Fred Savage has been fired from the reboot of the series that made him a household name. The ABC series The Wonder Years, which stars Dulé Hill, has yet to be renewed for a second season but remains in contention even with the allegations against Savage and his departure from the show. In an exclusive from Deadline, news broke that 20th Television, which is a part of Disney Television Studios, has parted way with Savage and revealed that an investigation into Savage's inappropriate conduct concluded and resulted in the termination of Savage's employment with the company.
“Recently, we were made aware of allegations of inappropriate conduct by Fred Savage, and as is policy, an investigation was launched. Upon its completion, the decision was made to terminate his employment as an executive producer and director of The Wonder Years,” a spokesman for 20th Television said in a statement to Deadline.
This is, sadly, not the first time that Savage has been accused of sexual misconduct on a set. Actress Alley Mills, who played Norma Arnold in the original series, revealed that one of the reasons that the original series was canceled was, in her opinion, based on a “completely ridiculous sexual harassment suit that was going on against Fred Savage.” She went on to say that Savage "is the least offensive, most wonderful, sweet human being that ever walked the face of the earth…So I just thought it was a big joke and it was going to blow over.”
While Mills says there was no truth to the claims from her costumer Monique Long, it is also one in now three accusations against Savage. Because he was also accused of attacking and harassing a crew member on the set of his Fox series The Grinder.
The question now is obviously how do things like this continue to happen for someone like Savage who has quite a few allegations against him, all on shows that he's worked in recently and even in the past. Whether there is truth to any of them, it is a bit suspect that they consistently happen on shows that Savage is working on. Disney doing an investigation and making their decision based on their findings is a great way to conduct situations like this, and it's nice to know that they're looking out for those who work for the company.
Hopefully, the show moves out to a second season without Savage.