S01:E01 Pilot

[AgentRXS]

Quote

As the youngest in the Williams family, Dean is struggling to figure out where he fits in. Between his brother’s athleticism, sister’s popularity, mother’s intelligence and dad’s overall coolness, everyone else seems to have their lane figured out. He decides to pursue his calling as “The Great Uniter” and attempts to organize the first integrated baseball game between his team and his friend Brad’s team.

Original Air Date: September 22, 2021

[Browncoat]

Solid episode.  Poor Dean.  

[AimingforYoko]

Good choice using Otis Redding's version of  "A Change Is Gonna Come" over the closing montage. I always preferred his to Sam Cooke's.

1 minute ago, Browncoat said:

 Poor Dean.  

Indeed, crappy day all around.

[SoMuchTV]

I’m not hating it. They did lean a little heavily into the “things haven’t changed” thing (including but not limited to Jefferson Davis Middle School), but I’m okay with that. 

Since I only recently watched "The West Wing”, it pained me a little to see Dule Hill as a graying suburban dad. 

Also - they had a color tv! Jealous!

Edited September 23, 2021 by SoMuchTV

[possibilities]

I've never watched the original. Does anyone kow how closely this one follows it?

[Raja]

14 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I've never watched the original. Does anyone kow how closely this one follows it?

Most of the beats are the same but Kevin Arnold was speaking to the "thirty something" folks where Dean's contemporaries are now sixty something

[Marley]

I really liked it.

Poor Dean tho. His best buddy kissing his crush. I wanna say what a jerk but they’re kids lol.

Dule Hill is still mega hot to me.

I hope we see or hear more of the son in Vietnam.

[Miss Slay]

The original Wonder Years is one of my top three favorite series of all time. I would argue that the pilot is one of the best half hours ever made.  So my expectations were high. I don't think they should have called this show The Wonder Years. Other shows have borrowed the narrator format - a great example is Everybody Hates Chris - and made it their own. The "voice" of the show felt very Black-ish to me. And not in a good way. I did find the ending to be very powerful - but it just wasn't as good as the original pilot. The original show was almost like listening to poetry. The music was perfect. And it was funny. This wasn't funny - but I would argue that most modern half hours aren't funny.

I give it a solid C  and probably won't be tuning in again. It reminds me of Roseanne (now the Connors) where people tune in at first but then it becomes just another show - nowhere near the original.

[Cherpumple]

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

I've never watched the original. Does anyone kow how closely this one follows it?

I haven't seen the original in a long time, but the set up is pretty similar: nuclear family in suburbia with two boys and a girl. In the original, Kevin's older sister was a hippie who drifted in and out of the series, and his older brother was a stereotypical jerky older brother who teased/harassed Kevin constantly. The best friend character was much nerdier (he had the thick coke-bottle glasses), and the girlfriend/crush (Winnie) was more "girly" and aloof (I doubt they would've been sharing comic books). Also, I don't think Kevin's mom worked outside the home, and his father had a pretty mundane office job and was very closed-off emotionally from his kids. The parents in this version are already much cooler.

This first episode had a similar sepia-tinted feel to the original, but dealt with different issues. Going by the original, I kept waiting for something bad to happen at the end, and was surprised it was Dr. King's assassination (I had forgotten the timeline) and not news about the older brother. Also, the original ended with Kevin and Winnie kissing on the swings, so I was surprised by this twist.

It wasn't amazing, but I'll keep watching for a while. I'm not really into middle school drama, but his parents seem interesting.

[Arcadiasw]

So far I like it. I was expecting the show to end with two twists. I knew it would end with MLK assassination since the show is set in 1968. I was expecting the second twist to be the older brother being killed since in the original Winnie's brother was killed in Vietnam in the first episode. Glad that didn't happen but if the older brother does return I'm expecting some trauma from him.

Edited September 23, 2021 by Arcadiasw

[kirkola]

I loved it.  It's kinda refreshing to see the time period played out from the other side of the fence.  I will admit, going into it, I had wanted them to update the timeline a bit and maybe had the family trying to adjust to the late 80s or something.  But, the execution of this was good.  I'll also admit, to a wee crush on Dule Hill dating back to West Wing.  So anytime he's on my screen, I'm happy.  And I loved Mom & Dad talking in sync.

