Wonderfalls

Cast and characters

Main characters

Caroline Dhavernas as Jaye Tyler – A 24-year-old graduate of Brown University who, at the start of the series, is discontentedly working as a salesclerk at Wonderfalls Gift Emporium and living in a trailer. She avoids her loving – and overbearing – family, whose successes she seems determined not to emulate, spending most of her time at The Barrel, a local bar at which her best friend, Mahandra, is a cocktail waitress. Despite her being extremely caustic and a deliberate underachiever, Jaye's life takes an odd turn when various muses, in the form of animal objects, begin talking to her and delivering cryptic instructions. At first uncooperative, Jaye eventually breaks down after they inflict on her various forms of passive coercion, such as keeping her awake all night by singing and harassing her with their messages when she is around others, forcing her to accede in order to avoid appearing crazy. Jaye's attempts to ignore or go against the messages often result in unexpected misfortunes, such as when Jaye's father is hit by a car. Jaye's guilt over the event leads to her following the muses' instructions throughout the rest of the episode, only to discover that her father's injury was, in fact, a blessing, as it led his doctors to discover a potentially life-threatening blood clot. As the series progresses, Jaye becomes more willing to follow the muses' instructions, although she fights them when they make her do things she does not like, such as driving Eric back into the arms of his wife. Through the course of the series, Jaye undergoes a subtle yet discernible personality shift as the good deeds she unwillingly performs begin to affect the way she perceives the world around her.

Katie Finneran as Sharon Tyler – The eldest of the Tyler siblings, Sharon is an immigration lawyer and the most ambitious member of the family. Sharon constantly finds herself having to help Jaye – particularly when she has legal trouble – even though there is a strong degree of animosity between the sisters at the start of the series. To Jaye, Sharon is everything she does not want to be: goal- and career-oriented, constantly seeking their parents' approval, extremely high-strung, and apparently with little enjoyment of her life. Meanwhile, Jaye's constant pranks and somewhat callous disregard for her sister have made Sharon highly resentful. In the first episode, when Jaye discovers Sharon's "big secret" (that she is a lesbian), they admit that despite their animosity, they do love each other. Jaye not only keeps Sharon's secret from everyone else, but she also helps her out on occasion when someone (particularly their parents) comes close to discovering the truth. In turn, despite great shows of reluctance, Sharon always helps Jaye when she needs it and even comforts Jaye when she is in despair over Eric.

Recurring characters

Jewel Staite as Heidi Socket-Gotts – Eric's estranged wife. Heidi makes her first full appearance in the series in the episode "Safety Canary" when she arrives in Niagara in an attempt to win Eric back. Although she presents to Eric a repentant and loving front, she deliberately manipulates him to suit her purposes – faking amnesia and slipping him male-enhancement drugs in an attempt to get him to sleep with her. She hates Jaye, perceiving her as a threat to her relationship with Eric. Although Eric seems to recognize Heidi's manipulations, Jaye's inability to confess how she feels for him eventually drives him back to his wife. When Heidi sees Eric on a news report explaining how he knew to alert the police to the hostage situation in "Caged Bird", she begins to realize that although Eric might forgive her, he is truly in love with Jaye. On her way to tell Eric that she is giving up him and their marriage, Heidi collides with the van in which Jaye is being held hostage. This action causes the bank robber who has taken Jaye to be hit by an ambulance, saving Jaye's life. Although in the aftermath of the hostage events, it appears that Eric and Heidi have reconciled and returned to New Jersey to begin their life together, Eric reveals later that he only went to help her get settled and to close the book on their marriage by getting a divorce.

Neil Grayston as Alec "Mouthbreather" – Jaye's co-worker. A large part of Jaye's animosity toward Alec is that although he is still in high school, he is now her boss and does not hesitate to order her around. She also resents that he was promoted over her. Despite his attempts to be assertive over Jaye, she generally ignores him.

Chelan Simmons as Gretchen Speck-Horowitz – one of Jaye's former classmates. Gretchen later makes an appearance on Fuller's TV series Hannibal in a 2013 episode.

