TV TUESDAY S01E05: music of THE WONDER YEARS

On the last day of January 1988,  The Wonder Years debuted on ABC.   HERC watched it with MRS. HERC and they both liked the sweet, nostalgic look at young love and family life in the late Sixties.  Set in the year 1968, the show focused on Kevin Arnold, his best friend Paul Pfieffer and their neighbor Winnie Cooper as the three of them began junior high school.  The show was narrated by the adult Kevin and featured music from the time period.  By the end of that first episode Kevin and Winnie had shared their first kiss.

The show's theme song was Joe Cocker's take on the Beatles' "With A Little Help From My Friends".  The sixth and final season switched from the beginning of the song to the middle of the song as it's starting point along with different images in the opening credits.

By the time the final episode aired in 1993, Kevin, Paul and Winnie were juniors in high school - time on the show had passed with real life - it was five years since the show had started and everyone was five years older.  HERC thought the series ended well, with a climatic break-up and reunion between Kevin and Winnie and then a brief recounting by the narrator about what became of all the main characters.

For a while after it had completed it's network run, the syndicated show was on several channels seemingly every time HERC turned the TV on.  In the 20 years since, the show has all but disappreaed from public view although this YouTube user has been posting episodes in chronolgical order over the past month and is nearing the end of the series.  The Wonder Years has yet to be issuded on DVD and has been pulled from Amazon's streaming video service although it is still available to watch on Netflix without much of the original music, including the theme song.  The playlist at the top of this post is HERC's attempt at a fairly comprehensive rather than complete soundtrack.

There was an official soundtrack album released in 1989 but it features mostly modern artists covering the oldies featured on the show including two songs sung by Debbie Gibson.  Notice the small print at the top of the cover:

"MUSIC FROM THE EMMY AWARD WINNING SHOW AND ITS ERA"

Shortly after The Wonder Years ended,  a five disc box set Music from The Wonder Years was released, featuring songs heard on the show including several originals composed just for the show but about half of the songs were merely from "the era" the show was set.  The five discs were also released individually:

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