Those who grew up watching “The Wonder Years” on television are experiencing an uncomfortable reminder about just how much time has passed since the iconic show aired from 1988 to 1993.
The series, starring Fred Savage and Danica McKellar as Kevin Arnold and Winnie Cooper, was set 20 years earlier, covering 1968 to 1973. As writer Tim Urban noted on the Wait But Why website, that might’ve seemed like a distant era at the time, but a series with the same concept launching today would cover 2000 to 2005.
Although the article contained a series of other details about time, many Twitter users were struck by “The Wonder Years” part, including Washington Post political analyst Emily Guskin:
“The Wonder Years aired from 1988 and 1993 and depicted the years between 1968 and 1973. When I watched the show, it felt like it was set in a time long ago. If a new Wonder Years premiered today, it would cover the years between 2000 and 2005.” https://t.co/n2JOHQ5svD
— Emily Guskin (@EmGusk) January 2, 2020
Others on Twitter also homed in on that detail, with many feeling old as a result:
How to feel old: The Wonder Years aired from 1988 to 1993 and depicted the years between 1968 & 1973. Watching the show, it felt like it was set in a time long ago. If a new Wonder Years premiered today, it would cover the years between 2000 and 2005. https://t.co/XUsrTswdJP
— Alison Loat (@AlisonLoat) January 2, 2020
I think of this all the time. It has helped color my own thinking as a historian—how memories of relatively recent histories are perceived differently by different age cohorts. It’s so weird and fascinating.
— Peter A. Shulman 📚 (@pashulman) January 2, 2020
My grandparents lost a son in the Vietnam War. I remember watching the ‘Wonder Years’ with my mom and she cried; it was almost exactly 20 years since his death. It seemed impossibly forever ago to me as a child. A new “Wonder Years” would encapsulate 9/11 and now I understand.
— Dmitri Mendeleev (@PeriodicWeather) January 2, 2020
Watching Back to the Future in the 80s, the 50s also seemed distant - which is how my kids must feel when they watch Stranger Things now (30 ish years in the past).
— Battle of Keren (@KarenLeick) January 2, 2020
Legit disturbed by “if the Wonder Years premiered tomorrow, it would feature the years 2000-2005”. https://t.co/0fDli5NfbE
— Deacon Jawn (@d_conblues) January 2, 2020
This is melting my brain. The difference between 1969 and 1981 should count for 500 years culturally
— Micah Gelman (@mbgelman) January 2, 2020
All simple math...but that Wonder Years shit got me like 🤯
— Kevin McArdle (@Kevin_McArdle) January 2, 2020
It's 2020 and you're in the future — Wait But Why https://t.co/Lz0C3bGfA0
“If a new ‘Wonder Years’ premiered today, it would cover the years between 2000 and 2005.”
— Alan Cavanna (@AlanCavanna) January 2, 2020
This link will ruin your day. But it’s fascinating (h/t @danielmcfadin) https://t.co/sxGi24zA34
I think about this kind of thing all the time. Listening to U2's early work on a classic rock station now would be like listening to the Glenn Miller Orchestra on a super-oldies station when U2's early work came out.
— Dave L. (@DLNewRoc) January 2, 2020
I lived the Wonder Years. It amazes me now that when I studied WWII in high school the war had ended only about 20 years before. From my perspective, at the time, it might as well have been a 100 years.
— Sharon (@LAwomanSharon) January 2, 2020
This literally turned my brain inside out.
— Jay Martin (@jaymart222) January 2, 2020
“The Wonder Years aired from 1988 and 1993 and depicted the years between 1968 and 1973. If a new Wonder Years premiered today, it would cover the years between 2000 and 2005.” https://t.co/flYFzpoM9o
Growing up in Colorado, from around 1983-1994 my parents listened to an FM radio station known as "Oldies 105". Its format was 1960s music. It beat me to hell.
— Kirk Merritt (@Kirk4Defiance) January 2, 2020
The equivalent "oldies" today is 1990s music.
I am older than you but remember figuring this out about Happy Days. It seemed like a show about the distant past, but it premiered in 1974 depicting life in 1955.
— Shannon Smith 🗳🥊🌊 (@chemom) January 2, 2020
The original “Star Wars” is closer to “Casablanca” than to the new “Star Wars.” @HamillHimself
— Chris Freeman (@drchrisisfree) January 2, 2020
In my brain I still feel like I’m in my 20’s.
— Brian Miles (@BrianPMiles) January 2, 2020
This stabbed my brain. https://t.co/T7GaZkYEpB
So who from Woodstock 99 would replace Joe Cocker? I say Everlast.
— (((Steve Sanders))) (@stevefenway) January 2, 2020
WHY DID YOU TWEET THIS 😔
— Laura Michalski (@MichalskiLaura) January 2, 2020
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