Talk:The Wonder Years/Archives/2013

Plot

This article appears to have been written by an idiot. In reading the section titled "Plot," one sentence states that Becky Slater, Kevin's girlfriend, is played by "Danica's sister." Sadly, "Danica" was never introduced in the article prior to this first mention. If you're going to throw around first names - which you shouldn't do in an encyclopedia - at least make sure there's a full name on first reference. The article as it stands now reads like it was written by a child. — Preceding unsigned comment added by BobCSmith (talk • contribs) 01:17, 11 April 2011 (UTC)

Epilogue

I think it is ridiculous to mention the foretold events of the epilogue of the series. Yes, there is a spoiler warning, but still, I don't think that info is important enough to be putting in the main characters description. I suggest taking it out.

Speaking of the spoiler warning, I did not see a spoiler warning at the beginning of the article and I believe one is needed badly (sorry, I don't know how to add one, otherwise I would). panth0r 12:33, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

I've added a spoiler warning at the beginning of the Major characters section, just because I don't think that a section about characters would necessarily contain spoilers. However, the Story and Final episode section, from the titles, clearly will have some spoilers. —MrSomeone ^{( tlk • cntrb )} 02:44, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Thank you, that's exactly where I think it was needed. panth0r 09:11, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Just as an update, apparently most people think that the tag is unnecessary (diff) so it's gone for now. —MrSomeone ^{( tlk • cntrb )} 10:57, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Paul v. Milhouse

Anyone else think that Milhouse's character on the Simpsons is modelled after Paul Pfeiffer? --Jpawloski 03:19, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

The question is: who was created first Paul Pfeiffer or Milhouse? I think that Milhouse appeared on the Simpsons before the debut of The Wonder Years.KitHutch 15:35, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't think so. The Tracy Ullman Simpsons Shorts did precede the Wonder Years by about a year, but Milhouse doesn't appear in any of the shorts. Milhouse was introduced in a Butterfinger commercial in 1989. scroll down a bit. Zagalejo 03:50, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

There are clear similarities, so perhaps. But Milhouse clearly isn't modelled directly after Paul, as Paul's a lot more mature than Milhouse, he's older (at the smallest age difference, Paul is 12 and Milhouse is 10, Milhouse like all other Simpsons characters retains his age infinitely throughout the series, yet Paul is 16 by the last season of The Wonder Years). Milhouse also rarely corrects Bart in the way Paul corrects Kevin, and Milhouse is far more gullable and susceptible to Bart's actions whilst Paul doesn't get involved in what Kevin is doing if he thinks it's wrong - i.e. where Kevin is contemplating using Beck Slater's school president speech and Paul refuses to get involved). I think there's a high chance that Milhouse was in part modelled after Paul, though. --J. Atkins ^{(talk - contribs)} 16:32, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

Father's cause of death

I'd like some discussion on this before editing, but did the program actually state that Jack Arnold died of a heart attack? I remember the quote as being "Wayne took over the business two years later, when dad passed away".—Preceding unsigned comment added by Domszanto (talk • contribs)

• I'm almost certain it doesn't, so I removed the bit about a heart attack being the likely cause. It could just as easily been a car crash, stroke, cancer, etc. --cholmes75 (chit chat) 16:36, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
• As certain as you are about the father not dying due to heart attack, I recall in the final show the narrator stating the father passed away two years later. I believe that it was due to a heart attack and don't know why I would think that if it wasn't specifically stated. The reason is really irrelevant, but to state that he died due to gang violence is ridiculous and detracts from the rest of the descriptions!CPA Bob 03:25, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

Nope, no cause of death is stated in the final episode. See following quote from the transcript. —MrSomeone ^{( tlk • cntrb )} 05:15, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

The Wayner stayed on in furniture. Wood seemed to suit him. In fact, he took over the factory two years later... When Dad passed away. (source)

Its possible you're thinking of the dad from the Roseanne Show. He passed from a heart attack in the show —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.202.113.132 (talk) 01:20, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Ratings and popular impact?

