The Wonder Years

I think this is a perfect time to write about a much-awaited topic – The Wonder Years, a popular TV show in the 90s. It is a perfect time because tomorrow is Fred Savage’s (Kevin Arnold) birthday! And mine too! (Yes, I share my birthday with him! yay!)

Most of you must have watched the show so I needn’t elaborate on that. So I’m just gonna talk about some of my favourite episodes, in random order:













1) The first episode where Kevin finds out that Winnie’s brother Brian is killed in the Vietnam War. This is also the episode of Kevin and Winnie’s first kiss. I liked the juxtaposition of the two strong human emotions – love and sorrow.
The Vietnam war is a paragraph in our history books for most of us. The episode made me think of the impact of it on lives of children in America at that time. And in this case, the war creates a turning point in Kevin Arnold’s love life.

2) When Paul, who is usually a pathetic basketball player…pathetic at all sports in fact…. is selected in the basketball team and Kevin isn’t. It reminds of the kind of jealousy we used to go through in school when a close friend you thought was not good at something, gets it, you don’t and you have to pretend to be happy for him/her when in fact you are quite annoyed and often land up bitching about him/her to a third friend.

3) When Kevin finds out that his hippie sister is cutting school to hang out with her other hippie friends, sing songs etc. I like any show/movie/book/music about hippies in the 60s : -) I even wanted to be one, once upon a time, and actually sulked for two whole days after watching Woodstock 69 on TV because I was not born in that era.

4) In earlier episodes Kevin is shown to not like his strict Maths teacher Mr. Collins. In this one, Kevin is doing badly in maths and starts taking extra lessons from Mr. Collins to do better for an upcoming test. After a few days Mr. Collins tells him to start working on his own because he is busy with some appointments. Kevin’s pissed off with him because he feels betrayed and purposely does badly on the test. Next day, Kevin finds out the Collins is dead. And his test paper is “mysteriously” missing.
You just have to watch this episode to feel it.

5) Getting the driver’s licence and the pain of parallel parking. I began to like this episode only much later. When I was learning driving, the one thing that I just could not do was parallel park. And every time I had difficulty with it, I thought of this episode.

6) The last episode. Everyone wanted Kevin and Winnie to end up together. But they didn’t. They grew up, and grew over their childhood love. And it’s something that happens to a lot of us, has happened to me for sure. If ever there was a perfect dialogue to end a TV series, this one would be it:
“Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers, the next day you're gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. I remember a place, a town, a house like a lot of other houses, a yard like a lot of other yards, on a street like a lot of other streets. And the thing is, after all these years, I still look back, with wonder.”

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I like the way certain relationships were portrayed in Wonder Years. Like the ones between:
Kevin and his older brother who beats him up but also saves him
His sister and dad who suffer from a problem of generation gap, but at the end of the day, she still is daddy’s little girl.
Wayne and his dad, the only man that obnoxious Wayne is afraid of. At the end of the series when the dad dies, Wayne is the guy who takes up his father’s job.
Kevin and Winnie – friends, lovers, enemies, friends, lovers, enemies, friends….

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I have always wanted to make the Indian equivalent of Wonder Years. One day when I am rich, or I find a rich producer, I will make it. And then many years down the line some young girl will write about MY show in her blog :-)

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The Wonder Year’s theme song “With a Little Help from My Friends” by Joe Cocker is in fact a Beatles’ cover. The first version I heard of this song was Joe Cocker’s live version on my dad’s ‘Woodstock 69’ tape, before Wonder Years came to our TV screens. Then heard it during the closing credits of the serial. And finally, heard the Beatles’ version, which I like best.

Another reason why I liked this show so much was because many of the popular songs of the 60s and 70s that I love were played on each episode. I searched the net and came up with some of the songs that we heard on the show:

Turn, Turn, Turn - The Byrds
Blackbird - The Beatles (Beatles are the best)
Riders on the Storm - The Doors
Sealed with a kiss – Bryan Hyland (I LOVE this song)Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye – Steam (I love this one too)
Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross & The Supremes
My Girl - The Temptations (I can’t imagine anyone NOT liking this song!)
You Are So Beautiful - Joe Cocker (I think this was the song played when they show a flashback of little Karen with her father…really sweet)
Blowin’ in the Wind – Joan Baez (I really like her version of it, though I’ll always be partial to Dylan)
Scarborough Fair –Simon & Garfunkel (another one I LOVE)
Stand By Me – Ben E King (This song is one of my all-time favourites)

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The mention of Stand By Me reminded me of this one night in Bombay when we'd gone for Malhar the Xavier's college fest.
In the middle of one night, rather very very early in the morning, we'd eaten at Bade Miyan's and for some reason we decided to WALK back to our room at Cuffe Parade. So here we were, a bunch of us, walking in the middle of Bombay roads at some strange hour, when S decided to start singing! So she started of with Stand By Me and I seemed to be the only other one who knew the lyrics to it, so I joined her. Both of us went berserk singing Stand By Me on the top of our voices! And one of the Xavier's guys who was with us, decided to accompany us on the "Darling Darling" part. So you had both us girls singing the song & suddenly a very enthu male voice joining in at the Darling Darling part.... and we went on & on with that. It was hilarious! And needless to say, a lot of fun!

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