Wonderfalls was an extremely short-lived but fantastic TV comedy (and drama, a dramedy?) from 2004. It’s the story of Jaye Tyler, played by the lovely Caroline Dhavernas, a 24-year-old college graduate whose life is not living up to the rest of those in her family (her parents, Karen & Darrin and her siblings Sharon and Aaron). Her life is at a comfortable standstill. She has a dead-end retail job at a gift shop next to Niagra Falls (named Wonderfalls, of course). She lives in a trailer park.
Her life is simple and plain.
She’s perfectly content with that.
Right outside of her store is the Fountain of Love, where people cast in coins in return for hopes and wishes. It is unknown whether it’s this fountain’s magic at play, some sort of cruel trick, or if she’s gone completely crazy, but a small wax lion starts talking to her one day. It’s not a conversation, just a sentence.
Without thinking a lot about it, Jaye follows what the lion tells her, and through a series of events ends up helping someone — an act that is unnatural for her character. This is the natural flow of the show.
But who is speaking to her through the animal faces? Is she crazy? Will she ever hook up with the new bartender that’s in town who just got married but is no longer with his wife? And what happened to his wife, anyway? Why do the inanimate objects talk to only Jaye and not anyone else?
What Happened
Fox showed Wonderfalls for a mere four episodes: the first three were on Fridays, the last was on a random Wednesday night without them telling anyone about it. It seemed doomed from the start.
The show developed a cult-following and was later released on DVD. Although only four episodes aired, the full thirteen-episode season was released. It’s a shame that the show was cut so short; the show’s best moments were from the second half of the series.
Why It’s Worth Watching
The show is clever, funny and has a good story. It was created by Todd Holland (who has also wrote episodes for 30 Rock and Malcolm in the Middle) and Bryan Fuller (creator of Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies, and writer for The Amazing Screw-On Head which was also great), and from listening to the commentaries and extra features, it’s obvious that this show was a labor of love.
It also stars a couple of faces you may recognize from here and there. Jaye’s brother Aaron is played by Lee Pace (who followed Brian Fuller over to be the lead on Pushing Daisies), and her mother Karen is played by Diane Scarwid, who I’ve never seen in a major role but shows up all over the place in small background roles and does great in all of them. There is also a pretty big roll for Jewel Staite, who is probably most well-known for her role in the other cancelled-before-its-time show Firefly.
The production quality is pretty good considering the majority of the episodes never aired. There are no glaring continuity errors, and the show seemed to work within its own universe. The CGI is a bit cheesy in spots, but with the limited budget the show was given, it does the job.
Why I Love It
The only reason I ever watched this show when it was on was due to my job at the time; I worked the 3pm – 11pm shift at the Canobie Lake Park security shack. We had a tiny television that only got one channel: Fox. With nothing else to do while I sat there, I watched every new show they attempted between 2003 and 2004.
This time investment yielded my addictions to this show and Arrested Development.
Wonderfalls is one of my favorite love stories, and I re-watch the show at least once each year. The pacing is perfect and the dialogue is playful yet engaging. The show seems to have its own language in parts, but nothing feels out of place. All thirteen episodes are on my desert island device.
Find it on Netflix, or just go buy it on Amazon already. It’s not for kids (not that anything crazy happens, but it wouldn’t appeal to them), but curl up with your favorite someone or a bowl of popcorn (or both) and watch a disc-a-day to make for a fun weekend.
