ABC issued a back nine-episode order for The Wonder Years reboot, making the series the first of the network’s new fall shows to receive a full-season pick-up.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Wonder Years' Wednesday night comedy neighbor, Home Economics, likewise received a back-nine order from ABC. This means that both series will clock in at 22 episodes, a traditional full-season run for a network show.
A reboot of the 1988 ABC series, The Wonder Years is likewise steeped in the nostalgia of 1960s America. The Wonder Years reboot sees a Black family, the Williams, at the center of the familiar tropes and comforting formula of the iconic sitcom. With the Williams family, The Wonder Years explores a similar array of coming-of-age quandaries as the original series in addition to confronting racial realities not experienced by the Arnold family of the late-'80s series.
Unlike straightforward or extremely divergent reboots of this contemporary television era, The Wonder Years marries the worlds of the Arnold family and the Williams family. Set against the same era of American history and employing the same formulaic beats, The Wonder Years is able to create a meta-conversation between both iterations of its family narrative by examining the ways in which its two households are similar and the places where they deviate.
Narrated by Don Cheadle, The Wonder Years stars Dulé Hill, Saycon Sengbloh, Elisha “EJ” Williams, Laura Kariuki, Julian Lerner, Amari O’Neil and Milan Ray. The new cast has been visited by Wonder Years alum Fred Savage behind the scenes, with the Kevin Arnold actor serving as a director on several episodes of the reboot. With a back nine now ordered from ABC, there’s a distinct possibility that Savage will return to his directing role in subsequent episodes of The Wonder Years. There's also a possibility, as with other contemporary sitcom reboots, for past Wonder Years stars to participate in cameos in the series going forward.
A full-series order for The Wonder Years came as a no-brainer for ABC, as the reboot has reached around 4.8 million viewers each week. The critical reception for The Wonder Years has been overwhelmingly positive as well, which is particularly impressive in a market where reboots are often hit-or-miss for audiences. These factors, bolstered by ABC’s strongly performing Wednesday comedy line-up, read as a good sign for Wonder Years’ fans hoping for a Season 2 renewal down the line.
The Wonder Years airs Wednesdays at 8:30 pm EST on ABC, with next-day streaming available on Hulu.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter