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September 20 - 26, 2021 Page 3 ACROSS 1. Series for Alana De La Garza 4. "The __"; show for Sheryl Underwood 8. __ McClanahan 11. Guided 12. Ryan Seacrest's cohost 13. Yearbook section 14. "__ __ of Al" 17. Mork's birthplace 18. Large awkward bird 19. "Nay" voter 21. "Resident __: Apocalypse" 2004 movie 24. Role on "The Facts of Life" 25. Public prosecutor, for short 26. Least-used article 27. "Studio 60 __ the Sunset Strip" 28. Role on "The Golden Girls" 30. "__ Case" 32. "__ Complicated"; Meryl Streep film 34. __ Cruces, NM 35. Actor on "Chicago Fire" (2) 41. Trauma centers 42. "__ Man Standing" 43. "Men of a Certain __" 44. "90 __ Fianc"'e" 45. Larter & others 46. Serling or Stewart DOWN 1. Reason to call in sick 2. One of John-Boy's brothers 3. "Our __ Brother"; 2011 Paul Rudd movie 4. "Star __ Into Darkness" 5. Assistance 6. Record albums, for short 7. Role on "This Is Us" 8. Q's followers 9. Suffix for press or forfeit 10. Pothook's shape 15. Huey, Dewey and Louie 16. With 22 Down, singing series that began in 2002 (2) 19. Not quite closed 20. Advice to Nanette (2) 22. See 16 Down 23. "La La __"; 2016 Ryan Gosling film 29. Ms. Spacek 31. "Sesame Street" fellow 33. Ward, for one 34. "__ Make a Deal" 35. Elly May's pa 36. Age 37. "My Gal __"; Rita Hayworth movie 38. Fraternity letter 39. Braggart's problem 40. Role on "The Blacklist" Solution is on page 2. CoverStory By Jay Bobbin As a widely beloved, much-honored series gets a reboot, others live "The Wonder Years." Though the original show's "Kevin Arnold" still is on board — since his portrayer, Fred Savage, is an executive producer now — Dean Williams is the central character, played by Elisha "EJ" Williams, in the new ABC version that premieres Wednesday, Sept. 22. The program still charts a youngster's com - ing of age in the late 1960s with his adult self as nar- rator (Don Cheadle's voice this time), but the formerly suburban setting has been changed to Montgomery, Ala. "When you think of this time period in Black Ameri- ca, you don't really think of middle-class Black people," fellow executive producer Lee Daniels reasons. "You think 'impoverished'; you think of what the media portrayed us to be. This really sits with me and Saladin (K. Patterson, also an executive producer, who developed the new 'Wonder Years') because we are around the same age. This is our story, a story that hasn't been told to America." As the 12-year-old whose eyes that time is reflected through, star Williiams notes his mis- sion is "giant, just trying to figure out how (people) maneuver, as well as just trying to learn what they learned in that time. Obvi- ously, as history goes on, you're going to learn about what happened in those days. Now that I'm playing a character who lived in those times, it's more of an, 'OK, well, what is going on?' than an, 'OK, I re- member our teacher telling us about it.' " Dulé Hill (who also worked with Patterson on "Psych"), Saycon Sengbloh and Laura Kariuki play Dean's family (in the slots Dan Lauria, Alley Mills and Olivia d'Abo first had), while Milan Ray portrays Keisa, who is to Dean who the original iteration's Win- nie (Danica McKellar) was to the long-admiring Kevin. Cheadle succeeds Daniel Stern as the comedy-dra- ma's literal voice. As suggested by his involvement in the new show, 1988-93 "Wonder Years" star Savage (often a TV director now) is com- fortable with the changes to the initial concept, which earned the Primetime Emmy Award for outstand- ing comedy series for its first season. "There's a lot of ele- ments of this show that feel very comfortable and familiar, to me and to an audience as well," Savage says. "We're maintaining a similar tone, a similar blend of comedy and truth, the same idea of a narrator looking back on his youth with the wisdom of age." New characters live 'The Wonder Years' in ABC reboot The identity of the featured celebrity is found within the answers in the puzzle. In order to take the TV Challenge, unscramble the letters noted with asterisks within the puzzle. InFocus "The Many Saints of Newark" (HBO Max — movie premiere, Oct. 1) "The Sopranos" creator David Chase wrote the screenplay for this original drama movie that tells the origin story of Tony Soprano, casting Michael Gandolfini, son of late series star James Gandolfini, in the iconic role of an impressionable young future mob capo during the Newark race riots of 1967. The impressive cast also includes Alessandro Nivola, Leslie Odom Jr., Jon Bernthal, Corey Stoll, Ray Liotta and Vera Farmiga.

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