I have recently become addicted to a new show on FOX called “The Grinder”, about an actor who played a lawyer on a television show (Rob Lowe) who, after the series ends, goes to join his brother (Fred Savage) in his hometown law practice. I find the show impossibly adorable.
Tonight after I watched the latest episode, I started thinking about how long I’ve been watching Fred Savage. He’s been on television since the 1980’s and I first became a fan of his when “The Wonder Years” was on. In that show, Savage played Kevin Arnold, a young boy growing up in the late 1960’s. Kevin lived with his parents, brother Wayne, and sister Karen, and spent most of his time with his best friend Paul and the “girl next door”, Winnie. It was an amazing show and is a real classic. I started watching it from the very beginning on Netflix over the summer.
Perhaps the best movie Savage has acted in is “The Princess Bride” (not available on Netflix yet but I’m hoping someday soon!). He is in “The Jungle Book: Mowgli’s Story” (streaming on Netflix!) as the Narrator, which makes me laugh a little bit because a big part of “The Wonder Years” is the narration by Daniel Stern. I’m pretty sure that makes up some kind of Fred Savage vicious circle. Or something.
He’s not just an actor, either. He’s been very successful as a director too, In fact, he has more director credits than acting credits at this point, on shows like “Boy Meets World” (starring his younger brother Ben), “Phil of the Future”, “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide”, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, “Party Down”, “Modern Family”, “2 Broke Girls”, and many, many more. One of his latest as a director? IFC’s 2014 show “Garfunkel and Oats”, about “two hapless twentysomething single women who try to make it as a duo performing satirical songs about their personal and professional lives.” You’d better believe that’s the newest addition to my Netflix streaming list. I’ll be binge-watching all eight episodes, likely this weekend.
Want to do a Fred Savage study on your own? Here are a few of his best, available on Netflix streaming:
The Wonder Years
The Jungle Book: Mowgli’s Story
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Garfunkel and Oates
Perhaps I’ll study Rob Lowe in December. Hmmm.
