A pilot for the reboot of the beloved 1980s TV series The Wonder Years is officially set to begin filming this spring. The original series first launched in 1988 and went on to quickly gain a dedicated audience, before it ultimately came to an end in 1993. Critically acclaimed for much of its tenure on ABC, fans have been wanting more for decades.
The series followed the life of the Arnolds, a suburban Californian family. Though the majority of the episodes focused exclusively on 12-year-old Kevin (Fred Savage) as he navigated the often challenging journey of growing up in the 1960s (and early 70s), the cast of characters was rich. Kevin’s best friend Paul Pfeiffer (Josh Saviano) was a particular audience favorite, as was Kevin’s love interest Winnie Cooper (Danica McKeller). For years after the program’s finale, arguably the biggest complaint from die-hard fans was how long it took for the series to become available on DVD and Blu-ray. That issue was partially solved in 2016 when the complete set of The Wonder Years was released on DVD, but to date, physical media collectors have remained frustrated over a lack of a Blu-ray release.
Now, according to Deadline, ABC is set to bring back The Wonder Years with a new reboot. The pilot episode of the series is officially set to begin filming in the spring of 2021, and this time around, the cast will be made up of a Black family living in Alabama during the 1960s. Original series star Savage is onboard to both direct and produce the new iteration of the well-regarded series. At present, there is no guarantee of a full series, and of course, the overall quality of and reception to the pilot will determine how much further things will go.
From a historical point of view, rebooting The Wonder Years in Alabama with a Black family during the 60s is an idea that can have a lot of mileage. The civil rights struggles of the 60s represent far greater challenges than anything Kevin Arnold and his friends went through. The reboot offers the opportunity for audiences to take a look at what was happening from an entirely different perspective during one of America’s most turbulent decades. It will be interesting as well to see how Savage handles directorial duties on the reboot, given his past experience with the original Wonder Years. To date, Savage has directed a substantial amount of TV, most recently taking on Netflix’s Dash & Lily.
At this point, it’s still far too early to make a judgment call regarding how well this reboot of The Wonder Years will do. However, the time has arguably never been better for a series set in the deep south during America’s civil rights era. If ABC and Savage can handle this right, it could definitely turn into something that has longevity on its side. While there surely are fans of the original series who might not see the need to reboot the series at all, this could turn out to be one of the better attempts at rebooting what some would describe as classic TV.
Source: Deadline
Originally from https://screenrant.com/wonder-years-show-reboot-pilot-films-spring-2021/