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0:39

my friends, welcome to the full

0:42

experience. This is a show where

0:44

we take four episodes of a

0:46

television series and break down the

0:49

first, the ultimate, the lowest and

0:51

the last to get a sense

0:54

of what that entire series was

0:56

about. We are. Pull

0:58

it into the station with the final

1:01

episode of the Wonder Years season

1:03

6 episode 22 Independence Day, which

1:05

first aired May 12th 1993. I'm

1:08

Tom Merritt. He's Brian brushwood. Hey,

1:10

man. I got a curious question.

1:12

Maybe you can look this up

1:15

Tom or I could take a

1:17

stab at it, but I'd be

1:19

curious to know what the rating

1:22

on this last episode was because

1:24

this to me read

1:27

kind of as a. It

1:30

didn't have any of the big heart swelling,

1:32

good -bye -ness that I don't know how

1:34

much of that you know, you know what?

1:36

I watched the Good Place. You could pack

1:38

a lot of that in just 23 minutes.

1:41

But very little of it showed up

1:43

here. Tom, I didn't like it. I

1:45

didn't like the way this ended. It

1:47

didn't. It felt it felt so paint

1:49

my numbers that I got annoyed.

1:53

It was a. 9

1:56

.1 is what Amos says. I

1:58

keep finding like 9 .5 out

2:00

of 10. I'm like, no, no, I don't

2:02

want the IMDB rating. I want the Nielsen

2:04

rating. Oh, no, I actually

2:06

wanted the rating, the quality. Oh,

2:08

the IMDB rating is 9 .5. So

2:11

it is very, very high and everybody

2:13

is wrong. And everybody who said it,

2:15

that is, that was not a 9

2:17

.5 out of 10 piece of media.

2:20

Whether you have seen the series or

2:22

not, it was. It was

2:24

rote, annoying, trapped in an elevator. Oh,

2:26

wait, no, we're doing it even more

2:28

cliche, abandoned on the side of the

2:30

road. People have to work out their

2:32

differences. And also, we're not

2:34

really going to commit to. I

2:37

didn't like it, Tom. I didn't care

2:39

for it. It sounds like you liked

2:42

it less than me. But

2:45

not by much. Possibly. Here's

2:48

a couple of notes I wrote. And

2:50

then my eyes rolled a little because

2:52

I'm a little dead inside. Was

2:55

it at the reenactment of the kiss from

2:57

the first episode? But don't worry, it was

2:59

a fake out. The episode wasn't over. Yeah,

3:02

and then I got, I think I thought

3:04

we were going to have another real moment

3:06

like the math teacher and instead we got

3:08

this. Yep. Yeah,

3:11

when she, when they talk

3:14

about the fact that they

3:16

are not They're

3:18

probably not going to continue to stay in

3:20

touch. They're probably not going to like each

3:23

other. They shouldn't like each other. I thought,

3:25

oh, we're going to get a real moment,

3:27

like a moment when people realize our lives

3:29

are going in separate ways. And that happens.

3:31

That happens. more off. There are plenty of

3:33

people who try to stay together when they

3:36

go away to college and they they fall

3:38

apart. That story has been told a million

3:40

times. I was excited to see the story

3:42

of what also happens. People going like, look,

3:44

we're going to go part ways. And maybe

3:46

someday we get back together. But let's let's

3:49

not try to force it. And we did

3:51

not get that. Instead, we got the like,

3:53

let's try to stay together. And the the

3:55

sort of like throw away like And I

3:57

kept my promise and met her with my

3:59

wife and two kids ten years later. I'm

4:02

like, well, and plus also the narrator starts

4:04

screwing up the story where it's like, look

4:06

at this tender moment, a baby on the

4:08

way. The baby would be born later. My

4:10

dad would be dead, though. Anyway, let's go

4:12

back to this moment. Cut to the dad.

4:15

Hey, I'm going to be a grandpa. That's

4:17

pretty great. Like, yeah, exactly.

4:21

Because it's like the. I'm like,

4:23

I see the emotion I'm supposed

4:25

to have, but you sort of

4:27

like twisted it around on me.

