Wonderfalls

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Wonderfalls
Wonderfalls promotional photo. Left to right: Neil Grayston, William Sadler, Diana Scarwid, Tracie Thoms, Tyron Leitso, Katie Finneran, Caroline Dhavernas, Lee Pace.
Format	Dramedy
Created by	Bryan Fuller, Todd Holland
Starring	See below
Opening theme	"I Wonder Why the Wonder Falls" by Andy Partridge
Slogan	"Surrender to destiny."
Country of origin	Canada, United States
No. of episodes	13 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Bryan Fuller, Todd Holland Tim Minear
Running time	approx. 42 min.
Broadcast
Original channel	Fox
Picture format	EDTV
Original run	March 12, 2004 – December 15, 2004
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Wonderfalls is a television program that was featured on the Fox television network in 2004.

The show's premise is centered on Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas), a recent Brown University graduate with a philosophy degree, who holds a dead-end job as a sales clerk at a Niagara Falls gift shop. Jaye is the reluctant participant in conversations with a variety of animal figurines — a wax lion, brass monkey, stuffed bear, and mounted fish, among others — which direct her via oblique instructions to help people in need.^[1][2]

Some sources use the two-word spelling, "Wonder Falls", for the title. Although the DVD lists it as a single word, the title of its theme song is two words.

Contents 1 Production history 2 Fan support and DVD release 3 Cast and crew 4 Episodes 4.1 Planned episodes 5 References

[edit] Production history

Originally scheduled to debut in the fall of 2003, its premiere was delayed until early 2004. When it finally debuted in March 2004, Wonderfalls received positive reviews from critics,^[3][4][5] but had trouble attracting viewers. The pilot episode, “Wax Lion”, received a higher Nielsen rating when it was repeated the Thursday after its premiere, and the show was moved from a Friday night time slot to Thursday.^[6] However, there was little notice or promotion of the time change, and the show was subsequently canceled after airing the fourth episode. (A fifth episode was advertised but never aired.)^[7][8]

Immediately after the show's cancellation, its producers attempted to interest other networks, including The WB, in picking up the series. If they had been successful, Wonderfalls would have been the first American series in history to change networks in the midst of its first season. In addition, some episodes were shown in theatres in Los Angeles during the summer of 2004 in order to drum up support for the series.

The series holds the dubious honour of being the second show produced by Tim Minear that was cancelled in the midst of its first season, the first being Firefly. Other similarities between Wonderfalls and Firefly are that they were both aired out of the order in which they were originally intended to be shown, and they both feature actor Jewel Staite (Kaywinnit Lee "Kaylee" Frye in Firefly). The show now lives in syndication on the Logo cable network.

[edit] Fan support and DVD release

Despite its cancellation, Wonderfalls developed a loyal fanbase. A campaign spearheaded by fans (and an accompanying website) was launched, and several members of the cast and crew visited the site and encouraged the grassroots support.^[9][10]

20th Century Fox released a DVD set of the full 13 episodes on February 1, 2005. The DVD set includes commentary by the producers and cast members on half the episodes, a behind-the-scenes documentary, an examination of the show’s visual effects, and one of the two music videos produced for the theme song, “I Wonder Why the Wonder Falls” by Andy Partridge. Wonderfalls has not yet been released on DVD outside of region 1.

[edit] Cast and crew

The series was a United States/Canada co-production, filmed in Niagara Falls and Toronto, Ontario,^[11] and with several Canadian actors cast in lead roles (including the show’s star). It was created by Bryan Fuller (Dead Like Me, Pushing Daisies) and Todd Holland (Malcolm in the Middle) with executive producer Tim Minear (writer and director for Firefly and Angel).

Actor	Role
Caroline Dhavernas	Jaye Tyler
Tracie Thoms	Mahandra McGinty
Tyron Leitso	Eric Gotts
Lee Pace	Aaron Tyler
Katie Finneran	Sharon Tyler
William Sadler	Darrin Tyler
Diana Scarwid	Karen Tyler
Neil Grayston	Alec "Mouthbreather" (recurring role)
Jewel Staite	Heidi Gotts (recurring role)

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Wonderfalls episodes

Fox aired the first four episodes out of sequence, although the episodes as a whole were produced in a different order than was intended for broadcast.

[edit] Planned episodes

Although the series creators had intended for the 13 episodes of Wonderfalls to tell a standalone story (perhaps anticipating cancellation after the first season), apparently, the writers were already thinking as much as two years ahead. According to an interview featured on the 2005 DVD release of the series, the producers revealed that they already had plans for a second and third season. Among the projected storylines mentioned on the DVD:

• In the second season, Jaye’s therapist would document their sessions, eventually publishing a book on her, which would lead to her being institutionalized with “Joan of Arc Syndrome” in the third season.
• An accidental-pregnancy plotline was also planned for Jaye's lesbian sister Sharon.
• A new "Wax Lion", one who was intact, would be introduced, who would advise Jaye against listening to what the original "Wax Lion" said.
• The young boy who receives a mail order bride from Russia in the "Lovesick Ass" episode would come back in the opening of Season 3 in the same institution as Jaye. He began suffering from pyromania after Jaye broke his heart, which he first manifested by burning Eric's car at the end of the episode.

[edit] References