A show for "WONDER YEARS," from 1-F '50s and that were pretty much inhabited by couples in their mid-20s who moved in with tiny kids," says Black, who was born and raised in Silver Spring, Md. (Her husband grew up in Huntington, N.Y., on Long Island.) "No matter how old you were or what you were like, there were always three kids around to play with. We sort of traveled in packs and had a sense of independence because it was a rather safe environment. "I don't know to what extent people feel that way today," continues Black, who is expecting her first child in August. "I sense that people are a little more cautious. I remember when I was 12, there were woods near my house where I'd go and wander. I don't imagine I'd be doing that today." Black pauses to complete a thought. "I guess it was a very sheltered and unrealistic environment to grow up in." For all the differences that the producers see between the suburbs of today and those of yesterday. Savage, who comes from an affluent community outside Chicago, figures that they're about the same. "I think Kevin Arnold is a lot like Fred Savage," says the young actor whose first professional job was a Pac-Man Vitamins commercial, shot when he was in kindergarten. "One difference is that be plays baseball on the street I play baseball on a field because, on my street, you'd have to move too many rimes for cars." This is not the producers' first foray into depicting TV kids. Marlens was the creator of Growing Pains; bis wife later joined him as executive producer. (The couple met while students at Swarthmore College.) Black also wrote the script of the controversial hit feature film Soul Man, which she co-produced with Marlens. "With Growing Pains says Black, "we were just going trying to make something that looked like a TV show. Now we're trying to make something that interests us. This one's a little bit more from the inside out." The idea grew out of a feature baby boomers and Savage with Danica McKellar, script the pair were writing that employed an off-screen narrator. "We liked the concept that you could play with what people think and what they're saying," explains Black, "or how they would like to see themselves as opposed to how the audience is seeing them. The thing that's really different about The Wonder Years is that it's from both a child's and an adult's point of view at the same time." Another really different thing about The Wonder Years, at least from ABC's standpoint, is that it's a hit. The network clearly smellcd a winner besides premiering the program immediately after this year's Super Bowl, programmers have sandwiched it between two of ABC's most popular entries, Who's the Boss? and Moonlighting. It has scored impressive ratings, and the show has attracted a remarkably wide-ranging audience children actually seem to be watching it with their parents. "If you do a show like Growing Pains ," says Black, "you end up doing a particular story about either the kids or the adults. All of our stories are about kids, but they're also about the things that interest the adult narrator." Tremendous attention is paid to who plays his girlfriend, Winnie. period details when the television is on near the family dining table, it's NBC's Huntley Brinkley Report giving the latest casualty report from Vietnam. The use of period pop music the real thing ranging from the Byrds to Joe Cocker has also given The Wonder Years the most nostalgic soundtrack on TV. The producers knew from the start that sound-alikes would just not do. "When you do a song that people really know," says Black, "and you use a sound-alike, it's kind of like bringing someone in front of you who looks a lot like your mom. "So far, the only song we couldn't get was the Beatles' 'Blackbird.' Instead of having somebody imitate the Beatles, we used an instrumental version of the song." The cost of leasing the original recordings as opposed to using newly recorded facsimiles about $3,000 a song versus around $1,000 was factored into the budget. "We figured that in the same way that Miami Vice has a budget for stunts," explains Black, "we'd have a budget for music." Between The Wonder Years and Growing Pains, Marlens and Black have had plenty of opportunity to assess the challenge of working with children. Savage's name came up their kids when they were interviewing casting directors, and though he never had a single acting lesson, natural ability and charm won him the role. "You try to consider what kind person the actor is," says Black, "and how much fun and easy and productive the kid would be to work with. In addition to obviously casting the best actor for the part, those personality factors are important, because you don't want to work 12 hours day with a spoiled brat." Another trick with adolescents, course, is the wild card of puberty. "That was one reason we wanted cast kids who are really the age we are dealing with," says Black. "Sometimes you'll cast a kid who's 14 but who looks a little younger. Two months later, he'll have a voice that's older than yours. At least when the kids are their real ages, the changes can be worked into the whole concept." The other trick about working with children is abiding by labor laws that require that a child not be called upon to work for more than 9Va-hour span that must include half-hour for lunch, a half-hour for recreation and three hours for school. Those regulations pose no problem for the program's other minor participants including Josh Saviano as Kevin's nerdy pal, Paul, or Danica McKellar as his girlfriend, Winnie but Savage is in almost every scene. For this reason, says Black, "it's much easier to use children in an ensemble show. If you're doing Family Ties, for instance, there are scenes that Jennifer's not in. We don't have that luxury." The Wonder Years is filmed on a Tuesday-through-Saturday schedule using locations in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. Although they find settings there that duplicate an earlier suburbia, Black shudders at the thought of her unborn child growing up in gasp a TV town. "We have secret plans to leave Los Angeles before our kids reach the age of cognizance," says Black. "Because of the way we grew up, we have an inclination to find a nice, normal neighborhood."