Ages ago, I bought myself the complete DVD set of The Wonder Years but I never got round to watching it. Why? To be honest, I just have so many on my TBW pile, I have been paralysed by indecision! In order to encourage myself to finally do so, I decided to make it the subject of a series of blog posts, and here’s the first one! As this seems to be working already, I will look for other big collections to blog about. I have written about The Wonder Years at quite some length for h2g2 so if you’re new to the programme, I definitely suggest starting there, mainly to keep this article to a readable length. So, without further ado, let’s look at The Wonder Years Season 1.
Season 1 Episode 1 Pilot
Few programmes have made such a strong start in their first 25 minutes. Pretty much everything that made The Wonder Years one of the best TV programmes of all time is on display here. Fred Savage plays Kevin Arnold with a freshness and truthfulness that shines through as something incredibly special, and never really matched, over 30 years later. His onscreen family are believable from the first few frames as the story sketches in their characters with a minimum of fuss. Wayne, Kevin’s older brother, played by Jason Hervey, is every inch the obnoxious sibling that many people will have experienced growing up. His efforts to get under Kevin’s skin are all too successful, especially when Winnie Cooper is concerned. Winnie herself, played by Danica McKellar, is every boyhood crush brought to life. In the pilot episode, she goes from gawky neighbourhood playmate and elementary school classmate to the object of Kevin’s affections. That this is only brought about by a change from glasses to contacts and pigtails to long hair flowing down Winnie’s back, reflects the superficial nature of young boys. She is still the same person she ever was, and she is still the friend and confidante he needs. Kevin’s sister Karen, the excellent Olivia D’Abo simply exemplifies the hippy tendency of the time. What is great, however, is that it isn’t a caricature of the movement, but a reflection of the times that she lived in and played with absolute sincerity. Kevin’s parents, Norma and Jack are experienced stage and screen actors, Alley Mills and Dan Lauria. The stressed out Jack is constantly on edge, but Norma is always there to keep the peace, though she does so subtly enough to influence his mood, and the family dynamic, to its best advantage. The final member of the regular cast is Kevin’s best friend Paul Pfeiffer, Josh Saviano, who has complete loyalty to Kevin, and who, despite being allergic to pretty much everything, has an inner strength and insight that is often crucial. Finally, the narration of Daniel Stern has the right balance of perception, humour and emotion as he reflects on his 12 year old self.
The first episode evokes the suburban surroundings, their safety, familiarity and restrictive nature effectively sketched out in the opening few minutes via the narration and the sheer ordinariness of the times. One of the strengths of The Wonder Years was its sense of time, and in the pilot episode, this is tied to two things, one central to the story and the other incidental but very effective. The first is Vietnam, the war famously fought on television, which invades their kitchen diners and living rooms every night. This is a faraway war at the start, but it comes much closer to home when Winnie’s brother, Brian, is sent to Vietnam. The second is the name of Kevin’s new Junior High School, renamed Robert F Kennedy Junior High School. Kennedy had been assassinated in June 1968, his death coming when he was in with an excellent chance of becoming the Democrat nominee for that year’s Presidential Election. Like his brother’s assassination it led to thoughts of the different path that America could have taken, and the renaming of the school seems completely in keeping with the prevailing mood in 1968. The way that the seemingly disparate storylines of Kevin’s crush, his school, his brother’s bullying and the Vietnam War converge is an early sign of the way that this series would refuse to pull its punches. Suffice to say, that the final scene with Kevin and Winnie is quite simply the perfect end to a fantastic first episode.
Season 1 Episode 2 Swingers
Still struggling with the events of the previous episode, Kevin is uncertain how to act around Winnie although he gets advice from an unexpected source. The main focus of the episode is, as the title alludes to, the forbidden pleasures of sex. Although Kevin and Paul are excited by their first sex education lesson, taught by Coach Cutlip, it turns out to be a complete let down. For fans of the series, Robert Picardo’s hilarious portrayal of the borderline insane Coach Cutlip seemed absolutely integral to the goings on at Robert F Kennedy Junior High, so it comes as a surprise that he only appears in 15 episodes across the entire series. The sex education talk is one of his absolute highlights as he draws female reproductive organs, and then a whole woman, in his own inimitable style! Feeling unsatisfied by this introduction, Kevin and Paul decide to buy a copy of Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex. Unfortunately for them, their intended reading session is interrupted by Wayne and then Norma, leading to an unexpected revelation!
