Did you grow up with “The Wonder Years” and miss the gentle-but-honest look at life the show used to present each week? If you loved the show and want to revisit the life of Kevin Arnold and his friends, “The Wonder Years: Season One” will come to retail stores Oct. 7 thanks to StarVista Entertainment/Time Life.
The first season of the Emmy Award-winning cult classic will be featured on two discs for $19.95 and will include all six unedited episodes and every song from the original airings. “[H]ighlights include Kevin’s experiences with young love, his school’s well-intentioned, though comedic, attempts at classroom sex education, and the incredible social pressures behind an innocent junior high school dance,” states the release.
There will also be two hours of specially-produced bonus features such as “A Wonderful Day: Highlights from The Wonder Years Cast Reunion” (which occurred May 28, 2014 in Los Angeles); the featurette “With a Little Help from My Friends: The Early Days of The Wonder Years” and new, in-depth interviews with creators Neal Marlens and Carol Black, and stars Fred Savage (Kevin Arnold), Danica McKellar (Winnie Cooper) and Josh Saviano (Paul Pfeiffer).
Here’s more about the show:
“The Wonder Years debuted in 1988 following ABC’s broadcast of Super Bowl XXII, and the affectionate look at growing up in the late ’60s and early ’70s in suburban America was unlike anything else on television. It was 1968 — the year of Nixon and space walks and Mod Squad and Vietnam. Enter Kevin Arnold, a sixth grader at Kennedy Junior High School. Set against the suburban backdrop of Anytown, USA, Kevin sought to minimize his teenage angst while dealing with an older, noogie-happy brother Wayne (Jason Hervey), a rebellious sister, Karen (Olivia d’Abo), distant, workaholic father, Jack (Dan Lauria) and doting housewife mother, Norma (Alley Mills). Add to the mix Paul Pfeiffer (Josh Saviano), his nerdy, allergy-riddled best friend, a potential love interest in winsome girl-next-door Winnie Cooper (Danica McKellar) and narration by an older, wiser, wittier Kevin (voiced by Daniel Stern) to add perspective to the nostalgia, and you have the perfect recipe for TV greatness. And, for the next six seasons, America tuned in to follow Kevin’s exploits, as he navigated adolescence in the most memorable of ways.
From 1988 to 1993, The Wonder Years was one of the most popular shows on TV, achieving a spot in the Nielsen Top 30 for four of its six seasons. And the critical accolades and awards would follow: after only a scant six episodes, the show captured an Emmy® for “Best Comedy Series;” and, at the age of 13, Fred Savage, would become the youngest actor ever nominated as “Outstanding Lead Actor for a Comedy Series.” The series would also go on to win 24 awards (and be nominated for 70 more), including multiple Emmy® Awards, a Golden Globe® and, in 1989, a Peabody® Award for pushing the boundaries of the sitcom format and using new modes of storytelling. Additionally, in 1997, “My Father’s Office” was ranked #29 on TV Guide’s “100 Greatest Episodes of All Time” and in the 2009 list, the pilot episode was ranked #43. Suffice it to say, The Wonder Years was one of the most critically lauded sitcoms of the late 80s and early 90s.”
“The Wonder Years” was the most requested unreleased TV DVD in the marketplace, but why has it taken so long for “The Wonder Years” to come out? Well, it comes down to music rights. “[T]he release of ‘The Wonder Years’ had been mired in complicated music rights issues for decades,” states the release. “However, as its use of classic period music was an integral part of the series, StarVista Entertainment/Time painstakingly cleared over 300 songs as they were featured in the original broadcast.”
If you love the Season One DVD set, then take a look at “The Wonder Years Complete Series.” You can see everything the DVD set comes with–including 23 hours of bonus programming, a collectible metal locker, decorative magnets and more–right here.