4:31

So I should or shouldn't bother to

4:33

care about the future that you've clearly

4:36

already closing the loop on before it

4:38

even begins. I did

4:40

write it was a good ending. And I'm

4:42

trying to remember what I meant by that.

4:44

It means you were glad it was over

4:46

with me. No, I think

4:49

I met like the very last

4:51

scene. Is him talking to

4:53

his dad? Is that right? Yeah. And

4:56

the dad's all excited. But now it's

4:58

weird because I think what he's what

5:00

they say to each other. I'm like,

5:02

OK, that those words are a good

5:04

way to end this story. I think

5:06

that's probably what I meant by that

5:08

because I certainly wasn't fully on board

5:10

with how they got to that moment.

5:12

Yeah. But how did that horse get

5:14

in that barn, Tom? They never answer

5:16

that question. I wrote the

5:18

horse thing was. Simple. Yeah.

5:26

Did you like the part where they broke

5:28

the rules of poker and you know that

5:30

traditional rule where everybody brags about their hand

5:33

at the end? Yeah.

5:38

I didn't know that Fred Savage looked

5:40

more like he does now than he

5:42

did at the beginning. Did you like

5:45

the fact that he was gambling with

5:47

$20 of throwaway money when his car

5:49

was worth 75 or 100? Just gambling,

5:51

you know, flippantly with the amount of

5:54

money it cost to have a car.

5:56

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That

6:00

trope, too. That also was simple. Like,

6:02

I'll just gamble my car. Now I

6:04

have to walk home? Where was he?

6:07

Like, he must not have been that

6:09

far. Again, when

6:11

he started walking, I'm like, oh, we're going to get

6:13

a hitchhiker thing, right? Like that would be very 1973,

6:16

you know, like, and, and then we did. But

6:19

it was like two older people and then we

6:21

got a like. Oh they

6:23

kicked him out because they're yelling at each

6:25

other like that wasn't the story that wasn't

6:28

the hitchhiker story I was on board for.

6:30

What about the part where the narrator didn't

6:32

open the episode but just kind of showed

6:34

up three minutes in like. You

6:37

know like the stories happening and it's

6:39

like I still narrate by the way

6:41

I'm available for. I didn't actually notice

6:43

that that's interesting yeah. Don't

6:46

forget me. They've run out of patience for

6:48

their own theme song. They're all like, straight

6:51

to the... I think that the theme song

6:53

being shorter was a thing that was happening

6:55

in television by 1993 where they were like,

6:58

well, we're adding commercial loads, so let's cut

7:00

the theme song back so we don't

7:02

have to cut back on the content. Which

7:04

to be honest, I don't mind because if

7:07

you remember, the whole reason that we had

7:09

90 second intros to shows is because it

7:11

was a buffer to let everybody show up

7:13

in time for the appointment because you

7:15

had no expectations. and no ability to see

7:18

the show unless you showed up on time.

7:20

Unless you'd set your VCR. But

7:23

even then, I mean, at the time in

7:25

order to understand how to how to set

7:27

the clock so that you could set your

7:29

VCR. Yeah. This

7:33

is the first of these that I

7:35

was disappointed in. I really enjoyed all

7:37

of them, even the worst one. I

7:39

had problems with the story, but I

7:41

was like, oh, it's kind of interesting

7:43

to see this this one. I think

7:45

I was more disappointed than soccer simply

7:47

because I could tell soccer wasn't going

7:49

to be anything from the beginning, so

7:51

I wasn't let down. I felt like

7:53

this is the finale. And

7:55

here he is. He's

7:57

stormed out in the previously on. He's having

8:00

trouble with dad. This is the rebellious time.

8:02

And he's about to head to college. All

8:05

of those things. And it just felt

8:07

very paint by numbers. Yeah,

8:10

I've heard that about it. And

8:14

yeah, the soccer was also

8:17

paid by numbers, but at

8:19

least it was. You

8:21

saw the numbers before. Yeah.

