When I was a kid, there was one television show that was my universe: The Wonder Years. True, there were many shows I enjoyed. But there was only one that I felt was a must-watch for me. The Wonder Years captivated me from start to finish. There was just something about the time in which the show took place, the music, the relationship between Paul and Kevin, and then the constant chasing of Winnie Cooper that drew me in.
But of all the episodes, the one that always sticks out to me has just one mention of Winnie Cooper, it’s Episode 29, “Odd Man Out.”
In this episode, Paul and Kevin engage pretty early on in a discussion about baseball cards. Paul owns a Willie McCovey card that Kevin is just dying to have. Kevin offers him a Luis Tiant and Juan Marichal in exchange, but Paul won’t budge. Paul wants Kevin’s Ted Williams, which Kevin believes is an insult.
The fall out from these trade talks alters their relationship — well, for the length of one episode anyway — and causes the two to seek friends in other classmates. It’s just a classic episode filled with lots of pop culture references and some discussions about baseball cards.
If you’re a card collector and have yet to see this episode, or have simply forgotten it, you must find it. {editors note: I had the episode embedded here via YouTube but the links have since been disabled. 9/18/16}
The Wonder Years has not been released on DVD and won’t be any time soon because of costs associated with paying for the music that was played on the series. Much of the score is composed of classic rock songs played or written by artists who simply charge an arm and a leg for the rights to play it.
A few years ago, I found on eBay a seller who managed to put the entire series on DVDs. Obviously he taped the reruns from television and compiled them, but fact is the entire series could be mine. And it was. I bought the bootlegs for $50. (*note: they no longer appear on eBay because they are illegal copies.) But within a month of owning them, I lent them to a friend and he lost the first of the seven discs — which equates to the first 13 episodes. Epic fail.
But thanks to YouTube, we all can still enjoy the greatness of The Wonder Years.
{editors note 2: a version of seasons 1 and 2 has been released on DVD since this piece was originally published. The show also apparently is now available on Netflix. 9/18/16}
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