Wonderfalls is a totally amazing, quirky, witty, irreverant, bizarre, ethereal, romantic ‘dramedy’ that you probably have never even heard of! Wonderfalls began airing on Fox television in early 2004 to critical acclaim but was canceled after only 4 episodes. The Fox brain trust proclaimed dismal ratings to be the reason for the shows untimely demise but in all honesty they didn’t give Wonderfalls a fighting chance. Think of Northern Exposure, Joan of Arcadia, Seinfeld, Arrested Development, Malcom in the Middle and Married with Children all rolled up together and you’ll get some idea of what Wonderfalls is like.

The premise of the show is this: Jaye Tyler, played to sarcastic perfection by newcomer Caroline Dhavernas, is a recent philosophy graduate from Brown University who has decided to take on the role of disaffected 20-something, live in a trailer park, and work at a tacky tourist gift shop in her hometown of Niagara Falls. All is nirvana for our slacker heroine until the day a defective wax lion begins to speak to her in cryptic messages leading her to go out of her way to assist her fellow man, something she is reluctant to do even on her best days. Jaye unhappily acquiesces and is soon barraged by the insistent voices of other inanimate objects all attempting to mold her into an agent of help for those around her.

The cast of this show is marvelous. As I said, Caroline Dhavernas plays Jaye perfectly. She is sarcastic and caustic without being annoying and her outlook on life is hilarious and refreshingly honest. Jaye’s weathly, successful parents, played by William Sadler and Diana Scarwid are terrific as is Katie Finneran as her high-strung sister, Sharon. Tyron Leitso plays the local bartender and would-be love interest and brings a charming humor to what could’ve been just a ‘pretty-boy’ role. The writing is top-notch. The first episode, “Wax Lion”, was nominated for a Writer’s Guild of America Award in late 2004. The show is also shot in a very quirky, creative way which, in combination with the acting and writing, makes it easy to see why this show quickly became a cult hit.

I remember sitting with Mary the night the first episode aired and saying ‘this show will never last’. It only takes a few minutes of viewing to see how creative this show is and to realize how so many people just don’t get this brand of humor. It is too bad that shows like this don’t get a chance to build an audience while drek like American Idol and The Swan live on and on. Upon notice that the show was going to be cancelled a Save Wonderfalls campaign began that may have been instrumental in making sure that the 4 aired episodes as well as the other 9 un-aired episodes went to DVD so quickly.

I can’t recommend this enough. I got this in on Netflix and have only watched the first 4 episodes and can’t wait to watch the next 9. Check it out. If you like inventive, fun television Wonderfalls won’t disappoint. There’s a great interview with Caroline Dhavernas here that is worth a read.