Friday, October 14, 2005
Tune to the tube.
Well, apart from all of the Serenity hoohah of the last couple of months (if you haven't seen it, go and see it now! It's a great ride, and lots of fun, and you're guarenteed to understand and enjoy it! 'kay?), I've had the opportunity to experience some interesting, quirky and predominantly cancelled US television.
Which I will explore here and in additional posts...
Wonderfalls.
Wonderfalls is about Jaye Tyler, a cynical slacker from a wealthy family, who dropped out of college and now works in a gift store at Niagara Falls. One day, a wax lion starts speaking to her, and wackiness ensues. Except not really - but kinda. Essentially, inanimate objects (but only ones with faces) start to speak to Jaye, and tell her to do certain things. And if she doesn't do what they have told her to do - well, then, they keep her awake all night, by singing endless rounds of 99 bottles of beer on the wall (Jaye's response: "They do this in cults, you know!")
Tim Minear, who had previously written for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, wrote a number of episodes - which is essentially how I got interested in the series. I've started following the careers of Whedonverse writers since the demise of Buffy, Angel and Firefly, and they always seem to be involved in very interesting series. And generally cancelled series - Wonderfalls had a run of (I think) 4 episodes on telly before being cancelled. There are, however, 13 episodes available on DVD.
The series was created by Todd Holland and Bryan Fuller - neither of whom I had ever heard of, but from whom I have not heard the last, I suspect. (Wow, that was a really torturous sentences, wasn't it? Stupid attempts at grammatical correctness).
I liked Wonderfalls. It's quirky, and funny, and the lead actress, Caroline Dhavernas - who reminds me an awful lot of Jennifer Connelly - is strong and sympathetic. Plus the actors playing Jaye's love interest (Tyron Leitso) and brother (Lee Pace) are both hotties. Which, me being shallow and all, is very important in my enjoyment of any sort of visual entertainment...Also, Jewel Staite, currently gracing cinema screens as Kaylee in Serenity (see it! See it now!) has a recurring role in the series - and disturbingly enough, plays a very convincing uber bitca.
My reservations with this series...hmmm, well there are a few. The most obvious reservation I have is the question of Jaye's sanity. Is Jaye psychotic? Are the talking inanimate objects simply aspects of her psychosis? This issue is partially addressed occasionally throughout the series, however, having friends who have suffered from psychoses - it's all too flip. It's so hard to not be "Disease of the Week" heavy handed about mental illness, but it's also easy to be too dismissive of mental illness. But I guess that's always going to be the case, until someone who has been psychotic gets a chance to write and star in a series!
However, I must have really liked Wonderfalls, because I'm anxiously awaiting my very own copy to wing its' way from the US...
Which I will explore here and in additional posts...
Wonderfalls.
Wonderfalls is about Jaye Tyler, a cynical slacker from a wealthy family, who dropped out of college and now works in a gift store at Niagara Falls. One day, a wax lion starts speaking to her, and wackiness ensues. Except not really - but kinda. Essentially, inanimate objects (but only ones with faces) start to speak to Jaye, and tell her to do certain things. And if she doesn't do what they have told her to do - well, then, they keep her awake all night, by singing endless rounds of 99 bottles of beer on the wall (Jaye's response: "They do this in cults, you know!")
Tim Minear, who had previously written for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, wrote a number of episodes - which is essentially how I got interested in the series. I've started following the careers of Whedonverse writers since the demise of Buffy, Angel and Firefly, and they always seem to be involved in very interesting series. And generally cancelled series - Wonderfalls had a run of (I think) 4 episodes on telly before being cancelled. There are, however, 13 episodes available on DVD.
The series was created by Todd Holland and Bryan Fuller - neither of whom I had ever heard of, but from whom I have not heard the last, I suspect. (Wow, that was a really torturous sentences, wasn't it? Stupid attempts at grammatical correctness).
I liked Wonderfalls. It's quirky, and funny, and the lead actress, Caroline Dhavernas - who reminds me an awful lot of Jennifer Connelly - is strong and sympathetic. Plus the actors playing Jaye's love interest (Tyron Leitso) and brother (Lee Pace) are both hotties. Which, me being shallow and all, is very important in my enjoyment of any sort of visual entertainment...Also, Jewel Staite, currently gracing cinema screens as Kaylee in Serenity (see it! See it now!) has a recurring role in the series - and disturbingly enough, plays a very convincing uber bitca.
My reservations with this series...hmmm, well there are a few. The most obvious reservation I have is the question of Jaye's sanity. Is Jaye psychotic? Are the talking inanimate objects simply aspects of her psychosis? This issue is partially addressed occasionally throughout the series, however, having friends who have suffered from psychoses - it's all too flip. It's so hard to not be "Disease of the Week" heavy handed about mental illness, but it's also easy to be too dismissive of mental illness. But I guess that's always going to be the case, until someone who has been psychotic gets a chance to write and star in a series!
However, I must have really liked Wonderfalls, because I'm anxiously awaiting my very own copy to wing its' way from the US...
