Rolling Stone ranked The Wonder Years 63rd on its 2016 list of the 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. The placement recognized the series as more than a nostalgic family sitcom: it blended coming-of-age storytelling, comedy, family drama, and reflective narration about growing up.
The original series premiered on ABC on January 31, 1988, and ran for six seasons through May 12, 1993. Fred Savage played Kevin Arnold, a teenager looking back on his childhood in a suburban American family during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Daniel Stern provided the adult Kevin's narration, giving ordinary events an older, more thoughtful perspective.
The ranking is sometimes confused with other honors attached to the show. TV Guide placed the episode “My Father’s Office” at number 29 on its 1997 list of the 100 Greatest Episodes, while the pilot ranked 43rd on TV Guide’s revised 2009 list. Those are episode rankings, not the Rolling Stone series ranking. The show also won the 1988 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series and received a Peabody Award in 1989.