[GHScorpiosRule]

17 minutes ago, kirkola said:

I'll also admit, to a wee crush on Dule Hill dating back to West Wing.  So anytime he's on my screen, I'm happy. 

This is why I'm watching. Also because I loved him on Psych, and one of its writers/producers, Saladin K. Patterson is the one who created this show. So, "win-win"!

Edited September 23, 2021 by GHScorpiosRule

[Arcadiasw]

40 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

This is why I'm watching. Also because I loved him on Psych, and one of its writers/producers, Saladin K. Patterson is the one who created this show. So, "win-win"!

I thought Saladin K. Patterson looked familiar. Now I know from where 🤣🤣

[nodorothyparker]

I loved the original recipe Wonder Years, which premiered when I was a teenager about the same age as the kids on the show. So while I very much want to like this show and hope it succeeds, there's been a little part of me that really wished they called it something else and let it stand on its own. Even saying that though I acknowledge I don't watch much network TV and probably wouldn't have gone looking for this had I not been curious about a reboot from the Black perspective, so maybe they know what they're doing.

All that said, I think I like it enough to give it another shot beyond the usual exposition heavy pilot to see where they go with it.  The showrunners did a decent enough job creating a distinctive feel for the period and the setting and I found the cast, especially the lead kid, likeable and competent enough. If I have a quibble at this point, it's that the top billed Don Cheadle as narrator is almost too much.

[Bookish Jen]

I watched last night and I liked it. I found it heartwarming and funny. I also got teared up at everyone's reaction over MLK being killed. And when Dean saw his crush and his bestie kissing, that was heartbreaking. I really felt for Dean. I'll definitely watch next week.

Edited September 23, 2021 by Bookish Jen

[Sarah 103]

15 hours ago, Marley said:

I hope we see or hear more of the son in Vietnam.

My prediction was that we were going to find out the older brother had died at the end of the episode as a callback to the original. I liked that they took it in a different direction and went with a national tragedy as opposed to a personal tragedy. If I were writing this new modern series, I would have the older brother come back alive, because it opens up so many interesting storylines about a black Vietnam Veteran readjusting to civilian life. 

I correctly predicted that one of the older siblings would be involved in with the Black Panthers. I am now going to predict there's an episode where the older sister (for some reason) ends up taking Dean to a Black Panther meeting or at least the local headquarters. 

15 hours ago, possibilities said:

I've never watched the original. Does anyone kow how closely this one follows it?

Both series start in 1968 suburbia. This version is set in Alabama, the orginal version was set most likely in California, but it was never explicitly stated. Both families have the same number of siblings, but the birth order is different. In the modern version, it's oldest brother, middle child daughter, youngest son. In the original, it was older sister, middle brother, younger brother. 

In the original, the mother did not work outside the home at the start of the series and the father was middle management in an aerospace and/or military related company. The biggest difference between the parents relationship is that they are more openly affectionate towards each other in this series and have a more loving relationship. 

 

[Snow Apple]

I didn't think it was as good as the original but it's good enough that I'll keep watching.

I wonder if they'll connect it to the original somehow, or keep it totally separate. Maybe just a line about the older brother knowing a Brian Cooper in Vietnam?

[chediavolo]

18 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

I’m not hating it. They did lean a little heavily into the “things haven’t changed” thing (including but not limited to Jefferson Davis Middle School), but I’m okay with that. 

Since I only recently watched "The West Wing”, it pained me a little to see Dule Hill as a graying suburban dad. 

Also - they had a color tv! Jealous!

I remember him from Psych. Boy do I feel old. 
 

[theredhead77]

33 minutes ago, chediavolo said:

Since I only recently watched "The West Wing”, it pained me a little to see Dule Hill as a graying suburban dad. 

My least favorite thing about this episode was seeing Dule Hill with graying hair. I do not need to be reminded through a TV show that people my age are graying. Nope, nope, nope! 

