twy an oral history

8/10/2019 TWY an Oral History

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The Wonder Years: An Oral History

By Bonnie Stiernberg

August 5, 2014 | 1:02pm

When Alley Mills answers her phone for our first interview, she asks me to

hold on a second so she can switch phones in order to sit down. Shes on

her kitchen landline, she tells me, and I immediately flash back to twoimages from my childhood. The first is, of course, of Mills as matriarch

Norma Arnold on The Wonder Years, answering her kitchen phone,

cradling it on her shoulder so as not to waste a free hand while making

dinner and wrangling a house full of kids.

The second is of my mom doing the same exact thing.

And thats why, 26 years after it first premiered, were still talking about

The Wonder Years. The shows relatability helped it transcend genreitwent beyond being a family show or a late-60s period piece and

reminded us what we all felt during a very specific time in our lives. Its

unabashedly nostalgic, but it chronicles the ups and downs of KevinArnolds, Winnie Coopers and Paul Pfeiffers adolescence against the

backdrop of the Vietnam era and our nations changing social landscape

with a maturity most shows geared towards kids lack. The tiny childhood

moments that stick with us are treated with the respect they deserve. Welaugh when Kevins brother Wayne gets him in a headlock and calls him

scrote for the umpteenth time (try sneaking that by the ABC censorsnowadays!) or when Kev squares off with his mortal enemy Becky Slater,


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and we cry when Kevins occasionally distant father struggles to relate to

his teenage kids. And sorry, but if you dont hold your breath when Kevinputs that letterman jacket over Winnies shoulders, youre dead inside.

Music geeks will appreciate the incredible soundtrack as well; up until

now, the series had yet to be released on DVD because licensing all thesongs that appeared on the show (a veritable greatest hits collection fromthe likes of Dylan, The Beatles and Motowns finest) had proven nearly

impossible.

But thanks to some miracle workers at Time Life/StarVista, thats all been

taken care of, and the entirety ofThe Wonder Years will be released on

DVD for the first time ever this fall (you can preorder the set here now).

The cast recently reunited to record commentary for the DVDs, pose for

pictures and reminisce about their time on one of the most beloved shows

of all time, so we thought the time was right to catch up with our favoriteTV family and have them walk us through The Wonder Years. Check outan exclusive clip from the DVDs special features below, and then

without further adoenjoy our oral history of the show.

BEGINNINGS

For creators Neal Marlens and Carol Black, finding the right actors to

bring life to the shows Any Town, USA setting was key. Once they startedpiecing together the Arnold family, things began to fall into place.

Alley Mills (Norma Arnold): I heard from friends that this was one of themost unusual pilots theyd ever read, so I looked at it and it was really

weird because of the voiceovernobody sort of understood how it worked.It wasnt a full script yet. It was just sort of scenes with this voiceover, and

I didnt really understand what it was. But I did get that it was kind of a

period thing, that it took place starting in the late 60s. And the woman that

was casting it, her name was Mary Buck, which is an amazing person. Iknew her and I had played always sort of rebelsI was single and kind of a

rebel, and I had always played the tough kids. Thats the things Id beenplaying in film and television before The Wonder Years and she said, Put

on a pair of Keds and, like, a shirtwaist dress and then be the smartestperson in the room and I said, What makes you think that this housewife

is smart? She goes, Trust me. I know what theyre looking for, and

Carol and NealCarols mother was an incredibly smart woman who just

ended up being a homemaker, but she couldve probably run a company,

and so they originally had that in the back of their mind. So I did, I actually

asked my mother to send me her red-and-white striped shirtwaist dressfrom New York because I remembered it from the 50s, and I wore it and I

wore pearls and Keds. And I also remembered growing up at that period,


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there was a woman that lived next doormy mother was actually a single

mother that worked and she was nothing like Norma, but my next-doorneighbor and my best friends momand shes still my best friend, Im

actually going to leave in the morning and go on a road trip with her for a

weekher mom was this character to me, and the key thing that Iremembered about Betty Gaylen was that family came before anything, and

she was just a generous, you know, sort of huge womannot, she wasnt

fat, she was just like a huge human being, you know. She just always putfamily first, and so thats what I did when I went in and read, is try to sort

of channel Betty Gaylen, in being that type of person that isnt reallysubmissive. Its a different thing. You know, shes not really like denying

herself or anything like that. Its just other people are more important. Its a

generosity, you know what Im saying? And Id never been like that. I was

a big feminist, and I was kind of tough and singleand so Carol and Neal

told me that I read this fight scene with the father different than everyoneelse because she said, You didnt want to win the fight. You wanted to

win, like, peace or something, you know what I mean? You wanted tomake it not a conflict. And she said everybody else read it modern, and

that was sort of what made it period. You know, it was a different way ofthinking, that women just sort ofthat was what gave them their sort of

joy and sense of self was putting other people first, and I just had never

thought, you know, because I was a hippie in 1968, so I was more likeOlivias character. Anyway, so thats what happened, and I read with Dan

