The Wonder Years premiered on television in 1988. The first episode aired on ABC on January 31, 1988, immediately after the network’s broadcast of Super Bowl XXII.
That unusual scheduling choice gave the new series a very large introductory audience. The program then settled into its regular run as a coming-of-age comedy-drama about Kevin Arnold, a suburban teenager looking back on life during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Each season generally moved the story forward in the same sequence of years, beginning in 1968 and ending in 1973.
The series was created by Neal Marlens and Carol Black and starred Fred Savage as Kevin. Daniel Stern supplied the voice of adult Kevin, whose reflective narration gave the show its distinctive perspective. The cast also included Dan Lauria, Alley Mills, Jason Hervey, Olivia d’Abo, Danica McKellar, and Josh Saviano.
The show continued for six seasons and ended in 1993. Viewers sometimes confuse its premiere year with the period depicted in the story, especially because the first episode is set in 1968. The broadcast date, however, was 1988—twenty years after the fictional events began.