“The Wonder Years”—it was a slice of 1960s Americana, but it spoke to generation Xers as much as flower children. Who didn’t have their own childhood love in the mold of Winnie Cooper or Kevin Arnold? From the math nerds (Paul) to the goofballs (Wayne), everyone had a kindred spirit. And if you were a little lady unlucky enough to play second fiddle to some goodie-two-shoes brunette, maybe you found that character in Becky Slater.
That’s right—the right-cross throwing, campaign muckraking femme fatale in the long socks was one tough cookie. Just ask Kevin Arnold, who found his sorry ass on cold linoleum after he used and abused Becky to try and weasel his way back into Winnie’s tree house.
But the actress behind the ball of fire that was “Rebecca Slater,” Crystal McKellar, believes that her character has suffered from a little misrepresentation. Now a freshman at Harvard Law School, Crystal stands by Becky, claiming that she was standing up for herself... just a sad, hurt little girl trying to make sense of things... by giving ol’ Kev a three-punch combo that induced a much-famed “Star Trek” hallucination!
The stars of this classic sitcom have somehow avoided the drug rehab clinics, porn flicks and courtrooms populated by other former child actors. Fred Savage, “Kevin Arnold,” went to Stanford, and, prior to the cancellation of “Working,” could still be found on primetime. “Winnie Cooper” is actually Crystal’s older sister, Danica. It turns out that in real life, America’s quintessential girl-next-door is actually a world-class mathematician who graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with a degree in analytical math—and everyone thought Paul was the ‘mathlete’ of the crew. To boot, Crystal and Josh Saviano, math-whiz/hoops star “Paul Pfeiffer,” were both Yalies.
So where’s the dirt? The closest thing to dirt is that when Crystal was 12 and Josh was 13, they “dated.” This puppy love got Crystal and her family on a plane to New Jersey for Josh’s bar mitzvah, but the romance never even led the young ’uns to first base—she “wasn’t that kind of girl.”
Crystal thinks we can blame good parenting for the lack of “National Enquirer” material. She laments the fate of many child actors who become the main breadwinners for their families. Crystal worries this phenomenon might affect the family dynamic and set the stage for pressure induced issues—like, say, getting busted with four pounds of cocaine in a limo with two French prostitutes while carrying a 9mm glock.
For Crystal, her 20s are turning out to be the wonder years. Having settled into Harvard, she’s embraced both the educational and social scene. As governor of the Law School’s “Lincoln Inn” (a final club-esque coed social society) Crystal’s found plenty of good friends in Cambridge, and also hails the accessibility and skill of her professors.
No longer in search of glory on the tube or silver screen, Crystal is entertaining the idea of pursuing a career in litigation—what better job for an actor, right? She says her time spent in theatre and television helped her to become comfortable in front of audiences, and such a skill will definitely be an asset should she enter the courtroom.
So all fans of the series can smile—not the “ha-ha, I saw that one coming” smirk you flashed when the girl from “Different Strokes” starred in Space-Slut Sorority—but rather the warm and fuzzy grin of knowing that the characters we grew up with were in good hands.
Here’s to the flickering, shaky camera footage of family picnics, brotherly roughhousing and neighborhood bike rides... to the wistful tunes of yesteryear that tugged at our heart strings... and to the next Nick-at-Nite marathon, when it can be lived all over again.