Wonderfalls

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » March 13, 2004, 3:51 pm

So I watched the premiere of this new series last night. I think I liked it. It had a very quirky feel to it, kind of reminded me of Northern Exposure (which is a good thing in my book). The lead in it was a lot of fun to watch, and the slightly skewed "insane" feel to things was great. Sadly, it probably won't last

It's probably a little too quirky for mainstream viewers, plus it's on at 9 on a Friday night. Ouch.

Anyways, I'd recommend giving it a try for sure.

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » March 13, 2004, 8:11 pm

It came on at the same time Stargate did last night, didn't get to see. =\

Lalanae · Post by **Lalanae** » March 13, 2004, 11:30 pm

I watched the last half (Thanks Dregor!) and I liked it. It does have that Northern Exposure feel to it, but only time will tell if they can come close to N.E.'s awesome character development. It has promise, but yeah the time slot sucks.

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » March 27, 2004, 6:15 pm

I really hope this show sticks around. 3 episodes so far and I've enjoyed them all. I highly recommend you watch it! 9pm Fridays on Fox. Download the past episodes!

Crav · Post by **Crav** » March 27, 2004, 6:17 pm

Really enjoyed it so far, hopefully the network execs aren't too confused by it and cancel it.

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » March 27, 2004, 6:29 pm

Just read this writeup on Wonderfalls and it's pretty on the money. I especially like the love-child comment.

Falling for Wonderfalls
Fox's Wonderfalls is the funniest show on television and the best new series of the season. So why aren't you watching it?
by Jonathan V. Last

HURRY. Get your Wonderfalls quick. Before it's too late.

This season has seen the premier of two high-quality, hour-long TV series. The first, Karen Sisco, was an adaptation of Steven Soderbergh's 1998 film Out of Sight. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Karen Sisco proved to be a large and unexpected improvement on the original (although, unlike Buffy, the source material was darn good to start with). ABC aired nearly a half dozen episodes of the smart, sweet, and funny Sisco before pulling the plug.

The third episode of Wonderfalls airs tonight on Fox (9:00 p.m. est), and if the early returns are indication, we'll be lucky if the executives at Fox allow three more of them to see daylight.

WONDERFALLS centers around Jaye Tyler (played by Canadian actress Caroline Dhavernas), a 24-year-old graduate of Brown (with a degree in philosophy), who lives in a trailer park in Niagara Falls and works at a local souvenir shop. Jaye is sullen, standoffish, clever, and incredibly spiteful--not to mention a junior varsity alcoholic--and she seems to be living her life as a direct rebuke to her successful, wealthy, and pleasantly offensive family (Karen, Darrin, Sharon, and Aaron Tyler).

That is, until she has a small neurotic breakdown. When Jaye comes to, small, inanimate objects--a toy lion, a brass sculpture of a monkey--begin talking to her. They urge her to do things and, unsurprisingly, no one else can hear them.

Jaye's new talking friends give her instructions--do this, go there, talk to this or that person--and Jaye, already on

the verge of crazy, listens to them. She becomes a deus ex machina, by way of Rube Goldberg. Much hilarity ensues.

LIKE ALL GREAT TELEVISION, Wonderfalls doesn't look like much on the page. (Who'd want to see a program about four people who do nothing, or a girl who kills vampires, or a mobile Army hospital in Korea?) But in execution, it's something else. Shot with David Fincher-style ingenuity, the show always feels as though it is about to careen off the rails, but if Wonderfalls is a roller-coaster, it's Space Mountain--everything is so unexpected that we never see the turn or drop-off until we're halfway through it.

The cast does outstanding work--particularly Dhavernas, whose performance is cool, self-assured, and tartly funny (see if you can spot the line readings where she merges Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan). Even the theme song is memorable, thanks to XTC's Andy Partridge.

The real star, however, is executive producer Tim Minear and his crew of talented writers. Each episode is packed with home-run jokes, most of which are mercifully unreliant on pop-cultural references. For instance:

Therapist: Tell me about your family.

Jaye: I don't really want to gossip.

Obvious comparisons will be made to other faith-centric shows, particularly Joan of Arcadia, Mysterious Ways, and Touched By an Angel (Wonderfalls was at one point tentatively titled "Touched By a Crazy Person"), but none of these are apt--Wonderfalls substitutes black humor for earnestness:

Boy with a crush: Why struggle with faith? Life can be sort of peaceful when you stop struggling.

Jaye: It's a lot like drowning that way.

Forget Joan of Arcadia; if anything, Wonderfalls is the lovechild of Amélie and Northern Exposure.

ALAS, the big wheels at Fox don't seem to be 100 percent behind Wonderfalls. Sticking the mid-season replacement in the 9:00 Friday night casket was an inauspicious start. Advertising support has been lackluster. Then, last week, Minear was reduced to writing a letter to a popular entertainment website asking people to please tune in. Not a good sign.

In a perfect world, Fox would take a chance on Wonderfalls--move it to Sunday night, pair it with Arrested Development, air its reruns on FX, and stay with the show for a season or two. But in the end, Wonderfalls will probably be forced to surrender to destiny.

That doesn't mean you should miss out. Tune in tonight and see what great television looks like.

Lalanae · Post by **Lalanae** » March 27, 2004, 6:43 pm

damn keeping missing it

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » April 11, 2004, 3:26 pm

It's cancelled

Have to make room for another When Extreme American Bachelor Makeovers Attack.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » April 11, 2004, 3:55 pm

A good friend of mine knows the star of that show and she told him that Fox cancelled it but are trying to offload the rest of the series (13 were produced and filmed already) to another network. It's likely one of the smaller networks (UPN, USA or WB) will pick it up. I doubt more episodes will ever be made though.

It was a good show and it's a shame they cancelled. It shared a lot of writers and producers with Malcolm in the Middle, which is pretty much the only watchable sitcom on TV at the moment.

Hopefully they will at least put all the episodes onto a DVD.

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » April 11, 2004, 4:05 pm

Yeah, read that. The creator says the 13 episodes as they stand do tell a cohesive story, and there's a sense of closure. Hopefully they see the light of day. At least there's still Angel to watch -- oh wait, another good show getting canned!

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » April 12, 2004, 2:09 am

damn. I really loved Northern Exposure and plan on D/Ling this series(what there is available).

Speaking of cancelled things:

Why the hell isn't Northern Exposure and the second season of Twin Peaks on DVD yet?

Bah. Bah I say!

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » April 12, 2004, 10:58 am

kyoukan wrote:A good friend of mine knows the star of that show and she told him that Fox cancelled it but are trying to offload the rest of the series (13 were produced and filmed already) to another network. It's likely one of the smaller networks (UPN, USA or WB) will pick it up. I doubt more episodes will ever be made though.

It was a good show and it's a shame they cancelled. It shared a lot of writers and producers with Malcolm in the Middle, which is pretty much the only watchable sitcom on TV at the moment.

Hopefully they will at least put all the episodes onto a DVD.

Tin Minear (the producer) must be pissed off. Both Firefly AND Wonderfalls both get slotted in the Fox Friday Night Slot of DOOM and cancelled after just a few episodes.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » April 24, 2004, 6:33 pm

I watched the first episode the other day and was impressed. It does indeed have the Northern Exposure feel to it.... shame about the cancellation.