[Stephan R]

Hi, I thought I could start up a discussion thread about the 1st episode of Wonderfalls! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] What do you think of it? Post Away! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Mods, if there is a similar thread, please close this one and I apologize.

I will post my thoughts later on.

Stephan

[Lyndsi]

he was so wonderfull in WF...and this show was awesome... [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[daleglen]

I loved Wonderfalls. Very well written, quirky, weird, intriguing. Do you think the lead is a reincarnation of the Maid of the Mist Indian girl? Do you think she's schizo? I can't wait until next Friday to watch it again.

[natalie4237]

I am hooked thats for sure
cant wait untill next week

also that girl dont look like she is 24yr,
and Bills small scene was just too funny [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img]

[Berengaria]

Daleglen,that's a very interesting idea you have about the reincarnation of the Indian Maid...I haven't got a clue of what to make of her yet. But I laughed at all the ways she tried to make things go right for people and how they got all twisted around. The fight between her and the lady she returned the purse to was hilarious. And fixing that cute delivery guy up...well,that just didn't work out to well. I also loved Bill's scene...although admittedly not many lines...but what he had was memorable and delivered very well. Looking forward to next week...that's all I've got to say. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[ROCKSTAR]

I loved this show!

I didn't know Bill Sadler was going to be on it so you can imagine the loud "Oh my Gods!!" when I saw his name on the credits [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img] It was so exciting [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

His character was too funny. I loved him as the whacky dad. And the hair? It was great! I loved his facial expression, he was so "serious". [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img]

The show itself was funny, a little too fast paced but that was to be expected since it is a Pilot.

[sarzy]

Dolls, this is a fantastic and quite funny review of Wonderfalls, or more to the point, why we all should watch it. It has a wee little mention of Bill near the end, and is overall a very positive piece about the show. I can't wait to see it now!

Check it out

here

[ROCKSTAR]

OMG.. Thanks for that review! [img]smilies/hotpinkie.gif[/img] I started laughing at the "Hello Kitty pencil" comment since all my pencils ARE Hello Kitty [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img]

And I'm finishing college soon so I can already relate to the after shocks of not being in it anymore [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[Stephan R]

Hi [img]smilies/wave.gif[/img]

I thought that the pilot was really funny, strange and very unique. I don't think I saw Bill in the episode... I know I have missed him, it must be while I was making some food for myself.

Does anyone know whats the ratings for the Pilot? Hope the numbers are good! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Stephan

[LTL]

Stephan -- We won't see our local ratings until next Wed., but someone must have access to the overnight ratings.

I really enjoyed the show -- it was just a breath of fresh air, a real break from all the formula shows. Bill's brief appearance was funny -- can't wait to see more of his character.

[Berengaria]

Here's a ratings report...not too impressive. Looks like we have our work cut out for us. So,pass the word that it is a good show...worth tuning in for! :

The 200th episode of "JAG" kept CBS in the lead at 9 p.m. with a 7.1/12. A second hour of "Dateline," 6.9/12, kept NBC in the hunt. ABC stayed in third with reruns of "Hope & Faith" and "Life with Bonnie." FOX's "Wonderfalls" debuted to a 3.4/6. "Grounded for Life," 2.1/4, and "The Help," 2.0/3, kept The WB at No. 5. UPN re-aired episodes of "Game Over" and "The Mullets" from earlier in the week.

[Stephan R]

Ouch! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] 3.4/6! WHOA! Thats a very low rating for FOX. I'll help spread the word! This show was a fresh change from all the reality shows on television now....

Thanks Ber for the information! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Stephan

[Stephan R]

Some bad news... from MediaWeek.com (official ratings)

-Friday's Losers:
Playing It Straight (Fox), The Mania of Wrestlemania (UPN), Married to the Kellys (ABC), Wonderfalls (Fox), Game Over R (UPN), The Mullets R (UPN), The Help (WB), 48 Hours Investigates (CBS)

-Ratings Breakdown:
Although Fox was hoping to make a dent on Friday with the debuts of the reality-driven Playing It Straight (#4: 3.7/ 6, A18-49: #3t, 2.2/ 7) and drama Wonderfalls (4.0/ 6, A18-49: #4, 2.0/ 6), the network finished fourth overall in all key categories. Comparatively, both hours performed no better than former (and canceled) time period occupants Wanda at Large, Luis and Boston Public.


It looks like the ratings aren't too good, usually after the series premiere, the next episode's ratings fall even further...example Roswell... Busted got 3.6 and MTGATGSC got 2.8!

We got to spread the word!

Stephan

[sarzy]

I'm gonna start spreading the word, 'sight unseen' as I live in Australia and who knows when Wonderfalls will screen here! There is quite an active Wonderfalls thread on the Television Board and a newer one just started on the Spoilers Board, so hopefully all the new fans can pitch in and do something about those less than impressive ratings. There's even been some conversation about the show on the JB Board--Although some people didnt like Jaye's attitude. I think she sounds fabulous and just know I'm gonna love it!

[Berengaria]

Joan, but Definitely Not of Arcadia

By NED MARTEL

Published: March 14, 2004
LOS ANGELES

In the North Hollywood production office of his new Fox series, "Wonderfalls," Bryan Fuller taps out fantastical scripts while dressed in Pro-Keds sneakers and a sweater vest dotted with red question marks. At his back, three dozen plastic action figures are pitted in battle on his credenza. The "Matrix" figures are currently losing to the "Alien" ones, he has decided.

It's this kind of thinking that helped Mr. Fuller, 34, dream up "Wonderfalls" (Fridays at 9 p.m., Eastern and Pacific times) and its glib heroine, Jaye Tyler. This disaffected Ivy League graduate is startled when the Niagara Falls gift shop trinkets she sells (and despises) spring to life and start issuing bossy, sarcastic instructions.