Season 1 Episode 3 My Father’s Office
This episode is absolutely pivotal to the series, as it’s the first step in making Jack the fully rounded character he was rather than the remote, somewhat frightening, head of the family of Kevin’s memories. It was also pivotal to me starting to understand my own father, as it was the episode that really cemented the programme in the affections of both of us. From this episode onwards, my Dad and I used to ring one another without fail every Sunday after the episodes were transmitted to discuss what we thought of them. Kevin realises that he doesn’t have a clue what Jack’s job is, and what he does all day at work, so Jack tells him to come to work with him the next day, instead of going to school, so he can see for himself. To see Jack in his work surroundings was to give Kevin and myself a fresh insight into the way that a job can influence everything else whether we like it or not. Kevin learns what his Dad’s dream was when he was Kevin’s age, and we see the way that his and Jack’s feelings are changed in an instant by an appalling piece of management from Jack’s superior. It’s no wonder Jack is always in such a bad mood after work. It is a beautifully written character study that lifts an already excellent first season to an entirely new level.
Season 1 Episode 4 Angel
Karen takes centre stage for this episode which looks at the relationship between her and her parents, particularly Jack. From being his angel, she is now a source of confusion and irritation as he tries to keep up with the way that the new generation are turning away from the certainties of his generation. The catalyst for the conflict that occurs is a fellow student called Louis, played by John Corbett, later Aidan in Sex and the City and the sequel Just Like That, who is older and more experienced than her. Kevin doesn’t like him because he has the suspicion that he is heavily involved with another female student. There is a fantasy scene, something that would become something of a series trademark, of Kevin beating Louis in a fight, but given the difference in age and physique, Kevin has to content himself with glaring at his sister’s boyfriend! The real fireworks occur at dinner that night when Louis challenges all of Jack’s views and mentions the futility of the Vietnam War. This is too much for Jack, a Korean veteran. When you watch this scene it’s important to realise that Dan Lauria was a Vietnam veteran himself, and I wonder if like me you’ll decide that Jack the character has given way to Dan the actor?
Season 1 Episode 5 The Phone Call
This episode is a fantastically observed reflection on the rite of passage of the first phone call to someone you really like. Kevin suddenly realises that he fancies Lisa Berlini when they are in class watching the launch of Apollo 8, an event that happened on December 21, 1968. Now, if the timeline is correct from then on, school doesn’t break up until December 23, which seems rather late, but that’s a minor point. He wants to find out if he has a chance with Lisa so he asks Paul to ask one of Lisa’s friends in the dining hall. The chain of events from then on is very funny and absolutely believable. Kevin eventually realises that there’s only one way to find out for sure, but does he have the nerve to make that phone call?
Season 1 Episode 6 Dance With Me
The final episode of this shortened season revolves around that other rite of passage, the school dance. Kevin, now firmly settled in as Lisa’s admirer, decides to strike while the iron is hot and ask her to the school dance. She says yes, then changes her mind almost immediately as Brad Gaines, a more sought after date than Kevin, asks her. It is an episode that sets up Season 2 very well, as the scales finally fall from Kevin’s eyes and he realises that his feelings for Winnie run far deeper than he realised. He then decides to ask Winnie out instead. The trouble is that Winnie has been asked out by an eighth grader, a whole year older than Kevin himself, and she has already said yes. Unlike Lisa, she is not going to let down her original date. Will Kevin find another date for himself? Will Paul ask out Carla Healy, even if the very mention of her name triggers his allergies and makes him sneeze?! It’s an episode that answers some questions and leaves others for later, and the perfect ending to this extremely effective first season.