Lauria and it was pretty much done. And Carol told me after that, youknow, thats what they were looking for. So I ended up reading with Olivia

and Jason. I never met Fred because he was in Chicago. And then after that,

I had to actually go to Japan for this big retreat thing, and they just said,

well you know, we cant say yes yet or whatever, and then the network

reading was when I was in Japan, and they flew me back. And I said, you

know what, Im on a charter flight, I dont have enough money to getanother ticket, so they flew me back, and that was that. And I read for thenetwork with Olivia and Dan. And thats how it happened.

Dan Lauria (Jack Arnold): Well, I knew Neal and Carol from GrowingPains. I had done a part on Growing Pains, and I was going out with

Joanna Kerns [who played mom Maggie Seaver on the show] at the time,

so I heard about it through her. My agent couldnt get me in, and Joanna

said, Well, why dont you call Neal? He likes you, you guys got along.Cause we both grew up on Long Island, so we would tease each other

[about] which school was better at sports. And I said, No, I dont want to

do that, its so unprofessional, and Joanna went in and actually called

Neal, and she came out and said, Neal said be there tomorrow at 10oclock. He thinks youre perfect. It was out of sight and out of mind, and


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as soon as my name is brought up he said, Okay. Then I just auditioned

with everybody else. The network actually wanted Elliot Gould, I believe.

But Neal and Carol were adamant about having a family that looked likenext-door, and they didnt really want any movie stars.

Olivia dAbo (Karen Arnold): It was pilot season, so I heard about thecharacter, and the show, through my agent. It was one of these things, this

is something youre going to absolutely love. There was already really

quite a buzz about it. I had worked with Neal Marlens and Carol Black onGrowing Pains. I did a couple of episodes playing Kirk Camerons

girlfriend on that [laughs]. So I knew of them, and I just assumed they were

having me in based on that relationship. I just remember reading the script

and being completely blown away, really just rocked to the core. I had

never read anything like it. It was just such a personal, intimate read.

Laugh-out-loud funny, movingI think it grabbed hold of every possibleemotion one could have, as a reader. I completely forgot about being a

young actor reading a script. It was so disarmingit was such a disarming

read, that I kind of fell in love with the concept of what the show was

about. It was not really an era that I knew much about, but I felt like I just

gravitated to it immediately. The pilot script is when Winnie Coopers

brother dies. It very much establishes the era. It opens up with Woodstock

footage, all that stuff you ultimately saw in the show in the beginning of theshowAll that stuff that is not necessarily the easiest thing to transfer into

a script, where its so visceral that you immediately get it. It was just one ofthose things where you think, well, this doesnt come along every day.

Jason Hervey (Wayne Arnold): It really just started off like any other

audition. My agent called my mom, and my mom picked me up fromschool and told me about it. My parents, God love em, did such a great job

of making sure I was a normal kid. Acting was just an after-school activityfor me. Id been doing it since I was 4, so it didnt feel out of the ordinary.

You audition three times before they bring you to network, and I have this

memory of meeting Dan Lauria right in front of the room we were about togo in for that network audition. We had a really funny conversation. Hetold me about how youre not a real actor until you do Broadway theater,and he said I dont even really want to do this, but Im going to get it, andso are you, kid. It was a very interesting meeting. [laughs] And I went into

that audition and all I could think about was what this man just said to me.

Dan Lauria: Oh yeah, Jason was a little upset and I said, What are you

worried about? You go through a million of these. [Laughs]. And then

when he came out he goes, I felt good. And I said, Good, I hope I see

you on the set. And sure enough, there he was. Because we went through


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the process. We didnt have a big agent pushing us. We went through the

process of auditioning and auditioning and going to network. All I kepthearing was that they wanted a movie star. And I said, Well, good forthem. What am I supposed to do with that information? [Laughs] So I was

telling Jason, We still have to audition, so just have fun.