I really did love this episode. I don't remember much of the original The Wonder Years, despite it being must-see-TV, so I can't compare or complain but this was well done and I hope it continues on.

[Sarah 103]

3 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

I didn't think it was as good as the original but it's good enough that I'll keep watching.

I wonder if they'll connect it to the original somehow, or keep it totally separate. Maybe just a line about the older brother knowing a Brian Cooper in Vietnam?

Maybe. This series starts in April of 1968. The original series started in late summer of 1968. Brian Cooper goes off to Vietnam sometime in the summer of 1968 (we see him before the start of the school year). The Coopers and the rest of the neighborhood find out that Brian has died the first day of school. If they want to link the two series, it's the easist way to do to given the difference in geography.

Do we know how old Dean's older brother is? I have so many questions that I hope we get answers to as the series progresses. Did the older brother enlist? Was he drafted? Has he done/will he do multiple tours? 

Also, in the original series the father fought in Korea. I have a feeling that Bill, Dean's father, did not serve in the military, but I could be totally wrong. 

21 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

Since I only recently watched "The West Wing”, it pained me a little to see Dule Hill as a graying suburban dad. 

Anything that I see on screen is the work of hair and make-up until I see him being interviewed between seasons or well after filming has wrapped. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I saw the most recent Psych movie and I don't think he had gray hair in that. 

Also, I think it's worth noting that the series is set in 1968 because people married younger than they do today, and people also started families earlier than they do today. I think of it as being sort of like dog years. 30 today is very different from 30 in the 1960s.  

Edited September 23, 2021 by Sarah 103

[Arcadiasw]

38 minutes ago, Sarah 103 said:

 

Anything that I see on screen is the work of hair and make-up until I see him being interviewed between seasons or well after filming has wrapped. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I saw the most recent Psych movie and I don't think he had gray hair in that. 

 

I saw Dule Hill on The View yesterday and he had gray which surprised me. I know he is in his mid 40s but it caught me off guard. I wondered if it is for a role. We'll see what happens in Psych 3. James not showing any gray but he could be dying his hair🤔

 

I expected the show to be set in the 80s or 90s but I can't think of anything that would've created a shocking ending except maybe the Challenger exploding or LA Riots

[Sarah 103]

32 minutes ago, Arcadiasw said:

I expected the show to be set in the 80s or 90s but I can't think of anything that would've created a shocking ending except maybe the Challenger exploding or LA Riots

You don't have to end the pilot with some big national event. As I pointed out earlier, the first episode of the original series ends with the death of Brian Cooper. It's a smaller more intimate tragedy. It's something all of the characters will remember but not the entire country. There are sudden and shocking deaths that happen all the time, like a fatal car accident.  

[stonehaven]

I loved it...and laughed several times....and yes, as a white girl, I felt for Dean when he said he felt like he didn't belong except when he was with his friends.....Believe me, I get that...and it took me turning 40 to really feel like I do belong.

Great show but Dule as the dad makes me feel old. I will keep watching on Hulu as I'm in Church on Wednesday nights....

[txhorns79]

It was okay.  I rolled my eyes at the sitcomm-y stuff like the dad and coach barking competing orders at the kid during the baseball game, and side-eyed the men's bad Afro wigs.  I also guess that the Williams are fairly well off because that color tv console with record player they had would have been pretty expensive in the 60s.  I'll continue to check it out, and will be interested to see how things progress once they get beyond the early episodes. 

[LemonSoda]

I loved it. It definitely brought the feels. 

[Cherpumple]

12 hours ago, nodorothyparker said:

I loved the original recipe Wonder Years, which premiered when I was a teenager about the same age as the kids on the show.

I'm a similar age and definitely identified with the kids. I thought Kevin's mom was fine, but was a little scared of his dad. I don't remember him being a bad guy, he just had a short fuse and was very emotionally distant from his kids, which caused a lot of problems on both sides. With this new show, I'm already more interested in the parents than the kids, and I hope they get a lot of screen time.

[Arcadiasw]

8 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

You don't have to end the pilot with some big national event. As I pointed out earlier, the first episode of the original series ends with the death of Brian Cooper. It's a smaller more intimate tragedy. It's something all of the characters will remember but not the entire country. There are sudden and shocking deaths that happen all the time, like a fatal car accident.  

Right. Brian Cooper's death was connected to Vietnam. I meant the ending hit the main cast deeply but the audience connects with it too because they knew of the event 

[chediavolo]

11 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

Maybe. This series starts in April of 1968. The original series started in late summer of 1968. Brian Cooper goes off to Vietnam sometime in the summer of 1968 (we see him before the start of the school year). The Coopers and the rest of the neighborhood find out that Brian has died the first day of school. If they want to link the two series, it's the easist way to do to given the difference in geography.

Do we know how old Dean's older brother is? I have so many questions that I hope we get answers to as the series progresses. Did the older brother enlist? Was he drafted? Has he done/will he do multiple tours? 

Also, in the original series the father fought in Korea. I have a feeling that Bill, Dean's father, did not serve in the military, but I could be totally wrong. 

Anything that I see on screen is the work of hair and make-up until I see him being interviewed between seasons or well after filming has wrapped. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I saw the most recent Psych movie and I don't think he had gray hair in that. 

Also, I think it's worth noting that the series is set in 1968 because people married younger than they do today, and people also started families earlier than they do today. I think of it as being sort of like dog years. 30 today is very different from 30 in the 1960s.  

There’s a Psych movie? Where is it streaming, please?! 

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 hours ago, chediavolo said:

There’s a Psych movie? Where is it streaming, please?! 

There are two of them. And they're streaming on the Peacock app.

[Sarah 103]

8 hours ago, Arcadiasw said:

Right. Brian Cooper's death was connected to Vietnam. I meant the ending hit the main cast deeply but the audience connects with it too because they knew of the event 

I think what's important is that it's a tragedy and the audience can connect with the idea of the devesting loss of the personal tragedy, but not nessesarily understand the nature of the tragedy itself (if that makes sense). When I first saw the original Wonder Years pilot, I did not know or understand that much about the Vietnam War, so that part didn't really connect with me. However, I did have an older brother so I could imagine how devestating it would be for my older brother to die young under any circumstances. The set up is, this horrible thing has happened and it's having an emotional impact on the characters, but I'm not sure the audience has to completly understand the event for the emotional impact to resonate.  

[ljenkins782]

On 9/22/2021 at 9:02 PM, AimingforYoko said:

Good choice using Otis Redding's version of  "A Change Is Gonna Come" over the closing montage. I always preferred his to Sam Cooke's.

Sam Cooke's version of A Change is Gonna Come is the only version I will ever accept, so I was disappointed they went with the Otis Redding version. 

I liked the show overall, wasn't blown away, but I can certainly see watching on Hulu the next day like I do lots of other shows that I'm mildly interested in. 

The reactions to MLK's death made me consider that while everyone alive and conscious in 1963 has an "I still remember where I was when I heard" story about JFK's death, but I don't think I've ever seen any (or not many) depiction of the news of MLK's death. Even that Walter Cronkite clip, I don't think I've seen it. Any mention of his passing is typically lumped in with the losses of JFK, RFK, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and the Civil Rights movement as a whole, but rarely is it discussed how the immediate aftermath of that news went.

Edited September 24, 2021 by ljenkins782

[SoMuchTV]

34 minutes ago, ljenkins782 said:

The reactions to MLK's death made me consider that while everyone alive and conscious in 1963 has an "I still remember where I was when I heard" story about JFK's death, but I don't think I've ever seen any (or not many) depiction of the news of MLK's death. Even that Walter Cronkite clip, I don't think I've seen it. Any mention of his passing is typically lumped in with the losses of JFK, RFK, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and the Civil Rights movement as a whole, but rarely is it discussed how the immediate aftermath of that news went.

I do recall (not at the time but multiple recounts after the fact) about RFK having to break the news of the MLK shooting during a campaign speech to a largely minority crowd (Detroit maybe? I’m not sure) and he was given a lot of credit for diffusing potential violence. Now I have to go look that up!

But yeah, I remember hearing about JFK in my first grade classroom. All the others, just kind of run together. 

