Five reasons you need to watch The Wonder Years

People,

I love television shows.  I'm assuming you do too [this may not be true, but if you're reading my blog, you clearly have some discretionary time on your hands and must enjoy pop culture to some extent; I'm just putting two and two together].

When you love something, people like to ask you what your favorite is of that thing.  I think this is usually impossible.  This can be partially explained by my crippling indecisiveness when it comes to unimportant matters.  But part of the problem is that these questions often cover such vast numbers and disparate varieties of options.  How do you compare Arrested Development and LOST? You don't; you just declare one the best TV comedy and one the best TV mystery-adventure.

So if we're within a genre, I'll give you my favorite (though how's a nerd to decide between Firefly and Battlestar Galactica?).  The question, then, obviously, is this-- what's my favorite coming-of-age TV show?  And the answer is a resounding

The Wonder Years
There's just something about Kevin Arnold

I'm no TV expert.  I can't even name very many shows in this category.  But the Fred Savage / Daniel Stern powerhouse is, to me, way ahead of anything else that comes to mind.  The other Savage's show (Boy Meets World), while a classic, can't hold a candle to it.  My favorite show as a kid (Saved by the Bell) can't hold a bell to it.  And since the only other challengers coming to mind are My So-Called Life, Blossom, Degrassi, Malcolm in the Middle, and the Lizzie McGuire show, I think we're ready to crown the champion.

[But for the record, second place goes to Freaks and Geeks.  Third place, probably Doug.]

Furthermore, I'd say that regardless of genre, The Wonder Years is one of the best shows ever made.  Why, you ask? (Oh, you didn't ask?  You mean I typed that?)


1. The Wonder Years captures, with eerie perfection, the journey of male adolescence.

1a.) Girls
Kevin's awkward but magical first kiss.  His internal monologue describing one girl as having "the best-smelling hair in the entire 7th grade".  The way Kevin or Paul can move on from one girl to the next in one day.  The way that having a steady girlfriend is the measure of one's coolness and thus self-worth.  The realistic and tragic scenario of Kevin letting down a girl that he genuinely likes, but only as a friend.  The way that any time he meets a new pretty girl, he loses his grasp of the English language completely.  These moments are Kevin's story and our own, because they're transcendent hallmarks of every man's childhood.

1b.) Internal voice vs. spoken words
Our words and our thoughts are never farther apart than during middle school.  We get such an extensive glimpse into Kevin's thoughts that this stark contrast is hilariously on display.

1c.) Friendship
Two friendships anchor this awesome show-- Kevin and Paul (guy best friends) and Kevin and Winnie (guy and girl).  In the former, we get touching displays of loyalty, forgiveness, and wingmanship.  In the latter, because male-female friendships are doomed, we get an on-again-off-again, will-they-won't-they relationship.


2. The cultural landscape of the show is fascinating.

The 60s and 70s were crazy and important times in our country's recent history.  Sadly, I wasn't alive during them.  But by watching the Wonder Years, I get glimpses of the effects of the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and Woodstock on a middle-class white family like mine.


3. The show's soundtrack is sick. And by sick I mean ill.  And by ill I mean nasty.

The makers of the show decided to keep the background music, even when not a part of the scene, in time with the show's era.  So by watching and listening, you get to hear all kinds of classics by Hendrix, The Who, The Byrds, Steppenwolf, Carole King, The Doors, Cream, James Taylor, Simon & Garfunkel, The Monkees, Three Dog Night... you catch my drift.  Those are good bands.


4. The narration is brilliant.

The interactions between Daniel Stern's narration and Fred Savage's facial expressions and words are just so good.  You have to watch the show and behold the glory.  But more than that -- and this, I think, sets the show above others like it -- the words spoken by the narrator are incredibly well-written.  At times hilarious, at times deeply profound and moving.


5. Sweet cameos.

Speaking of Boy Meets World and Saved by the Bell, Ben Savage and the guys who played Zack Morris and Screech all make cameo appearances.  Other notable appearances include John Corbett (from Wheeling, WV), David Schwimmer, Seth Green, Alicia Silverstone, the guy who played Donkeylips on Salute Your Shorts, Juliette Lewis, and the guy who played Faraday on LOST.


What about you?
FYI I think my "wonder years" were 1997-2000

Well, if that list didn't send you straight to your Netflix queue, I'm pretty sure nothing will.

What do you think of The Wonder Years?

What's your favorite coming-of-age TV show?

Jon