Does anyone have any information of the shows' ratings and cultural impact during the late 80's and early 90's? Darwin's Bulldog 23:16, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

What the show is called in other countries

I just don't feel this is relevant or necessary. Does anyone think that it is even remotely interesting? Trivial, yes, but trivia? No. 24.57.203.238 00:13, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Didn't notice that bit, but I would remind you that wikipedia is not just a US website, and there may well be people who would find that information useful. 82.19.66.37 22:08, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

well... the German version is called "Wunderbare Jahre", which simply means "Wonderful Years" if you translate it literally 80.109.43.98 11:58, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, its not really a matter of opinion, it has become part of the Wikipedia template for sitcoms/show to include the translative names used for the show in other countries. The logic behind the inclusion of the translation is pretty much for people to know what show is called in other countries, so next time you are chatting on MSN to your cross atlantic friend, or when you visit Russia, you can be sure you are talking about the same show.--93.97.181.187 (talk) 01:58, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

Coach Cutlip

I remember watching the episode in which Kevin graduated from junior high and Cutlip announced that he was becoming an assistant athletic director at a junior college. He was never see again on the show. Where/when did he make an appearance as Kevin's high school gym teacher? KitHutch 14:18, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

• There was an episode when Kevin was graduating from Jr. High where Coach Cutlip had a prolonged and emotional speech telling the kids in the gym that he was going to be teaching at the High School, so they would see him in their next school year. Cutlip was around during Kevin's High School years, he was in several episodes. Darwin's Bulldog 20:42, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

• That emotional speech was because he was named assisted athletic director at a community college. I don't remember him in any high school episodes. There weren't any recurring high school teachers from what I remember. If you can reference a high school episode with Cutlip, I will be convinced.KitHutch 15:02, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

• You have me at a bit of a disadvantage with a reference. The show isn't on syndication where I'm at and I have no DVD's or videos to research. I do remember thinking it was odd that Cutlip was still around for Kevin's High School years (as well as his Jr. High years) until I saw the episode I mentioned previously. Darwin's Bulldog 22:50, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

• I watched that episode recently. Coach Cutlip said that he's going to be an assistant athletic director at a college in Indiana. He wasn't in any of the high school episodes (which is too bad, since I liked his character). Jsol5 03:53, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

• In the episode in which Kevin first enters 9th grade, Coach Cutlip is substituting for the guidance counselor when Kevin comes in for help.

Is it possible the confusion is caused by the fact that within the show, ninth grade is the final year of junior high (as it often was in that era), while in the last 15-20 years, ninth grade has shifted to high school in most of the United States? i.e, maybe the people who are sure Cutlip was around "when Kevin was in high school" are thinking that because they think of ninth grade as high school? (Am speaking from a U.S. POV since it's a U.S. show) Lawikitejana (talk) 03:35, 13 January 2012 (UTC)

this show...

..makes me sad everytime i watch it, but it was still great...anyone know when its coming out on dvd?

They only have those crappy limited editions, though some con artists are tricking people into buying the entire season, it looks very legit, but might just wanna take the heads up, eg. www.tvaddicts.tv/movie/drama/The_Wonder_Years.html

Well, there is this[1], would this be a complete thing? Or just another best of? Help plz 08:58, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Probably the first season, as there's already two 'Best ofs'. Amazon has it listed as released on 1 January, 2020, which I can only think is a database entry error or typo - the likely hood that something is released on the first day of a given year is 1/365 (or 1/366 in a leap year). Whilst there's no reason something shouldn't be released on January 1, a release date twelve years from now (2008), and thirty two years from the first season's original airing (1988), is unlikely to get a listing on both Amazon and Play.com. I can only assume it really is 'coming soon', just that they perhaps shouldn't have added it as a product listing several years ago. I'm deeply confused by the fact that they managed to release the sound track in 1994, a year after the series ended, yet the soundtrack is the one problem cited as the obstacle preventing the series' DVD release. --J. Atkins ^{(talk - contribs)} 16:38, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

Marilyn Manson

I know this might seem a strage thing to include but there was a long time misconception that Marilyn Manson appeared in The Wonder Years. Im sure I can find lots of references to it. Or is it silly to include it Graemec2 14:17, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

It is already mentioned in the article at #Trivia.
Another source: http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/marilyn.htm --MrSomeone 01:15, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

The incorrect rumor was that Paul Pfeiffer was, in fact, Marilyn Manson.Dshibshm (talk) 01:31, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

Not Trivia...

The mention of The Simpsons episode is not trivia either. There is a bad habit among the Wikipedia universe that lists cultural references, spoofs and satires under trivia. This needs to change. These should be put under a different heading such as "Satires" or something like that. In contrast, the information about Danica McKellar's sister playing one of Kevin's love interests, really is trivia.

"n episode 45, Daddy's Little Girl, there are 19 candles on the birthday cake instead of 18." - People often have one extra candle, "for good luck" on birthday cakes.

