The San Diego Union-Tribune, February 12, 1989, Sunday

SECTION: ENTERTAINMENT; Ed. 1,2; Pg. TV WEEK-8

LENGTH: 811 words

Wonder of stardom hasn't, like, changed Fred Savage that much
Robert P. Laurence; Television Writer

   Success, it is fair to guess, has not spoiled d Fred Savage.
   The young star of ABC's "The Wonder Years" met a batch of TV critics the other day, and one asked if he was ever tempted to talk back to his mother, and remind her that he is a celebrity and not to be disciplined as if he were a mere 12-year-old kid.
   The dark, liquid eyes that have mesmerized millions of preteen girls grew to the size of tennis balls, and Fred regarded the man as if he must be deranged.
   His voice rose to a panicky squeal, as the voices of preteen boys will do when under extreme stress.  "To my mom??!! No way! NO WAY!!" to be, in many ways other than age, quite like Kevin Arnold, the lad whose weekly crises of early adolescence are the subject of "The Wonder Years."
   The quirky comedy series (9 p.m. Wednesdays, KGTV, Channel 10) has formed part of the core of new shows that have returned ABC to ratings strength and critical respectability after years in the cellar of both categories.  After debuting a year ago, the show aired just six episodes in the spring season, and won the Emmy Award for best comedy series, while the same network's "thirtysomething" was being named best drama.
   Along with "Hooperman," another ABC success of the 1987-88 season, "The Wonder Years" is one of two survivors of the surge of "dramadies" -- shows
mixing comedy with drama -- produced by the networks over the past couple of years.  It does not have a laugh track, and does have the look of a small,
well-crafted movie.
   Created, produced and mostly written by the husband-wife team of Neal Marlens and Carol Black, "The Wonder Years" is all about growing up in the late 1960s in a place that carries only the generic title of "Suburb." With issues like Vietnam, civil rights and hippies lurking not far in the background, Kevin and his friends are trying mainly to cope with the eternal mysteries of seventh grade, which are mainly girls.
   As Kevin lives out his life, his story is also told in voice-over by the adult Kevin, remembering what life was like for him then. That role is taken by Daniel Stern, who you might remember as the tall, gawky Cyril in "Breaking Away," and who has directed an episode or two.
   Kevin remains steadfastly enamored of a dark-haired, willowy (taller than he is, as often happens in the seventh grade), ethereal young lady named Winnie
(Danica McKellar). But a couple of weeks ago, he spent a short time going steady with a blonde named Becky ( Crystal McKellar,  Danica's younger sister),
mainly to make Winnie jealous.
   Meanwhile, Kevin was asked by the handsome, athletic Kirk (Michael Landes) to find out if Winnie liked him.  That is, if she really liked him.  Kirk, that is.
So off Kevin went to talk to the girl of his dreams, on behalf of his rival.
   It was plain that Marlens and Black remembered how things were in seventh grade.  "Do you mean, do I like him like him, or do I just like him?"
   "The first one, I guess."
   "Well, I like Kirk. But I'm not sure I like him like him."
   Oh.
   Adding to the delicate mix are an occasional fantasy scene -- Kevin and his friends are the "Star Trek" crew, trapped on a planet ruled by all the girls in their lives -- and a few carefully chosen records from the 1950s and '60s. For instance, when Kevin found himself longing to break up with Becky, B.B. King was
on the sound track, singing "The Thrill is Gone."
   Kevin's parents and his older brother and sister are part of the scene, as well as his best pal, Paul (Josh Saviano), but at the center is Kevin himself, played by Fred, a skilled, charming actor, with red-apple cheeks, a button nose, those doelike eyes and the cutest, most endearing smile since Shirley Temple.
   Unlike so many kid actors, who already speak of themselves as "we," Fred Savage seems to be keeping things in perspective.
   For him, life is pretty much "the same thing" as it is for Kevin. "He's worried about girls, and you know, school, and whether his hair is right and stuff like that."
   In an upcoming episode, Kevin has to cope with piano lessons, and Fred also knows what that experience is like.
   Is there a real Winnie in his life?
   Fred didn't know what to say.
   "Well, not in, like, the same situation.  Not like, well, you know."
   The question got tougher.
   "Do you have a girlfriend, Fred? Yes or no."
   "Well, kind of."
   His offstage friends, he said, are no more impressed with his stardom than is his mother.
   "They don't, like, tease me or treat me better or worse or anything," he said. "They just, like, treat me the same, I guess. They treat me the same and they invite me over, like regular friends, and I hang out with them and stuff."
   Then Fred Savage said the one thing that explained that life has not changed very much for him: "And I still get picked last when they pick softball teams and stuff."

GRAPHIC: 2 PHOTOS 1.  The Wonder Years' - Fred Savage, rights, and Josh Saviano star in comedy series airing Wednesday. (TV-WEEK-1) 2. Fred Savage stars in Wonder Years,' comedy series airing Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on Channel 10.

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