Final Thoughts
Given that I haven’t seen these episodes in over 30 years, it’s amazing how well I remembered them. They were an extremely strong start to a programme that would become better and better as Kevin, Winnie and Paul made their way through Junior High. It’s a programme that reminds you of your own childhood, however long ago it was, and it never fails to hit the right note emotionally speaking. Speaking of the right notes, the music never fails to evoke that sense of time and place. It is a character in its own right and from songs of the counter culture like Turn, Turn, Turn and For What It’s Worth to The Monkees I’m a Believer and Born to be Wild by Steppenwolf. For those who were around at the time, the different pieces of music will remind them of their own childhood like nothing else. I hope you enjoyed this first post about my favourite television series. Look out for more from The Wonder Years very soon.
It had been the best part of a decade since I last went to a performance of The Nutcracker, and it was with an air of expectation that I went, with my wife, daughter and my daughter’s boyfriend, to the Coliseum on a windy Tuesday evening. The Nutcracker is the ballet equivalent of a pantomime, in that it is a guaranteed seat filler, and the first time many children are introduced to the magic of the theatre. However, unlike the pantomimes, The Nutcracker also introduces them to classical music, and, particularly on hearing Tchaikovsky’s marvellous score for the first time, the love for this form of music can take hold at an impressionable age. So, what will the younger theatre goers be treated to when they see The Nutcracker at The Coliseum.
The Theatre
It is important to have the best possible setting for The Nutcracker, and in the London Coliseum it has just that. The Edwardian grandeur of Frank Matcham’s original design was matched by the acoustic qualities for which older theatres are justly famous. In the 120 years since it opened in 1904, as a variety theatre, it has been used for a number of purposes, but today it is most famous as the home of the English National Opera and the English National Ballet. With nearly 2500 seats, it is the biggest theatre in London, and The Nutcracker regularly fills all of them. We were up in the balcony, a couple of rows from the back but we still had a fantastic view of the stage and the music was crystal clear throughout. Given the situation in many other theatres where you have at least a slightly restricted view, this is something I always value when I come to the Coliseum. The ability to watch the action unfold with no barriers in your line of sight is another element of this production that makes it perfect as an introduction to live theatre.
The Staging
The ballet was simply sumptuous to look at with a staging that made use of every inch of London’s biggest stage. From a skating rink in the opening scenes to a huge ballroom it awed the audience at every turn. Smaller sets like Clara’s bedroom were masterpieces of space utilisation and they provided an intimacy that drew the audience into the scenes. The snowy effects were magical and the lighting faultless. Sometimes, we take the staging for granted in a theatre production, but the behind the scenes work made the overall look of the ballet a character in its own right. I have never seen a production so full of magic before.
The Music
Many writers have examined Tchaikovsky’s score in great depth and in exhaustive detail. If you want to know more about the score in technical terms there are far better guides than me. However, as a music lover, I can say that it has every single element you could wish for in an evening’s music. For a start, even though it had been so long since I saw it, I was amazed at how much of the score I recognised within a few notes in the first act. It is from memory my sixth or seventh visit to this ballet, but the way I could recall the less instantly familiar parts of the score was still a very nice surprise. The second act has the familiar show stoppers, with the Trepak Russian Dance, Waltz of the Flowers and Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy being the most recognisable. However, for people of a certain age, the Danse des Mirlitons is the one apt to take us back to our childhoods. I can guarantee that it isn’t just me who was hearing Frank Muir’s voice in my head as he told us that ‘Everyone’s a Fruit and Nut Case’!
The English National Ballet Philharmonic orchestra were incredible, and underlined the importance of live music in a production such as this. These consummate professionals were a huge part in making the show as successful as it was. The harps in The Waltz of the Flowers were almost otherworldly in their beauty, as were the flutes in the Danse des Mirlitons. Although these two passages were fine examples of the orchestral excellence on display, each section shone in their individual parts and gave others the chance to shine in theirs. The enthusiasm and the freshness they brought to the score made me feel like I was hearing it for the first time, familiar though it was.
