Wonder Years Episodes Part 1

Worst to Best Wonder Years Episodes:

Something a little different for you today. Since purchasing The Wonder Years Complete Box Set (at a steep price, but I'd pay an arm and two legs for it), and since I have no life, I thought I'd rank and comment on every single episode (well, bar one) of my all-time favourite TV series, from worst to best. It's worth noting that even the worst episodes of this show stack up better than a lot of TV shows' best episodes. So if I’m a bit harsh in the first half of this list, bear in mind that it’s still a great show. It's just a personal preference thing for me, though it's obvious to everyone I'd wager that the quality of the show took a bit of a dip in the last two seasons, particularly Season 6. I’ll divide the list into two parts, starting from the bottom half today, otherwise it’d be way too much to take in at once. It probably still is. Obviously, it’s best if you’ve seen the episodes before reading, but then why would you read if you hadn’t? Anyway, spoilers ahead…

*Excluded From This List: "The Wonder Years, Looking Back" (Season 4, Ep 23), a clip show with no real story of its own*

Part 1:

114. "Back to the Lake" (Season 5, Ep 23)

Worst Episode. Kevin already has a girlfriend but goes to see Cara at The Lake again. Being a selfish dick, he also ropes Paul into coming along. And the whole thing winds up being pointless. Not to mention that Cara is her usual one facial expression, Brooke Shields wannabe self. Boy does this one come close to being genuinely bad.

113. "Fishing" (Season 6, Ep 2)

The cast and crew kinda knew this would be the last season of the show, but there was still hope that they'd get one more in. The opening narration to this episode, however, would seem to suggest that one detail of the finale was definitely known in advance. That discovery is for me the one and only thing worth talking about with this completely unnecessary episode. No Wonder Years episode is bad, but some are clearly better than others, and this is the second worst episode for me.

112. "Ladies and Gentlemen...The Rolling Stones" (Season 6, Ep 13)

Third worst ep. This is pretty lame so far as plot goes. The Stones don't even turn up. Like all of the worst episodes, it's not so much bad as it is unnecessary. You get to hear "Brown Sugar", but that's what my CD collection is for.

111. "Who's Aunt Rose?" (Season 4, Ep 13)

More importantly, why the fuck should I care? I didn't like it when "Frasier" did it, and this 'relative you're barely aware of dies and you are obligated to pay your respects' episode is even worse. By this point I had become so invested in Kevin's school/romantic experiences that unless the episode was seriously well-done, these detours just annoyed the piss out of me. This was by far the worst of Season 4, otherwise my favourite season. Maybe that's why I'm so harsh towards the eps that aren't classics from that season. I'd be shocked if this was anyone's favourite episode.

110. "Christmas Party" (Season 5, Ep 9)

A completely useless episode in the grand scheme of things, this one about the annual Arnold neighbourhood Christmas party is seriously weak. It's an adult party that Kevin only attends out of obligation. Whatever. Moving on...

109. "The Journey" (Season 4, Ep 3)

One of only two flat-out weak episodes from the very strong first four seasons. This series 4 episode kinda irked me as a kid because it focussed on not only something rather irrelevant to the previous episode, and my absolute favourite episode. No follow up on the Madeline/Winnie/Kevin situation here, and what we do get is a weak, ultimately deflating story about Kevin and co. trying to get a looksee at a Year 10 girls' slumber party. It sounds like a lot of fun until you realise this is "The Wonder Years" and 10th graders and not a porno with 30 year old actresses pretending to be Sorority girls or something. There's a couple of amusing moments involving poor Doug Porter (Brandon Crane), but that's about it. 

108. "Road Test" (Season 5, Ep 11)

One of the weakest eps, even with Lindsay Sloane and a young-ish Alicia Silverstone. Kevin can't parallel park. So frigging what? I've never driven and don't care to, so you're level of interest in this episode might be a lot higher than mine. I was kinda bored.