Fred Savage (Kevin Arnold): I had done a movie a couple years, about a

year before called Vice Versa, that the people who wrote and created The

Wonder Years, Carol Black and Neal Marlens, had seen and liked me in it.

And so they, based on that, sent the script, had a casting director send methe script and say Hey, you know, would you be interested in reading for

the part of Kevin Arnold? And we read the script, my parents and I, and

thought it was terrific, and, sure enough, I came to California to read for itand got that part.

Alley Mills: Freds parents are wonderful people. Joanne and Louie Savage

are great people. They had no idea what they were getting in for when they

said yes. They were running a business out of Chicago. Big business. Andsuddenly their son gets this job in L.A. and they thought, Oh, its just for acouple weeks. They had no idea.

Fred Savage: We were pretty new in show business. We didnt know a lot

about it. But we did realize that there was a potential in the show for it to

run a long time. So I think before we even went out to audition, really, myparents between them kind of weighed the pros and cons and said How is

this gonna impact our family? There was a lot for them to consider before

even agreeing to go in for the auditionand I think thats why it was so

important that the script was so great and that they loved it so much. Andthey thought, Well, it feels like such a special project. If we were gonnauproot ourselves, it had to be for something that felt as special as this.

Danica McKellar (Winnie Cooper): I remember [meeting Fred] very

well. I had been auditioning earlier that day in the room, then the producers

told us to take a break and have a meal downstairs in the restaurant andcome back up after dinner. At that time I didnt know who was playing the

character Kevin, but when we were sitting at dinner there was a really cuteboy sitting with his familyand I wondered if that maybe that was him.

When I went upstairs to audition, I was excited that it was the same boy. Ifelt the chemistry right away.

That chemistry between cast members (on- and off-screen) came quickly

and not just between McKellar and Savage.


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Fred Savage: I remember meeting Josh [Saviano, who played Paul

Pfeiffer]. Josh and I read together; we went in and auditioned together, I

think. Or maybe it was once I got the part and then he and I read together.But I remember meeting Josh very early on. And I really liked him. We

were very similar in a lot of ways, and we got along very well very quickly.

Dan Lauria: There was instant chemistry between Alley and me. Shessuch a fine actress.

Olivia dAbo: I never read with Dan until I was cast, but he and I

definitely really connected. It was really strange, we had allwith theexception of Alley, I hadnt met anybody. I had met Jason in an audition

roomnot in an audition room, but he was at a couple of the callbacks I

was at. I remember kind of experiencing him as very mature, almost like a

little man. Almost the way I experienced Fred in the show. Working withhim, he was definitely a kid, he was like, 11 or 12. Kind of in the way

Kevin Arnold was, where he had that kind of wisdom and maturity, he kindof went inside everyones head, with his reactions. When I met Dan, it was

working. Its like putting together the parts, like the chemistry of a family.

Theres very little acting that has to happen because the creators of the

show sort of cast it perfectly. And they knew, when they put us all together

we would think up all the little aspects of our idiosyncratic behavior. Theyprobably knew within the casting process, If we cast Dan and Olivia and

we put them together at a table...theyve done that so many times beforethat. Its those two, Neal and Carol, were just geniuses at thatI think my

first scene with Dan was me telling him I was going on the pill, and I

thought that he should know. There was a locomotive that went off in

Jacks headJack had his own theme song, so to speak. You remember,

from the first episode, where it goes tch-tch-tch-tch, the locomotive justgets louder and you hear this really loud incoming out of it. Im going on

the pill dad, just thought you should know, his nostrils flare! [laughs] Iremember doing that scene, and I just thought, Oh my God, he is

awesome, he is so funny.

And I remember seeing Jason, and I just knew Jason was going to get that

role, because having not been in the room and reading with him, he was so

sociable and so likable even though the Wayne character had the whole

butthead bravado that was up the whole time. Jason as a person, he reallyhad this incredible abilityand still does, thats part of who he isto put

himself out there and say hi and be very friendly, immediately make youcomfortable. Hes always, like I said, had this maturity about him. His

sense of social graces are really quite unique.


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Alley Mills: You know what, thats what makes or breaks a television

show, is when you all get together and see what the chemistry is. It was

weird how everything just fell into place. I mean, they obviously took carein casting, but we had not met. Nobody had met Fred, I dont think,

because he was cast out of Chicago, and he didnt come to L.A. for thenetwork reading. So yeah, it was definitely instantaneous. The kids and

Dan and I got along right from day one. We started fooling around, and it

really felt like a family. I mean, it was crazy. I was just thinking about itwhen we had the reunion. I mean, Fred was like 10. And Josh, and Jason

wasI dont know what he was, but he was very young. 12 or something.

