Nostalgia, Now Out On DVD, With 'Wonder Years' And 'Pee-wee' Releases

Transcript

TERRY GROSS, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. Some old TV series are being released on DVD this month, including some that our TV critic David Bianculli has been waiting a long time for.

DAVID BIANCULLI, BYLINE: At the moment, we're at yet another pivot point in the history of home entertainment, which keeps changing with sudden and major tectonic shifts - just ask Blockbuster Video. Videocassettes for home libraries gave way to DVDs, which now seem to be giving way to streaming video and the Cloud. Today's young consumers don't seem to want to possess physical copies of their favorite TV shows. They just want access to them wherever they can find them. So in what may be a last gasp for DVD collections some of the new box set releases are aimed at baby boomers and Gen Xers, and are lavished with the kind of extras and extra care that make a strong argument for purchasing them.

The perfect example of this is StarVista and Time Life's new set of "The Wonder Years," the ABC sitcom that ran from 1988-1994. A really bad, misleadingly named single DVD called "The Best Of The Wonder Years" was released 10 years after the series premiered back in 1998, but there's been nothing since even though "The Wonder Years" is one of the most requested titles by DVD collectors. That's because the musical elements were a seminal part of that series to set both the time and the mood, and the music rights for home video release proved too complicated and expensive to acquire. But recent DVD releases of "Freaks And Geeks," "Veronica Mars" and other series have proven that fans will pay extra for the original music. So this new "Wonder Years" set has acquired most of it - not all - but the vast majority. And more than 100 of the 115 episodes are presented with all of the songs intact. That's fabulous news.

And the even more fabulous news is that "The Wonder Years" holds up so beautifully in every way. It stars Fred Savage as Kevin Arnold, a teenager coming of age in the late '60s, and looking back on his life 20 years later in narration provided by Daniel Stern. Another 20 years have gone by since the series ended. Fred Savage is old enough now to record his own middle-aged narration for the show, but "The Wonder Years" hasn't dated at all. The music, the tone, the message and the nostalgia - everything remains pitch perfect. As in these closing moments from the pilot episode when Kevin comforts and kisses his neighbor, Winnie Cooper, as the music swells and the voice of the adult Kevin puts it all in perspective.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE WONDER YEARS")

DANIEL STERN: (As Kevin Arnold, 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 blow-hard starts talking about the anonymity of the suburbs, the mindlessness of the TV generation, 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. There were moments that made us cry with laughter and there were moments like that one of sorrow and wonder.

BIANCULLI: "The Wonder Years" set includes lots of extras and comes packaged in a miniature school locker with loads of goodies, but for me, the episodes are what matter. And it matters that they're presented so lovingly and so relatively complete.

Music rights also are at the heart of another new release this month - Shout! Factory's "WKRP In Cincinnati: The Complete Series." Only the first season of this sitcom, which originally ran on CBS from 1978-1982 was released on DVD. And that was back in 2004 with much of its original music replaced. As with "The Wonder Years," this new collection contains most but not all of the original music. But unlike "The Wonder Years," which holds up superbly, "WKRP In Cincinnati" plays as a more dated viewing experience, but for those who remember it and liked it, it's still an enjoyable one. My favorite moment of all, based on an actual very unfortunate radio promotion, had WKRP News Man Les Nessman reporting on a Thanksgiving Day stunt in which a station helicopter flew over a crowd and released a bunch of live turkeys, who, it turned out, couldn't fly. The live radio report by Nessman, played by Richard Sanders, was a disaster, just like the one involving the Hindenburg back in the '20s.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "WKRP IN CINCINNATI")

RICHARD SANDERS: (As Les Nessman) What a sight, ladies and gentlemen, what a sight. The 'copter seems to be circling the parking area now. I guess it's looking for a place to land. No, something just came out of the back of the helicopter. It's a dark object perhaps a skydiver plummeting to the earth from only 2,000 feet into the air. There's no parachutes yet.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (As Character) It can't be skydivers. I can't tell just yet what they are.

SANDERS: (As Les Nessman) Oh, my God, they're turkeys.

(LAUGHTER)

SANDERS: (As Les Nessman) They're crashing to the Earth right in front of our eyes.

(LAUGHTER)

SANDERS: (As Les Nessman) One just went through the windshield of a parked car.

(LAUGHTER)

SANDERS: (As Les Nessman) Oh, my goodness, this is terrible. Everybody is running around, pushing each other. Oh, my goodness. Oh, the humanity.

BIANCULLI: Finally, also appearing this month on DVD, also from Shout! Factory, is the complete series "Pee-wee's Playhouse." This series was released on DVD 10 years ago, but now it's remastered and available for the first time on Blu-ray. Many TV series don't benefit much from the enhanced sound and visuals of Blu-ray, but some do - "Pushing Daisies," "Twin Peaks," "Breaking Bad," and yes, "Pee-wee's Playhouse," with Paul Reubens and his endlessly inventive take on a children's TV show. On radio I can't show you the brilliance of the visual restoration, but I can play us out with the theme song, which should remind you of the show's manic, infectious energy. If you're going to sing along sing real loud.

(SOUNDBITE SONG, "PEE-WEE'S PLAYHOUSE")

UNIDENTIFIED CHARACTER: (As character) Come on in and pull yourself up a chair, like Chairry. Let the fun begin its time to let down your hair. Pee-wee's sure excited because all his friends have been invited - that's you - to the wacky Pee-wee's Playhouse. There's a crazy rhythm...

GROSS: David Bianculli is founder and editor of the website TV Worth Watching and teaches TV and film history at Rowan University in New Jersey. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.