Techtite's TV Reviews!

"Much like Simpsons, X-Files, Melrose Place, and all the other FOX shows that became worth anything, this series simply needed its time to grow...if allowed any."

---from the review

------------------

Sidebar ::

-------------

Remember when FOX was so fair, they even renewed Herman's Head?!?. What made Wonderfalls such a surprising cancellation is in how it was an amalgam of every FOX dramatic-comedy hit ever conceived; a network which is no stranger to giving a break to even the hardest of series to sell. This series had elements of all of them: Ally McBeal (remember the dancing baby?) The X-Files (so much so, Scully and Mulder could've been guest stars!), Beverly Hills 90210 (the sibling angst), Melrose Place (the musical chairs in who's-dating-who); the works. Every single one of those shows had a shaky beginning, only to have FOX attempt daring "rescues" to make each series work. Why did they throw in the towel so quickly for this...?

Wonderfalls

A Review by Techtite

Here's a hot one for you. You're a critic, and you have been enjoying this great new mid-season show called Wonderfalls. You wait to review it because you feel everyone's busy watching it, and everyone's heard from numerous other critics how great it is. So, you (or specifically, this critic) felt it made more sense to review it upon the first season finale, and review the season as a whole. Then FOX pulls a fast one; they cancel the series, after only four episodes! D'oh! Time to review the show anyway, if just because I liked it as much as anyone else. Too bad FOX did not!

This was the story of Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas), a sales clerk in a souvenir shop near Niagara Falls. Call it a divine gift, an "X-file," or proof in the Native American belief that there is life in all things, though suddenly any object even slightly resembling a living thing starts talking to her. Whether it's the eagle on the back of a quarter or a lion souvenir, or even the bronze monkey bookend on her therapist's desk; they all start giving Jaye advice. The bad news is she is starting to think she's going crazy. The good news is that the advice they're giving really works.

This was actually a hilarious premise. Here's Jaye in a psychiatrist's office in the series premiere, when his little statue of a monkey on his desk starts giving her better advice than the psychiatrist himself. The monkey then asks to be taken home, leading to Jaye's sister meeting the delivery man at Jaye's souvenir store. Was this all to have them fall in love? No; turns out Jaye's sister is gay, and she was meant to fall in love with the guy's ex-wife, who is his "ex" because she just found out...well, you know. That's the sort of quirky scripts at work here...in a good way. 

The first problem Wonderfalls had --or so I can only imagine, when pressed to come up with one-- is in people comparing it to Joan of Arcadia. That's the problem; people who love Joan of Arcadia thought that this series was a rip-off at best, or a disappointment at worst. Well, of course they were disappointed; this series has nothing similar to Joan of Arcadia at all. Jaye is contacted by inanimate objects; Joan is contacted by you-know-who. Joan is sent on tasks that make sense in a religious sort of way; Jaye is sent on quests that make sense in a comedy sort of way. Most importantly --and feel free to send in your letters in droves when I say this, although it's true-- Joan of Arcadia seems to always take itself way too seriously. Wonderfalls had a fair share of quirkiness that made the episodes more fun. I liked it.

If there was one big problem with Wonderfalls --accept it!-- it was its lead actress, Caroline Dhavernas, who like every comedienne before her, was an acquired taste. People either love or hate Woody Allen; the same thing for Ellen Degeneres, Chris Rock, Jack Black, and every comic in between. Caroline performed her role with a very dark edge that for some was a major turn off. In the premiere, a cute delivery guy pours his soul out to her about his emotional divorce, only to have her say as he leaves, "Gee...poor bitch!" I'm reminded of the equally short-lived (though infinitely worse) Brotherhood of Poland, NH, where in the premiere one brother yells at another brother to shut up. It's just not good salesmanship to have the "protagonist" of the series be so sardonic and smug. Just put the shoe on the other foot, and get a clue. Aw...was your new series cancelled, Jaye? Gee...poor bitch!

It's perhaps the vast differences in Joan of Arcadia that did the series in. So smug were the creators of this series when it came to religious beliefs, the original working title of the series was "Touched by a Crazy Person"; an obvious joke against the TV series Touched by an Angel. In one of the first three episodes, Jaye is accosted by a nun-in-training who nearly stabs her to "exorcize" the demons. Are you having fun yet?

Did the series succeed? As I implied earlier, yes. It was a lot of fun when it didn't take itself too seriously, like when suddenly Jaye finds herself offered breakfast. After rejecting the offer to breakfast from family and friends, the cow-shaped dairy creamer starts insisting, "Oh, just have a pancake, Jaye!" Seeing Jaye insist to the little dairy creamer "I don't want a pancake!" is actually pretty funny. However, after almost one full season of the same joke on Joan of Arcadia --where Joan incessantly embarasses herself trying to "hide" her commincations with The Man Upstairs-- is this joke anything new?

 In the end, what's really a shame about a series like this is that the overall premise had potential, and that potential wasn't given a fair shot. Trouble is, now that this series failed so badly, nobody will try to make a similar series...and no, I'm not talking about Joan of Arcadia. Give me a series with talking dairy creamers and eagles that flap their wings on quarters and stuffed toys that seem to come alive as if they were muppets. Crazy? You bet. I guess I, too, have been "touched by a crazy person" thanks to this series. Too bad it didn't last.

                                                                    ---Techtite

Opinions? Speak your mind in Techtite's Letters Page!

Got a review you'd like to share? Techtite will post 2 of the best "guest" reviews received for any product, online, for all the world to see!