Wonderfalls
Wonderfalls complete series DVD release
Genre	Dramedy
Picture format	EDTV
Running time	42 minutes
Creator(s)	Bryan Fuller Todd Holland
Executive producer(s)	Bryan Fuller Todd Holland Tim Minear
Starring	Caroline Dhavernas Tracie Thoms Tyron Leitso Lee Pace Katie Finneran William Sadler Diana Scarwid
Opening theme	"I Wonder Why the Wonder Falls" by Andy Partridge
Country of origin	USA
Original channel	Fox
Original run	March 12, 2004–April 1, 2004
No. of episodes	13 (4 aired)
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Wonderfalls is a television series whose plot centers 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. Image File history File links This is a DVD cover. ... Dramedy, a portmanteau of drama and comedy, is a genre of movies and television in which the lines between these very different genres were blurred. ... Enhanced-definition television, extended-definition television, or EDTV is a CEA marketing shorthand term for certain digital television (DTV) formats. ... Bryan Fuller is an American scriptwriter who has written for various TV shows including Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. ... Todd Holland (b. ... Bryan Fuller is an American scriptwriter who has written for various TV shows including Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. ... Todd Holland (b. ... Tim Minear (born October 29, 1963) is an American screenwriter and director. ... Caroline Dhavernas (IPA:kɛɹalɪn dÉ‘vɛɹnÉ‘) (roughly pronounced Daverna for English speaking audience but originally pronounced Davernaus (aus like house)) (born May 15, 1978) is a Québécois Canadian actress, best known as Jaye from the cancelled but immensely popular television series Wonderfalls on Fox. ... Tracie Thoms (born August 19, 1975) is an American television, film, and stage actress. ... Lee Pace (b. ... Katie Finneran is a US actress. ... William Sadler as Luther Sloan on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine William Sadler (born April 13, 1950 in Buffalo, New York) is an American actor. ... Diana Scarwid (born August 27, 1955 in Savannah, Georgia) is an American film and television actress. ... Andy Partridge (born November 11, 1953 in Malta) is a founding member, guitarist and chief songwriter of the new wave group XTC. He lives in Swindon, Wiltshire, where he was raised. ... For other uses, see Fox (disambiguation). ... March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (72nd in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Caroline Dhavernas (IPA:kɛɹalɪn dÉ‘vɛɹnÉ‘) (roughly pronounced Daverna for English speaking audience but originally pronounced Davernaus (aus like house)) (born May 15, 1978) is a Québécois Canadian actress, best known as Jaye from the cancelled but immensely popular television series Wonderfalls on Fox. ... Brown University is a private university located in Providence, Rhode Island. ... For other uses, see Niagara Falls (disambiguation). ...

Production history

Originally scheduled to debut in the fall of 2003, the premiere of Wonderfalls was delayed until early 2004, possibly to avoid competition with the then-unproven, similar series Joan of Arcadia. When it finally debuted in February 2004, Wonderfalls received rave reviews from critics, but had trouble attracting viewers, with some dismissing the series as a ripoff of the now-popular Joan of Arcadia even though the two shows were created and produced at the same time. Coincidentally, both shows were (loosely) based on the story of Joan of Arc. Others believe that the show received disappointing ratings because of its Friday night death slot at Fox, and because of the competition with the ongoing reality tv hype that allows networks to create shows that achieve enormous ratings at very low costs [1]. Joan of Arcadia was an American television fantasy/family drama which aired on Fridays, 8-9 p. ... Joan of Arc, also known as Jeanne dArc,[1] (c. ... The term Friday night death slot refers to the idea that television shows broadcast on Friday nights in the United States, face a greater than average chance of being cancelled. ... For other uses, see Fox (disambiguation). ... Reality television is a genre of television programming in which the fortunes of real life people (as opposed to fictional characters played by actors) are followed. ... Hype! is also the name of a documentary film about grunge music. ...

Despite being cancelled after only four episodes (a fifth was advertised by the network but never aired), the show developed a loyal fanbase not unlike that formed following the cancellation of Firefly. Following a campaign spearheaded by fans at savewonderfalls.com, a DVD set featuring all 13 episodes was released by 20th Century Fox 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. Firefly is a cult American science fiction television series that premiered in the United States and Canada on September 20, 2002. ... DVD (commonly Digital Versatile Disc, previously Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... Fox Plaza, the company headquarters. ... February 1 is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music, most commonly a song. ... Andy Partridge (born November 11, 1953 in Malta) is a founding member, guitarist and chief songwriter of the new wave group XTC. He lives in Swindon, Wiltshire, where he was raised. ...

Cast and crew

The series was a United States/Canada co-production, filmed in Toronto, Ontario and with several Canadian actors cast in lead roles (including the show’s star). It was created by Bryan Fuller (Dead Like Me) and Todd Holland (Malcolm in the Middle) with executive producer Tim Minear (writer and director for Firefly and Angel). Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Latin: Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Official languages None Flower White Trillium Tree Eastern White Pine Bird Common Loon Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Lieutenant-Governor James K. Bartleman Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Parliamentary representation  - House seats  - Senate seats 106 24 Area Total... Bryan Fuller is an American scriptwriter who has written for various TV shows including Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. ... Dead Like Me is an American television comedy-drama created by Bryan Fuller for the Showtime network about a group of grim reapers in Seattle, Washington. ... Todd Holland (b. ... Malcolm in the Middle is an American situation comedy created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Network. ... Tim Minear (born October 29, 1963) is an American screenwriter and director. ... Firefly is a cult American science fiction television series that premiered in the United States and Canada on September 20, 2002. ... Angel is a spin-off from the American television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ...