107. "Soccer" (Season 5, Ep 7)

It's a sport I at least understand most of the rules of, but easily the most useless sports ep despite Paul Dooley's excellent turn as an elderly, seemingly disinterested (but legendary) coach. Why we were still wasting time with minor fluff like this in the 5th season is beyond me, but fans of the sports episodes of this show will probably want to rank it a bit higher.

106. "Politics as Usual" (Season 6, Ep 5)

This coverage of the Nixon/McGovern presidential race is probably a necessary topic for the series to cover, but it's not done terribly memorably. Yanks will get more out of this than most, but for me the most interesting thing about the ep is the continuation of Norma Arnold, Independent (Sorta) Liberated Woman. That was such a fascinating and important character arc to tell. I still think it's one of the worst episodes, even with “The Last Starfighter” 's Lance Guest as the political campaigner Winnie idolises.

105. "Reunion" (Season 6, Ep 20)

Why? I mean...what's the point of this episode, especially in Season 6? The final season and we see Norma travelling back home to her family and a high school reunion.  But why? No episode of this show is bad, but there's a few that really do seem completely unnecessary and not entertaining enough either. Norma's parents are total arsehats to Jack btw, and look more like mother and son than grandma and grandpa. This one adds nothing and subtracts nothing. Best thing is seeing Dan Lauria participate in a sack race. It's a funny visual.

104. "Scenes From a Wedding" (Season 6, Ep 3)

Paul Gleason as Jack's boss and father of the bride is wonderfully sleazy, and you'll spot familiar faces like Aimee Graham (Heather’s sister) and Sara Melson (the singer/actress in her TV debut. She's also been on Seinfeld and Frasier). But aside from Gleason, the only memorable thing here is the wedding band who play songs by Helen Reddy and Stevie Wonder. Meanwhile, as with "Return to the Lake", Kevin's a real turd in this ep. It's part of why the sixth season is the worst, in my opinion. He's still dating Winnie but he's looking to get drunk and hook up with Melson. Really not one of the best, in fact I don't see the relevancy of it.

103. "Poker" (Season 6, Ep 18)

It's pretty much what it says on the box. In this one, Chuck and Alice have had sex and worry that she's pregnant, Paul's a grandma killjoy no one wants to be around, and this is yet more filler in a final season full of too much filler already. Not bad, not necessary.

102. "The Unnatural" (Season 3, Ep 19)

Kevin plays baseball, but sadly this isn't the one where he clocks his father in the face with the ball. Instead, this one has Kevin continually making the cut for the team no matter how poorly he plays, leading him to wonder if the fact that his father saved coach Harrison "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" Page's life in Korea might have something to do with it. Page is good, the episode is pretty forgettable. Maybe one for the baseball fans, I guess.

101. "Loosiers" (Season 2, Ep 9)

Although not the worst sports episode, it's still a sports episode and I'm not really a fan of them. In this one, Kevin feels sorry for Paul when he's frequently picked last or second-to-last for basketball. Unfortunately, when taking this issue to Coach Cutlip (the inimitable Robert Cutlip), Cutlip takes typically Cutlip offence to Kevin's suggestion of impropriety in the method for picking teams...and makes Kevin a captain, so that now he too has to choose some poor sap last. Paul, by the way is comically awful at basketball. How awful? Dustin Diamond (AKA Screech from "Saved By the Bell") is one of the other kids left in line for picking alongside him. Yeah. Picardo's insecure, aggressive idiot Cutlip is the only real highlight of this one.

100. "The Sixth Man" (Season 4, Ep 8)

Hardly a highlight of Season 4 (My favourite season), this is your typical "Wonder Years" sports episode. That's great if you're into the sports episodes. I'm not. Anyway, despite never beating Kevin at their home games, Paul proves to be a decent basketball player (despite what we see in "Loosiers"), confusing the hell out of Kevin. And making him a bit of a jealous dick. A big bit of a jealous dick. In fact, this is probably Kevin at his least likeable, until of course the final moments where he comes to support his buddy. It's amusing looking at it now, in that Josh Saviano in real-life was much more sporty than his character was, and here's the one episode where Paul Pfeiffer as a character really afforded Saviano the opportunity to display that side of him, albeit on a fake TV show. But the episode itself is filler if you ask me on a season that, yes contained several filler episodes, but also most of my favourite episodes as well.

