Disney and Marvel are about to have a very big year (again), as not only is the MCU hitting us with Black Widow in May and The Eternals in November, but two new Phase 4 streaming shows are landing on Disney+ as well – The Falcon and the Winter Solider and WandaVision, which are both expected to debut in 2020.
WandaVision, which is meant to directly tie into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, remains the most mysterious Marvel project to date. Marvel’s Kevin Feige has said “WandaVision will be unlike anything we’ve done before.” Actor Paul Bettany, who plays Vision, doubled down on that promise, telling IGN simply, “It’s super avant-garde and weird.”
First off, make sure you catch the Disney+ Big Game ad that aired during the Super Bowl, as it quickly takes us through some of WandaVision’s nuttiness (along with some glimpses of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – and Loki, which is due in 2021)…
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Consisting of six episodes, WandaVision reunites Paul Bettany’s Vision and Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff in a trippy dreamscape that seems to shift the duo through family sitcom styles of the past – from the black and white ’50s/early ’60s era to the groovier ’60s/’70s to the classic ’80s/”TGIF” ’90s. So let’s sort through some of WandaVision’s classic TV influences based on what we saw in the Super Bowl spot:
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Leave It to Beaver, Donna Reed, and More
In the black and white scenes, Vision’s got a very ’50s husband/dad vibe, borrowing from the sweater and tie looks seen in The Dick Van Dyke Show, Father Knows Best, and Leave it to Beaver.
Here’s Leave it to Beaver’s Ward Cleaver, played by Hugh Beaumont from 1957 to 1963, and Robert Young as patriarch Jim Anderson on Father Knows Best, which ran for over 200 episodes throughout the ’50s.
Wanda is sporting a ton of hallmarks from ’50s/’60s TV housewives, from Barbara Billingsley’s June Cleaver to Harriet Nelson from The Ozzie and Harriet Show (which was the longest-running sitcom of all time until It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia just tied its record in 2019).
Wanda’s biggest influence here might be Donna Stone, played by Donna Reed (above right) on The Donna Reed Show, which ran from ’58 to ’66.
In this moment, Wanda and Vision seem to be phasing out of the ’50s sitcom, though only she is in color so it’s another indicator that all of this, including Vision, is all in her mind somehow. Either way, the living room set up is very reminiscent of The Dick Van Dyke Show.
Here’s The Dick Van Dyke Show layout, with the door in the upper right corner.
The Brady Bunch and Bewitched
For the ’60s/’70s, the style wildly changes, color floods in, and Wanda looks a lot like a blend of Susan Dey from The Partridge Family and Elizabeth Montgomery from Bewitched (above right). The Bewitched nods are, of course, expected here given Wanda’s own powers.
Continuing in the ’60s/’70s – this is totally The Brady Bunch’s living room! Those stairs. That brick. No, it’s not the exact same blueprint, but it’s definitely meant to evoke it. And why not? Disney owns ABC.
Here’s the Bradys’ classic domain.
Family Ties and TGIF
Shifting gears into the ’80s and ’90s, Wanda is rocking some sweet suspenders – which could be seen on everyone from Family Matters’ Urkel to Mork and Mindy’s Mork to even Saved By the Bell’s Kelly Kapowski. The style is late-’80s/early-’90s but the warm lighting evokes the ’80s a bit more.
Here we’ve got a ’90s-style side ponytail for Wanda in a living room that feels a lot like the one on Family Ties. Vision’s even wearing a very Steven Keaton-style outfit. Wanda’s dressed a bit more like daughters Mallory or Jennifer though. There’s a baby off-screen making a ruckus and spitting up its pacifier.
Again, it’s very Family Ties. No other sitcom really had this lighting with the couch and stairs placed like that.
Though, let’s give a slow clap to the cameo made by Growing Pains’ single blue couch pillow!
It’ll be fun to watch Elizabeth Olsen play in a “TGIF” sandbox, given her famous twin siblings’ start on Full House.
Also starring in WandaVision: Kat Dennings is back as Darcy Lewis (Thor) along with Randall Park as Agent Jimmy Woo (Ant-Man and the Wasp), Kathryn Hahn as a nosy next-door neighbor, and Teyonah Parris as the adult Monica Rambeau. You can check out our big guide to WandaVision and its possible comic influences, as it’s the show that will officially give Wanda the title of “Scarlet Witch.”
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Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.
Source: IGN.com WandaVision: All the TV Sitcom Influences