Production

The series was an American production, filmed in Niagara Falls, Ontario and Toronto, Ontario (standing in for Niagara Falls, New York and environs), with several Canadian actors cast in lead roles (including the show's star). It was created by Bryan Fuller and Todd Holland and executive produced in partnership with Tim Minear. Originally scheduled to debut in the fall of 2003, its premiere was delayed until early 2004. When it finally debuted in March 2004 on the FOX network, Wonderfalls received positive reviews from critics, 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. There was little notice or promotion of the time change, and FOX subsequently canceled the show after airing the fourth episode. A fifth episode was advertised but never aired.

Despite its cancellation, Wonderfalls developed a loyal fan base. A campaign spearheaded by fans, with an accompanying website, was launched, and several members of the cast and crew visited the site and encouraged the grassroots support.

Immediately after the show's cancellation, its producers attempted to interest other networks, including The WB, in picking up the series and some episodes were shown in theatres in Los Angeles during the summer of 2004 in order to raise support for the series.

Planned episodes

Although the show's creators had intended for the 13 episodes of Wonderfalls to tell a standalone story, they discussed plans for second and third seasons in an interview and episode commentaries featured on the 2005 DVD release of the series. 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. Once institutionalized, she would begin to affect the lives of the other residents there.

An accidental-pregnancy plotline was also planned for Jaye's sister Sharon. Having slept with her girlfriend Beth, who had just slept with her ex-husband, in the first season, Sharon would later find out that she was pregnant from him. This "miracle pregnancy" would solve one problem between Beth and her ex-husband: they could not have children.

A new wax lion, one who was intact, would be introduced, who would advise Jaye against listening to what the original wax lion said.

In the second season, Aaron would begin to regard his sister as a spiritual leader.

The young boy (Spencer Breslin) who received a mail order bride from Russia in the episode "Lovesick Ass" would return in the opening of Season 3 in the same institution as Jaye, suffering from pyromania after Jaye broke his heart.

Episodes

Fox aired the first four episodes out of sequence, although the episodes were produced in a different order than was intended for broadcast. The order below is how they are presented on the DVD release. The air dates for episodes 5–13 are when they first aired on television on VisionTV.

There is an alternate version of the first episode "Wax Lion". It features Kerry Washington playing Mahandra and Adam Scott playing Aaron. On the DVD commentary, the creators state that both actors had to be replaced because they could not commit to future episodes. The alternate version omits Thomas telling Jaye at the end that he is going to marry the nurse. The scene was added because the network wanted the Thomas subplot resolved, even though the creators disliked the scene. It also omits a scene where Jaye throws a quarter into the fountain before any muses start talking to her. The network supposedly wanted an impetus for why the muses started talking.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 76% with an average score of 8.3 out of 10 based on 17 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Although the premise couldn't sustain the show beyond a single season, Wonderfalls' deadpan protagonist and witty dialogue offer a distinctive take on twentysomething angst."

Broadcast and syndication

Select unaired episodes were screened in July 2004 at San Diego Comic-Con and at the Knitting Factory in Los Angeles. All 13 episodes of Wonderfalls were aired to completion for the first time on Canada's VisionTV beginning in October 2004.

Wonderfalls was aired by the digital cable network Logo TV beginning in July 2005. Also in July 2005, the British network Sky1 aired the series to completion, though not in the original intended episode order.

The Museum of Television and Radio held a two-day screening of the entire series on January 29 and 30, 2005.

Home media release

20th Century Fox released the complete series DVD set on February 1, 2005. The DVD set includes all 13 episodes; six commentary tracks by creators Todd Holland and Bryan Fuller, and actors Caroline Dhavernas and Katie Finneran on "Wax Lion", "Crime Dog", "Lovesick Ass", "Safety Canary", "Cocktail Bunny" (with Scotch Ellis Loring) and "Caged Bird"; a behind-the-scenes documentary, an examination of the show's visual effects, and one of two music videos produced for the theme song, "I Wonder Why the Wonderfalls" by Andy Partridge.