The Wonder Years Post

The Wonder Years went up on Netflix live streaming maybe a month ago and I watched all 114 episodes in 2 weeks. Then I put this post together. Enjoy.

All stills in this post © 20th Television & Warner Bros.

One of the first things I noticed about The Wonder Years is the huge amount of recognizable guest stars on this show. (PS this list is not all inclusive. I did not miss Punky Brewster guys).

Rufio, I mean RU-FEE-OOOOH

Screech

Donkey Lips

Not Donkey Lips

That Guy from Wild and Crazy Kids (his name is Donnie Jeffcoat. Appropriate.)

Jonathan Brandis

Chad Allen...
aka the poor man's Brian Austin Green
aka annoying wiener from Star Trek: The Next Generation, episode 4.4 (not Wesley)

AND...

Holly Sampson. Future Porn Star and Tiger Woods Mistress #7.

Here are a few of my personal favorites:

The Psychiatrist from Total Recall.

Ben Stein being... Ben Stein... "1811, Missouri. One minute, a peaceful plain of small towns and rolling farmlands. The next minute, bingo, a hellish nightmare of death and devastation. Bodies twisted and broken beyond recognition."

Melvin. from Tremors. CROSSOVER! Also, the guy on the right was in Childs Play 3.

Noah Blake

Oh, wait. You don't know who Noah Blake is? Let me refresh your memory.

The Wonder Years starts ratcheting up their guest stars at season 5:

David Schwimmer: Karen's live-in boyfriend turned live-in husband.

Alicia Silverstone in her first role ever.

Jim Caviezel of Jesus Christ fame.

Seth Green, who apparently doesn't age.

And Giovanni Ribisi who was such a big part of season 6 that he made it into the opening credits.

Hey... remember "The Other Sister"?

God that movie makes me uncomfortable. Yes. Juliette Lewis was on the Wonder Years too.

Wayne's girlfriend. Somehow.

Enough of this business. On to the main players:

Kevin Arnold. guh guh.

Wayne Arnold

Sidenote: Wayne was easily the biggest dick for most of the early seasons, but he also was the cast member with the worst hair:

Maybe he deserved these terrible extensions?

And yes, they're extensions. This is the very next shot.

Where was I...

Karen Arnold (psst.... I think she's a hippie)

Norma Arnold

Jack Arnold. Eats guys like you for breakfast.

Intro gentle guitar riff...

Winnie. What a tease.

And here's a fun tidbit: Winnie and Becky Slater are sisters. Younger sister Crystal McKellar (Becky Slater) auditioned for the role of Winnie originally, but they thought Danica McKeller (Winnie Cooper) was better for the part. They liked Crystal so much that they kept her for the recurring role of Becky.

((Insert cliched bridesmaid joke here))

and Milhouse.

I mean Paul.

Back to Kevin.
It always bothered me how Kevin looked so much younger than his love interests.

There's at least a 6 inch gap here.

Not a teacher. Pedophile maybe?

Just look at this tiny man.

I always thought Danica McKellar was tall, but according to her IMDB, she's only 5'4" (Fred Savage is 5'10"... eventually). Apparently, when she'd have a growth spurt while filming The Wonder Years, they'd write in a Winnie-Kevin fight so they wouldn't be in any scenes together, giving Ben Savage a chance to catch up. Kevin levels out by season 5, but he's still pretty baby faced...

Perhaps I should explain myself a bit. As I was watching The Wonder Years, I noticed how Ben Savage has this weird eyelid tick. He tends to get all blinkada-winkada when he's particularly worked up (like when he's fighting with Wayne, trying to get himself out of a sticky situation, or telling his friends how stupid they are). The tick is really bad (or should I say, super awesome) in season 2. Keep an eye out. wink wink.

Lastly: When I was watching the first episode of on live-streaming Netflix, it sounded all kinds of wrong. I thought, hmmm, maybe the first season didn't have the Joe Cocker version yet. Then I kept watching... and watching... and I realized, it's never the Joe Cocker version. In any of the seasons. So my brain totally shit itself and I'm thinking, my God, maybe The Wonder Years never had the Joe Cocker version of "With a Little Help from My Friends." Maybe because I heard the song in my house so much as a kid and I watched so much of The Wonder Years, I melded the two together. Maybe because it had been 15 years since I'd seen this show, I'd completely blocked out the crappy version... ack!@$!%#! MIND FREEEAK! So, I did some Internet snooping, and eventually decided to just watch a YouTube clip of The Wonder Years opening credits.

I feel so much cleaner now. Looks like Netflix didn't get the rights to live-stream Joe Cocker's song. Nice one Netflix. Thanks for making me feel like an idiot.