The Wonder Years

It takes a brave person to put their spin on one of the most beloved shows in television history. This is why, when Lee Daniels approached Saladin Patterson to reimagine ABC’s The Wonder Years — which aired on ABC for six seasons between 1988 and 1993 — the showrunner initially gave the project a hard pass.

“It’s something that is held in such high regard and has such a special place in the hearts of people,” says Patterson. “I didn’t want to mess it up and be the person that was just going to do a quote, unquote, Black

Wonder Years.” After further conversations with Daniels’ company about using a familiar backdrop of American culture in the late ’60s to present a unique perspective of the emerging Black middle class, Patterson was swayed.

He did, however, have one mandate for the show: “I had to do it with Fred Savage,” says Patterson of the original series’ lead actor, who began directing television with a 1999 episode of his sitcom Working. “Fred is a great director, and I knew Fred as someone who had had similar creative instincts to my own. It was a plus that he was also the person that represents The Wonder Years in everyone’s mind.” Ironically, having been approached for decades about various reprisals, Savage was equally unenthused — at first. “He said, ‘This sounds like the most unique version I’ve ever heard, a version that needs to be done, but I’m going to pass,’ ” recalls Patterson, who managed to persuade Savage to come aboard as executive producer and director: “We both came to the conclusion that this would be stronger with him than without him.”

With the pivotal pieces in place, Patterson’s personal hurdle became shaking off all those expectations. “The prestige and legacy of the original weighed heavily on me early on, especially in the development process,” admits Patterson. “But our show is a specific family in that time, on their own path with their own agency. When looked at that way, I can now see how the title is an asset and that we are actually contributing to the

Wonder Years story.”

From top: The original cast of The Wonder Years, which aired on ABC from 1988 to 1993; the new cast of The Wonder Years, which also airs on ABC.