The Cast
As with any ballet, or indeed any stage production, the success of the evening lies with the cast. However great the source material is, a cast who don’t quite hit the heights can reduce the enjoyment of any play, musical or ballet. Fortunately, in the case of The Nutcracker, the cast did indeed hit the heights. The dancing was uniformly excellent throughout. The company were faultless, at least to my largely untrained eye, with crowd scenes showing an amazing tightness of choreography as they navigated the stage area with absolute precision. The principals and soloists were fantastic, with Shiori Kase as Clara and Erik Woolhouse as Drosselmeyer’s Nephew bringing an energy to the Pas de Deux that made it electrifying. Alexander Nuttall made the Mouse King very scary at times with the energy of his dancing and the force of his personality. Victor Prigent’s Nutcracker was a worthy adversary and an excellent foil for Nuttall in their demanding dances together, and you could see why Clara would fall for this uniformed paragon. Precious Adams was superb as the Mirliton with her solo particularly entrancing the audience. Henry Dowden’s Drosselmeyer was bursting with energy and magic throughout, as he brought a flair to the part that made it his own.
For me, however, it was one of the younger members of the cast who stole the show. The Tring Park School for the Performing Arts provided the young members of the company who excelled in technical terms as they brought real verve to their dances. The young Clara, played by Beatrice Lewis-Verebelyi gave the young girls in the audience a glimpse into what is possible on the ballet stage, even at such a young age. As well as being a superb dancer, as you would expect, her acting skills gave Clara a personality and a presence that I don’t recall having seen before in that part. She really showed every sign of being a star of the future. Her fellow Tring Park dancer, Ethan Galeotti, was the perfect foil, bringing a rumbustiousness to Clara’s brother, Freddie, that made him instantly stand out, but also showing a more sensitive side as well.
Final Thoughts
My daughter’s boyfriend came to The Nutcracker, having never been to a ballet before. I was a similar age to him when I saw my first ballet, A Christmas Carol by the Northern Ballet. It was my abiding affection for the Dickens classic which was instrumental in introducing me to ballet as an art form and a spectacle. Now, looking around me last night, I did not see more than a handful of boys in the Coliseum, but I saw a large number of girls eagerly awaiting their introduction to the magic of dance. I would love to see ballet as an art form for both boys and girls to watch and participate in. However, socially there is a lot of work to do while boys are seen as ‘weird’ by friends, and occasionally family, for wanting to dance. The male dancers of all ages in the production confirmed that ballet is a career open to everyone, but until we accept that boys can dance just as much as girls can play football, cricket or rugby, it will remain a cultural outlet that is closed to boys. In the last 20 years or so, we have accepted the idea of girls playing football to such an extent that they are now just as encouraged to aim for the top as any boy. Wouldn’t it be marvellous if we could turn our attention to ballet and aim for the same situation in reverse? There are obviously examples of good practice in terms of this equality across the country, but it is far from widespread as far as I can tell. It would be fantastic to see dance classes in years to come having a good mix of boys and girls, providing ballet and other forms with a far deeper and wider pool of talent for the future.
Over the last few years I, and many others, have followed the journey of Jessica Taylor-Bearman as she has battled the severest form of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) possible. In the three books she has written, she takes us from the teenager whose active life is brought to a shocking halt, to a young woman whose determination to survive and thrive despite the ups and significant downs of health has inspired so many people around the world. I will introduce you to the three books, which you should read from the start to get the full story in all its complexity. I will try to avoid giving you too many spoilers, because Jessica’s story needs to be read to be believed at times. I should say that it is an incredibly difficult read at times as the medical emergencies are exacerbated by the attitudes of some of the professionals working with her. It is, however, ultimately uplifting as you see the triumph of the human spirit over adversity.