And you can probably tell I’m right in the target demographic for both versions of the show. 

[chediavolo]

9 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

There are two of them. And they're streaming on the Peacock app.

Thank you!

[nodorothyparker]

3 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

The reactions to MLK's death made me consider that while everyone alive and conscious in 1963 has an "I still remember where I was when I heard" story about JFK's death, but I don't think I've ever seen any (or not many) depiction of the news of MLK's death. Even that Walter Cronkite clip, I don't think I've seen it. Any mention of his passing is typically lumped in with the losses of JFK, RFK, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and the Civil Rights movement as a whole, but rarely is it discussed how the immediate aftermath of that news went.

Mad Men did a later season episode about it, but of course because all the major characters were mostly well-heeled white people their reactions mostly consisted of telling the handful of Black secretaries the advertising agency had recently been arm twisted into hiring how sorry they were about it. Like with most other historical events that occurred within the show's timeline, we also saw the characters watching media coverage and alluding to the rioting that followed in places like nearby Harlem

[babyhouseman]

I enjoyed it. It kind of reminded me of Everybody Hates Chris, Chris Rock's show about his childhood in the 80s. But CR's show was all comedy and didn't really deal with history.

[Empress1]

On 9/23/2021 at 3:23 PM, Sarah 103 said:

The biggest difference between the parents relationship is that they are more openly affectionate towards each other in this series and have a more loving relationship. 

Towards each other and towards their kids, I’d say. I was little when the original aired; we used to watch it as a family. (Dan Lauria has been in a million things but he’s always the dad from The Wonder Years to me.) The original dad was gruff and not very affectionate in general - he loved his family but was of the old school way where men didn’t show a lot of emotion. I feel like he wasn’t particularly happy with his job either (which was your basic middle management office job, the kind few kids grow up saying they want to have) but I could be making that up.

When the daughter reached for “Soul on Ice” I said “uh oh.” She’s going to become radicalized, which I guess is the flip side of the original sister, who was a hippie type. We shan’t be seeing pressed hair on her in a few episodes, I’m guessing.

I literally gasped when the friend was kissing the crush. Ouch!

Add me to those who have crushes on Dule Hill. I also have one on Don Cheadle.

 

[Sarah 103]

1 hour ago, Empress1 said:

 The original dad was gruff and not very affectionate in general - he loved his family but was of the old school way where men didn’t show a lot of emotion. I feel like he wasn’t particularly happy with his job either (which was your basic middle management office job, the kind few kids grow up saying they want to have) but I could be making that up.

You are correct. I can't remember his job title without looking it up, but it was something confusing and complicated. Just from hearing the title, you would have no idea what he did. 

1 hour ago, Empress1 said:

When the daughter reached for “Soul on Ice” I said “uh oh.” She’s going to become radicalized, which I guess is the flip side of the original sister, who was a hippie type. We shan’t be seeing pressed hair on her in a few episodes, I’m guessing.

The older sister is already radicalized. Dean found a picture of her in the Black Panther uniform holding a gun. I figured one of the older siblings would be connected to the Black Panther party, because that would create the same intergenerational tension that existed in the original series between Karen (the hippie sister) and her/Kevin's parents.  

[possibilities]

I really hope they do the Black Panthers justice. They fed children and did a lot of other less exciting stuff that most media likes to pretend didn't happen. It would be great to show the sister's story in a layered way and not just make it a simple "wild child vs settled parents" trope.

[bybrandy]

2 hours ago, possibilities said:

I really hope they do the Black Panthers justice. They fed children and did a lot of other less exciting stuff that most media likes to pretend didn't happen. It would be great to show the sister's story in a layered way and not just make it a simple "wild child vs settled parents" trope.

I read a middle grade book recently that dealt with this subject pretty well (One Crazy Summery by Rita Williams-Garcia) so my first thought when he found the picture of her was that I wondered if she'd take him to Black Panther summer camp when she's supposed to be watching him in a future episode. 

Dean's parents are way, way, way, way cooler than Kevin Arnold's parents.  That was literally my first thought.  I came from Dule Hill but I will stick around for the show, I think.

