First off...
The Fox Television Network could screw up a wet dream. Firefly, Arrested Development, and Wonderfalls were all shortchanged at one time or another, with Wonderfalls being pulled after only four episodes. This show happened to be one of the best written and quirky comedies that's seen the light of day on television. And since it's the duty of Team ForTheDishwasher to right all wrongs in this horrid world (we were the ones who ended Apartheid), we've made the internal decision to highlight this wonderful program in all its DVD9 glory. It's time to fall in love with Jaye just like we have. Enjoy!
From Jonathan V. Last at the Weekly Standard:
The third episode of Wonderfalls airs tonight on Fox (now on Thursday nights at 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.
Disc 1 Technical Information:
Title: Wonderfalls
Season: 1
Disc: 1
Year: 2004
Source: DVD9 Retail
DVD Format: NTSC
Container: .iso + mds
Size: 7.60 GB
Programs used: DVD Decrypter, ImgBurn
Resolution: 720x480
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Video: MPEG2 @ ~4800 kb/s
Frame Rate: 29.97
Audio 1: English- Dolby AC3 5.1 @ 448 kb/s
Audio 2: English Commentary- Dolby AC3 Stereo @ 192 kb/s
Subtitles: Spanish, cc-English
Menu: Yes
Video: Untouched
DVD Extras: Commentary, Greetings From Wonderfalls
Episode List:
Wax Lion (w/ commentary)
Pink Flamingos
Karma Chameleon
Wound-Up Penguin
Disc 1 Megaupload Links
Disc 2 Technical Information:
Title: Wonderfalls
Season: 1
Disc: 2
Year: 2004
Source: DVD9 Retail
DVD Format: NTSC
Container: .iso + mds
Size: 7.52 GB
Programs used: DVD Decrypter, ImgBurn
Resolution: 720x480
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Video: MPEG2 @ ~4800 kb/s
Frame Rate: 29.97
Audio 1: English- Dolby AC3 5.1 @ 448 kb/s
Audio 2: English Commentary- Dolby AC3 Stereo @ 192 kb/s
Subtitles: Spanish, cc-English
Menu: Yes
Video: Untouched
DVD Extras: Commentary, Fantastic Visual Effects, Music Video
Episode List:
Crime Dog (w/ commentary)
Muffin Buffalo
Barrel Bear
Lovesick Ass (w/ commentary)
Disc 2 Megaupload Links
Disc 3 Technical Information:
Title: Wonderfalls
Season: 1
Disc: 3
Year: 2004
Source: DVD9 Retail
DVD Format: NTSC
Container: .iso + mds
Size: 7.88 GB
Programs used: DVD Decrypter, ImgBurn
Resolution: 720x480
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Video: MPEG2 @ ~4800 kb/s
Frame Rate: 29.97
Audio 1: English- Dolby AC3 5.1 @ 448 kb/s
Audio 2: English Commentary- Dolby AC3 Stereo @ 192 kb/s
Subtitles: Spanish, cc-English
Menu: Yes
Video: Untouched
DVD Extras: Commentary
Episode List:
Safety Canary (w/ commentary)
Lying Pig
Cocktail Bunny (w/ commentary)
Totem Mole
Caged Bird (w/ commentary)
Disc 3 Megaupload Links
