[2][3][4] The series stars Fred Savage as Kevin Arnold, a teenager growing up in a suburban middle class family in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

It co-stars Dan Lauria as his father Jack, Alley Mills as his mother Norma, Jason Hervey as his brother Wayne, Olivia d'Abo as his sister Karen, Josh Saviano as his best friend Paul Pfeiffer, and Danica McKellar as his girlfriend Winnie Cooper, with narration by Daniel Stern as an adult version of Kevin.

Storylines are told through Kevin's reflections as an adult in his mid-30s and learns a lot of life lessons growing up, voiced by Daniel Stern.

Although Winnie attends a new school, Lincoln Junior High, she and Kevin decide to remain together and maintain a successful long-distance relationship.

In late 1972, Wayne starts working at NORCOM, and dates his co-worker Bonnie Douglas, a divorcée with a son named David, but the relationship does not last.

Shortly before the finale, mirroring the women's liberation movement of the 1970s, in 1973, Norma, not wanting to let her college degree go to waste, gets a job as a comptroller at Micro Electronics, making $225/week.

The final sounds, voice-over narration, and dialogue of the episode and series is that of Kevin as an adult, with children heard in the background: Growing up happens in a heartbeat.

All five of them recommended Fred Savage, who at the time was famous for his roles as the grandson in The Princess Bride and as Charlie Seymour/Marshall Seymour in Vice Versa.

This first version of the opening was very basic: Nothing but a black screen was shown, after the title logo, with each cast member's name appearing in the center one by one.

The official soundtrack released in 1988 by Atlantic/WEA contains a total of 13 tracks, featuring Joe Cocker's cover of The Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends", which is the show's theme song.

[35] After the series' original run was over, Laserlight Digital released a five-disc compilation box set under the title Music from The Wonder Years in 1994.

The disc included 40 oldies favorites and five original songs (each is repeated twice in the set) written exclusively for the series by W. G. Snuffy Walden.

The Time Life DVD releases feature around 96% of the original music soundtrack, including Joe Cocker's cover of "With a Little Help From My Friends" at the opening.

The UK DVD release from Fabulous Films was intended to have no replaced music, but reviews on online retailers and fan websites show that this is not the case.

Bob Brush noted, "When Kevin became 16 and 17, there were really things he needed to get to that we couldn't do at 8 pm, especially with the kind of venerable cachet that the show had obtained with its audience.

The cast's salary increases, coupled with location shooting (which was due to the producers wanting to reflect Kevin obtaining his driver's license), led to Brush claiming that they were spending $1.2 million an episode.

Bob Brush noted that the finale was not what he would have wanted it to be, but because the cast and crew were unsure at the time of filming if the sixth season would be the last, he was forced to have the ending be open-ended until the recording of Daniel Stern's narration.

Brush acknowledged this disappointment, saying, "Some viewers [were] surprised that nothing works out the way your fondest wish would be," and explained, "The message I wanted in there is that that's part of the beauty of life.

On July 17, 1995, the show began airing again on RTL 2 on weekdays until the end of the year; this time, between October 20 and December 29, 1995, previously unaired Seasons 5 and 6 were shown.

In Spain, the series initially aired Mondays 9:30 pm on TVE2 (now La2) as part of the Monday-night comedy block, which also featured Murphy Brown.

[citation needed] Initially, the first four episodes were released on two VHS cassettes by Anchor Bay in 1997, with most of the music intact (a select few songs, however, were re-recordings).

The other three 20th Century Fox series noted as part of the deal were added to the Watch Instantly service by April 2, 2011[53][54][55] while The Wonder Years remained unavailable.

Songs such as "Light My Fire" by The Doors and "Foxy Lady" by Jimi Hendrix have been replaced by generic sound-alikes with different lyrics.

On February 11, 2014, StarVista/Time Life announced the upcoming DVD release of the complete series in the second half of the year, noting that it was "painstakingly securing the rights for virtually every song.

The packaging consists of a miniature school locker featuring a replica yearbook with signatures from cast members, behind-the-scenes photos, and classic show memorabilia.

Replica yearbook embellished with signatures from cast members, behind-the-scenes photos, classic show memorabilia, and liner notes penned by Fred Savage, series creators Neal Marlens and Carol Black, and executive producer Bob Brush A 2014 Los Angeles cast reunion, featuring all key cast together for the first time in 16 years Extensive individual interviews with all seven key cast members (Fred Savage, Danica McKellar, Josh Saviano, Dan Lauria, Alley Mills, Olivia d'Abo, and Jason Hervey), as well as with notable actors featured as guest stars or in recurring roles, such as David Schwimmer, Ben Stein, Bob Picardo and Seth Green In-depth interviews with narrator Daniel Stern, Neal Marlens, Carol Black, Bob Brush, and other production personnel Ten new featurettes: "With a Little Help From My Friends": The Early Days of The Wonder Years, "The Times They Are A-Changin'": The Era, "My Generation": The Kids Grow Up, "When a Man Loves a Woman": Kevin & Winnie Forever, "Bookends": Kevin & Paul, "A Family Affair": At Home with the Arnolds, "I Love You for Sentimental Reasons": Fan-Favorite Episodes, "Will You Love Me Tomorrow": The Wonder Years Love Stories, "ABC": Teachers That Made a Difference, "Both Sides Now": The Music That Made the Moments.

It contains information about the creation and production of the show, interviews with cast and crew, and an extensive episode guide (up to the middle of the 4th season when the book was published).

While long out of print and hard to find, the author gave permission to a fan website to publish the book online for free in its entirety.

[70] In Colombia, the production company BE-TV made a version for Caracol Televisión also titled Los años maravillosos (The Wonder Years), set in the 1980s and with a Colombian cast.

The new series would once again take place in the late 1960s—but this time, it would focus on the life of a black middle-class family living in Montgomery, Alabama.