"Wonder Years" DVD's possibly in the works

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=2952

 

(Note: sung to the tune of " With A Little Help From My Friends" , and with apologies to Joe Cocker, as well as to The Beatles):

 

      What would you do, if I subbed out your tunes?

      Would you give up, boycott these DVDs?

      Lend me your ears, I've got good news for you,

      Fox will try not to screw up this thing!

 

 

That's just our fun way of bringing up what ought to be good news! The new edition (2/25/2005) of Entertainment Weekly magazine has a story about The Wonder Years, in their semi-regular feature about television shows that ought to be on DVD, but aren't yet.

 

TVShowsOnDVD doesn't usually cover topics mentioned in their column, because it normally involves some wishful thinking rather than any actual plans. And much of the time any "plans" mentioned are something along the lines of "the studio is mulling a release of this item in the coming year" (nothing set in stone, in other words). But this time the word is a bit different.

 

This issue of Entertainment Weekly quotes Fox Home Entertainment's Senior Vice President of Marketing & Communications, Mr. Steve Feldstein, as saying "We've got it on the schedule, but there are hurdles to clear prior to a firm release date."

 

"On the schedule" sounds pretty good to us, how about you? In all likelihood, the "hurdles" would start with all the music licensing that would have to occur in order to present the show on DVD the same way it was originally broadcast. According to the EW story, that is precisely the way the people who were behind the production of The Wonder Years wants to see these episodes brought home. Us too, and we're sure we speak for most of you as well. It will be worth waiting a little bit longer (and even paying a little bit more, like with Freaks and Geeks) to get this the way it *should* be seen.

 

Fox, do us proud! Fans, stay tuned. We'll let you know of any developments that occur as time goes by.

[The Czech Republic 0]

You know I never really liked the Wonder Years.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I did and found that a great deal of the episodes mirrored my life in relations to my friends and family. Now that Seinfeld's out on DVD, this show is my number one most wanted series.

[Guest sek69]

I loved this show (until Fred Savage hit puberty and turned into a mutant), and I'd love to have it on DVD, but I just don't see them getting clearance for all the music that was in the show w/o driving the price up to a ridiculous amount.

[Vern Gagne 0]

It was good until Fred Savage hit puberty. I just couldn't look past, Savage's horrible acting and complete awkwardness on camera, to enjoy the show.

[Black Lushus 0]

refresh my memory...he never did end up with Winnie in the long run did he? and what happened to Paul Fiefer?

[Vern Gagne 0]

He didn't, and Marilyn Manson

[Bruiser Chong 0]

He didn't, and Marilyn Manson

Haven't heard that rumor in a loooooong time.

 

The show got hard to watch in later seasons when the focus was on Kevin and Winnie, but I thought the series was quality the entire way through. There were few coming of age series better than this one realistically and quality-wise. The fact that Paul and Winnie weren't in every single one of his classes was always a small touch I appreciated.

 

Also having Kevin's primary group of friends change (getting rid of some characters and introducing new ones) was interesting, since that's how things usually work from middle school through high school.

[Vern Gagne 0]

I apolgize. It was just too tempting not to bring up.

[Guest Loss]

OMG, I remember that rumor too! I wonder who started that. Don't anyone here take credit for it -- we'll know you're lying.

 

Alas, gtd and I have a date DVD.

[razazteca 0]

So is Jason Hervey producing Skinamax movies and Girls Gone Wild specials or what?

[Guest NaturalBornThriller4:20]

Finally.

[cbacon 0]

I'd buy it.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

The one from the first season I believe where Winnie is sick at the end and Kevin goes to her house and ends up underneath the tree in her front yard as "My Girl" plays over it...

 

 

Damn did that used to choke me up.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

The only thing I didn't like was how in the final episode...that final monologue just felt kind of tacked on to provide artificial closure. I dunno...maybe it was just kind of depressing since the narrator says that Kevin marries a different girl and his dad dies like two years later. Didn't seem like much of a happy ending to me.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

The only thing I didn't like was how in the final episode...that final monologue just felt kind of tacked on to provide artificial closure. I dunno...maybe it was just kind of depressing since the narrator says that Kevin marries a different girl and his dad dies like two years later. Didn't seem like much of a happy ending to me.

The show was never about happy endings to begin with.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Yeah, I know. Because it was supposed to be like real life. It just would have been nice if Kevin and Winnie could've gotten together, but I guess in a way it was good they didn't. Maybe that is the kind of thing that made the show so great.

[Guest sek69]

I felt ripped off by the ending. The part about his dad dying seemed tacked on, but okay, that stuff happens. The big reveal that he married someone else and the running narration of the whole series was him talking to his kid with this other girl was a real letdown. During the whole run of the show it was beat into everyone's head how when Kevin was with another girl it wasn't right because his true love was Winnie.

 

It was like Vince Russo wrote the last episode "here's some dialog at the very end that renders the whole series moot because he didn't end up with the girl he spent his whole life in love with".

