Danica McKellar and Fred Savage played in the original version of The Wonder Years. McKellar said on Twitter that she was excited about the new show.
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A new family will get along with a little help from their friends, as the theme song says. The Wonder Years, the nostalgic comedy drama of the 1980s and 1990s about a boy who grew up in the 1960s, returns with a new look. ABC will restart the legendary show to focus on a black family in Alabama in the 1960s, and Fred Savage, who appeared on the original show as a young Kevin Arnold, will direct.
The half-hour show will cover the same period as the original show, which ran from 1968 to 1973. Filmmaker Lee Daniels will act as executive producer, Saladin Patterson as author and executive producer.
“Fred sent me an email last night to share the news!” Actress Danica McKellar, who played Winnie Cooper on the show, wrote on Twitter. “I can’t wait to see what he and (Lee Daniels) create. I have no doubt that it will honor both the original show and the realities of growing up black in the 1960s.”
In the original show, Savage appeared as Kevin Arnold, who is between 12 and 17 years old in the show’s six seasons. McKellar played Winnie Cooper, his friend, and sometimes loved the interest. Kevin’s family included parents Jack (Dan Lauria) and Norma (Alley Mills), as well as Kevin’s older siblings Karen (Olivia d’Abo) and Wayne (Jason Hervey). The show also featured universal storylines for adults and showed how the family was affected by news events of the 1960s, including the Vietnam War. Actor Daniel Stern told the show as the voice of adult Kevin.
No casting or release date information is yet available for restart.
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