The Wonder Years (TV Series)

My Father's Office (1988)

Dan Lauria: Jack Arnold

Photos 

Quotes 

• Kevin Arnold : Dad?

  Jack Arnold : Hmmm?

  Kevin Arnold : When did you decide you wanted to become a manager of distribution and product support services?

  Jack Arnold : [Jack chuckles]  Hah! Sorry. Just a funny sort of a thought. Really wanting to be manager of distribution and product support services. I mean it's a good job, but, uh... it's not what I thought I'd be doing with *my* life.

  Kevin Arnold : What did you want to do?

  Jack Arnold : What - are you kiddin' - a professional baseball player.

  Kevin Arnold : No, really.

  Jack Arnold : Really? Well, I... did have a fallback position...

  Kevin Arnold : This job?

  Jack Arnold : No. Not this job. I never told anybody this before... .not even your mother. When I was your age, I wanted to be a captain of a ship.

  Kevin Arnold : A captain of a ship?

  Jack Arnold : Yeah. Ya know, one of those big ocean liners... or a freighter... or an oil tanker... Be out there on the ocean in the middle of the night, navigating by the stars. Course, they use instruments for all that now, but... I didn't know that. Yeah, thought it would be the greatest thing in the world.

  Kevin Arnold : How come you didn't do it?

  Jack Arnold : How come? Well, ya know... one thing leads to another... went off to college... Met your mom. Next summer I got a job on a loading dock here at NORCOM. Rest is history.

  Kevin Arnold : You'd have made a great ship's captain, Dad.

  Jack Arnold : Nahhhh - probably not. Probably get sea sick. Huh. Ya know, Kevin... You can't do every silly thing you want to in life. You have to make your choices... You have to try and be happy with them. I've think we've done pretty well, don't you?

  Kevin Arnold : Yeah, I think we've done great.

• Al : What the hell is this, Arnold?

  [He points at some papers] 

  Al : This is incompetence, just plain incompetence!

  Jack Arnold : Look, Al. Wisanski...

  Al : Nevermind Wisanski! He works for you! Now this is the third major screw up in your department in the last two months. Now if you can't hire competent people, and supervise them, we can find somebody that can!

  Jack Arnold : It's being taken care of.

  Al : Well it sure as hell better be!

  [pause] 

  Al : Oh and one more thing. The next time that I try to get you on the phone, you better be there to take the call! Now, do you read me, Arnold? DO YOU READ ME?

  Jack Arnold : Yeah, I read you.

  Al : Good!

  [Storms off]