The original post: /r/television by /u/theangryfurlong on 2025-05-27 01:05:15.
The Wonder Years is a bit of an oddity when compared to its contemporaries. Even though it competed in the comedy series category in the Emmys, it was a dramedy (with a heavy focus on drama) in an era of light-hearted sitcoms. It focused on realistic situations rather on the sort of comedic setups used to drive the plots of family sitcoms of the time. It was a period piece that made heavy use of big, period music. This is a pattern we would later see repeated in the 2000s golden era of television. While it was still highly episodic, you can see a sort of move towards serialization in the character relationships, historical backdrop, etc.
I think this show was ahead of its time with the above, and just the overall quality of the writing and acting. What do you all think?