I'd been putting it off because once I watched the last one it was over.
Now I've done it and there are no more Wonderfalls.
Oh sure, I could pull down the DVDs and watch all 13 episodes again. Fall in love with Jaye and Eric being in love all over again. Grow to like Sharon. Empathize with Aaron's ungodly desire for meaning... I could do it all again, but I know it leads no where because the people at FOX gave it the Friday Night Death slot and killed it before anyone could ever figure out what a wonderful show it was.
I could compare it to Firefly (heck, the show even had Jewel Staite/Kaylee in it) but that would just get me mad about two shows.
I suppose I should just be thankful I have 13 episodes. At 45 minutes each that means it's like having 6 movies. How many franchises go 6 movies without turning to dreck?
Oh well... ~~Weeeee're boppin' along in a barrel...~~
Posted by narrativium (Member # 3230) on :
I want the DVDs. I have no money.
Bastards. Posted by xnera (Member # 187) on :
Rumor has it that Bryan Fuller is thinking of doing a movie, which would be a possibility of the DVDs sell well. I'm not sure a Wonderfalls movie could work, but I would go see it if there was one. Because more Jaye would be good. I was spoiled for all the eps except Caged Bird--I read the scripts--but oh, it was soooooo much better actually SEEING them, and when it was all over I just wanted more and felt like crying because there wouldn't BE any.
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
Narra: the DVDs weren't that expensive... $30 or so?
xnera: heh.. I wasn't going to admit that.... Also I'm not sure how I feel about a movie. On the one hand, MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE!!! but on the other hand,
(VAGUE HINT AT SPOILER)
do we want to disturb where the characters were left for a movie? I like where they ended. A movie could only shake that. Another season would be worth it, of course, but for just an hour and a half movie?
[ February 23, 2005, 11:12 PM: Message edited by: The Pixiest ]
Posted by Ralphie (Member # 1565) on :
Numb3rs has the deadly Friday night slot, too. I hope it survives. :/
The Tick only got nine episodes.
Good thing we got four billion episodes of Friends, tho. Whew!
Posted by MichelleEly (Member # 6737) on :
I have the DVDs. I love the DVDs.
There is nothing I can say that hasn't been said. The people at Fox made sure that the show would not succeed; possibly due to the fact that there as a power shift at Fox, and the people that were behind the show were gone. Nobody wants someone else's show doing well.
It was one of the few literate shows on TV and would have joined X-Files as one of the great shows in Fox history. Now it's one of Fox's biggest foul-ups.
It was hard to watch the remaining episodes and know that is all she wrote, the the cow creamer really was silenced, and I would never see the wax lion again. I also had a panic attack as it got closer to the end and Eric and Jaye were not together! Michelle
Posted by narrativium (Member # 3230) on :
Friends went on about 4 years too long. And the last episode was stupid.
Posted by MichelleEly (Member # 6737) on :
But, but ... they'll be there for you, when the rain starts to fall!
I think they should have cancelled it when the combined weight of the female cast no longer reached the triple digits. Michelle
Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :
Wonderfalls is an amazing show. I still can't believe it was cancelled after only three freaking episodes!! How do you run a network like that?
Posted by MichelleEly (Member # 6737) on :
There are lots of shows that SHOULD be cancelled after 3 episodes - there are a lot of shows that never should have aired once! The thing was that this show was critically adored, well-written, enthusiastically endorsed by most people that watched it, and had some of the best people in TV working on it.
(As a technical point: although they cancelled after 3, they broadcast a whole whopping 4 episodes.) Michelle
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
In FOX's defense -- and I never thought I'd be writing that -- it didn't have the ratings. Same for Firefly. Critically acclaimed, intensive fan base, but when it came down to the numbers no one watched it. I can't blame FOX for pulling either show. I can blame them for treating both shows horribly, never giving either one adequate time slots or advertising, and for not throwing their weight behind them the way they did, say Arrested Development, the latest critically acclaimed everyone-loves show that doesn't actually have very high ratings.
Aside - I thought they broadcast 4 episodes and canceled it after the commercials for the fifth, but before the fifth aired. I watched the shows on DVD but haven't listened to the commentaries yet, I might be wrong.
[ February 24, 2005, 08:32 AM: Message edited by: Chris Bridges ]
Posted by MichelleEly (Member # 6737) on :
Pretty sure cancelled after the third, aired the fourth.
Few shows have great ratings right out of the box and there's no way 3 eppies was enough. There was no chance for an audience to find it or the great word of mouth to come into play.
If you look at most hit shows, they became hits because they were given time to find an audience.
Look at a show like Cheers - ratings were in the crapper until well into the second season. A show with great reviews and stellar word of mouth will do well.
If they wanted to move timeslots they should have given it one chance after Americal Idol. That would have been the litmus test.
I love Eliza Dushku but they gave Tru Calling too damned long and Firefly and Wonderfalls not nearly long enough.
Then you have a show like Veronica Mars ... critics love it and it's well-written but the audience is still not there. Yet they keep granting it reprieves. Why? Michelle
[ February 24, 2005, 08:48 AM: Message edited by: MichelleEly ]
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
People are going to hate me for this...but I saw Wonderfalls as a clone show--an amusing clone show, but a clone show nonetheless.
It was given the Friday night slot to attempt to compete against Joan of Arcadia, the show it was attempting to clone. And, honestly, while I enjoyed Wonderfalls' quirkiness, I think Joan of Arcadia has better writing and better acting (and, consequently, more staying power).
Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :
Joan of Arcadia and Wonderfalls have similar conceits: the protagonist is told to do various tasks by a mysterious power to (generally) help other people. That's where the similarity ends. The characters, dynamics, plots, tone, they're all completely different. Wonderfalls has more in common with Dead Like Me than Joan of Arcadia.
Posted by MichelleEly (Member # 6737) on :
Megan - Wonderfalls went into production before Joan of Arcadia.
I hear Joan of Arcadia was a clone too ... yeah, I guess there was French Girl ...
Anyhow, I appreciate that JOA came on first, but it was made second; there was no effort to steal from this show. (Thank God - no irony intended.)
To be honest, I can't stand Joan on Arcadia. Didn't we just suffer through Touched by an Angel? I find it just to be just about everything I don't want to see in a tv show.
I honestly only see a surface resemblance between the two shows. Michelle
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