[godthedog 0]

OMG, I remember that rumor too! I wonder who started that. Don't anyone here take credit for it -- we'll know you're lying.

 

Alas, gtd and I have a date DVD.

 

 

i tried to explain the sheer "rightness" of that decision about kevin and winnie in the 'greatest episode' thread, but: the series was about the changes from childhood into adulthood, and it's stupid to assume that the girl you always wanted as a kid is going to be the same person when she's grown up, or even that you'll WANT the same person when you're grown up. a LOT of times growing up you'll believe in your heart of hearts things that just aren't true, and letting go of those is part of growing up--that's where the whole dramatic force of the whole "growing up" genre comes from, from having to let go and learn things and say goodbye. the whole reason why the events of that night in, say, 'american graffiti' mean so much is that they're never going to be together again after that one night. 'the wonder years' is about those years and those people long gone, reminiscing about those things you'll never have again. if kevin ended up with winnie, the series would still have a nostalgic ring to it, but the fact that he DIDN'T makes those moments that much more special when you watch them, precisely BECAUSE he's never going to have that again. that kind of wistful sadness makes the series what it is. that's one of my favorite half-hours of television ever (even though that episode isn't terribly well-written), because it was the end of this amazingly complex dynamic relationship and you WANTED them to end up together but sometimes that just doesn't happen. it's cathartic, yo.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

Well didn't the cast say that none of them knew what that voice-over was...or whether there was any to begin with.

[JasonX 0]

refresh my memory...he never did end up with Winnie in the long run did he?  and what happened to Paul Fiefer?

Winnie turned into a slut and Kevin took her virginity in a barn during a rainstorm after leaving town against his father's will in order to keep Winnie from turning into a summer resort club whore.

 

In the voice over ending, it's revealed that after they fucked Winnie went over to Europe and Kevin married an unnamed woman who he had several kids by.....

 

And IIRC Paul quit acting and now leads a quiet life paid for by residual checks from where he was on the show....

[JasonX 0]

I felt ripped off by the ending. The part about his dad dying seemed tacked on, but okay, that stuff happens. The big reveal that he married someone else and the running narration of the whole series was him talking to his kid with this other girl was a real letdown. During the whole run of the show it was beat into everyone's head how when Kevin was with another girl it wasn't right because his true love was Winnie.

 

It was like Vince Russo wrote the last episode "here's some dialog at the very end that renders the whole series moot because he didn't end up with the girl he spent his whole life in love with".

Regarding the ending to The Wonder Years, I've always heard tale that the entire voice-over ending was done because the writers kept getting told "You're cancelled, your not getting cancelled, do a final episode but DON'T do a final episode because if you resolve all of the storylines it's only going to give us more of a reason to cancel the show" by ABC.

 

So they shot the episode and when they were ultimately cancelled, the final voice over was recorded to explain the fates of all of the characters. It's been stated as fact that the cast KNEW about the final voice-over and that the actress who played the mom on the show has been on the record towards the fact that she went ballistic on the writers for ending the series with a voice-over, especially with regards to the fact that they kill the dad off in the voice-over.

[The Czech Republic 0]

I don't think it's that I hated the Wonder Years, it's just that around 1995, it seemed to be on in syndication way too much and I got tired of it.

[Vern Gagne 0]

It pissed me off that Jack Arnold died. He was the best part of the show.

[NoCalMike 0]

I liked Winnie until she started acting subhuman to Kevin. I mean it seemed like if she was away from him for more then an hour, she would suddenly "meet someone" who just changed her whole way of thinking, and she just had to break it off with Kevin for new said guy, meanwhile Kevin would constantly give up on trying to get with girls in hopes of winning back little miss Cooper.

[Guest Mosaicv2]

This would be great if this happens... I remember loving this show as a kid, and my dad simply feel in love with it, giving me crap of sayin "that's how we live back then." Best time mostly when everybody was young on the show.

[Guest Mosaicv2]

I got really disgusted at the final epidose... because we never see the voice-over face and Kevin never got Wendy... It's just wasn't my taste. Excuse me for my ranting and raving.

[BUTT 0]

Winnie turned into a slut and Kevin took her virginity in a barn during a rainstorm after leaving town against his father's will in order to keep Winnie from turning into a summer resort club whore.

You know, they don't even really imply that Kevin and Winnie fucked. I don't quite get why everyone assumes that.

 

By the way, the last episode also features the fateful face-to-face meeting of Kevin and Ralphie from A Christmas Story.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Did they show the adult Kevin's face, and was it Daniel Stern?

[NoCalMike 0]

Wonder Years was awesome, but the show went downhill as Kevin's voice started getting deeper. The Highschool years were lame, and the final few episodes pissed me off to no end. Kevin and Winnie Cooper should have gotten married....THEY SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN MARRIED.....

 

LOL.