In the first few episodes, she heeds the calls of a cow-shaped tabletop creamer, a brass monkey bookend, a pink flamingo lawn ornament. Each mandate has slapstick, Rube Goldberg-like consequences: Jaye staples a customer's shoe lace to a display case, which trips the customer, who bumps a baby stroller, which rolls to a sudden stop, which hurtles a baby into Jaye's arms. The underachiever saves a life and brightens her prospects.

The show is an extended play on the concept of animism, which suggests that a spirit inhabits every mundane thing. "When you don't acknowledge life around you as having a soul, then it gets its revenge on you by forcing you to acknowledge that in any violent, insidious way it wants to," Mr. Fuller said, quickly and with much excitement. "It was a really interesting metaphor for someone who basically did not engage in the world around them."

Friday night TV has become surprisingly crowded with attractive young women who receive mysterious instructions from unlikely advisers. At 8 p.m. on CBS, there is "Joan of Arcadia" and its "metaphysical warrior," as Barbara Hall, the show's creator, has called her lead character. Joan takes orders from a God who speaks through strangers and gives her commands that seem odd (take a part-time job; build a boat) but turn out to have unseen benefits for her and others. "Joan of Arcadia" strikes an earnest, sincere tone, unlike "Wonderfalls," which features bitter humor and a slightly campy sensibility. (Jaye lives in a trailer upholstered entirely in red velvet.)

The two shows were developed and sold to their respective networks at the same time, but the September debut of "Joan of Arcadia" and its status as one of the season's few hits make Mr. Fuller and his colleagues seem like laggards, or worse, copycats.

Ms. Hall, the creator of "Joan," said in an interview that there was "no similarity" between the two shows. But isn't "Wonderfalls" also a Joan of Arc update? "Well, that's what they say," she said. "I don't see Joan of Arc anywhere in there." Instead, she said she saw "only talking figurines," adding: "I don't want to be too negative. I find it whimsical and creative."

Mr. Fuller disagreed. "I think the Joan of Arc mythology is very present in the show in terms of a young woman getting messages from a higher power that she doesn't understand, and she follows them regardless of the consequence," he said of "Wonderfalls." "It's almost glaringly present."

Mr. Fuller has a longstanding creative relationship with plastic figurines. While he was growing up, an electrician's son in eastern Washington State, all he really wanted to do was write for "Star Trek," and he collected Trekkie action figures to fuel the fantasy. Mr. Fuller attended the University of Southern California film school, and a few years later landed writing jobs on the "Deep Space Nine" and "Voyager" installments of the "Star Trek" TV franchise.

"I had all the `Star Trek' collection — literally hundreds," he recalled. Dates found the collection alarming: "They came into my bedroom and saw the action figures, and were, like, `So you like "Star Trek," huh? I'm really tired.' " After four years on those jobs, he boxed up the toys and made room for a boyfriend, an astrophysicist with an eye for scientific flaws in the "Star Trek" scripts.

In recent years Mr. Fuller has become something of a specialist in young women rattled by the beyond. In NBC's 2002 "Carrie" remake, he gave a new voice to the legendary high school hazing victim. Next came Mr. Fuller's 2003 Showtime series, "Dead Like Me," featuring the mopey ghost of an 18-year-old office clerk obliterated by a falling toilet seat from the Mir space station. Mr. Fuller's original idea of "an undead Felicity" was unloved by the network, and after one season he left the project. (This year, a former "Touched by an Angel" producer took over.)

When his "Dead Like Me" woes set in, Mr. Fuller sat down to trade ideas with Todd Holland, a creative force behind "Malcolm in the Middle." How about Rosemary's Baby, all grown up and fighting the evil within? Too dark. Each said how much he loved "Amélie," about a conniving, lovelorn Parisian, and "Donnie Darko," about a teenager haunted by a bunny-suited apparition. Mr. Fuller picked up some cow-shaped salt-and-pepper shakers in front of them. "What if these were talking instead of voices in her head?" he asked.

Soon, they picked the Montrealer Caroline Dhavernas to play the knickknacks' target. Diana Scarwid (an Oscar nominee who played Christina in "Mommie Dearest") signed on as Jaye's mother, and Katie Finneran (a 2002 Tony winner for "Noises Off") plays Jaye's lesbian sister.

Mr. Holland's single-camera direction uses rapid zooms, and he switches chapters using a framing device based on the View-Master toy. Mr. Fuller, teamed with the veteran "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" writer Tim Minear, peppers the chatter with snappy, acerbic wit.

Back in his North Hollywood fortress on a recent afternoon, a feeling of limbo had taken over. Would audiences get the noir homages to Hitchcock's "Suspicion" and Brian De Palma's "Dressed to Kill"? Would the more mainstream approach of "Joan of Arcadia" prevent viewers from embracing "Wonderfalls"? Meanwhile, a life-size "Star Wars" prop — Han Solo, frozen in carbonite — stared at Mr. Fuller from across the office.

Mr. Fuller, however, couldn't rest, with soundtrack clips to tweak and scripts to hone and studio notes to consider. He argued against an executive's suggestion that a wax lion wink at a camera — too cute, he said. Then again, he was relieved that his overseers made him take out a scene in which Jaye wakes up in her own vomit. The executives consistently tell him that too much happens too quickly for audiences unused to Mr. Fuller's twisted journeys.

"I assume everybody else has enough bread crumbs to get there," he said. "But I forget that sometimes I eat some of those bread crumbs."

Ned Martel writes about television for The Financial Times.