99. "Hulk Arnold" (Season 6, Ep 15)

Hard arse character actor James Tolkan is good, but like a lot of Season 5/6 eps, I feel like we should be past this sort of topic. They pretty much knew by now that the series was ending at 6 seasons, so that's no excuse. Winnie's all over Kevin in this one, an hilarious seeming break in continuity. Tolkan's lack of giveashit about Kevin's excuses are the only highlight of this trivial episode.

98. "Lunch Stories" (Season 5, Ep 18)

A Seth Green episode that has him playing troublemaker Jimmy, who tries to convince Kevin to join him and his buddies in sneaking in to see "The Devil in Miss Jones". Meanwhile, Winnie is looking for students to donate blood after lunch, and Ricky (Scott Nemes) and Alice (Lindsay Sloane) are fretting about an assignment due that they haven't done yet. Using Watergate as a backdrop and name-dropping an infamous porno at the service of such a frivolous episode makes this a far from compelling episode. Even Lindsay Sloane can't save this one.

97. "Heart of Darkness" (Season 2, Ep 1)

Proof that even the first two seasons of the show have a mediocre episode or three and this is another one I've probably seen enough times now. The Season 2 opener has Kevin and Paul hanging out with delinquent Breckin Meyer. It's not very good, but Paul thinking he's getting high off nicotine cigarettes is a cute bit.

96. "Buster" (Season 4, Ep 15)

It's an episode where the drama centres around getting a dog 'fixed'. Really? That's a seriously piddly subject I have to say, no pun intended. Still, the dog is cute, and there's nothing really wrong with the episode except that it's minor league "Wonder Years".

95. "Road Trip" (Season 4, Ep 16)

Not the best father/son bonding episode as Kevin and Jack are on the road together as they journey to buy Kevin a suit. Arguments and awkward flirting with diner waitresses ensue. It's OK, but you'll barely remember a thing about it afterwards.

94. "Pfeiffer's Pfortune" (Season 5, Ep 10)

The Pfeiffer's come in to money (through an investment), start spending up big, and Kevin and his family are left to be jealous about it. Or will something happen to bring the Pfeiffer's back down to Earth? It feels way too late to be telling such a frivolous story as this, though I guess if you're fascinated by the Pfeiffer clan you might be more interested in this than I was. Not terrible, but I resent it as much as the poorest episodes. I guess I just felt that by this point in the game, the show should've had bigger fish to fry than this.

93. "Eclipse" (Season 6, Ep 17)

Another science trip episode, but this sure as hell isn't "Heartbreak". It's interesting to spot Tim Stack as a nerdy Mr. Cantwell wannabe, and A.J. Langer as a student looking to rebel. However, the side story with Langer and another non-canon student is pretty worthless. We never see any of these characters again, so who gives a damn? It is, however hilarious to see Kevin learn to never answer the question 'What would you change about me?'. Oh yeah, he answers it and Winnie's not happy about it. Poor Chuck does the same to Alice, once again nicely played by Lindsay Sloane. She's great, the episode is just adequate. The Wonder Years version of adequate, mind you, is a lot better than most other shows' level of adequacy.

92. "The Hardware Store" (Season 5, Ep 3)

An episode I've probably seen more than enough times for something that's really not very substantial. Kevin gets a job at a hardware store working for a crotchety old man whom he tries to get a raise from. He'd really prefer a job at a fast food joint at the mall. Al Ruscio makes for a terrific elderly curmudgeon, but the episode is meh.