[andromeda331]

I came for Dule too. Loved him in Psych. It'll never beat the original Wonder Years for me. But I liked the episode. I like Dean and felt for him. I liked the parents' relationship with each other and their kids. Its off to a very good start.

[madpsych78]

Yeah, I actually think the Williams parents are an improvement over the Arnold parents in many respects. However, I'm White and the Arnold parents are very similar to what I remember of my grandparents, so I think the Arnold parents were likely an accurate depiction of many middle/working class White parents of that time. 

I also think that Dean's crush could potentially be an improvement over Winnie as well. I always felt like that given The Wonder Years was written from the perspective of a boy, that the female crush was written to showcase her attractiveness but not necessarily her personality, and I always felt like Winnie did not have much of a personality. I loved how the crush (can't remember her name) stuck up for herself and Dean appeared to be very impressed with that. 

Again, since I'm White, I have an idea of how White males view White females, but watching Dean and his crush, as well as his parents and even his older sister, I wondered how Black males view Black females and whether it is similar or different from their White counterparts? I'd love to hear others' perspectives, but it seems to me that Black males are more accepting of Black females who are outspoken and who stand up for themselves then their White counterparts. (It may also depend on the White individual though...a conservative White individual like Jack Arnold may not have been as accepting, whereas a liberal White individual like Karen's boyfriend [who was played by David Schwimmer] may have been more accepting.)

One thing the original had was that 8mm video footage which showed the Arnolds, the Coopers and Paul in the pilot, presumably that summer before starting school. Interesting point that the pilot of this Wonder Years is set in April of 1968 whereas the pilot of the original was set in the fall. 

[Miss Slay]

I agree with the commenters above - I think what the Wonder Years did so well was make everything feel personal. Vietnam was part of life at that point - the original Wonder Years shows that the news of it is always on - Kevin isn't really paying attention. But when someone he knows is killed, it becomes personal. There were other fantastic touches that discussed Vietnam later on - like when Karen dates a guy who is against the war and Mr. Arnold is pro war, or when Wayne's best friend comes home from Vietnam and he really struggles. It was beautifully written.

I wish they would have found a way to make MLK's death more personal to a 12-year-old boy at the time. It felt sad - but it didn't quite hit the notes of the original pilot for me.

[Sarah 103]

12 hours ago, bybrandy said:

I read a middle grade book recently that dealt with this subject pretty well (One Crazy Summery by Rita Williams-Garcia) so my first thought when he found the picture of her was that I wondered if she'd take him to Black Panther summer camp when she's supposed to be watching him in a future episode. 

I would love to see that happen. She is supposed to be watching him, and she is keeping on him, just at Black Panther headquarters instead of wherever thier parents expect them to be, like the library or the park/baseball field. It would be a great callback to "Brightwing" in the original series when Kevin starts spending time with Karen and some of her hippie friends. 

34 minutes ago, Miss Slay said:

I wish they would have found a way to make MLK's death more personal to a 12-year-old boy at the time. It felt sad - but it didn't quite hit the notes of the original pilot for me.

If he's 12, I don't think you can have that personal connection. He was born after the Bus Boycott, so he wouldn't have direct memories of that. He would have been 7 when the March on Washington happened, so unless his parents took him, it was an important thing happening on the news and something grown-ups were talking about, but I'm not sure how much of an impression it would have made on him. Unless at some point, his parents took him to hear King speak in person, I'm not sure the personal connection is going to exist for someone 12. 

I'm a younger person so maybe someone older can correct me on this.

There's a huge difference between the death of a national civil rights figure/leader (MLK) and someone the character has known for thier entire life (Brian Cooper). 

 

[possibilities]

I think how much of an impression things make depends on the kid and their family. Growing up surrounded by adults who were involved in political activism, I was very aware and felt the impact of things many of my age peers didn't. I think it's entirely possible that current events loom large. Many people think children can't understand things, but in my experience that's only because the adults don't explain it.

[Miss Slay]

2 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

 

There's a huge difference between the death of a national civil rights figure/leader (MLK) and someone the character has known for thier entire life (Brian Cooper). 

