The Wonder Years: Season 4

1990 · 23 episodes · ★ 9.4

What Season 4 of The Wonder Years

Kevin Arnold starts ninth grade, and the season tests him on every front. Winnie Cooper is still his obsession, but the distance between them confuses him. Becky Slater, his main rival, is furious with him, and a bully and a tempting girl make his days even more complicated. Paul Pfeiffer, his best friend, tries his luck at basketball, and doubts about their friendship grow. At home, Jack holds on to his rigid ideas, Norma tries to mediate, and Wayne gives him no break. Kevin wants to fit in and understand what it means to grow up.

23episodes

Sep 19, 1990premiered

May 15, 1991latest episode

9.2 hrtotal runtime

Season 4 Episodes

4x01 Growing Up
Sep 19, 1990 · 24 min
The family attends Jack's company picnic. Kevin is not looking forward to seeing Mimi Detweiler, who used to have a crush on him. Wayne's new girlfriend Angela annoys everyone but Wayne. Kevin beans Jack with a baseball at the father-son baseball game. Karen leaves for college.
Directing: Michael Dinner · Writing: Bob Brush · Starring: Rick Hurst, Meredith Scott Lynn, Soleil Moon Frye, Brandon Crane
4x02 Ninth Grade Man
Sep 26, 1990 · 24 min
Winnie is nervous about starting a new school, so she gets Kevin to promise to think about her every hour on the hour. Kevin finds this promise harder to keep than he thought when he loses his locker to Tony Barbella, is enrolled in shop class and meets a new girl in French class, Madeline.
Directed by: Daniel Stern · Starring: Robert Picardo, Julie Condra, Crystal McKellar, Julie Payne
4x03 The Journey
Oct 3, 1990 · 24 min
News of a 10th-grade girls' slumber party has Kevin and his friends traveling across the city, believing they'll be invited in if they bring beer.
Directed by: Peter Werner · Written by: Jeffrey Stepakoff · Starring: Robert Picardo, Michael Tricario, Brandon Crane
4x04 The Cost of Living
Oct 10, 1990 · 24 min
When Kevin learns that Paul gets a weekly allowance of five dollars and that there is money to be made being a caddy, he goes to work for the first time.
Directed by: Nick Marck · Starring: Justin Whalin, Alan Fudge, Cal Gibson, Brandon Crane
4x05 It's a Mad, Mad, Madeline World
Oct 24, 1990 · 24 min
Kevin has to cancel a date with Winnie to finish a homework assignment with Madeline, who has already kissed him once. To make matters worse, when he flees Madeline's, he drops a bracelet that Winnie had engraved for him.
Directing: Rob Thompson · Writing: Jeffrey Stepakoff, Eric Gilliland · Starring: Ben Stein, Julie Condra, Julie Payne, Michael Tricario
4x06 Little Debbie
Nov 7, 1990 · 24 min
Paul's sister Debbie needs someone to take her to a cotillion and Kevin is guilted into the task. Meanwhile, Paul, Doug and Randy go to the football game to watch cheerleader Donna Delgado.
Directed by: Michael Dinner · Written by: Mark B. Perry · Starring: Vanessa Brown, Michael Tricario, Brandon Crane, Torrey Ann Cook
4x07 The Ties That Bind
Nov 14, 1990 · 24 min
When the family needs money, Jack demands a raise and gets it. But his new position means travelling across the country and it looks like he might miss Thanksgiving.
Directed by: Peter Baldwin · Written by: Mark B. Perry · Starring: Biff Yeager
4x08 The Sixth Man
Nov 28, 1990 · 24 min
Kevin is worried that Paul will look foolish when he's drafted to the basketball team, but it appears that Paul is only at his worst when he plays Kevin.
Directed by: Nick Marck · Written by: David Chambers · Starring: Robert Picardo, Jay Lambert, Michael Gio Ferrigno, Cris Lee
4x09 A Very Cutlip Christmas
Dec 12, 1990 · 24 min
Kevin discovers a soft-spot inside Cutlip when he sees him playing Santa Clause at a local mall.
Directed by: Michael Dinner · Starring: Robert Picardo, Michael Tricario, Brandon Crane, Jay Lambert
4x10 The Candidate
Jan 9, 1991 · 24 min
Kevin enters the race for student-council president, head-to-head with nemesis Becky Slater.
Directed by: Neal Israel · Written by: Eric Gilliland · Starring: Marguerite Moreau, Crystal McKellar, Michael Tricario, Brandon Crane
4x11 Heartbreak
Jan 23, 1991 · 24 min
Kevin is excited when a joint field trip is organized with Winnie's school. But things do not work out so well when Kevin has a hard time tearing Winnie away from her new friends. Things go from bad to worse when Winnie tells Kevin she has met someone else.
Directed by: Andy Tennant · Written by: David Chambers · Starring: Ben Stein, Julie Condra, Michael Tricario, Brandon Crane
4x12 Denial