91. "Summer (Season 6, Ep 21)

Part 1 of the series finale, I'm splitting the finale in two because I believe one half is better than the other. This is the other. Kevin is a total dickweed here and it's too far into the series for that to be excusable. Like Back to the Lake, this is Kevin getting pissed off and leaving, this time to go and find Winnie at her summer job. That puts it at slightly higher than Back to the Lake, but not much. I know teens are jerks around this age, but Kevin is our main character, I don't want a jerk of a main character, especially in the penultimate episode. Being inconclusive by design, this is worse than the final episode, but I did enjoy hearing CCR's classic 'Up Around the Bend', one of my favourite songs by my all-time favourite band.

90. "Kevin Delivers" (Season 6, Ep 8)

Kevin's got a job as a Chinese takeaway delivery guy, and it's getting in the way of his love life with Winnie. That and a rivalry with a jerky pizza delivery guy are the crux of this relatively decent, but unmemorable episode. Michael Paul Chan is terrific, the ending is cute, the ep is just OK filler. Best thing is Ben E. King's 'Stand By Me' played at the end.

89. "New Year’s" (Season 6, Ep 11)

If ever there was a couple who shouldn't have split up, it's Wayne and Bonnie (Paula Marshall). So out of nowhere, her ex starts calling her and she leaves Wayne for him. Fuck that, it's too rushed and far too contrived/convenient to all of a sudden bring in an ex to shake things up. Worth it to see the very much matured Wayne and the always lovely Paula Marshall, but the episode really is jarring. A middling Season 6 ep, if not among the worst.

88. "Of Mastodons and Men" (Season 5, Ep 15)

Although Lyman Ward gives a terrific performance as a man outmatched by the women in his household, this episode pretty much plays itself out in the cute opening 5-10 minutes, leaving itself nowhere to go except to repeat itself. Basically, Kevin's girlfriend Julie and her mother dominate the men in their household, and Kevin comes to worry that Julie will try to control him, too. Thank God Julie Adiem was a one-and-done girlfriend for Kevin.

87. "The Lake" (Season 5, Ep 1)

A lot of people think Cara (Lisa Gerber/Lisa Paige Robinson) is one of the great romantic partners for Kevin Arnold through the course of this show. I have no idea what these people are smoking. She's got one facial expression: Grumpy boredom, and she wears it all throughout this rather 'meh' episode. She smokes too, and apparently that's meant to be appealing. I guess in the early 70s it probably still was, now I find it a turn off. Not the best family holiday episode, though at least Paul doesn't get allergic to something and end up bedridden in this one. The only real highlight, though, is that The Turtles' classic "Happy Together" plays at one point.

86. "Full Moon Rising" (Season 5, Ep 5)

The one where Kevin ditches his girlfriend Cindy to go cruisin' with the guys. Ricky is the first of their peer group to get their license, and they take the first opportunity to go out on the town...not really knowing where to go. Oh, and someone moons them, hence the title. An alright episode. 

85. "Nose" (Season 6, Ep 16)

Ricky dates a girl with a giant prosthetic schnozz that we're supposed to think is her real nose. Seinfeld did this thing much better (albeit rather cruelly), and the prosthetics/makeup is awful. But if you're a Ricky Halsenbach fan you'll enjoy it. It's not bad, and Joe Cocker's 'You Are So Beautiful' delivers the message nicely.

84. "Unpacking" (Season 6, Ep 14)

Steely Dan gets played, Jeff (Giovanni Ribisi) gets some focus, and we even meet Jeff's mother. He's homesick. Not a great ep, but there's nothing wrong with focussing on one of Kevin's buddies every once in a while. Why didn't they ever do one for Randy Mitchell?

83. "The Test" (Season 6, Ep 9)

Paul gets the best moment when delivering a depressing (but funny) truth about the importance of the SATs. Otherwise...it's not bad I guess, and it gets points for not being filler. SATs are a big thing deserving of an ep, even if this isn't a great one.

82. "Grandpa's Car" (Season 5, Ep 12)

David Huddleston is terrific, his episodes...meh. In this one, Grandpa's not allowed to drive anymore because of his failing eyes.

