Anyone ever see "Wonderfalls"?

Basq

Not too sure if it was ever shown over here.. think i may have a recollection of it having a timeslot in the TV3 schedule.

Filmed 13 episodes of it's first series.. then Fox took it off the air after 3!

TV.Com Show Summary wrote:

Set against the backdrop of Niagara Falls, Wonderfalls is a quirky one-hour family dramedy about an underachieving twenty-something souvenir shop worker named Jaye Tyler. Her life is forever changed when inanimate figures – including toys, cartoons and anything in the form of an animal, begin to talk to her. In each episode, the creatures' cryptic messages set into motion a chain of unpredictable events that invariably lead Jaye into the lives of others in need.

Throughout the series' bizarre situations and madcap adventures, Jaye seeks advice from her best buddy Mahandra and befriends Eric, a local bartender who tries to help answer her unrequited questions. Is the universe conspiring against her? Is this real or just her imagination? Should she struggle with fate or surrender to destiny? Whatever the outcome one thing is for certain - Jaye will discover that the world around her is a magical place and that the seemingly random events in her life are actually all part of something much greater.

Watched the first episode recently and thought it was quite good! Getting the rest from the "cousins".

EDIT: Just after noticing on the TV.Com website that it's starting on Sky One on the 5th July ..

EDIT 2: And also just after noticing it's starting on TV3 on 2nd July at 7pm (am i psychic?!.. )

Guess we can all tune in!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

sounds kinda like a pagan Joan of arcadia..

Dizzyblabla

I liked it, I loved the way she she talked to stuffed animals, statues, the fish behind the bar!! and how they all gave her advice, brilliant!!

Basq

Mordeth wrote:

sounds kinda like a pagan Joan of arcadia..

Yeah.. that's apparently how most people saw it.. as a blatant rip-off of 'Joan Of Arcadia' but most critics protested 'Wonderfalls' was the better written and more clever show!

ixoy

Her quirky can't-get-on-with-folks character reminded me of an inferior version of 'Dead Like Me' and, as a result, I tuned out after a few episodes. It wasn't that this series is bad, it's just that it's kookiness is so below the shining quality of our Grim Reaper friends.

Fence

basquille wrote:

Not too sure if it was ever shown over here.. think i may have a recollection of it having a timeslot in the TV3 schedule.

Yup. was on TV3. Watched a few episodes and liked it, but didn't really see enough to really get into it. As for the comparisons with Joan of Arcadia, well I suppose it was similar in that external mythical-type voices were telling her what to do, but I think that Wonderfalls was a lot better written. Funnier too.

pickarooney

ixoy wrote:

Her quirky can't-get-on-with-folks character reminded me of an inferior version of 'Dead Like Me' and, as a result, I tuned out after a few episodes. It wasn't that this series is bad, it's just that it's kookiness is so below the shining quality of our Grim Reaper friends.

Hmm, so Dead Like Me is wortha watch?

Basq

pickarooney wrote:

Hmm, so Dead Like Me is wortha watch?

I liked the first series... couldn't get into Series 2!

tvnutz

pickarooney wrote:

Hmm, so Dead Like Me is wortha watch?

It would have been...it was cancelled though

Daelus

I saw a couple of episodes when it aired on TV3, but it didn't seem like anything special, really. I expected better of Tim Minear. It was only okay, I thought. I'll give it another chance when it airs on Sky One, though.

I heard that it was actually filmed at the same time as the first season of Joan Of Arcadia, so it can't be too much of a rip-off.

I do prefer Dead Like Me, though. Last episode airing tonight!

John R

TV3 aired it last year but they left out the last episode.
It was a bit hard to get into but the last handful of episodes were quite good, certainly better than Joan Of Arcadia.
Just another programme that the US networks gave a fair chance to. 3eps FFS.

I see that abc have cancelled a slew of decent-rating established shows this year, presumably because they don't pull in the same numbers as Desperate Housewives.
I recall NBC did the same not so long ago when they were top of the heap and all the replacements were less popular, pretty much started their downward spiral. I wish the same fate on abc.

monomaniac

I felt this was one show that deserved to be bought on DVD (especially if it had a Fox/Family Guy effect... which it didn't).

On the extra features the creators talks about future plotlines which will sadly never transpire:
Season 2 -

Jaye's sister Sharon would become pregnant after making love with her lesbian girlfriend who had moments previously had sex with her ex-husband (this happened in Season 1). Sharon would become pregnant and because she had never slept with a man Jaye would become convinced it was an immaculate conception

Season 3 -

Jaye would be institutionalised and I think they mentioned she would gather a cult following

Damn you stupid Murdoch and your idiot executives!!

Daelus

Wonderfalls is starting tonight at 9pm on Sky One.

Pigman II

ixoy wrote:

Her quirky can't-get-on-with-folks character reminded me of an inferior version of 'Dead Like Me'

They were both created by the same guy (Bryan Fuller) so I guess there was bound to be similiarities in there.

Anyway, I've never seen this show but I'm gonna give it a chance tonight. If I like it even half as much as DLM then that'll do me.

Hobbes

Program reminded me a lot like DLM meets Early Edition.

Still a good show for the first episode.

monkeyfudge

I just watched it for the first time on Sky last night.

I enjoyed it. I felt the script was very good, although it seemed to be let down in parts by either bad acting or direction. The scene where the main character is locked in her room and her family are outside had some very funny lines, but their humour was lost through poor delivery. Again, things like this are to be expected in a pilot, so I'm sure it will improve.

