Setting
Co-creator Neal Marlens wanted the setting to be Huntington, Long Island, where he grew up. ABC insisted that the location remain nonspecific (the colloquial "Anywhere, USA"). The production team endeavored to ensure that the suburb's name and location within the United States were never specified, but there are occasional, conflicting clues.
Some details point towards the setting being California, most owing to the show being produced there. In the opening scene of the Pilot, Kevin and his family pose in front of their house at 516 University Ave, Burbank, CA. The house number "516" also happens to be the area code of the town on Long Island where the creator grew up. In the season 3 episode "Wayne on Wheels", the address on Wayne's DMV envelope reads "Culver City, 90230, CA". The writer of the episode, Mark B. Perry, has stated on Usenet that the crew member who created the envelope mistakenly used the address of the filming location. Similarly, other incidental visual details suggest that the setting is California. In another third season episode, entitled "The Family Car", a California license plate can be seen on the Arnolds' car as Kevin's father is shown repairing it. In one episode, Kevin displays his driver's license issued by the "State of California". When Kevin's high school basketball team advances to the state championship, the game is played in a large arena with a Los Angeles Lakers logo on the floor. The company picnic in Season 4 episode 1 "Growing Up" has a banner reading "Norcom Annual Picnic" with the word "Industry" underneath, possibly referring to Industry, California.
A few elements hint at the show being set in the New York City area, as evidenced by Kevin's New York Jets jacket, though Paul reveals in the episode Nemesis that Kevin has never been to a Jets game in his life. The show also features frequent references to the San Francisco Giants and Willie McCovey. Also the New York Mets (including the final season's opening credits showing among other historical clips of the time the 1969 Miracle Mets). In episode 3 of season 1, "My Father's Office" Jack says "I can't believe they lost to the Senators" referring to a news report that the New York Yankees lost an extra inning game to the Washington Senators. In episode 16 of season 4 entitled "Road Trip", Kevin and his father get lost and end up in Hillsdale, New York when they thought they were in Loudonville, New York which is conceivable considering that those two towns are within 50 miles of each other and both located near Albany, NY. In the episode "Back To The Lake", Paul's directions for returning home include taking Interstate 91, which runs through Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont; the trip takes only a few hours.
In Season 6, Episode 11 titled "New Years", Kevin has a chance to go to a New Year's Eve party at a Colorado ski lodge, which he says is just two hours away.
Read more about this topic: The Wonder Years
Famous quotes containing the word setting:
“The new sound-sphere is global. It ripples at great speed across languages, ideologies, frontiers and races.... The economics of this musical esperanto is staggering. Rock and pop breed concentric worlds of fashion, setting and life-style. Popular music has brought with it sociologies of private and public manner, of group solidarity. The politics of Eden come loud.”
—George Steiner (b. 1929)
“it is finally as though that thing of monstrous interest
were happening in the sky
but the sun is setting and prevents you from seeing it”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“One of my playmates, who was apprenticed to a printer, and was somewhat of a wag, asked his master one afternoon if he might go a-fishing, and his master consented. He was gone three months. When he came back, he said that he had been to the Grand Banks, and went to setting type again as if only an afternoon had intervened.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)