FAQ for
"The Wonder Years" (1988) More at IMDbPro »

The creators never specifically mention where the Arnold's live. This was intentional because they wanted the audience to think it could have taken place in any suburban neighborhood in any town. They did not want to single out a specific city, state, or part of the country.

Some clues that it was set on the West Coast:

-The exteriors of the Arnold house was filmed in Burbank, California. Palm trees are visible in many shots, and the cars have California plates.

-In "The Wonder Years: Wayne on Wheels (#3.3)," a close-up of a letter shows the Arnold's address, which is clearly in California. Wayne's thumb is covering some of the details, but the visible portions read:

Wayne J. Arnold

86-- ---den Place

C---- ---ty, Ca. 90230

The ZIP code, 90230, is for Culver City, CA. There is a "Hayden Place" in Culver City, California (with the ZIP code 90230), which seems to fit the blocked out area of the address; however, "Hayden Place" is in a very industrial neighborhood near The Culver Studios and Sony Pictures Studios.

-In an early episode, Paul shouts that Kevin has a Jets jacket but has never even been to a game.

-It never snowed. However, on "The Wonder Years: Stormy Weather (#5.21)," Kevin mentions his dad once being stuck in a blizzard.

-If you look closely on one episode Kevin's license said "State of California."

-If you look closely on other episodes the license plates on the cars look like California plates.

On "The Wonder Years: Pfeiffer's Choice (#5.10)," which aired in December, Kevin and his family are invited to a country club with the Pfeiffers. They are all dressed for warm weather which would likely only happen on the West Coast. The episode likely took place mid-way through the school year (around December) because Kevin mentions Paul leaving prep school after a couple months.

Some clues that it was set on the East Coast:

-Kevin wore a New York Jets jacket and had pictures of Joe Namath in his locker.

-In one episode they mention going to Ocean City (which is in NJ or MD).

-Kevin's dad and Paul have noticable New York accents.

-Kevin's dad says that he is originally from Newark (most notably a city in New Jersey) and Jack's dad seems to live within driving distance of the Arnold's.

-If you do an Internet search for "norcom" (the place where Jack worked) the first site that comes up is a corporation in Connecticut.

-In "The Wonder Years: Back to the Lake (#5.23)," where Kevin and Paul return to the lake so Kevin can see Cara again, they drive north on a state route 17, and on the return trip Paul is heard describing a route back home that involves getting back to I-91: both highways are near each other in Connecticut, though I-91 continues through Massachusetts and across Vermont.

-In "The Wonder Years: Summer (#6.21)," Kevin's friends, Chuck and Jeff, mention going on a cross-country road trip. They mention going to New York, New Orleans, and then San Francisco. The fact that they mention New York first and San Francisco last implies that New York is closer because why would you take a road trip and start with the further destination.

-In the second episode, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0750367/, footage of Arlington National Cemetery is shown. The Coopers also have people back to their house after the funeral which puts them in a suburb of DC.

Cities that can be eliminated as settings

-On the episode "The Wonder Years: On the Spot (#3.5)," Kevin mentions that Winnie's dad flew in from Chicago to watch the play. Unless Mr. Cooper has his own jet, this would eliminate Illinois as the setting.

-On the episode "The Wonder Years: The Ties That Bind (#4.7)," Kevin's mom mentions that his dad will miss Thanksgiving because he has to fly to Pittsburgh and later Denver. This would eliminate those cities as settings.

-In the episode where Kevin's mom works at his school, the baseball game being televised while the family is sitting in the kitchen is Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia. Since the episode takes place during the week, one of the teams must be "local" as per the time period.

At the end of the last episode (1973), Kevin mentions the fate of all the main characters. Winnie goes to Paris to study art history while Kevin remains in the States. They keep in touch as pen pals but Kevin ultimately gets married to another woman and has a son. Kevin's father dies of a heart attack in 1975. Following Jack's death, Wayne, now more mature and responsible, takes over the family business. In a few months, Karen gives birth to a baby boy making Norma a grandmother. Paul Pfeiffer ends up graduating from Harvard with a law degree.

No, despite some similarities in appearance, Josh Saviano is not the famous shock-rocker. He graduated from Yale and is currently practicing law in New York City, where he was born. Marilyn Manson (real name Brian Hugh Warner) is seven years older and grew up in Ohio.

Due to the high cost of securing music rights, the distributors of "The Wonder Years" and artists whose music appeared on the show have yet to come to an agreement. Original music rights agreements were negotiated before the widespread use of DVDs, thus the rights to use the music never extended beyond the original airings and syndication. Several television shows that have relied heavily on external music sources, most notably "WKRP in Cincinnati" and "The Wonder Years" therefore run into a problem, since the original agreements never included home video or DVD rights, thus the rights to each song must be renegotiated in order for the song to be included on the DVD. This can be very expensive, and can take many years. For example, the first season DVD of "WKRP in Cincinnati" released in 2007 omitted most of the original music in the soundtrack, since agreements could not be reached with many of the record companies. Therefore, music heard in the original airings and syndication was removed in favor of "generic" music, for which royalties are not due. For a show like "The Wonder Years," in which the original music is an essential part of the structure of each episode, music rights would have to be secured for each episode for each season, since using generic music would ruin the structure of the storytelling. The cost would likely run into the millions of dollars to secure tracks from "The Beatles" and other high-profile artists, which would cut into the profit margin of the DVD sales. This would reduce the profit margin significantly, thereby reducing the liklihood that a comprehensive DVD set would ever be released.

To date, there have been two 'best-of' DVD sets for "The Wonder Years" They are: "The Best of The Wonder Years: July 24, 1999" (1 Disc-2 episode set) and "The Christmas Wonder Years: July 24, 1999" (1 Disc-2 episode set). However, they are quite expensive and do not contain the original music.

Yes and no. On "The Wonder Years: White Lies (#6.6)," they fall asleep on the couch together but nothing really happens, despite Kevin telling his friends the opposite. On "The Wonder Years: Independence Day (#6.22)," they both end up spending the night in a barn. Although nothing is ever mentioned, it is implied that they had sex.

Yes, on the episode "The Wonder Years: Carnal Knowledge (#5.19)," Kevin and his friends go to see a movie while Paul stays home and has an encounter with a friend of the family. He comes to the Arnold household later that night and explains to Kevin that he lost his virginity. After the episode, Paul never mentions the girl again which would imply that it was a one night stand.