81. "Christmas" (Season 2, Ep 3)

It's a Christmas episode, and probably the second-worst one. It's all about trying to convince Jack to buy a colour TV. The undisputed highlight of the episode is the truly obnoxious and unsubtle hints Wayne keeps trying to drop. It's very funny. The topic is worthy, the episode itself isn't anything special.

80. "The Pimple" (Season 3, Ep 8)

Old family friends are coming for a visit, including their daughter whom Kevin used to play with as a kid. Kevin gets a pimple. He frets. He can't get rid of it. Wayne's a dick to him about it. Then the twist ending comes, and it's very cute. That's about all, though pimples and acne are obviously a valid thing to deal with on a show about adolescence. Not every episode in the first four seasons is a classic. 

79. "The Family Car" (Season 3, Ep 7)

Jack's a stingy guy, here's one of several episodes about it. There's better ones, although I'll concede that the buying of a new car is probably a worthy idea for an episode in theory. It's just not the most appealing material to me (I don't drive, never got my license. Don't care about cars). 

78. "On the Spot" (Season 3, Ep 5)

Kevin gets to man the spotlight for a school production of 'Our Town' where Winnie is the female lead. This meant that Fred Savage apparently got to have a day off for once, as he was not required for days where they shot the play footage. That's the only interesting thing (unless you care about Winnie's parents silently getting back together) about this perfectly fine, but utterly forgettable episode, certainly not one of the best episodes of the first four seasons.

77. "Broken Hearts and Burgers" (Season 5, Ep 24)

Clever way to have a clip show AND tell a story of its own, as Winnie gets mad at Kevin for apparently flirting with a diner waitress (It's more that she's really, really flirting with him and he doesn't dissuade her. But I'm a guy, so I'm wrong). Not exactly a necessary episode, but certainly one of the best clip show episodes of all-time, by virtue of actually trying to tell a story around the clips.

76. "Growing Up" (Season 4, Ep 1)

A bosomy Punky Brewster (Soleil Moon Frye) is one of the few highlights of this episode as Mimi Detweiler, a girl Kevin knew when they were younger and had a huge crush on him. It's an episode centred on a picnic for Jack's work, with Mimi the daughter of one of the employees. The other highlight? Kevin's insistence that he plays with the big boys in the company softball game despite his father's condescension. Why is it a highlight? Because Kevin accidentally smacks his dad in the head with a baseball! It's brilliant, with Kevin thinking he's hit a great shot only to see his father on the deck with everyone surrounding him. Kevin, you done fucked up. Or has he? The conclusion is really nice, actually, with Jack acting atypically contrite. Season 4 got a lot better after this decent opener. 

75. "Little White Lies" (Season 6, Ep 5)

Kevin tries to get Winnie in the sack while his parents are away. They fall asleep instead, but when pressured by his buddies the next day, he lies and pretty much tells them he and Winnie did 'it'. Winnie gets pissed and dumps his stupid arse. Nothing brilliant, but cute and Kevin gets what he deserves (Even Jack tells him to apologise immediately, in the best moment of the episode). What a jerk Kevin is sometimes.

74. "The Little Women" (Season 6, Ep 19)

The last big focus on Norma, it's really interesting to see how the series has managed to find little moments of increasing independence and liberation for her without being unrealistic for her station at the time. Here she wants to get a job and Jack feels a tad threatened. Meanwhile, Kevin's good SAT scores get overshadowed by Winnie's even better scores. Kevin's a total dick again here, but it's an OK episode. 'I am Woman' and 'Stand by Your Man' are predictable inclusions on this episode's soundtrack.

73. "The House That Jack Built" (Season 4, Ep 21)

Jack wants to help fix up Karen's rather rundown abode...only to find she's hiding a fella (David Schwimmer, in his first of several Wonder Years episodes as Michael). A decent start to what will become Karen's infrequent plotline throughout season 5.