So everybody was really young, and they were actual children, and we sortof acted accordingly and tried to mess around as much as we could.

Dan Lauria: [Alley] really was just like this spirit. She never let it be dull

on the set.

CAPTURING THE ERAWhile the mood was generally light on set, the show often addressed heavy

topics like the Vietnam War, or the dead dreams of Jack Arnold (who we

see toiling away at work before returning home to gaze through his

telescope in My Dads Office); the important legacy of Bobby Kennedy,

or the kind of intense fight between man and wife that hints at real pain and

wont be tied up neatly with a little bow by episodes end. Sometimes

attempts were made to shield the younger cast members from that stuff, butmore often than not, the show served as their own personal history lesson

especially thanks to Lauria, whose own experiences as a Vietnam veteran

influenced his portrayal of Jack Arnold.

Dan Lauria: A lot of people [ask] How much did you contribute to thewriting? I really didnt contribute that much, but the one thing I did

contribute to the character is that when we were shooting the pilot I said toNeal, Look, Im a vet. Im a Vietnam veteran and a Marine, and I think if

the story is that Im a vet, thatd fit the character. Before we even finishthe pilot, he said, Well, if we go, Dan, were going to make you a KoreanWar vet to fit the frame. And so they did, and it paid off. There were a

number of episodes where it was mentioned that I was a veteran and when

my daughter left for college I gave her my old duffle bag from the service.

We always had the Vietnam War in the background on the TV at the dinnertable. So there were actual news clips. And thats one thing that there were

plans to delve into more had we not been canceled, that it was the first war

to be televised like that. There was going to be an episode where one of the

kids would see someone they know die on TV. So, that was going to beused a little more had we come back.


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Jason Hervey: We knew what we didnt know. We knew Dan had served

in Vietnam, but we didnt really talk about it. There were a few times,

though, that he pulled Fred and I aside to give us background on aparticular scene or episode we were shooting. Thats one of my favorite

episodes, the one where my best friend comes home from Vietnam and heshaving trouble re-adjusting.

Olivia dAbo: There was that whole dinner table scene about Vietnam,

who was pro- and anti-Vietnam. Of course, Jack was not very happy when

it was brought up at the dinner table. The boyfriend I had brought back to

dinner was of course anti, and they sort of went head-to-head, and it was a

great scene, and it was very, very powerful. Cause you sort of see Jacks

emotionits not just a manits not just Jack Arnold talking about well,

I disagree. He caught this emotion about his own personal experience

hed been a Marine in his own life, and he had lost his best friend, I think,in the Marines. That was an amazing scene.

Alley Mills: When we shot that episode Pottery Will Get You Nowhere

and we had that big fight about my making pots, that was probably the

biggest fight in the show, in terms of a really deep fraction in the family.

And actually that episode was one that won the Humanitas Award, which

TV rarely does, and a Peabody Award too. Dan and I were sectioned off to

have that fight in the kitchen, and the kids were gone, and it was too intense

actually. I mean, it was so heavy, his not understanding me and making mecry, and we were yelling at one another. Something was off, and nobodycould kind of figure out exactly what it was that wasnt working because it

was really deep and, you know, I was actually crying, and it was just so

heavy for the show. And then Carol and Neal went, I know what it is.

Pull You know, it was at the very beginning of the show. I think that

maybe that was at the first half of the episodes or something, but we weretrying to figure out that whole thing, that the entire show is seen throughKevins eyes. Its his remembering everything, which is why they always

go to the voiceover, right? So its a reenactment of his past, really, is whatthe show is. And so what they did is they took the camera out of the kitchen

where it was in close-up on us and just too intense and they brought itdown the hall and around the corner to where Kevin was sitting in the TV

room, which was right off the kitchen. And so it was him hearing the fight

and then seeing it down the hall. And it was so much more powerful that

way. It made me cry just to think about his hearing it, you know what Imean? Its so heavy, but weve all had that experience where weve walked

into the room where our parents were fighting, and its just awful. I dontknow a marriage where that hasnt happened. And sometimes the parents

wait until the kids go to sleep, but somebody always wakes up. And its


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sort of always imprinted in your mind, to see that, to see something you

shouldnt have seen, that gets too heavy. Either the father hits the mother,

or something really awful is said, you know? So that was the cool thingabout that fight, that they pulled the camera back. It just made it. It was so

powerful. When things like that were happening, really emotional stuff,they protected that like crazy.

