Wonderfalls

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Television series
Original title Wonderfalls
Country of production United States
original language English
year 2004
length 42 minutes
Episodes 13 in 1 season
genre Dramedy , mystery
idea Todd Holland
Bryan Fuller
music Andy Partridge
First broadcast March 12, 2004 (USA) on Fox
occupation

Wonderfalls is the title of a television series . The broadcaster Fox broadcast four of the 13 episodes produced in the United States from March 12 to April 1, 2004 and then canceled the series. It was invented by Bryan Fuller ( Dead Like Me - As good as dead ) and Todd Holland ( Malcolm in the middle ). Executive producer was Tim Minear ( Angel - Hunter of Darkness , Firefly - Der Aufbruch der Serenity ). All episodes with bonus material were released on a 3-DVD set. There is no German version of the series.

action

The series is set in Niagara Falls and follows the life of Jaye Tyler ( Caroline Dhavernas ). Since the young woman rejects the achievement and career thinking of her wealthy family, after studying humanities, she works as a saleswoman in a souvenir shop and lives in a trailer park. The "wonderful" comes into play when first a small wax lion from a machine, later other animal figures, begin to talk to Jaye and - mostly against their will - get her to do good deeds, even if these are often not considered at first good deeds can be seen. For example, she drives her father over because she is distracted by talking plastic flamingos; When his broken leg is examined, a life-threatening thrombus is diagnosed that would otherwise have gone unnoticed.

While almost every episode is about a specific case in which Jaye's help is needed, an overarching plot also develops, which primarily revolves around Jaye's relationship with the bartender Eric and his relationship with his ex-wife (played by Jewel Staite ) as well as around turns various family affairs of the Tylers.

Charisma

The series was originally supposed to start in the USA in autumn 2003, but was then postponed until spring 2004. The first episode of the series aired on FOX in March 2004 and received positive feedback from critics. Despite the positive reactions, the series had problems attracting a larger number of viewers, which is likely to have something to do with the slot on Friday evening, on which numerous series before Wonderfalls failed, and with the low advertising expenditure. When the first episode was then repeated on Thursday evening, the series achieved slightly better ratings, which is why FOX kept this slot, but did not advertise it adequately, which resulted in continued low audience numbers. Eventually, the series was canceled after only four episodes aired. A fifth episode was announced but never aired.

After the cancellation, the producers tried unsuccessfully to interest other TV channels in the series. A few of the unaired episodes were shown in several Los Angeles cinemas in the summer of 2004 , and several episodes were illegally posted on the Internet, some of which, however, were not yet finished.

The series has now been broadcast several times on the American cable broadcaster Logo . Nothing is known about a broadcast in Germany.

Fan support and DVD release

Despite the cancellation, the series managed to build a loyal fan base. Fans started a campaign to save Wonderfalls with an accompanying website. When it became clear that the series could no longer be saved, they finally campaigned for a release on DVD. Producers Bryan Fuller and Todd Holland and actresses Caroline Dhavernas and Katie Finneran also stated in an audio commentary on the series' DVD box that the DVD would probably never have been released without the commitment of the fans.

The English-language DVD box released on February 1, 2005 contained behind-the-scenes documentation as well as audio commentary and a music video.

Planned storylines

Bryan Fuller and his authors had already thought about future storylines, which could not be implemented due to the cancellation. The following plans were mentioned in the material accompanying the DVD set for the future of the series:

  • In season two, Jaye's counselor would have written a book about her based on his session notes, which would have led to her admission to psychiatry.
  • Jaye's lesbian sister would have become pregnant unexpectedly.
  • A new wax lion would have exposed the original wax lion to be a liar.
  • Jaye would have met the boy from "Lovesick Ass" in the psychiatry again in the third season and should have helped him there.

Critic response

The reviewer of the San Francisco Chronicle called Wonderfalls "the best new drama series" and compared the main character to Joan from The Heavenly Joan .

During the review of the DVD set at The Onion AV Club, it was noted that the cleverly charming first episodes, which were less concerned with overarching storylines, were followed by weaker episodes that did just that, and thus you don't think of a "lost classic" ( lost classic ).

Trivia

  • Because of her French-Canadian accent, Caroline Dhavernas prepared for her role as an American with targeted speech training.
  • "Animal Crackers," "The Tchotchke Whisperer," "Normally Insane," "What Ever Happened to Baby Jaye?", "Babble Head" and "Joan of Niagara" were considered titles until "Wonderfalls" came up .
  • In the original pilot, both Mahandra and Aaron were played by other actors. Kerry Washington played Mahandra while Adam Scott played the role of Aaron. Both were later replaced by Tracie Thoms and Lee Pace and the pilot's scenes, which included Mahandra and Aaron, had to be re-shot.
  • Various authors of the series gave the speaking animal characters their voices.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tim Goodman: Trinkets are spirit guides in FOX's brilliant 'Wonderfalls' ; SF Chronicle, March 12, 2004 (accessed May 5, 2008)
  2. ↑ Scott Tobias: Wonderfalls ; The Onion AV Club, February 1, 2005 (accessed May 5, 2008)

Web links