A 
With the complete series on DVD, a look back at Kevin
Arnold's poignant (and sometimes angsty) adolescence.
By Hillary Busis in Entertainment Weekly
s Tennessee Williams mused,
"In memory, everything seems to happen to music." Which may
explain why ABC's Emmy-winning The Wonder Years
-- a
nostalgic look at Kevin Arnold's (Fred Savage) coming of age
in the tumultuous late '60s and early '70s -- leans so
heavily on hits from that era. And while the series, which
ran from 1988 to '93, has been available on Netflix, it also
explains why it took so long to be released on DVD
in its Wonder Years. (Songs by Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel don't
come cheap!) The wait is over now, and a new generation can
watch Kevin navigate the tricky waters of junior high and
high school -- with a little help from his
friends.
KEY PLAYERS
Kevin Arnold |
Jack Arnold |
Norma Arnold |
Karen Arnold |
Wayne Arnold |
Paul Pfieffer |
Winnie Cooper |
NOTABLE ALUMNI |
SEASON'S BEST
SEASON 1 |
SEASON 2 |
SEASON 3 |
SEASON 4 |
SEASON 5 |
SEASON 6 |
WONDER
THROUGH THE YEARS
The real life events that made history on the show, too
1955-75 |
APRIL 4, 1968 |
JUNE 6, 1968 |
JULY 21, 1969 |
AUG. 15-17, 1969 |
APRIL 11-17, 1970 |
JUNE 30, 1971 |
NOV. 7, 1972 |
LATE '60s-'70s |
P.S. |
THE MUSIC
What would you do if The Wonder Years theme seemed out of tune? If you're like some Netflix viewers -- surprised to find that the streaming version opens with a different cover of "With a Little Help From My Friends" -- you might tune out. Acquiring the series' original music was a priority for Time Life. Objective No. 1: clearing Joe Cocker's take on the Beatles. "That was one of the biggest challenges," says Time Life senior VP Jeff Peisch. "If we couldn't clear that, it wasn't worth going forward." After months of negotiations, the deal was done -- and hundreds more followed over the course of about a year. Peisch's team secured 96 percent of the original music (285 songs). So what about the others including hits by the Doors and Neil Young? Peisch says the rights holders had one complaint: "You're not paying us enough."
In March 1977, the crew at WJM-TV signed off for good.
by Danny Spiegel
in TV Guide
When:
March 19, 1977
Where:
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
What:
The WJM-TV team signs off in the series finale
ove was all around for The Mary Tyler Moore Show
the night its highly anticipated last episode aired. This finale had
everything, including guest stars (Valerie Harper and Cloris Leachman,
returning from their respective spinoffs, Rhoda
and Phyllis
),
an emotional send-off (the now-classic group hug and a bittersweet
rendition of "It's a Long Way to Tipperary"), and a triumphant curtain
call. When WJM-TV's new owner wanted to make big changes, instead of
firing nincompoop anchor Ted Baxter (Ted Knight), he canned the rest of
the staff: Mary (Mary Tyler Moore), Lou (Ed Asner), Murray (Gavin
MacLeod), and even Happy Homemaker Sue Ann Nivens (Betty White).
Everyone -- the fictional characters and the real-life cast, which also
included Georgia Engel as Georgette -- knew the end was coming, but
that didn't make things any easier.
Alan Burns (cocreater):Mary was the last one who signed on to the idea of shutting the series down, because she loved the process, the show itself, the cast, and the staff. It was harder for her than anyone.
Harper:It was Cloris Leachman who called [cocreater] James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and said, "We'd really like to be on the last Mary. We know you're doing it at the office, but the apartment girls would like to be written in." So they did.
Asner:During the rehearsal, we went into the group hug, and Jim Brooks said, "Now, is there a funny way that we can get out of this and maybe not necessarily break up the hug?" Fortunately, Georgia said, "Well, there's a Kleenex on the desk; we can go for the Kleenex." So we all moved over like a centipede to get the Kleenex.
Jay Sandrich (director):We were doing the lines in rehearsal with not a lot of feeling, just to know what they were. But when Ed read the line "I treasure you people" so beautifully, it just got us all. And I remember telling Mary she should hold off tears as long as she could.
Burns:[On the night of the shoot,] Mary was really disciplined, and she made herself get through this. And we were holding our breath the whole time.
MacLeod:All our family members were there. And Mary's mom and dad were always there, every Friday night. I think Dick Cavett could have been there, he used to come a lot.
Sandrich:When the [characters] walked out of the door and Mary turned the light off, the man backstage who turned the studio light off was so in tears, he forgot! [ Laughs ] And when the scene was over, tears were running down everybody's face.
MacLeod:The audience was weeping. They didn't want this group of people not to be together anymore.
Burns:I can't remember whose idea it was to include a televised curtain call
at the end, but it seemed only appropriate that we should recognize
what all these people meant to each other and to the audience. It broke
the fourth wall, but what the hell, where were we gonna go from
there?
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