 

That was obviously the point I was making.

[Cherpumple]

8 hours ago, madpsych78 said:

I also think that Dean's crush could potentially be an improvement over Winnie as well. I always felt like that given The Wonder Years was written from the perspective of a boy, that the female crush was written to showcase her attractiveness but not necessarily her personality, and I always felt like Winnie did not have much of a personality. I loved how the crush (can't remember her name) stuck up for herself and Dean appeared to be very impressed with that.

Yes! I have high hopes for this too. I always wanted to like Winnie, but I didn't find her very relatable since Kevin mostly viewed her as this untouchable perfect girl on a pedestal. And as far as I remember, they really didn't have much in common.

[truthaboutluv]

22 hours ago, babyhouseman said:

I enjoyed it. It kind of reminded me of Everybody Hates Chris, Chris Rock's show about his childhood in the 80s. But CR's show was all comedy and didn't really deal with history.

Same, which is probably why I actually really enjoyed the episode because man, I loved Everybody Hates Chris. I guess I'm the minority voice here where I've never cared about the original Wonder Years.  I was born in the mid-80s so during the majority of the show's run and success, I was way too young to have any interest. 

As I got older, based on its being fairly popular in the general world of pop culture, I did catch a season or two on one of those TV Land like channels and honestly, didn't really get it.  It was okay, Fred Savage was adorable but in general, it was mostly meh to me. So I actually didn't have much desire to watch the reboot because I didn't care that much about the original version. 

But I figured I'd at least give the pilot a shot and I really, really liked it. The sister's not that interesting to me but I love the parents and the child actor playing Dean hits the right note. I like Don Cheadle's narration as well. 

[andromeda331]

8 hours ago, Miss Slay said:

I agree with the commenters above - I think what the Wonder Years did so well was make everything feel personal. Vietnam was part of life at that point - the original Wonder Years shows that the news of it is always on - Kevin isn't really paying attention. But when someone he knows is killed, it becomes personal. There were other fantastic touches that discussed Vietnam later on - like when Karen dates a guy who is against the war and Mr. Arnold is pro war, or when Wayne's best friend comes home from Vietnam and he really struggles. It was beautifully written.

I wish they would have found a way to make MLK's death more personal to a 12-year-old boy at the time. It felt sad - but it didn't quite hit the notes of the original pilot for me.

That was one reason why the original hit me. My dad served in the war and came back messed up. Like so many others. And so many didn't come back. Winnie's brother being killed hit home. My dad's cousin was killed. My oldest cousin was named after him. The episode with Wayne's best friend is one of my favorites. Its so well done and so well written. When the couple came up to Dean's parents at the baseball field I really thought we were going to find out that their son had been killed. 

[possibilities]

The death of King was a HUGE, HUGE thing that affected people very deeply. I like that the show is willing to portray that, and center a show on the lives of people for whom it's not just a bland data point on some boring timeline of distant events. I hope they will continue to do similar things that matter to millions of people whose points of view are not the most commonly represented on TV. That death wasn't some abstract news item. It was earth shattering and it disrupted the trajectory of many things to come that impacted people's lives in  extremely important ways. 

[Roaster]

When pop culture does nostalgia (and it often does), it is often nostalgia from ten to thirty years prior.

In the 70s we had Grease (set in 50s), American Graffiti (1962) and the TV shows Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley (50s and 60s).  The TV show That 70s show aired in 90s and early 2000s and was set in late 1970s.  Stanger Things (2010s) was set in the 1980s, so a thirty year difference.  The original Wonder Years (debuted 1988) was set in the late 60s.

I suspect the writers of these shows lived through the times in question and wrote romanticized versions of their childhoods.  And I suspect many viewers could remember those times with some affection.

The new Wonder Years comes out in 2021 and is set in 1968, 53 years ago.  It's like the original Wonder Years being set in 1935.  Strange, and I doubt the creators were 12 years old in 1968 or that many viewers have clear memories of that time.  Saladin K. Patterson wasn't born in 1968.  Don Cheadle was a little kid.

Having said that, I liked the pilot and will watch again.