Season One:

Episode 1:

NARRATOR:  1968, I was twelve years old. A lot happened that year.  Dennis McLain won 31 games, The Mod Squad hit the air, and I graduated from Hillcrest Elementary and entered junior high school...but we'll get to that. There's no pretty way to put this: I grew up in the suburbs. I guess most people think of the suburb as a place with all the disadvantages of the city, and none of the advantages of the country, and vice versa. But, in a way, those really were the wonder years for us there in the suburbs. It was kind of a golden age for kids.

NARRATOR:  A suburban junior high school cafeteria is like a microcosm of the world. The goal is to protect yourself, and safety comes in groups. You have your cool kids, you have your smart kids, you have your greasers, and in those days, of course, you had your hippies. In a fact in junior high school, who you are is defined less by who you are than by who's the person sitting next to you.

NARRATOR:  It was the first kiss for both of us. We never really talked about it afterward. But I think about the events of that day again and again. And somehow I know that Winnie does too, whenever some blowhard starts talking about the anonymity of the suburbs or the mindlessness of the TV generation.  

NARRATOR:  Because we know that inside each one of those identical boxes, with its Dodge parked out front and its white bread on the table and its TV set glowing blue in the falling dusk, there were people with stories, there were families bound together in the pain and the struggle of love.

NARRATOR:  There where moments that made us cry with laughter, and there were moments, like that one, of sorrow and wonder.

Episode 2:

NARRATOR:  And then with an air of authority that only an idiot or an older brother can have, Wayne proceeded to elaborate a baseball metaphor that changed the way we looked at women, and baseball, for ever.
WAYNE: And I'm telling you, everybody gets to at least second base by the seventh grade.
NARRATOR: This was a lot of pressure!  Especially since most of the girls we knew had no second bases!

NARRATOR:  Maybe we both realized that growing up doesn't have to be so much a straight line as a series of advances and retreats. Maybe we just felt like swinging. But what ever it was, Winnie and I made an unspoken pact that day to stay kids for a little while longer.

Episode 3:

NARRATOR:  When my father had a bad day at work, he'd just sit in the dark by himself and watch TV. We learned early on that this was a danger signal and we adapted our behavior accordingly.

NARRATOR:  And then sometimes, you knew you shouldn't do it, but you just couldn't help yourself. You gave him lip.  I guess we really didn't understand why he was so hard on us sometimes. Because sometimes, and I remember these times so distinctly, my dad could be great. He could be so much fun. You never wanted that feeling to end...

LOUIS: Don't accept all this death and then justify it. It is wrong! [Jack] your friends should be alive… they should be enjoying dinner, and arguing with their kids, just like you are.
JACK: What do you know about it? Who the hell are you to say that?
LOUIS: You see this [draft note], man? This is my draft notice. In two weeks, I can go to jail, I can go to Canada or, I can go get shot, full of holes, like your friend Brian Cooper. You keep thinking the way you do, Mr. Arnold, and these two [Kevin and Wayne] will be next. And I just hope that's what they want.

Episode 5:

NARRATOR:  There are very few things in life as purely terrifying as calling a twelve-year-old girl on the telephone.   Especially a really cute twelve-year-old girl.

Episode 6:

NARRATOR:  And so Winnie and I had our one slow dance after all. But things wouldn't be the same between us. We were getting older. And whether we wanted it or not, ... [Camera slowly pulls up and back to include more couples dancing.] The Lisa Berlin's and the Kirk McCray's (our dates) were changing us by the minute. All we could do was close our eyes and wish that the slow song would never end.

Season Two:

NARRATOR: There are a lot of things about junior high life that might seem simple to an outsider, but they're not. Take the 15 minutes before homeroom every morning. What you do with those fifteen minutes says pretty much everything there is to say about you as a human being. If you were cool, you had places to go, people to see... And if you weren't [you'd talk to Paul, your one good friend].

NARRATOR: It was the truth. But not the whole truth. And looking at my mom and my dad, standing there in their bathrobes, worried about me… I felt a little sick about that.

Episode 8:

NARRATOR:  Well, it was pretty clear. She didn't see me as any ordinary seventh grader. She saw me as a man. A man who understood things like democracy and social injustice. A man who understood her deepest thoughts and feelings. A man, a man... ...a man who was getting picked up by his father.

NARRATOR:  Now, most people don't know this but there are two kinds of logic. There's logic-logic and then there's 12 year-old in love logic.

NARRATOR:  No, I didn't want to talk.   I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss her on the lips. I wanted it so bad I thought I would explode.  She was right there.  She was two feet away.  Why couldn't I do it?  Why wouldn't my muscles move?  After all, she was a woman and I was a....  And that's when I saw it as though I was looking down from heaven at that VW bug.  I saw an image of myself with Miss White.  And it was ridiculous.   She was a woman and I was a 12 year-old boy.

NARRATOR:  Nineteen sixty-eight was a strange and passionate time.  Things that had seemed impossible were happening all around us.    The events of those days brought every emotion to the surface...    It was a strange and passionate time.  Some of our dreams dissolved into thin air.  They almost seem comical now.  But some of our dreams were lasting and real.

NARRATOR: That Christmas of 1968 my brother, Wayne, and I fell in love. With color-TV.   It was more than love.  We were witnessing a modern miracle.   And we worshipped it like aborigines...  From the black-and-white stone-age.   It was the first thing we ever agreed on.

[*Song*]
It's coming on Christmas.
They're cutting down trees.
They're putting up reindeer.
And singing songs of joy and peace.
Oh, I wish I had a river.
I could skate away on.
But it don't snow here.
It stays pretty green.
I'm going to make a lot of money.
Then I'm going to quit this crazy scene.
I wish I had a river.
I could skate away on.
I wish I had a river so long.
I would teach my feet to fly.
Oh, I wish I had a river.
I could skate away on.

Episode 10:

NARRATOR:  Why do mothers always feel at liberty to discuss your love life at the dinner table? Probably the same reason they feel it their business to check the crotch of your pants in the middle of a crowded clothing store and say, "Plenty of room in there!"

NARRATOR:  And so it finally happened.  My poor, twelve-year-old heart finally crumbled into a little pile of dust and blew away.  It was over.   I was never going to get her back.  It was time for a little self-respect.   It was time to let go.  Time to move on.  After all, who needed women?   Who needed friends?  I'd just walk alone from now on.  Yep, that was me, Kevin Arnold: lone wolf.

Episode 11:

NARRATOR:  Well, hey, since I was having the fantasy anyway, I figured I might as well do it right.

NARRATOR:  Well, that night I caught up on something I'd been needing to do for a long time. I just shut the door and lay down on the bed and put in two hours of good, solid, adolescent self-pity... until Winnie got home.

KEVIN:  I just have to know if you like me or not. And don't give any of that "like me" like me stuff.
NARRATOR: Well, that was it: a straightforward, face-to-face, yes-or-no question. And I was going to stand there until I got my answer.
WINNIE:  I don't know.
KEVIN:  "I don't know"!  What do you mean you don't know?

WINNIE:  I mean I don't know. I really don't know. [On the verge of tears]  I wish everyone would just leave me alone.  I don't know what I'm doing.
NARRATOR: This was something new.  I mean,  I always figured girls knew exactly what they wanted.  They knew; they had a plan.   Or maybe they didn't.
NARRATOR: Maybe they were just as confused as we were. Isn't that great?
NARRATOR:  It--it's horrible.  They don't know either.  That means nobody knows.

KEVIN: You mean you really don't know?
WINNIE: No.
KEVIN: Oh. 
KEVIN: Well, I'm sorry.
WINNIE: What for? 
KEVIN: I don't know.

NARRATOR:  As I stood there that cold night,  I realized for the first time in a long time that Winnie and I were feeling the same thing.

Episode 12:

NARRATOR:  In all the years I spent growing up at my parents' house, I don't think I ever heard them use the word 'relationship'. Not once.   'Indigestion', 'taxes', 'damn'... these were words you heard a lot.

NARRATOR:  I know it sounds strange - but that was the first time... I'd ever seen my parents alone together.  I guess sometimes the ground can shift beneath your feet. Sometimes your footing slips - you stumble.  And Sometimes, you grab what's closest to you, and hold on as tight as you can.

Episode 13:

NARRATOR: When you're a little kid, you're a little bit of everything.   Artist, scientist, athlete, scholar... Sometimes it seems like growing up is the process of giving those things up.  One by one.  I guess we all have one thing we regret giving up.  One thing we really miss.  That we gave up because we were too lazy or, we couldn't stick it out or, because we were afraid.

