and suddenly it's like, 'Wait a minute, what just happened here?
"The Phone Call"
Original Airdate 4/12/88
Written by Scott A. Frank
Directed by Jeffrey Brown
Guest Starring: Linda Hoy (Mrs. Ritzo), Paul Price (Mr. Katz),
Kathy Wagner (Lisa Berlini), Geoff Witcher (1st Newscaster), Ron
Tank (2nd Newscaster), Michael Bacall (Kid)
"The Phone Call" represents every adolescent's fear of the first time they called a girl. Kevin has fallen pretty hard for Lisa Berlini and manages to get her phone number. The majority of the episode deals with his efforts to communicate with her, whether that be through other people or "accidentally" bumping in to her in the halls at school. When all else fails, he decides that he will simply take the plunge and call her on the Telephone. What follows is his very humorous attempts at actually going through with the call. Finally he does so, and, as we find out in the next episode, the conversation goes great .... all four minutes of it.
"Dance With Me"
Original Airdate 4/19/88
Written by David M. Stern
Directed by Arlene Sanford
Guest Starring: Linda Hoy (Mrs. Ritvo), Paul Price (Mr. Katz),
Kathy Wagner (,Usa Berlini), Erica Gayle (Red-Headed Girl),
Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Brad), Krista Murphy (Carla), Robert Picardo
(Coach Cutlip)
In "Dance With Me," Winnie tries to hide her disappointment when Paul informs her that Kevin is going to ask Lisa Berlini to the school dance. Kevin's biggest problem, however, is actually asking her. He and Lisa pass notes back and forth in class and she agrees to go with him, until she's asked by Brad and says yes to him as well. Kevin is stunned and goes to Winnie, discovering that she's not angry with him. He asks her to go with him, but it's too late. She's already got a date. Devastated, Kevin decides not to go to the dance at all.
At home, he watches a first-run episode of I Dream of Jeannie on the family's black and white TV, and is not acting like his norinal self. Nortna questions him, finds out what's going on and convinces him to go to the dance anyway. He goes with Paul, who ends up having a great time, while Kevin becomes extremely depressed. Not only because of Paul, but because Lisa Berlini and Winnie are both having good times with their respective dates as well. When attempts at making Winnie jealous fail, Kevin leaves the gym. As he sits outside, he imagines himself in a black and white I Dream of Jeannie episode, in which Winnie is clad as Jeannie would be. Then, surprisingly, the real Winnie joins him outside, and he asks her for a dance. They go back in the gym and have one. The adult Kevin informs us that he and Winnie knew that people around them were having a changing influence on their lives, and all they could do was hope that the slow song could last forever.
Season one of The Wonder Years was received extremely well by the critics and the public. While scoring in the ratings during its initial six outings, the show went on to win the Emmy Award for best comedy series.
"I don't think that anybody was prepared for the reception it got," opines director Art Wolff, "because usually shows take a long time to build. Look at Hill Street Blues. The critics said it was a groundbreaking show, which it was, and then people would remind you, 'Yeah, but when it first started it was barely hanging on. Not a lot of people were watching it, it was low in the ratings."The same with Taxi, which was never in the top ten. This was one of the examples where it just happened to catch the mood of the majority of people who were television watchers, and the arbitrators of taste in the television industry were the very people that the series was about. It's also similar to the way that people are looking at Thirtysomething and saying, 'This is my show.' I'm continually running into people who say, 'I love The Wonder Years because I think it's a television show about me.' Then again, when I talk to kids and Teenagers who watch it, they love the show because they're getting a look at their parents that they never got before. I think part of the success is that it cuts across all of those generations."
As it would continue to do in seasons to come.
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