A Girl Behind Dark Glasses
This first book starts out with a pre-M.E. Jessica, a very effective decision on the older Jessica’s part as it sets the shocking decline into perspective. This is the story of a girl who was going to become successful in life if that life had progressed in a conventional manner. Clever, kind, popular, mischievous and determined, Jessica was blossoming until just before her 15th birthday. That was the point at which the M.E. started to take control, and the gradual worsening of her condition is communicated to her diary, who she christened Bug, and knowing what is about to happen, both the decline of her health and the person she was before the M.E. are brought into poignant focus. When she is eventually admitted to hospital, her condition is life threatening, with the weight dropping off of her because she is no longer able to eat, and her eyesight failing due to the weakness in even those muscles. Once her body has completely failed her, she is hospitalised, with dark glasses to protect her from the light, and a feeding tube to ensure she gets adequate nutrition. The number of times she is on the point of death in this first book is quite simply staggering, as is the lack of compassion from a large proportion of medical staff, particularly the Doctors, for whom M.E. stands for More Excuses. It is not just a shocking account, it is an account that often makes the reader angry, so the effect on Jessica and her family can only be imagined. The family are also frightened, angry, and mourning the loss of their energetic livewire of a daughter, but they keep fighting for her against a system that seems determined to fail her. She is determined not to let the illness, or that system, beat her and, remarkably, she sets up a charity called Share A Star from her hospital bed. It is a charity that has now ceased operations, but the impact that it had in the 13 years it was in operation has been incredible
A Girl In One Room
The first book covers the first four years of Jessica’s battle, hospitalised and unable to do anything for herself, and this second book picks up the story with her health having stabilised to the extent that she can now be looked after at home. It is still a frightening situation for Jessica and her family, but at least she is home. It is perhaps not surprising that the recovery is anything but smooth, and on occasions she is rushed back into the hospital in a critical condition. She makes it clear that there were times when her chances of survival were anything but certain, and although you know that she will survive, the immediacy of the writing makes you fear for her on every occasion. In a turn of events that no one, perhaps least of all Jessica, was expecting, an online friendship blossoms into something more with a young man called Samuel. It is clearly going to be a difficult relationship to navigate, but in typical Jessica style she is determined to make it work somehow. It means that this part of the story ends on a high note.
A Girl Beyond Closed Doors
The way that this story develops is, to some extent, similar to the other two books. The same themes of determination, battling against the odds, continuing health scares and the entrenched attitudes of the medical professionals caring for Jessica are all present. However, with Jessica being more active and healthier, the setbacks are more frustrating and there is an undercurrent of anger as she reflects on the way she is treated, especially as she finds herself back in the medical system in a way she can’t possibly have expected. There are some incredible highs amongst the lows with a garden party at a famous London location being perhaps the highest. When you reflect on how the story started, the way it finishes in this third book is almost miraculous. Put it this way, if it was a novel, you would say it’s too far fetched! As with all of the books, Jessica’s indomitable spirit shines through, occasionally with anger but more often with humour and a love for life.
Catching Up with Jessica’s Story
Jessica has published all three books with Hashtag Press, an independent publishing house specialising in books from authors representing diverse and marginalised voices. If you want to read more about her incredible story you can go to their website and buy them directly from the shop rather than through your more usual channels to support this forward thinking and inclusive publisher. You can also get right up to date with Jessica’s story by following her on Twitter or Instagram as she continues to defy the odds.
The author, Katherine E Smith has written a series of books called Coming Back to Cornwall, and another series called Connections. The new novella First Christmas is the start of a new series of books, and features, as its setting, the Soulton Long Barrow in Shropshire. This book piqued my interest, as I am always looking for new Christmas reads, so when I saw the crowdfunding page advertised on Instagram, I decided to give it a go, despite not having read anything by Katherine previously.
The Plot
Ruth is the narrator of this tale, and a very engaging and thoughtful narrator she is. However, she is unusual in terms of her narration given the fact that she, or rather her ashes, reside in a Long Barrow, and she is telling the tale of her family’s first Christmas without her. Now this isn’t as big a spoiler as it looks, given that it is in the blurb on the back, and is very clear early on in the first chapter. It is also important to know this before reading in case the subject matter may be too close to home for many people.
Her family come to visit her, initially individually, as they try to come to terms with their loss in their different ways. Each chapter features one member of the family and their reaction to this first Christmas as a smaller family. The ways that they deal with the loss reflect the characters that Ruth now understands even better from her new vantage point. Their personal trials are interwoven with Ruth’s story as the novella develops. These family members are each wounded in their own ways, as we all are when we lose someone, and their ways of dealing with the loss inevitably cause friction and occasional hostility, but through it all, the importance of the family shines through.