Episode 14:

NARRATOR: At that moment, as I looked at my brother, something snapped inside me. I didn't hate his guts. I hated him. I hated everything about him. And at that moment, I didn't care what it cost me. I didn't care about anything, I just wanted to hurt him.

KEVIN: You want to know why Angela wouldn't come over?!
WAYNE: Shut up.
KEVIN: Because she doesn't like you, Wayne!
WAYNE: Shut up!
KEVIN: She doesn't - nobody does!
WAYNE: Shut up!
KEVIN: No! You may be bigger than me, and stronger than me. But you know what, Wayne? I have friends! Nobody likes you, Wayne! You're just mean, to everybody, all the time, because...nobody likes you! You're pathetic!

NARRATOR: As my brother and I walked home that day (which was after several days of him not speaking to me, and me staying out of the house), I guess we both knew that things would never be quite the same between us. Everything would be more complicated now. Now, we both knew that I could hurt him. The funny thing was. I'm not sure I was glad about that.

Episode 17:

NARRATOR:  In junior high school there were days when you felt like nothing was worth getting out of bed for.  But then, you remembered you were going to see her.  Your day was gonna have all these moments that were full of possibility. When you were sure that something was going to happen.

Episode 18:

NARRATOR: And suddenly I heard the tumblers clicking into place (as Eddie, whose arm is around Winnie, walk away).
PAUL: Holy cow!
Narrator: Suddenly I understood everything.  The reason...  The message fate had sent me loud as a brass band. The message that said:
PAUL (V/O): Face it. You're doomed!

NARRATOR: What did I have to lose?  Except parts of my body.  Eddie didn't know it but I'd formed a plan.  Eddie and I were going to have a little talk - about fairness, about right behavior, about...chivalry.  But then, something inside me, snapped.  From deep inside I felt rage!  Not just for me, but for every kid who had ever been picked on, humiliated...bullied.  For every kid who'd gone home ashamed.  I put every shred of dignity and self-respect I had into that punch.   Unfortunately, my aim was bad.  Even more unfortunately, Eddies' wasn't.   Those next ten minutes were...kinda a blur.  Still, as Eddie worked out his deep-seated feelings of inadequacy, I began to realize something.  Sooner or later this would be over.  And I would survive.

Episode 19:

NARRATOR: When Paul and I were little kids...we had our birthdays only four days apart. Come to think of it, we still have our birthdays only four days apart. But, I guess birthdays aren't as big a part of life as they used to be. Man we has some classic parties. Year after year we reached toward manhood together. When we fell short, we fell short together. God we couldn't wait to get older.

NARRATOR: And, as my mother tried to put together the strands of our old and faded family tree, I came to realize what so many American's do in search of their roots. [That] I was a mutt.

Episode 20:

NARRATOR: In 1969 a lot of people were doing a lot of things a lot of other people didn't understand... "Love-ins", "be-ins", "happenings"... It was different.  It was weird.

Catch the Wind -Donovan
In the chilly hours and minutes
Of uncertainty
I want to be
In the warm-hold of your loving mind
 
To feel you all around me
And to take your hand
Along the sand
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind
 
When sundown pales the sky
I want to hide a while
Behind your smile
And everywhere I'd look, your eyes I'd find
For me to love you now
Would be the sweetest thing
It would make me sing
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind
 
When rain has hung the leaves with tears
I want you near
To kill my fears
To help me to leave all my blues behind
 
For standing in your heart
Is where I want to be
And I long to be
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind
 
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind
 
Ah ah ah ah
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind
Oh, oh yeah
Ah ah ha
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind
Yeah ah ah
 
I may as well try and catch the wind
I may as well try and catch the wind
Don't you know baby
That I may as well try and catch the wind

NARRATOR: In 1969, people tried so hard to find themselves.   Sometimes they got lost.

Episode 21:

NARRATOR: Some people pass through your life and you never think about them.   And there are some you think about, and wonder "whatever happened to them"?  Dentist, maybe.  Gossip columnist.  No - divorce lawyer.   Some you wonder if they ever wondered what happened to you.  And then there are those... you wish you never had to think about again.  But you do.

NARRATOR: What do mothers know?  Let them spend a morning on the slippery slopes of seventh-grade society.

NARRATOR: And so, that last day of square-dancing, I danced alone.  Maybe if I'd been a little braver, I could have been her friend, but...  The truth is, in seventh-grade, who you are is what other seventh-grader's say you are.  The funny thing is... it's hard to remember the names of the kids you spent so much time trying to impress. But you don't forget someone like Margaret.  Professor of biology.   Mother of six.  Friend to bats.

