Nobody watched Wonderfalls. It aired on Fox early last year as a midseason replacement. It was an hour long comedy/drama about a smart, disaffected, sarcastic girl in her early twenties who had graduated from Brown University and, completely unmotivated, worked in a gift shop at Niagra Falls. Her job sucked, her family was insane, she kind of hated life and, oh yes, inanimate objects began to talk to her.
Seriously, no one watched this show and it still makes me angry. It received terrible, terrible ratings and Fox, being the jackasses they so consistently are, killed it after only four episodes aired--all of them in horrible timeslots. Thirteen episodes were made, but they didn't even have the decency to air all of them. They just axed it.
I bet you missed it. You probably never watched it. You may not have even heard of it. Or maybe you did hear about it--because it did get great reviews and a fair amount of press when it first came out--but you never got around to watching the first few episodes and then it was gone forever. Or perhaps you did watch it, saw every one of those four aired episodes and loved it as much as I did. If so, then I thank you profusely and I bow to your good taste. Most likely, though, you never saw Wonderfalls.
You made a mistake.
This show is magnificent. The main character, Jaye, is played pitch-perfect by Caroline Dhavernas. She is dry, sarcastic, funny and so, so disaffected. She is completely unmotivated and unsure what to do with her life, quick to use her wit against people and reluctant to become involved with new acquaintances. Yet she is endearing and kind and you can't help but identify with her, care about her and want the best for her, even when you share in her disenchantment with humanity.
Then inanimate objects suddenly start talking to her for no reason and the show really kicks into gear. This aspect of the show is treated with the proper incredulity. Jaye has no idea why these objects are talking to her and initially fears for her sanity. Yet, she eventually comes to realize that the only way to make them stop talking to her and leave her alone is to figure out what they want her to do. What they want her to do, incidentally, is help people. Help strangers, as it were.
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Article comments
1 - Erin
so true. I'm working on a pull-away calendar counting down the days til the Firefly film is released.
xox
2 - Joel Caris
I can't wait for Serenity this September. Firefly was such a great show, I have little doubt the movie is going to be awesome. The early screening reviews sound very promising.
It sucks they pushed it back to September. The sooner I see it, the better.
3 - Crystal E
I saw the pilot of this twice (by fluke) actually, and really enjoyed it. The lead's got this clerk/Angela (My so called life) angst thing going, which is pretty amusing, compared to all the soap opera teenage fluff that teens (and sad adults) make season triumphs. Why do all the quirky midseason oddities have to go away for disposable entertainment like Idol?
4 - Eric Berlin
I only heard about the show (via the Minear connection) after it was axed.
I never saw Firefly until it came out on DVD, and fell in love with it straight away. It almost broke my heart after I got through the 13th or so and final episode.
Thank God for Serenity: its #1 on the list of movies I can't wait to see this year.
It's a real shame about Wonderfalls, but I know that Minear will land on its feet. The Whedon people, and people with any integrity and vision in television, need to stay the hell away from Fox! Go to HBO, FX, Bravo, possibly ABC... that's where the good television is at right about now.
5 - Joel Caris
Crystal,
Fox is particularly good at fielding interesting, quirky shows and then promptly killing them. See also: Firefly, The Tick and I'm sure others.
Eric,
I was really surprised that Whedon managed to get a greenlight on a Firefly movie, but boy am I glad. Firefly was an amazing series after just 13 episodes. It pains me to think about how incredible it would be if it was still on the air.
Minear is currently working on The Inside, by the way. It's another show for Fox, so I figure it'll be canceled pretty quick. But hey, who knows. It actually was created by someone else, IIRC, but Minear eventually came in on it and took it over. It was supposed to be about an undercover agent at a high school. That premise, thankfully, has been scrapped and it sounds like Minear is planning on taking it in some much more interesting directions.
Word is that it will start airing in March sometime. I can't wait.
6 - Bre
I thought Wonderfalls was a brilliant show and I was extremely sad when it was axed. But, I've got the DVD set on order so I'll still have it for a reminder of one of the smartest shows ever to air.
7 - Joel Caris
I picked up the set on Tuesday when it came out. I've only watched two episodes so far, but it's so nice to be back watching the show. Man, it's good. I can't wait to get through the whole set.
8 - Jim Carruthers
This week News Corp. (the conglomerate owners of all that Fox stuff) reported that a significant portion of their profit came from the DVD division, especially teevee shows, while the Fox network lost money.
It's somewhat quixotic, but good to hear that bad decisions at the network are biting them hard in the ass.
Though I've seen the 'sodes, I'm really waiting for the DVDs for the extras and finding out what the preferred running order is (there are several eps which were moved around, though there is an arc).
9 - Morgan
So sad...this is truly one of my all-time fave shows. I watched the whole DVD collection over the past week (who needs the SuperBowl?!) and now I'm going to back to re-watch and listen to the commentaries, etc. The fickle Fox network will learn someday, I hope, to not give up on shows so easily.
10 - Joel Caris
Morgan, I really hope Fox figures out to nurture their shows more. They are great at taking risks and funding really creative shows, but they never give them the support they deserve. They're always sticking them in crappy time slots and pulling them off the air after only a few episodes.
There are a bunch of great shows that this happened to and you know what? Almost all of them that I can think of were on Fox. Wonderfalls, Firefly, The Tick, Action. It's amazing.
Anyway, I'm now six episodes into the box set. I've been drawing it out. I haven't listened to the commentaries yet, either, so I stil have quite a bit of Wonderfalls entertainment in front of me, not even including the many times I'll no doubt rewatch the episodes.
11 - Eric Berlin
I finally got to catch Wonderfalls over the weekend via marathon on a channel called Logo.
I agree with the review: it's a wonderful wonderful show. Man, did I get sucked in.
Minear is truly cursed with genius: Firefly, Wonderfalls, and the promising The Inside all axed waaaaay before their time.
12 - Jesse Ellis
I LOVE Wonderfalls!!!!! It is one of my most favorite shows. My boyfriend gave me the box set. We watched the whole thing in one day and I still watch it over and over again. Somebody has to bring the show back. It is the most creative show that I have ever seen and the cast is perfect. I'm dying to know what happens next to Jaye. This show should still be on T.V. Please bring it baaaaaack!!!
13 - Alan
Use to watch the show. Was outstanding. Had to buy the DVD set . Seems Fox doesn't like good shows. Of course I have to say what a great job Caroline Dhavernas did. She was Jaye, witty ,cute and just off enough to keep you wanting more. Was sad to see the show pulled.