The Characters
Ruth was, and in many ways remains, the glue that held the family together. Though she sees strains as the bonds of familial love tested, she is quite confident that these bonds will stretch rather than break. She has three children, Kitty, Annie and Tom. Kitty is the younger of the two sisters, and is creative, animal loving and single. That final point becomes quite interesting later on. She is seen as more sensitive than Annie, her married sister who has a sharp manner and social skills that leave her on the outside and misunderstood. Tom is now, in a sense, filling the role of that family glue, and it is clear that despite her attempts to be as even handed as possible, that Ruth has always felt closer to Tom emotionally. Graham, Ruth’s husband is now a widower who is finding it almost impossible to cope emotionally. He gets through the practical parts of life because he has to, but he is broken inside. The final character, Alex, is married to Annie, who takes him for granted, gets annoyed by him very easily and often belittles him. He is, on the surface, every inch the loyal and devoted husband, but underneath in his private thoughts, which Ruth now has access to, something worrying is stirring.
The Feeling
I deliberately entitled this section the feeling, because it is the feeling communicated by consummate writing that makes this book so magical. Ruth is, in a sense, just an ordinary woman, of the kind you could meet every day just walking down a street or going to work on a commuter train. Her access to the thoughts of her family does not make her omnipotent, merely far more understanding than she could have been in life with its incomplete picture. She is not an angel, full of goodness, although she has gained a measure of acceptance denied to the living, but she keeps a loving watch on her family and tries to make them aware of her presence in any way she can. Her family are real people, filled with sorrow in their time of mourning, a mourning that comes through every word that is written. This is the start of a new series, and it becomes clear that there are many issues to be resolved, as they continue their journey from raw grief to a measure of acceptance. They are real people with real feelings and I identified with each one of them in one way or another. Ruth’s love and sympathy shines through in a novella that doesn’t waste a single one of its 70 pages.
My thoughts
I think that, although it is the introduction to a new series, it can, very importantly, be read as a standalone novella. If you have been recently bereaved, it may well be a difficult read, but it may also be a very comforting read. The writing is amusing, moving and profound by turns, but what it always is, is absolutely beautiful. I just lost myself in this book, taking it slowly with a couple of short chapters each night before going to sleep. However, you could easily finish this in one sitting and find it just as rewarding. One of the delights of reading is finding a new author who you know you are going to love whatever they write. If you give this book a chance I predict that you will find that Katherine E Smith is one of those authors that will become a firm favourite.
To find out more about Katherine’s novels her website is the ideal place to start. Happy reading.
The last two #Blogmas challenges have gone very well, mainly because I wrote up my schedule of posts well in advance and published them. That simple approach kept me focused and kept me on track. Now, I can’t do exactly the same for 2024, as I can’t predict which books, records or plays might inspire me. However, I have a number of key ideas that I can build my blog around this year. As I am writing them down, I will have created the necessary focus I need to ensure that 2024 sees continued growth for a blog I am quietly proud of.
- A minimum of 4 posts a month – I was going to write one per week, but I can’t guarantee that every seven days something will appear on here, nice though that would be. This way, I will have a minimum of 44 posts over the January to November period with #Blogmas to increase that total to around 70 posts next year.
- The Wonder Years Re-watch – I have had the entire Wonder Years on DVD for about two and a half years, and never got round to watching it. This year, I WILL watch it and what’s more I will blog about it, Season by Season. 6 posts between now and next November guaranteed, although I have a suspicion that some seasons may require more than one post to do them justice.
- The A-Z of My Singles Collection will be finished up. I am 9 blogs in and I think I will need at least another 12 to complete it, perhaps more.
- My occasional series where I reflect upon my Vinyl collection will become a monthly fixture with one album played and reviewed from January to November. Another 11 posts there.
- As a teenager, before music took over my pocket money priorities, I had another obsession, namely the Panini Football Stickers. I got within 8 stickers of completing Football 78 – which I did thanks to eBay many years later – and I completed Football 79. I will be getting my stickers down from the loft and taking pictures of many of the pages to tell the story of my collections. Given the size of the collections, I think at least 8 posts will be needed to do them justice.
Well, that’s a minimum of 37 posts there, so the majority of my planned posts are going to be focused on these four ongoing themes, and I will no doubt be finding other things to blog about in 2024. As I look to increase my posts, and my readership, I know I will need to be disciplined but I think I will manage it. I hope you will stay with me for this year, and that you enjoy the range of subjects and my enthusiasm for them!
David Pearce - Popular Culture and Personal Passions 