TV Review - The Wonder Years (2021)

Husband and wife, Neal Marlens and Carol Black created The Wonder Years (1988), which was about a man looking 20 years back at his childhood. It starred Fred Savage as a 12-year-old boy living in a suburb and his experiences with his family, his best friend and the girl whom he loved. It was a hit series that ran for six seasons. It was nominated for numerous awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, which it won. Savage himself was even nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor. There have been a number of TV shows that are remakes of programs from the 80's and 90's, including Dynasty (2017), Walker (2021) and The Equalizer (2021). This is simply the latest. This remake like some of the others makes the cast more diverse or centers on a specific ethnic group like Latino or African-American.  In this case, writer Saladin K. Patterson (The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men) centers this remake on an African-American family.

As such, the existence of this series is much appreciated, given the lack of comedy series on television currently that center on African-Americans. The lack of comedies or sitcoms that center on Black people is a fact that has been underscored over the past few years at the Emmy Awards. At the recent 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards, there were eight shows nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series. Only one featured an African-American lead that was Black-ish (2014). At the 72nd Emmys, again eight shows were nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series. Only one had a predominantly, African-American cast and that was Insecure (2016). At the 71st Emmys, there were no shows nominated in that category with a predominantly Black cast. At the 70th Emmys, it was better with both Black-ish and Atlanta (2016) nominated. However, before Black-ish went on the air, African-American comedies got no love or respect. You have to go back to the 40th Emmys, the same year that The Wonder Years won before you find another African-American comedy that was nominated and that was Frank's Place (1987).

It's not as if this problem is due to a lack of shows being produced because they are being produced on cable networks or streaming platforms. This type of comedy series though has all but lost support on network television. CBS in particular was criticized for its lack of diversity in its programming and has taken steps to rectify. Because of the success of Black-ish, ABC has created numerous spin-offs. Their most recent was Mixed-ish (2019), which the network canceled. Yet, I would argue that this series from Patterson scratches the same itch as Mixed-ish. Both are coming-of-age stories that are narrated by the child at the center of it or rather the adult version of the child, looking back at their youth. The only difference is that most of the issues centered on race relations from a biracial character's perspective living in the 1980's. As such, Mixed-ish was pure 80's nostalgia. This series is pure 60's and 70's nostalgia.

Elisha Williams stars as Dean Williams, a 12-year-old Black boy living in Montgomery, Alabama. It's 1968 and Dean is growing up in a fairly nice suburban neighborhood with his parents and his sister. He has a brother, but, in the first few episodes, we don't meet Dean's older brother, Bruce, because he's off serving in Vietnam. This is a change from the 1988 series, which had the protagonist's older brother still living at home and instead had a neighbor serving in Vietnam. This series starts around the time of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, so a lot of issues that Dean is observing and in fact facing are race relations, particularly how his parents try to guide him in such relations.

Saycon Sengbloh (Respect and In the Dark) also stars as Lillian Williams, the mother to Dean. She works as an account executive at the Department of Treasury. She's highly educated with various degrees. Yet, at her job, she's at times treated as nothing more than a secretary. She's a very progressive woman who believes in open conversations about any topic with her children, including sex. Dulé Hill (Psych and The West Wing) co-stars as Bill Williams, the father to Dean. Bill is a professor who is also a funk musician. He's arguably more conservative than his wife. He'd rather avoid frank and open conversations about sex, especially with his children.

Neither of them are perhaps not as activist as their daughter, Kim Williams, played by Laura Kariuki (Black Lightning). She was quick to join the Black Panther Party and really start protesting the injustice against Black people. What seems like the case is that the show might focus on more social justice issues, more so than the original series. The original series felt very preoccupied with the young protagonist's romantic life and his romantic interests. The back-and-forth of Kevin and Winnie became too much. This series might go there with Dean's romantic interests, but the initial run of episodes have mostly eschewed such stuff.

Rated TV-PG-L.
Running Time: 30 mins.
Wednesdays at 8:30 PM on ABC.