Jan 30, 1991 · 24 min
News of Kevin's break-up with Winnie has spread quickly throughout Robert F Kennedy Junior High. Kevin is still in denial though and has Paul organise a party at his place so that Kevin can get Winnie alone. In an effort to make Winnie jealous, Kevin turns up with Madeline on his arm. When Kevin finally does get Winnie alone, she tells him she needs him to be her friend, but only her friend.
Directing: Richard Masur · Starring: Michael Bower, Julie Condra, Art Hoffman, Josh Peden
4x13 Who's Aunt Rose?
Feb 6, 1991 · 24 min
Kevin learns the importance of family when Grandpa Arnold returns to town for Aunt Rose's funeral.
Directed by: Rob Thompson · Written by: Mark B. Perry · Starring: Helen Page Camp, Wesley Mann, David Huddleston, Earl Boen
4x14 Courage
Feb 13, 1991 · 24 min
Kevin has a small crush on Dr. Tucker's dental hygienist, Miss Hasenfuss. She makes him feel like a man, though that all changes when she calls him in for his first cavity filling.
Directing: Daniel Stern · Writing: Mark B. Perry · Starring: Gerrit Graham, Brandon Crane, Jay Lambert, Mary Gillis
4x15 Buster
Feb 27, 1991 · 24 min
Kevin's dog Buster needs to get fixed to stop his incessant barking, but the dog wants to avoid that at all costs.
Directed by: Nick Marck · Written by: Mark B. Perry · Starring: Cristine Rose, Charles Tyner
4x16 Road Trip
Mar 6, 1991 · 24 min
Kevin and his father endure a disastrous trip together to buy a suit for Kevin. They get lost and argue over the radio station and Kevin embarrasses Jack at a diner they stop at.
Directed by: Ken Topolsky · Written by: David Chambers · Starring: Melora Walters
4x17 When Worlds Collide
Mar 20, 1991 · 24 min
Kevin's quest to remain cool is shattered when Norma takes a job at his school. He tries to rebel by stealing a hallpass for Tony Barbella, but Norma catches him in the act. When Norma acknowledges him during a fire drill and the other kids laugh, Kevin decides it is time to ask his mother to stop noticing him at school.
Directed by: Lyndall Hobbs · Written by: Eric Gilliland · Starring: Raye Birk, Tony Nittoli
4x18 Separate Rooms
Apr 3, 1991 · 24 min
When Kevin and Wayne decide it's too cramped for two grown boys in their bedroom, they decide one of them should be allowed to move into Karen's room, now that she's away at college. The trouble is, who is going to be the one to go?
Directed by: Michael Dinner · Written by: Bob Brush · Starring: Brandon Crane
4x19 The Yearbook
Apr 10, 1991 · 24 min
Kevin finds himself in the in-crowd when he is invited to write witty captions for the photos in the yearbook. But when it comes to writing one for the fat kid in school, Peter Armbruster, Kevin has a hard time figuring out what is funny and what will hurt Peter.
Directed by: Neal Israel · Written by: David Chambers · Starring: Michael Bower, Jonathan Brandis, Ami Foster, Chad Allen
4x20 The Accident
Apr 24, 1991 · 24 min
Kevin sees Winnie for the first time since they broke up. He discovers that she a Roger have split up, too. When Winnie is in a car accident, Kevin rides over to see her at home, but her parents say she doesn't want to see him. Kevin leaves, but returns and climbs up to Winnie's bedroom window. They tell each other, "I love you."
Directed by: Richard Masur · Starring: Shawn Phelan, H. Richard Greene, Lynn Milgrim, Nicolas Read
4x21 The House That Jack Built
May 1, 1991 · 24 min
Jack wants to help Karen out by fixing up the house she is now living in. But father and daughter go head-to-head when he discovers she is living there with a man.
Directed by: Ken Topolsky · Written by: Mark B. Perry · Starring: David Schwimmer
4x22 Graduation
May 8, 1991 · 24 min
As Kevin graduates from Junior High, he wants to believe nothing will change, but he learns that things can and do change when he discovers Paul is going to a private school in the coming year. Winnie is also anxious about the future. And Kevin has to drive Mrs. Heimer to the hospital when she goes into labor.
Directing: Michael Dinner · Writing: Bob Brush · Starring: Ben Stein, Wendel Meldrum, Robert Picardo, Crystal McKellar
4x23 The Wonder Years Season Finale
May 15, 1991 · 24 min
A clip show of highlights from Kevin's years in Junior High. Including clips from "Don't You Know Anything About Women," "The Glee Club," "Just Between You and Me... and Kirk and Paul and Carla and Becky," "Summer Song" among others.
Directed by: Nick Marck · Written by: Mark B. Perry · Starring: Maia Brewton, Ben Stein, Wendel Meldrum, Crystal McKellar