The Wonder Years: The Media Thread

[Raja]

14 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

At least they’re not making him the new “Chuck Cunningham”.

Probably because no Fonz has broken out as the big star

[jah1986]

Didn't Bruce re-enlist last season? I remember Dean sitting in the recruitment office on the floor trying to get Bruce out of it. What happened after that? Because if he's been living in the basement all this time, there's no excuse for him not to make an appearance. I guess the actor was too busy with Superman & Lois.

[Raja]

1 hour ago, jah1986 said:

Didn't Bruce re-enlist last season? I remember Dean sitting in the recruitment office on the floor trying to get Bruce out of it. What happened after that? Because if he's been living in the basement all this time, there's no excuse for him not to make an appearance. I guess the actor was too busy with Superman & Lois.

On his second tour of duty he was wounded and medically retired from the army 

[jah1986]

18 hours ago, Raja said:

On his second tour of duty he was wounded and medically retired from the army 

Okay, thanks for this, I knew I was forgetting something. Looking forward to seeing him back in the family.

[nelroy78]

On 7/13/2023 at 4:04 AM, andromeda331 said:

That's good. I was beginning to wonder if we would ever see Bruce again. He moved into the basement and disappeared.

Basically his story just picks up where it left off last season, just five episodes late. He was in tonight’s episode as well. It was a really good storyline with Bill.

Edited August 3, 2023 by nelroy78

[DanaK]

Canceled, sadly https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/the-wonder-years-canceled-abc-1235725307/

[chitowngirl]

Not surprised. They pushed it to mid-season and then pushed it to exile over the summer. They knew this was cancelled long ago, they just needed to burn off the episodes to recoup some $$$. An interesting, thought provoking show never had much of a chance.

Edited September 16, 2023 by chitowngirl

[DanaK]

16 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

Not surprised. They pushed it to mid-season and then pushed it to exile over the summer. They knew this was cancelled long ago, they just needed to burn off the episodes to recoup some $$$. An interesting, thought provoking show never had much of a chance.

Yep, the push to Summer made it obvious it likely wouldn’t make it to a 3rd season

[txhorns79]

1 hour ago, chitowngirl said:

An interesting, thought provoking show never had much of a chance.

It had good moments.  I think the biggest problem was the character of Dean.  They wanted him to be like Kevin on the original, but he wasn't particularly interesting and the real action was with the parents.  I thought Lillian's story was fascinating and the actress was great.  A show based around her would have kept my interest. 

[andromeda331]

Yeah it's no surprise. They did everything they could to get it cancelled.

[zoey1996]

Well, that's disappointing! I think they had more stories to tell, and I enjoyed watching the shows.

[Shrek]

Of all the remakes of old shows this is the only one that I've been recording & enjoyed watching even though I originally thought it had been done for optics, so sad news indeed.

[Sarah 103]

On 9/15/2023 at 10:40 PM, txhorns79 said:

I think the biggest problem was the character of Dean.  They wanted him to be like Kevin on the original, but he wasn't particularly interesting and the real action was with the parents. 

This series was a good idea with a poor execution. I always had the sense the writers didn't think it would last long because they overstuffed the episodes with multiple plot lines. It didn't allow the stories to breathe and be as fully developed as they should have been. 

There is a version of this series that could have worked, just not the one they made. If they wanted to separate themselves from the original, making the central character someone other than Dean would have worked.

Lillian would have been a fantastic central character. She is a devoted Black mother. While most Black women in that era had a full time or part job that brought in a much needed second income, Lillian has a serious full time career that required a significant amount of education. Watching Lillian trying to navigate the world and trying to help prepare her child for a different world than the one she grew up in would have been an amazing show.

Making Kim the central character would have worked equally well. She has a strong commitment to activism and civil rights. Seeing her go through different forms of activism like working outside the system with the Black Panthers, or working within the system trying to get a candidate elected to office would have made for an excellent series. At the same time, she also has friends and a social life beyond her activism. Centering Kim could have blended the best elements of The Wonder Years and Blossom. 

I think part of the problem with Dean (and this is with the writing, not the actor), was that made him too much like Paul from the original series. Kevin in the original series is kind a bland everybody/teen that the audience can project themselves onto. Dean comes off more as the geeky best friend. 

One of the biggest mistakes the series made was starting in April of 1968. Someone on this board had one the best ideas I have ever read on the internet when they suggested the series should have started in August of 1967 with Thurgood Marshall being confirmed as the first Black Supreme Court Justice, and then the end of the first season is the King Assassination and the aftermath. It would have demonstrated from the start that this series is different (ending the first episode with a triumph instead of personal tragedy).

Here's why that idea is beyond brilliant. It demonstrates the mixing of national triumph and tragedy that defines/encapsulates the decade/era. Also, it allows the viewer to actually see what the integration of the junior high was like from the start of the year.

I want to see Brad and Dean becoming friends, and Dean's friends becoming Brad's friends. My theory is that unlike the other White students, Dean and his friends don't care that Brad is Jewish. It's a bond of outsiders. The fact that Brad likes the same comic book/geek/nerdy stuff matters more to Dean and his friends than religion. The shared interest matters more to Brad than the racial difference. Showing that process happen within the first episode would have been great television. 

Also, this would have made the timeline easier for the writers. Start in August, and then at Christmas time they could do the Christmas episode where Bruce comes home. Show him struggle to adjust to civilian life, and decide he'd rather reenlist. Sometime early in the second season would be the incident that results in Brian Cooper's death that also results in Bruce permanently ending his time the military. 

Also, the writers did not research the era as well as they should have. They were little things that stuck out to me as wrong, notable omissions, or out of place.

[PRgal]

Honestly, it was a mistake to set it in the same period as the OG series.  I would loved to have seen one taking place in the early naughts.  Hey, maybe even focusing on a middle eastern family and the aftermath of 9/11 (and a bit of Millennial/Xennial nostalgia (okay, we Xennials got it from This is Us). 

Edited November 22, 2023 by PRgal

[Scarlett45]

On 11/22/2023 at 6:44 AM, PRgal said:

Honestly, it was a mistake to set it in the same period as the OG series.  I would loved to have seen one taking place in the early naughts.  Hey, maybe even focusing on a middle eastern family and the aftermath of 9/11 (and a bit of Millennial/Xennial nostalgia (okay, we Xennials got it from This is Us). 

I agree. 

[andromeda331]

On 11/22/2023 at 5:44 AM, PRgal said:

Honestly, it was a mistake to set it in the same period as the OG series.  I would loved to have seen one taking place in the early naughts.  Hey, maybe even focusing on a middle eastern family and the aftermath of 9/11 (and a bit of Millennial/Xennial nostalgia (okay, we Xennials got it from This is Us). 

I didn't mind it being set in the same time period. Different families have different experiences but we didn't really get the Williams family living in the 60s in Alabama. Which is too bad that would have been great. Especially a black family living in the mist of the civil rights. There was so much going on that they all could have had really great roles. We could have Kim exploring the different movements Black Panthers, Hippies, etc. They could have either killed off Bruce in Vietnam or had him return and messed up like most came back and didn't get a lot of help. Also him serving apparently wasn't what either of his parents wanted him to do. That could have been a issue between him and Kim. That could have been interesting. They set up Dean being one of the first black students going to an intergrated. That should have set up so many great stories. But it didn't. 

I also do think getting different time periods would have been great idea too.