8:25

At least it was a self -contained

8:27

unit of the wonder years. Whereas like,

8:29

I just don't know. It was it

8:31

was just writer's rooms notes that that

8:33

they all went out for Margaritas and

8:35

didn't come back and some intern just

8:37

had to collect what he found on

8:40

the floor and be like, I guess

8:42

would do. I saw this on I

8:44

Live Lucy once. So we'll make that

8:46

joke here. And I I what do

8:48

you think this says about the wonder

8:50

years? Now I think it fell off,

8:52

I think I think in terms of

8:54

so like we know that mash was

8:56

really, really heavily watched, you know, biggest.

8:58

television night in the history and so

9:00

on. And it shows

9:03

with the heart swelling, we're

9:05

ending, right? And then

9:07

we saw on the other

9:09

end of the spectrum, we

9:11

saw sliders where it was

9:13

unrecognizable compared to that incredible

9:15

opening to that ridiculous phoned

9:17

in video on demand ending.

9:20

And this wasn't sliders fall

9:22

off, but I don't know.

9:24

I'm going to put it

9:26

in the bottom, bottom quartile,

9:29

bottom third of ending with the whimpers

9:31

that we've seen. Yeah, I

9:34

think certainly bottom third, if

9:36

not bottom quartile is is

9:38

is fair to this. It

9:41

justifies one thing for me,

9:44

which is our policy of

9:46

saying the finale even if

9:48

it's higher rated will not

9:51

be the ultimate episode. We

9:53

made that decision to preserve

9:55

four episodes, but I found

9:57

that it serves another purpose,

10:00

which is people tend to

10:02

overrate the finales because they're

10:04

sentimental. This

10:07

episode was the last wonder years. So

10:09

a lot of people see it and

10:11

they get nostalgic like, ah, this is

10:13

the last time we see them. And,

10:15

oh, and dad dies. And they forgive

10:17

a lot of the plot holes that

10:20

we've been criticizing here because they're sentimental

10:22

about it being the last. And I

10:24

think that's this is a good reminder

10:26

that. Being highly rated as the last

10:28

episode does not mean it's going to

10:30

be a good episode. And

10:32

so taking the ultimate episode to

10:34

not be the last episode,

10:36

not only preserves four episodes, but

10:39

it makes sure that we're seeing

10:41

the show at its best,

10:43

not through a sentimental filter. Yeah,

10:46

I agree. When

10:57

Acast's podcasters endorse a brand, their

10:59

audience listens and takes action. So

11:01

if you want a recommendation that

11:03

really sticks, put your brand in

11:06

their hands. Book a host -read

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sponsorship today by visiting go .acast

11:10

.com/ads. That

11:25

this was this was not only the first

11:27

time I felt genuinely nostalgic for a time

11:29

of my life while watching The Wonder Years.

11:32

Like this really hit me in the feels

11:34

as far as like senior high school. Even

11:38

with that, hated

11:40

it. What

11:42

a twist. thought he was going

11:44

to save them up for a second. I

11:47

was like, oh, I'm good. Good. Like

11:49

the narrator phoned it in, like maybe even

11:51

literally on the phone had reported. It did

11:54

sound lower fidelity. I'm going to make that

11:56

up. That's not like all the actors didn't

11:58

they none of like they'd already had the

12:00

goodbye party, you know, they'd already said goodbye.

12:02

Oh, damn, we got this one script we

12:04

got to do. So they came back in

12:06

in the afternoon and just knocked it out

12:08

real quick. This is this

12:10

is just it was not not it.

12:12

So I just wanted to put that

12:14

in there. Yeah. No, I appreciate it.

12:17

that. And I think it

12:19

is worth pointing out, like there is still a

12:21

lot of nostalgia here. You know, there is a

12:23

there is a feeling and probably one of the

12:25

reasons I'm more disappointed with it is I see

12:28

what it could have been, right? With with a

12:30

couple of changes here and there, it could have

12:32

been a lot more powerful than it was. And

12:34

even so, it had some nostalgia. Tommy and I

12:36

are both from small town Midwest, like where this

12:39

is supposed to be. Yeah. And like the just

12:41

the last scene of the street of Independence Day

12:43

was just All that was just

12:45

that that felt genuine. Yeah. And

12:48

it still didn't save the fact of

12:50

this this episode. Everything just felt phoned

12:52

in from the script to the acting

12:54

to the the camera angles, like everything

12:56

felt phoned in on this one. It

12:58

was just, you know what? I didn't

13:01

want to overplay my hand, but that

13:03

was the thought that arose unbidden was,

13:05

man, it's like everybody is just ready

13:07

to wash their hands of this property.