Dan Lauria: I remember the episode where Fred is in a play about Bobby

Kennedy, and Alley and I started talking about where we were when that

happened, and then we were all talking about where we were when John F.Kennedy was shot, and Fred asked me Why is everybody talking about

it? and I said, Well, every generation has a moment. Like for my

parents, it was Where were you when Pearl Harbor happened? or Howdo you know about Pearl Harbor? And I guess the generation before was

Where were you when the stock market crashed. And I said for us it waswhen John F. Kennedy was shot and I said, I hope you never have a

moment like that. And when 9/11 happened FredI was actually going to

be working for him as a director at the time, and he called me up and hesaid That was our moment. Now I know what you guys were talkingabout. Because everybody remembers where they were when they saw

those towers go down. So that was their moment.

Another way the show successfully captured the era was through its use of

music.

Alley Mills: Im so glad they have the music. I was actually one of the

biggest antagonists about that because I was dubbing one day in a place

called KO Sound, and I found all these boxes ofThe Wonder Years, and Isaid what are these doing here? And he looked kind of guilty and he saidActually, were taking out the music. And I said Youre what?? And

he said We have to take out the music in order to either make reruns or

DVDs or whatever they were gonna make with them. So I called the

president of ABC. I said You cant do this. You cant take When a ManLoves a Woman out and cover it with something else. You cant take[singing] I get by with a little help from my friends. You cant take it. It isthe show. The music is so incredible, as much as the acting. Its like a

character on the show. You cant just take out a character.

Dan Lauria: Ive heard it a couple times now that The Beatles had never

allowed any of their music to be used on television. They did not own therights at that time. It wasnt Michael Jackson; I think it was Apple Recordswho owned it when we did The Wonder Years. But the story I got was that

they showed Paul McCartney the pilot with them singing their version of it,and Paul McCartney made a call to Apple Records and said, If youre ever


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going to let The Beatles be used on television, this is the show, and Apple

Records said, Ya know what, well let them use the song, but were not

going to let them use the version of you singing it. So they got Joe Cocker

to sing it. Now, I dont know if Paul McCartney recommended Joe Cocker,

but supposedly, and Ive heard this a couple times, that he [McCartney]was the one that made the call after seeing the pilot before it was put on theair. Ive always wanted to meet him to find out if that was true and to thank

him.

Paul McCartney, in the 1998 biographyMany Years From Now byBarry Miles: It has good memories, that song. It became the theme tune to

the very good American series about growing up in the 60s called TheWonder Years, so its been picked up and used a lot, that song.

Fred Savage: There were, of course, so many. It was always the last songsin the episodes were so great. There was a part that had I Only Have EyesFor You that I really still love. Long May You Run was a great song

that they used at the end of the episode where they sold the family car,

which was a really resonant episode for me because I remember we had the

same car for years, and I cried when we sold our family car when I was akid.

TIMELESSNESS AND SUCCESS

Although it addressed issues unique to the generation who came of ageduring the turbulent 60s, the shows writing highlighted the universality of

adolescence, allowing it to appeal to just about anyone, regardless of

whether they grew up in the 60s or the late-80s/early 90s as it wasairing.

Jason Hervey: Its a timeless classic in the way that the stories are

relatable. People remember their adolescence, their youth. They rememberhaving that girl just out of grasp, or that friend you grow up with and

eventually go your separate ways with as your tastes change and things are

different. It transcended anything specific.

Danica McKellar: The emotions we experience as children are extremely

strong and all too often discounted by our society as, well, they are just

kids or well, they will get over it when the truth is the hormones rushing

through our bodies makes us feel things even more strongly at that age. The

Wonder Years was the first show to acknowledge the feelings that kids

were having at that age so instead of a show focusing on a family and thekids were just there, this show made the kids experiences the priority.

Everyone remembers what it felt like to be that age, and in my opinion theshow was the first of its kind to honor that. So no matter when you were


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born or how old you are, watching The Wonder Years brings us all back to

our childhood in a very real way.

