Wonderfalls (2004)IMDB LinkBryan Fuller has created some good shows. He made “Dead Like Me” which I loved but got cancelled and now he has “Pushing Daisies” which I also love and not yet cancelled (please don’t get cancelled please don’t get cancelled). In the middle of the two he made “Wonderfalls” a show that got cancelled after a few episodes. Only one season was made with just 13 episodes.
”Wonderfalls” is a nice combination of both “Dead Like Me” and “Pushing Daisies”. Like his first show, it has a sarcastic, cynical, funny 20-something girl as its main character. In both shows she is placed in a situation that she did not volunteer to be in. In “Wonderfalls”, Jaye Tyler comes from a successful family, but she works in a dead-end job and lives in a trailer. Things wouldn’t be so bad if suddenly inanimate objects start talking to her and tell her to do certain things. Initially she does not listen but the objects (wax lion, stuffed bears, etc) won’t leave her alone until she does them. And once she does any of them, her actions help others.
It is a funny and charming show and I’m fine with it being cancelled because Bryan Fuller went on to make the much greater “Pushing Daisies”. While “Wonderfall” is good, it is not as great as its small dedicated group of fans seem to make it out to be, which I guess is normal, because a show that gets cancelled so fast, makes fans more dedicated and loyal to it. The show does have a few flaws. It does not handle love scenes very well as the relationships are trite and annoying.
The show might be a fun watch as it is only 13 episodes and the season wraps up nicely. And for fans of “Pushing Daisies”, there is Lee Pace (Ned in “Pushing Daisies”) as Jay Taye’s brother. Lee Pace is great here and I’m glad that Bryan Fuller saw that too and gave him the starring role in “Pushing Daisies”.
3/5