72. "The Wedding" (Season 5, Ep 22)

Karen and Michael get married in typical Karen fashion, right down to the unexpected bombshell for Karen's family that she and Michael are moving to Alaska. Quite watchable, as with all Karen episodes, but nothing Earth-shattering.

71. "Independence Day" (Season 6, Ep 22)

The finale probably plays decently if you watch it as one hour-long episode, but if you ask me, you can ignore the first part entirely and just watch this part on its own. The first part is a giant waste of time, though admittedly I'm one of the few who doesn't think this episode is all that good, either. Like all non-great episodes of the show, there are MOMENTS of greatness: The final 11 or so minutes, specifically. Kevin and Winnie finishing their argument and maybe/maybe not doing the horizontal mambo in a barn is undeniably romantic. The following parade scene with Olivia d'Abo's only appearance (silent) for the season, and a narration by Daniel Stern so well-written and moving that you can't help but get choked up. I mean, it's the end of the entire show, if like me it's your favourite show ever, it's definitely an emotional episode. I've always felt disheartened by the final episode every time I watch it, but I'm getting closer to acceptance of it. I have no problems with Jack dying, it's true to life (my own, included). I accept that Kevin and Winnie wouldn't likely be long-time partners, that's fine. But the episode itself, the story, the way Kevin and Winnie behave towards one another...with only about 25 or so minutes to work with, the writers ought to have thought things out more (And if you add the previous episode “Summer”, that's even more time devoted to petty bickering and time-wasting). To be honest, I think it's obvious they needed another season to wrap things up. Have them graduate High School at the very least. I just think it needed to go another season to tell things more completely, albeit hopefully better than Season 6 overall. This isn't an all-time worst series final like “How I Met Your Mother”, “Dexter”, or “Lost”, but because this is my all-time favourite TV series, it probably hurts more. I still recommend watching it, though because there is great stuff in it. 

70. "Wayne and Bonnie" (Season 6, Ep 7)

 i.e. The one with Wayne dating Paula Marshall. AKA The one where Wayne grows the fuck up. Winnie is still pissed with Kevin after the previous episode, so this ends up being a Wayne episode and one of his best, even if it's weird that Jack didn't know that one of his co-workers has a kid. That's strange, but maybe it's a bigger company than it looks. Wayne's determination despite his parents' caution will resonate with many. Kevin does get the funniest moment, however, when he doesn't even end up giving Winnie the giant teddy bear he bought her. Him dating a younger girl doesn't work as well on subsequent viewings, I must say though. Probably the 3rd best of Season 6.

69. "The Tree House" (Season 3, Ep 15)

I've seen this episode a lot, so I'm probably a little over it by now, but it's a cute father-son bonding episode. It's founded on a bit of an eye-roller, though, as Kevin is way too old for a tree house at this point. That everyone points this out in the episode doesn't make it any smarter. However, Kevin and Jack's really awkward moment mutually ogling a bosomy female neighbour is pretty damn funny. Even more so when said neighbour drops in on Norma. It's cute, nothing brilliant though.

68. "Faith" (Season 3, Ep 18)

An episode about Norma possibly losing important tax receipts at tax time, this isn't the best parental episode of the series in my view. Alley Mills is excellent here, but even with Kevin having to write his obituary for school and the Apollo mission on the TV in the background, it's not one of the more memorable episodes.

67. "Stormy Weather" (Season 5, Ep 21)

Karen comes home one night after a fight with Michael (David Schwimmer). One of the better episodes with David Schwimmer, with a particularly memorable climax leading into their later wedding episode. Like all Karen episodes I think it's worth watching for sure, but there have been much better ones than this.

66. "Frank and Denise" (Season 5, Ep 4)

Kevin somehow finds himself in the middle of the romantic tiff between Frank The Stank and Denise The Grease, essentially the Danny and Sandy of Kevin's school. It's an OK episode, even if Amy Hathaway as Denise has a disconcertingly deep voice (Am I the only one?).