Fred Savage: One of the big things that The Wonder Years did so well is

that the whole show was kind of looking back. So there was a very realsense of perspective and wisdom that came with a lot of the narration oflooking back on these moments in your life. But at the same time, they still

did it with an eye on how kids would genuinely respond in those scenarios.

So a lot of the nostalgia of it or the wistfulness that the narrator had looking

back was kind of lost on me a little bit. But what I responded to was just

how real the situations felt, and how the kids reacted in a very real manner.

It felt very honest to me. But the Oh, youll appreciate this so much when

youre older and Oh, this was such a magical time that youll never quiteget a chance to relive again, I mean, kids dont respond to that. I didnt

really get the significance of that, and the characters certainly didnt. Andno one really does, which is why that time is so special. Because you dont

really realize how magical it is until its gone, until youre old enough to

appreciate it. So a lot of the wisdom that the narrator looked back withdidnt resonate with me just because I was kind of living those years as

opposed to looking back at them and marveling at them. So I feel like my

reactions to the scenes as they were written and to the material as we were

shooting it was very much in step with the normal kind of reactions that aregular 10, 11, 12, 13, 14-year-old boy, how he would react. I didnt see the

wisdom of the narration until much later, obviously.

There was a great episode where Kevin was wondering whether or not to

call a girl on the phone and his parents were watching the moon landing in

the other room. Kevin and Winnie and Paul werent saying like, Oh, this

is a wonderful time, the 60s, lets soak it up. They were just worried

about being kids. And I think Karen the older sister was really theconnection to the time period in making it feel very alive, and the

importance of the time to high school and college kids. But for Paul and

Kevin and Winnie, it was about the school dance and who youre sittingnext to in class and did the girl you like talk to you that day. It wasnt about

the time.

Alley Mills: Thats why certain novels exist for 500 years and certain

stories exist for centuries and centuries and centuries. And plays, thats

why Shakespeare exists and continues to resonate with people. Causetheyre profound stories. And for some reason, the writers ofThe WonderYears were able to write in a half hour a little human story every weekI

dont know how they managed to do that. They made me cry almost every

week with one little silly story about maybe a brother or a mother or a


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girlfriend or the first love or the first pimple. I mean, everybody has a first

pimple. Everybody has a first kiss. And the pilot episode was the firstdeath.

Danica McKellar: My favorite episode was the pilot. That was really myfirst kiss in real life, and overall I think its really one of the best half hours

of television ever made.

Sometimes the teenage moments we saw on screen were plucked directly

from the lives of the cast, particularly Jason Hervey.

Jason Hervey: My brother was the prototype for Wayne Arnold. Theres a

lot of Scott Hervey in Wayne [laughs]. There were so many times where

Id be pitching to producers that we include something hed done to me.

Like theres that episode where Juliette Lewis is playing my girlfriend, andI had just gotten my drivers license, so of course I wanted to go driving

around with her, but I had to take Kevin to the mall because my mom made

me. Of course, my job was to harass and embarrass, so I did this thing

where I started jerking the car forward every time he got close to the handleto open the door, so he wouldnt be able to get in. My brother did that to

me and my friend on the first day of seventh grade.

The show resonated quickly with fans and critics alike. The Wonder Years

took home the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1988 after just sixepisodes had aired, and 13-year-old Fred Savage became the youngest

actor ever to be nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

And although he may have been too young to fully grasp he was making

history, Savages older castmates always knew the honor was well-deserved.

Fred Savage: When I was young, I mean, I appreciated it and I totally

understood the honor of being nominated for an Emmy and what that

meant and being recognized for your work. It still gives me chills justthinking about that. But as a kid, I didnt really, you know, think of the

place in history. It just felt very exciting to have your work be recognized

and I realized how special that was, but the historical significance, I didnt

spend a lot of time dwelling on it.

Dan Lauria: Freds a fantastic actor. I always wished he had done more

acting in his later career on top of the directing. I would have loved to seehim play John Garfield. I think he would have been great at that.

Alley Mills: He was an old soul at the age of 10. I mean, there was noquestion about it. It wasnt even so much about the acting. I mean, like,


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what is acting at the age of 10? I think its just he was this beautiful kid.

Certain kids just have thatI dont know what you call itbut theyre just

phenomenal little human beings at a very young age. Fred was one of thosefor surevery vulnerable and very truthful and not at all like most child

actors who are really fake, you know, and acting cute and all that kind ofstuff. Fred wasnt really acting; he was just adorable and deep. A loving

kid. He still is.