I deleted the trivia mention about the term "Wonder Years Moment." While it makes sense and might be true, it really needs a cite - and being that no one added one despite the "Citation Needed" tag being up for a few weeks, it was time to take it out. Jsol5 21:05, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Paul and Winnie

I remember the last episode really vividly and I'm pretty sure (tho not absolute) that Kevin mentioned something about Winnie ending up with Paul. Anyone else recall this. I was bummed out for years behind that, lol.Scott Free 05:05, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Pretty sure that didn't happen.

All the narrator said about Winnie was that she left the next summer to study in Paris for a number of years, and that when she came back he went to meet her with his wife and recently born first son. MrSomeone 01:43, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

location of setting

Does anyone know where the storyline was supposed to take place at, like the city and state? I'm pretty sure the actual set was in southern California; I was just wondering if that is also where the story is supposed to be.Shanoman 15:44, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

It might be a kind of fictionalized Culver City. I'm not sure if they ever came out and said it, but they show part of the address on the envelope when Wayne gets his driver's license. All you can see is "ty, CA 90235". There's no such thing as 90235, but 90230 is Culver City. Kafziel ^Talk 16:28, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, the address on Wayne's drivers license is in CA, but from what I've read in the past, the general consensus has been that rather than take place in a specific location, it was meant to be open to the viewer to interpert—more like an Anytown, USA. There used to be countless threads over at iMDB on this topic. Briefly looking, this thread may be of some interest. —MrSomeone ^{( tlk • cntrb )} 19:49, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it is Culver City, any more than the Simpsons' Springfield is Springfield, Illinois. It's definitely more of an "Anytown, USA". But the zip code is a Los Angeles-area fictional zip similar to Culver City (and the "ty" in the address goes along with that). I also should point out that speculation on the location should not be included in the article; I was just answering a question. Kafziel ^Talk 19:57, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Yup, just wanted to clarify —MrSomeone ^{( tlk • cntrb )} 22:57, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

A few clues that I've picked up while watching the reruns: The Arnolds apparently don't live in or near New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, Denver, or Pittsburg. At one point or another in the series, characters in the show talk about flying or taking a long road trip to each of the above cities. In fact, in the first episode of the 2-part series finale ("Summer"), Kevin's friends tell him that they're going on a summer road trip to New York, New Orleans, and San Francisco. In another episode (the one where the Rolling Stones supposedly come to town), Winnie discusses a rumor where one of her friends was on a plane with the Stones on a trip to New York. Other random notes - it doesn't snow where the Arnold's live, but a nearby mountain with a ski resort is only an hour drive away (via the episode "Wayne and Bonnie"). Hmm. Does anyone think that the article should have a section about the location of the show's setting? It's an interesting aspect of the show. Jsol5 09:20, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

I just watched the "Ladies and Gentlemen... the Rolling Stone" episode and they mention a town named Hinkley being an hour away. There's a Hinkley in California that's near Barstow. I don't know if it supports the Culver City theory though -- it's about 130 miles away. Then again, Kevin's lead foot did get him into trouble earlier in the episode :) f(x)=ax²+bx+c 09:06, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Just to add a few more observations to the disscousion, a couple things I noted. I agree with the idea that the show purposely left the location ambigious, but I support the CA speculations, because throughout the entire run of the show, it never snowed in the winter, and the one time it started to, they made an big deal out of it. Second, Jack Arnold was in the Marine Corps, and during the Korean war time frame, most Marines who got out of the service didn't stray far, which would dictate east or west coast. In this case, west coast. -B

The Arnold residence is actually 516 University Ave. Burbank, CA. You can check it out on live maps-- the house looks almost exactly the same today except it's been painted a tan/light brown instead of the olive green it was in the show. The basketball hoop is still on the garage. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Miss Till (talk • contribs) 20:22, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