I'll certainly be tuning in again. I liked the monkey bookend.

//Off topic: Did anyone else have horrible sound quality on Enterprise just after it?

John R

It does improve the later episodes are much tighter, pity it had such a short run.

and yes there was a sound problem on Enterprise.

OFDM

monomaniac wrote:

Jaye's sister Sharon would become pregnant after making love with her lesbian girlfriend who had moments previously had sex with her ex-husband (this happened in Season 1). Sharon would become pregnant and because she had never slept with a man Jaye would become convinced it was an immaculate conception

That has to be the most ridiculous idea for a story line ever.

monkeyfudge

John R wrote:

and yes there was a sound problem on Enterprise.

Good. I don't have to get my ears syringed then...

monkeyfudge

I was just about to set my Sky+ to record Wonderfalls for me this evening (what ever happened to series link anyway?) only to find it isn't on tonight... it seems Sky think it makes far more sense to show it on Thursday at midnight.

doh.ie

monkeyfudge wrote:

I was just about to set my Sky+ to record Wonderfalls for me this evening (what ever happened to series link anyway?) only to find it isn't on tonight... it seems Sky think it makes far more sense to show it on Thursday at midnight.

Sounds like it has not been doing well in the ratings and Sky want to tuck it away so it'll finish the run quietly in the wee hours. Horrible way to treat a series, and any viewers loyal to it. And you can be sure that they didn't bother to announce it was making the move either.

Yet another reason to watch TV shows "elsewhere" or buy Wonderfalls on DVD. (The show is worth seeing through to the end, btw, and they've purposely worked it so it can wrap up within its limited run.)

soiaf

doh.ie wrote:

Sounds like it has not been doing well in the ratings and Sky want to tuck it away so it'll finish the run quietly in the wee hours. Horrible way to treat a series, and any viewers loyal to it. And you can be sure that they didn't bother to announce it was making the move either.

Yet another reason to watch TV shows "elsewhere" or buy Wonderfalls on DVD. (The show is worth seeing through to the end, btw, and they've purposely worked it so it can wrap up within its limited run.)

Just typical of Sky. I remember when they were showing Alias and they decided to not show it for a few weeks and then moved it to Saturday at some crazy time.

I'm really enjoying Wonderfalls so far, it has a nice quirky sense of humour.

Pigman II

I've been watching it. It's a nice show but nothing spectacular. I'm gonna keep with it til the end but at the same time I won't go shouting reccomendations for it from the rooftops or anything.

And to be fair to Sky at least they're still showing it at all! TV3 (who started showing it about 1 week before sky) dropped it completely from their schedule after just 3eps.

doh.ie

Pigman II wrote:

And to be fair to Sky at least they're still showing it at all! TV3 (who started showing it about 1 week before sky) dropped it completely from their schedule after just 3eps.

Yep, TV3 are even more guilty than Sky when it comes to ditching series that don't perform well *very quickly* and either not continuing with them at all, or moving the show well past midnight. Seems these days there's no time to allow an audience to build up - it has to be there from the start.

eggshapedfred

And to be fair to Sky at least they're still showing it at all! TV3 (who started showing it about 1 week before sky) dropped it completely from their schedule after just 3eps.

in fairness, TV3 were repeating it at that stage. they'd shown it already earlier in the year. what did they replace it with? celebrity love island repeats (just to give everyone a second chance at figuring out who the "celebrities" were)?

doh.ie

eggshapedfred wrote:

in fairness, TV3 were repeating it at that stage. they'd shown it already earlier in the year. what did they replace it with? celebrity love island repeats (just to give everyone a second chance at figuring out who the "celebrities" were)?

I'd have to check this, but I'm pretty sure that all 13 episodes weren't shown by TV3 the first time around (Fridays 9pm?), so this would be the *second* time it was prematurely dropped without finishing the entire series...! As for the "Celebrities", I think it had the hour before (7pm-8pm) and that's now taken up with young people's movies...

John R

doh.ie wrote:

I'd have to check this, but I'm pretty sure that all 13 episodes weren't shown by TV3 the first time around (Fridays 9pm?), so this would be the *second* time it was prematurely dropped without finishing the entire series...! As for the "Celebrities", I think it had the hour before (7pm-8pm) and that's now taken up with young people's movies...

They showed 12 episodes first time, didn't bother with the final ep at all.
That sort of sh!te is only to be expected from tv3, awful, horrible, cheap, nasty, pointless channel.

is_that_so

John R wrote:

That sort of sh!te is only to be expected from tv3, awful, horrible, cheap, nasty, pointless channel.

And we're getting Channel 6 !!! :rolleyes:

John R

is_that_so wrote:

And we're getting Channel 6 !!! :rolleyes:

tv3 x 2 eh? what an unpleasant thought.

THEZAPPA

tv3 is a terrible channel and they have so many ads!!!!
yeh i like wonderfalls its different,in a good way!!!

Daelus

To be honest, this has been clogging up my Sky+, as I couldn't be bothered watching any more after the first episode. I'll get around to it eventually, maybe. But probably not.

monkeyfudge

Daelus wrote:

To be honest, this has been clogging up my Sky+, as I couldn't be bothered watching any more after the first episode. I'll get around to it eventually, maybe. But probably not.

The first episode was a bit patchy. But it has actually gotten very good since then.