THE END AND ONWARDIn 1993, the show was canceled, while the cast was in the middle of

shooting the second-to-last episode. It was a sudden end to the beloved

series, but the effect of the show on its cast lives on.

Danica McKellar: I was in my dressing room, and the executive producer

Bob Brush called me to break the news. I was sad; I remember gettingteary, but we all knew that it might happen. When we filmed the finalepisode we all knew it might be the final one but hoped it wouldnt be. I

always thought the show would go one more year and the characters would

graduate from high school, but I think the decision to cancel the showwasnt made for or by the fansit was a network thing.

Dan Lauria: We were canceled because of a guy named Ronald Perelman.I know you wont print it, but thats the truth, and you can find out that he

bought the company and he literally tried to rob ABC. And I think hedeliberately screwed up that contract about the music, so we wouldnt be

able to do this, because he was so upset thatHe tried to blame Ted Turner

for the cancellation, except Ted Turner made an on-camera appeal thatsaid, Hey, I ordered as many [episodes] as theyll make, and then it came

back on Ron Perelman, and his office said and I quote, The amount ofprofit does not warrant another season. They tried to say the ratings

werent there, but thats not true. We were 27th out of 166 when we werecanceled. The show was supposed to end with Fred graduating high school.

We found out as we were shooting the second-to-last episode. And thats

why our only two-parter was the second-to-last and the last. They made it

into one [episode], and Bob had to capsulize the whole thing in thenarration. As a matter of fact, what you were supposed to seewhat you

hear in that last narration was pretty much the storyline of where it was

going to go in the last year. The oldest son was supposed to become pretty

good at the business; Fred becomes an uncle because the daughter has ababy and shes married to David Schwimmer. And the mother is doing well

at the executive job, and of course the series was going to end that Fred

finally gets accepted to college and graduates and comes home they findme dead on the floor. It was also supposed to be the day Nixon resigned


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always so interesting to me. And it was something I always hoped Id be

able to explore and be a part of.

Jason Hervey: Fred was always looking through the lens, and so was I, but

I was more wanting to talk to the writers and the producers and get a feelfor how all those various parts of production came together to make theshow you see. They were so gracious about indulging all of our curiosity

on set. The business side of it was something I was always very curious

about, and I was lucky enough to be able to watch how the show came

together. I got an idea of what it was like interacting with a network, howthat whole side of things was executed and delivered week after week.

Perhaps the most amazing thing aboutThe Wonder Years however, is the

fact that it managed to create a real family out of thin air. Much of the cast

still keeps in touch to this day, and when they get together after so manyyears, its as if no time at all has passed.

Dan Lauria: I just got an invitation to Danicas upcoming wedding.

Danicas my girl. Josh, when Im in New York Ill do a play and Josh willalways come with his wife. Hes got a little baby girl. Jason has an office in

L.A., and sometimes he stays at my house. And I go see everything Alleydoes and Alley comes to see everything I do. I love being with Alley. Shes

as nutty as a fruitcake and I love it.

Jason Hervey: I have a tremendous amount of respect for Dan. Dan will

tell you the way it is. He was like a second dad to us, a mentor, a coach, a

big brother. Always there. He was the Papa Bear on the set. You didntfuck with Dan [laughs].

Danica McKellar: Dan is like a second dad to me, and the rest of us keep

in touch how we can, whether through social media or over the phone. And

we see each other periodically; Dan and Alley came to a taping when I was

competing onDancing With The Stars, and it was great to have theirsupport. When Im in New York, Josh and I try to grab breakfast. Of coursemy sister Crystal played Becky Slater on the show and were in constantcontact.

Fred Savage: You know who really kept in touch was our parents. Ourparents really kept in touch. My mom and Danicas mom and Marsha,

Jasons mom, our parents really stayed in touch, which is so funny. They

spent so many hours and so many years on set together that they formedthis really close bond. And so over the years, thats where Id get my

updates on everyone, from my mom.


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Olivia dAbo: We all feel so honored to have had that experience and met

each other and still be in contact with each other. I was very proud to seehow everybodys head is so screwed on their shoulders. Very stable. You

dont really get the sense that these are TV actor people. When we all get

together, we get very excited, because The Wonder Years was such apivotal time in our lives.

Dan Lauria: No actor likes to hang his hat on one hook, but if you have to,

The Wonder Years is an awfully classy hook. To me, you look back at TheWonder Years and it shows you what television could be if they reallywanted it to be.

twy an oral history

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