Fred Savage Photo: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images
fred savage, the Executive Producer and Director of the Wonder Years reboot, which starred in the 1988 original, was fired after the May restart following allegations of misconduct on the show’s set, a 20th TV official confirmed at the time. Savage was previously accused of misconduct on the set of the original Fox film Wonder Years in 1993 and The Grinder, which ran from 2015 to 2018. On Aug. 9, new details emerged about the misconduct allegations, with several female crew members telling the Hollywood Reporter Savage’s alleged “erratic” behavior and proximity to a young woman on set prompted six women on the crew to report Savage to Human Resources , prompting a rapid investigation. “To her credit, I was contacted within hours,” one woman told THR. “An investigation began immediately and he was ejected from the set.”
Beyond Savage’s alleged multiple personas (supervisors “all see his absolutely perfect, best face” while “staff below the line who have no power” see otherwise), several crew members say the interactions with a boy and female crew member made them uncomfortable . Sources claim that Savage “extremely controlled her day-to-day behavior” and was “manipulative and unpredictable” toward the woman. After a crew member attempted to intervene, she said Savage “came to verbally harassing and belittling me.” She tells the publication that she found Savage “scary” and that his “eyes would go blank” during the alleged verbal harassment, but then “he flips a switch and he’s Fred Savage.” The crew members claim that the young woman’s personality changed after she became close to Savage. Other sources claim she moved into his rental home in Cabbagetown, Atlanta during filming. The young woman declined to speak to THR.
Another woman who worked on the reboot brought separate charges against the ousted director and producer. She says she became friends with Savage during her time on The Wonder Years and sometimes went to dinner with him. Though she turned down his expensive gifts, the two remained “platonic” friends. During a December 2021 group dinner in Astoria, near Savage’s home, at a bar the crew frequents, she went to the bathroom. Savage allegedly went to the bathroom after exiting the cubicle. “I started laughing, like, ‘What are you doing? It’s a women’s room,’” she recalled. The source said Savage approached them. “I said, ‘Please don’t do that.’ I felt like ruining the friendship,” she told the magazine. “I pleaded, not so much out of fear, but there was no turning back.” Reportedly, “Savage placed his mouth on mine very firmly. He’s after my pants. I wiped him away. Then he put his mouth back on mine and grabbed my hand and pulled it to his groin. I withdrew. He stopped very angry. I checked his shoulder so I could get out.” After the alleged incident, the woman says she was “terrified of him for the first time.”
Savage attempted to contact her after the alleged events at the Astoria bar. In a voicemail shared with THR, he apologized to the woman. “It’s your old friend Fred,” he said. “We worked together for a while and then we didn’t anymore and then I was a huge asshole. A huge asshole. And I’m really sorry. And I kind of owe you an apology for a minute here and so, uh, the truth is I really like you and I really want to be a friend and I’m so sorry I screwed that up.”
Savage responded to the misconduct allegations in a statement to . “It is devastating to learn that there are colleagues who think that I have failed in these goals. While some incidents are being reported that absolutely did not happen and could not have happened, every person who feels hurt or offended by my actions is one person too many,” he told the publication. Vulture has reached out to Savage representatives for comment.