A Savage Debate

Well I told you in my last post that The Wonder Years marathon that was on TV had piqued my interest. To be specific, it got me thinking about the Savage brothers, Fred and Ben. Fred was Kevin on the Wonder Years, a kid who grew up in the 60s and had a father that he was petrified of. Ben was Cory on Boy Meets World, where we literally saw him grow up in front of our eyes, from middle school all the way to marriage. But who's better? Fred or Ben?


Are you a Kevin fan?

Well Fred has a leg up since he was an SAE at Stanford. And don't forget how smokin' Winnie was on The Wonder Years. And I realize this shouldn't dictate a debate between who was better but think about it who would you choose? The guy who constantly went after his extremely good looking innocent crush (Winnie) or the guy who got the girl and she promptly decided to put on 10 pounds every season (Topanga)? But the supporting cast around Ben was phenomenal. Shawn, especially before he got all emo when his Dad died, and Eric, who got funnier every season, were indispensable. Fred, meanwhile, had a dorky best friend and an annoying little sister. BUt you could argue that this is something that should favor Fred since he did carry an entire show all by himself.


Or is it Cory Matthews?

However, The Wonders Years wasn't really a versatile show. It was kind of the same concept for every season...and then it ended with Kevin moving away. Boy Meets World on the other hand went from middle school to high school to college to marriage. And I guess The Wonder Years were also similar in that it showed Kevin growing up. You know the more I think this through, Fred and Ben are actually interchangeable. I could seriously envision either one in the other's show and it would still work.

Maybe if we examine their work after the shows went off the air, then we'll be able to determine who is the best. Well Fred had that awful NBC show, Working, that...well...sucked. He was in Goldmember with a cameo role in which I'm sure half of America went "Hell look it's the Wonder Years kid" when he got in that fight with Mini Me. And his most recent endeavors include voice work for both The Justice League and Kim Possible. Wow. That's embarassing. I always wondered who did the voices on random cartoons and now I know: washed up 90s TV stars. Speaking of which, Will Friedle, who played Eric, does the voice of Ron Possible. I saw huge things for him especially after he did My Date With the President's Daughter, which had a rockin' Presidents of the United States of America song as its theme. But now he's just Ron Possible. But back to Kevin, err I mean Fred, atleast he got another sitcom. The closest Ben has been to sniffing the big time of network television was a guest spot on Still Standing (it was a great episode though). Oh before I forget Ben will also be in a film starring Tom Arnold coming out this year. And if you've seen Nine Months, I'm sure you're thinking what I'm thinking: automatic hit. Wait, what? Nine Months was made 14 years ago.

So in conclusion both Fred and Ben were damn lucky to get the parts they did in the shows they did. Each essentially played the same character except they were 10 years apart. But since Fred showed his real depth as an actor when he did that made-for-TV movie where he beat up the girl who played DJ on Full House, he gets the nod over Ben in this one. For the record it was called "No One WOuld Tell" and I realize what the first thought that came to your head was and the answer is no it didn't win an Emmy. The people who run TV are jealous of the Savage dynasty that we got to live through from 1987-2000 when The Wonder Years and Boy Meets World were on, so the award went to somebody else.


I wonder if NBC ever put this bad boy out on DVD.