The correct answer the he question of where the show was supposed to have taken place is "nowhere and everywhere". The show creators were not being coy by never mentioning a specific city as where the Arnolds lived. They did not have one specific place in mind that they just chose not to tell the audience. The omission of mentioning any specific place was by design. The idea was that this was just a typical family in a typical suburb that could be found all across America. Putting together references to actual places in different episodes adds up to contradictory information not because the creators made any errors, but because location was irrelevant and so consistency of location references was irrelevant. Sleuthing place indicators in fleeting background images in individual episodes only reveals that the show was shot in California and the creators were not anal about scrubbing out any and all references to location. The Arnolds were supposed to live "somewhere in America". anything more specific than that just misses the point. 99.192.78.40 (talk) 22:09, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for your efforts in cleaning up that section. I thought it was obvious that the intention was to make the location nonspecific, but are you aware of any references to this effect so that we can add that to the article? I know there was a book but I don't think the topic is brought up in that. Maybe a newspaper article from the time? Msgohan (talk) 01:57, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, Msgohan. My vague recollection was that show creators Carol Black and Neal Marlens both grew up in similar suburbs, one in Michigan and one in New York. After a bit of googling I found that actually Marlens grew up in Huntington, NY and Marlens in Silver Spring, Maryland. That led me to this page: http://mysite.verizon.net/resog8au/articlesx.html. Some of the articles are citable as they are image copies of the actual publications, but any of the text reproductions should be checked for accuracy (although I would think it likely that they are accurate). There is one article that talks about the location of the show, which is claimed to come from an artiucle by Carol Strickland printed in The New York Times on December 1, 1996. The article was about the (at the time) new show Everybody Loves Raymond and the fact that it was set on Long Island. The article says:

"Mr. Marlens wished to set the series, based on his childhood in the suburbs, on Long Island. At the time, the network insisted it take place in Anywhere, U.S.A. (The only tip-off as to location were the numbers on the Arnolds' house - 516, a sly reference to Long Island's area code.)"

There's a bit more in that article about the generic setting, but this is the key bit. One more bit of googling showed me that this article is already cited in the Ray Romano and Forest Hills, Queens articles, and it can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/01/nyregion/can-sitcom-make-it-with-li-setting.html?src=pm. Aside from changing the paragraph breaks, the article as printed on the earlier cited website checks out.

I'll leave it for you or someone else to make appropriate edits to the page about the setting. Someone might want to read through the bunch of articles on that archive page to see what other information there is that the article could use as well, and that's a bit more than I want to sign on for. Happy editing! (99.192.78.40 = ) 99.192.88.201 (talk) 18:02, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

last show

sorry about changing the the male lifeguard to a female one . I must of gotten the show mix up with the OC or something —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 198.203.175.175 (talk) 19:05, 25 April 2007 (UTC).

Not that there's anything wrong with that! Apple8800 (talk) 07:37, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

Reruns section

Is this section really necessary? Anthony Rupert 03:11, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

I just did some copy-edit to clean up said section, and I don't see any reason to remove it (although some parts of it may contain a little much info.) Many other TV series' pages have rerun/syndication information. —MrSomeone ^{( tlk • cntrb )} 23:21, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Tax Evasion?

I'm a bit unsure about this entry under the "trivia" section:

"In one particular episode Kevin's dad is caught with a swiss bank account and becomes under investigation for tax evasion. This story line never pans out and we are never told of the investigations' outcome."

Which episode is this from? Not to sound like a total Wonder Years geek (which I guess I am), but I've seen every episode in this series several times (including DVRing almost all of the Ion reruns since April 07) and I never saw anything about tax evasion/Swiss bank account. I'm tempted to put a "citation needed" tag for this "trivia", but I'd feel a bit weird doing that when the entire article lacks needed citations. If whoever added this can at least provide an episode name (or a summation of the episode where this occurs), I can keep an eye out for it in future reruns. Jsol5 19:55, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

That sounds like blatant vandalism, or someone wanting to have a laugh by writing dumb stuff on Wikipedia. The closest that came to taxes was when Norma was concerned about mislaid tax receipts and worried about what Jack's reaction would be. USN1977 (talk) 20:01, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Individual Episode Pages?

I know there's a list of episodes, but is this show important enough to make individual articles for each episode? It would take a bit of time, but might be worth doing. Thoughts?209.101.53.194 04:03, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

I think that the episodes list needs a little work, but I don't think that there should be individual episode pages yet. 70.244.107.161 14:16, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Theme Song

I think it is significant that Jimmy Page contributed to the theme song. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.182.54.93 (talk) 00:36, August 23, 2007 (UTC)

It would be significant, but it isn't true. The theme song was by Joe Cocker. f(x)=ax²+bx+c 08:55, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Its credited to Joe Cocker, but Jimmy Page did play lead guitar on it. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_cocker. Also, isn't the theme tune someone else singing in Cocker's style, rather than Cocker himself? I have the Joe Cocker track and the one used on the Wonder Years sounds slightly different..... SimonUK (talk) 17:47, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

That's because the show used a live version of that song. If I'm not mistaken, it was from Woodstock.Vicco Lizcano (talk) 16:22, 22 January 2008 (UTC) ^{(Hey! Listen!)}