13:09

And I thought to myself, Well,

13:12

that can't be true. And I was like, well, maybe

13:14

it's true for Fred Savage. And then

13:16

I thought like he's probably excited to go on to

13:18

Hollywood or whatever. But I'm like, no, but surely this

13:20

was like the end of an era for them. But

13:22

but it didn't feel like it. It just

13:25

felt like they were like, oh, thank goodness,

13:27

Bell's wrong. Quick time. Time

13:29

to die. And this is this

13:31

is the end of the junior year. He still had

13:33

a senior year left because he mentioned that they the

13:35

next year they went off to college and stuff. So

13:38

it was like, this is just. Yeah,

13:40

that that that makes it

13:42

ring a little weird to

13:44

still gonna be around for

13:46

another year, right? Yeah We

13:49

we did get an email

13:51

about this in the tone.

13:53

Yeah, Chris suggested the Wonder

13:55

Years new series that that

13:57

came out recently as sort

13:59

of a comparison or juxtaposition

14:01

It is it even possible

14:03

to see a connecting thread

14:06

Between the two series besides just

14:08

the name and the time frame

14:10

sounds interesting to me The more

14:12

recent wonder years that was made

14:14

follows an African -American family instead

14:16

of a white family But it

14:18

has not yet been canceled. They

14:20

haven't made new episodes recently but

14:22

One premise we make with the

14:25

full experience is to be able

14:27

to watch the last episode. Futurama

14:30

is the exception to this because they keep

14:32

having multiple last episodes. So at any point,

14:35

we may or may not know whether Futurama

14:37

has a last episode. But most shows we

14:39

wait until we're sure there's not going to

14:41

be another episode before we do it. But

14:43

that would be an interesting comparison to do,

14:46

Chris. Once we're sure they're not going to

14:48

make it anymore. Appreciate you

14:50

sending that. Also, I

14:52

went and looked up

14:54

the house that you

14:56

see the external shots

14:59

of. And it is

15:01

in Burbank, California, and

15:03

has not been sold

15:05

since 1987. Now

15:07

wait, it's been for sale since 1987.

15:09

No, the last time it was sold

15:12

was 1987. You can see in the

15:14

real estate listings like how much did

15:16

it sell for the last time it

15:18

sold? The last time it sold was

15:20

87. So whoever bought it in 87

15:23

has kept it. And how much did

15:25

they buy it for in 87? Oh,

15:27

I know it was ridiculously low. Yeah.

15:29

That just remembering that would have just

15:31

made me cry. The point the point

15:33

was that like somebody owned

15:36

this and shortly after they came and

15:38

said, hey, can we use your exterior

15:40

for the wonder years? And

15:43

they didn't cash in on it. They

15:45

didn't move away. They kept a hold

15:47

of it. So I looked up to

15:49

see like, wait, did the studio buy

15:51

it? And then they just kept it

15:53

and rented it out to people. But

15:55

no, it apparently is just whoever owned

15:57

it still owns it. Meanwhile,

15:59

when you texted that, it made me think

16:01

of the fact that the days to confused

16:03

house here in Austin just hit the market

16:05

for like 1 .2 million. Did

16:08

you buy it? Not yet. I was

16:10

going to give somebody else a chance. Oh,

16:12

that's so sweet. You should buy

16:14

it. Scrape through the couches real

16:17

quick. All right. We

16:19

will begin a new full experience

16:21

next time. Our next

16:24

journey will be to the

16:26

outer limits. the original 1960s

16:28

Outer Limits. There have been

16:30

more than one. So

16:32

we will start with the episode

16:35

The Galaxy being season one episode

16:37

of The Outer Limits. That's next

16:39

time on The Full Experience. Thank

16:41

you for touring the Wonder Years

16:43

with us. We hope you feel

16:45

full. We certainly do. And you

16:47

get these episodes early if you're

16:50

a patron at patreon .com/cord killers.

16:52

We'll see you for The Outer

16:54

Limits next time, everybody. Bye. ACAS

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