Episode 22:

NARRATOR: Every kid needs a place to go to be a kid. For Paul and Winnie and me, that place was Harper's Woods. It was ten minutes from home if you walked it. But to us, it was a world all its own. We'd grown up there together. Catching fireflies on long summer evenings. Sure, they called it Harper's Woods, but we knew better. Those woods...belonged to us.

NARRATOR: Alone at last, in Harper's Woods. It was where Winnie and I had had our first and only kiss. Centuries ago. Last September. That memory had haunted me. And here we were, alone again. Adam, Eve and, Paul; an allergic best-friend.

KAREN: I'll tell ya what to do.  This is a democracy, isn't it?  Then exercise your rights!
WINNIE: But how do we do that?
KAREN: Simple.  There's a planning board meeting every Sunday night, downtown.   Julie's father's a member. You should go there and state your case!  You should demand to be heard.  You should fight for what's important!  You have to take action!  Kevin - we are the people!
WINNIE: I think we should do it.
PAUL: Yeah...
KEVIN: Great! Let's go!  Can you give us a ride?
KAREN: Not me, I got a date.

CHAIRMAN: Your statement, Mr. Arnold?
KEVIN: I - I came here tonight because, I have something to say.  There's a little piece of land, not far from here.  A place called Harper's Woods.  You might have passed it on your way here or there.  It's not much to look at.  A few acres of trees, some boulders... a couple squirrels and some birds.  But there's something you didn't see, I'll wager.  Something you can't see.  'Cuz there's something in those woods... that you can't see with your eye's - you have to look with your heart.  It's my childhood.  And his...  And hers...  Ours is a world too careless with its memories.  Please, I beg of you... Don't take our childhood.

NARRATOR: Rule number one of junior high school: for every action, there's a reaction.  Rule number two: avoid trick questions.  Rule number three: Never write something you can't erase.

Mr. DIPERNA: I've been watching you, Kevin.  I see things, I hear… And, in this case, I think I know what the problem is.  I think I know what's bothering you.
KEVIN: You do?
Mr. DIPERNA: You think you're special.  I've been assistant principal of this school for over twenty years.  And in that time, I've seen people like you come and go... every single year.  Hundreds of them, maybe thousands.  You walk the halls, you go to class, and then your gone… Just like that!  Gone with the wind.  I'm gonna leave you to think about what I've said.  And when you think you understand you can go.  I'll be outside...
NARRATOR: And then a funny thing happened.  I started to think about it.  Who were all those people?  Did anyone know - did anyone remember?  It was weird.   Sitting there in the middle of a crowded school, I suddenly felt, completely alone.

NARRATOR: I guess I wanted Paul and Winnie to face the facts, too.  Wasn't gonna be easy.  Maybe growing up never is.

NARRATOR: Maybe every human soul deals with loss and grief in its own way.   Some curse the darkness.... Some play hide-and-seek.  That night, Paul and Winnie and I found something we'd almost lost.  We found our spirit.  The spirit of children.  The bond of memory.  And the next day, they tore down Harper's Woods.

In My Life - (Lennon/McCartney) Judy Collins

There are places I'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
 
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all
 
But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
 
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
 
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
In my life I love you more

Episode 23:

NARRATOR:  It was amazing. It was our first kiss since that day last fall in Harper's Woods, the day Winnie's brother Brian died. I'd been waiting to kiss her again all year. And now that it had happened, I felt as confused as ever. There was only one thing I was sure of... I was a man on fire.

NARRATOR:  She wasn't helping her parents, she wasn't doing anything, she was just standing there. OK, enough was enough, the game was over, let's lay out the cards.  And then, for the first time that night, I looked around. The music was playing. Couples were dancing, holding each other tight.   But not everybody.  And suddenly I began to understand.  I wanted to tell Winnie I understood what was happening to her family. I wanted to say something that would give her comfort, something incredibly wise...

KEVIN:  [quietly] Sorry.

WINNIE:  Will you write to me when I'm away?

NARRATOR: That summer, kids everywhere swam, water-skied, and sailed, while Winnie Cooper struggled to keep her head above water, in a family torn apart by anger, and grief.

Seasons Three - Six

Home

NARRATOR: We didn't have to hate ourselves for getting older, we just had to forgive ourselves for growing up.

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