No its not the live version. The version that was used on the original series was the normal Joe Cocker studio version (i.e. his 1968 single). The version that was used on some re-runs in the UK was someone basically impersonating Cocker. It may be that certain TV companies couldn't get clearance to use the original track. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.198.33.252 (talk) 14:20, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure the Joe Cocker version was removed from the Netflix stream version. Playing the Joe Cocker intro together with the Netflix version they sound like the same version. Checking the reference it's just a short article about Post Haste Sound replacing music, with a comment added by the author that it was missing the Joe Cocker verison. There is no quote from Post Haste Sound stated that. There is some chatter on the internet about the change but nothing definitive. I would consider re-phasing that sentence. comment added by Ccadenhead (talk • contribs) 02:48, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

The reference wasn't meant to imply that Post Haste made the statement, only that a reliable publication did. The singer frankly sounds nothing like Joe Cocker, and there are major differences in phrasing between Cocker and the other singer. One example: Cocker's held-out "whaaaat would-ya dooooo?" vs. the more staccato "whaaaat would-you-do?" at the beginning. Some lyrics are different. After the first "by with a little help from my friends" refrain: "all I need is my buddies" (Cocker) vs. "all I need is to get" (other guy). Msgohan (talk) 07:31, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Kirk McWho?

I always thought it was McCray. The list of characters has it as McCraig, while the synopsis says McCray. Which is correct? —  MusicMaker5376 19:59, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

dvd

Article says no dvds have been released "Unlike most long-running popular American TV sitcoms, The Wonder Years has still not yet been released on DVD as official season box sets due to the cost of securing the music rights.[4] Because of this, The Wonder Years routinely appears high on the list of TV shows in-demand for a DVD release. Unofficially, The Wonder Years has so far only been released as two official 'best-of' DVD sets, without the original music. They are the following:" but what is this? http://tvseriesondvd.org/wonder.php is that link to a bootleg thing? --72.64.180.250 (talk) 23:23, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Yes, the only places you can find the seasons on DVD is Bootleg websites, however, I must comment that if you are really wanting to watch the show, these bootlegs are not bad in quality and fairly priced, having bought one myself. May 7, 2009 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.175.214.35 (talk) 18:37, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

"Unofficially, The Wonder Years has so far only been released as two official 'best-of' DVD sets, without the original music." - I find this sentence rather confusing. Poiuyt Man ^talk 19:54, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

The New TNN

The New TNN/Spike aired The Wonder Years and Hangin' with Mr. Cooper during the daytime during the 2000/2001 broadcast season, and KTUD aired the show, at various time slots, for a number of years, from around 1999 to 2006ish. I don't have any old Las Vegas Review-Journal TV Listings on hand, though I can find the microfilm at the local library branches. In the meantime, don't add info 'til cited. Apple8800 (talk) 07:34, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

Setting

The Arnold's clearly live in Glenn Valley. Whether that is in CA or not does not matter, but the majority of solid evidence leads to CA. There is actually a Glenn Valley in Riverside county, CA. It is a real place and in Season 4, we see an episode in which Jack Arnold is standing in front of a SOLD realtor sign that says Glenn Valley realtors. It doesn't necissarily matter if there is a Glenn Valley in California, as it is undeniable that this is where the house was located. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.65.127.31 (talk) 02:04, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

I just did a search based on the information you added to the article. From what I see there is a "populated place" in Riverside County called "Glen Valley". Note the spelling. More importantly, the name of a realtor doesn't have to represent the name of its location. I can give you a number of examples of realtor names in my city that bear no resemblance to any place names here. But most of all, your information is based on one prop in one episode of the show. How do you explain the DMV envelope bearing the Culver City studio address? The writer of the episode explained it as a mistake. None of the conflicting "hints" should be given any more weight than the rest, because the people who worked on the show have indicated it wasn't supposed to take place in a specific location. Msgohan (talk) 01:08, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

The setting of the show is not some Da Vinci code secret mystery to be solved. There is a clearly sourced claim in the article that the setting was intentionally generic. Any "clues" to the "real" setting of the show are not clues of anything. 99.192.49.53 (talk) 21:01, 29 May 2013 (UTC)

Episodes per character

In the major characters section, how come the father is the only major character without an indication of the number of episodes in which he appeared? More to the point, can someone provide this information? I looked through some old edits (in the page history) to see if it was removed recently, and didn't find it in there back through Sep 2011. - dcljr (talk) 23:58, 2 December 2012 (UTC)