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

The cast of Wonderfalls

Wonderfalls was shown on Fox. Caroline Dhavernas (IPA:kɛɹalɪn dɑvɛɹnɑ) (roughly pronounced Daverna for English speaking audience but originally pronounced Davernaus (aus like house)) (born May 15, 1978) is a Québécois Canadian actress, best known as Jaye from the cancelled but immensely popular television series Wonderfalls on Fox. ... Tracie Thoms (born August 19, 1975) is an American television, film, and stage actress. ... Lee Pace (b. ... Katie Finneran is a US actress. ... William Sadler as Luther Sloan on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine William Sadler (born April 13, 1950 in Buffalo, New York) is an American actor. ... Diana Scarwid (born August 27, 1955 in Savannah, Georgia) is an American film and television actress. ... Neil Gordon Grayston (born on March 24, 1981 in New Westminster, British Columbia) is a Canadian actor. ... A publicity photo of Jewel Staite Jewel Belair Staite (born June 2, 1982) is a Canadian actress. ... Wonderfalls PR shot This work is copyrighted. ... Wonderfalls PR shot This work is copyrighted. ... For other uses, see Fox (disambiguation). ...

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. DVD (commonly Digital Versatile Disc, previously Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ...

Episodes

Main article: List of Wonderfalls episodes

The pilot episode, “Wax Lion”, received a higher Nielsen rating when it was repeated the Thursday after its premiere. The show was moved from a Friday night timeslot to Thursday after three episodes, but with little notice of the time change, and was cancelled after the fourth episode. The following is a list of episodes for the television show Wonderfalls. ... When TV viewers or entertainment professionals in the United States mention ratings they are generally referring to Nielsen Ratings, a system developed by Nielsen Media Research to determine the audience size and composition of television programming. ...

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. The WB Television Network, casually referred to as The WB, the acronym for Warner Brothers, or sometimes as The Frog (referring to the networks former mascot, the animated character Michigan J. Frog), was a television network in the United States, founded as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

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. These episodes, many of them rough cuts without full effects and score work, were also released onto the Internet, aided by the producers themselves, who helped distribute them via the BitTorrent protocol. Nickname: City of Angels Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates: State California County Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Area    - City 1,290. ... This article is about the protocol. ...

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. The list below shows the episodes in the order in which producers intended them to be viewed.

Caroline Dhavernas as Jaye Tyler.

2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (72nd in leap years). ... For other uses, see Fox (disambiguation). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... March 19 is the 78th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (79th in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... March 26 is the 85th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (86th in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 23 is the 204th day (205th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 161 days remaining. ... The Knitting Factory is a New York City music club, in its heyday specializing in jazz and experimental music (though these are no longer its main focus). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 23 is the 204th day (205th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 161 days remaining. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... October 27 is the 300th day of the year (301st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 65 days remaining. ... Télé-Québec is the television network operated by the provincial government of Quebec, Canada. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... November 3 is the 307th day of the year (308th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 58 days remaining. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 17 November is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece, coinciding with the anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 25 is the 206th day (207th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 159 days remaining. ... Comic-Con International, commonly known as Comic-Con or the San Diego Comic-Con, is an annual multigenre fan convention founded as the Golden State Comic Book Convention and later the San Diego Comic Book Convention in 1970 by Shel Dorf and a group of San Diegans. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 25 is the 206th day (207th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 159 days remaining. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 8 is the 342nd day (343rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 15 is the 349th day of the year (350th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Dhavernas. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Dhavernas. ...

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 the second and third season. 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 “Jesus Syndrome” in the third season. An accidental-pregnancy plotline was also planned for Jaye's lesbian sister Sharon. And, it was also planned to introduce a new "Wax Lion", one who was not slightly warped, who would advise Jaye against listening to what the original "Wax Lion" said. Also, according to the DVD commentary, the young boy who receives a mail order bride from Russia in the "Lovesick Ass" episode was to have become a recurring character.

Similarities with Dead Like Me

Wonderfalls was co-created by Bryan Fuller, who also created Dead Like Me, and as a result both series have similarities. Fuller has stated that he didn’t expect both shows to become series. Dead Like Me is an American television comedy-drama created by Bryan Fuller for the Showtime network about a group of grim reapers in Seattle, Washington. ...

• Both series are based around the exploits of a somewhat disenfranchised young woman (Jaye in Wonderfalls, Georgia Lass in Dead Like Me) as she struggles to come to terms with the meaning of her existence. Similarly, the two heroines are both shown toiling at menial jobs even though it is made clear both are capable of higher goals though both characters seem uninterested in trying.
• Both series feature a female lead character with a male name/nickname.
• Both series feature a fantastical concept in a mundane setting.
• Both series focus on family relationships, with one major difference: Georgia’s family is dysfunctional and ultimately broken, while Jaye’s family, despite friction, is shown to be tight knit and strong.
• Both series begin their pilot episodes with the heroine narrating a mythical tale about life and death.
• Both main characters are "freaked out" by the elderly (Jaye is bothered by children as well).
• Both shows feature a local eatery as a major setting (The Barrel pub in Wonderfalls, Der Waffle Haus in DLM).
• Both main characters have (or had, as was the case in DLM) a tradition of eating breakfast with their father at a restaurant.
• Two actors have also appeared in both series:
  • Wonderfalls regular Neil Grayston (Alec) made a guest appearance in the second season of Dead Like Me.
  • Jewel Staite had a recurring role towards the end of Wonderfalls as Eric's ex Heidi, as well as a cameo in the Dead Like Me first season finale. (Staite also starred in Firefly, on which Wonderfalls executive producer Tim Minear was a writer and director.)

George Lass, portrayed by Ellen Muth Photo by Carole Segal/Showtime Georgia George Lass (1985–2003) is a fictional character on the Showtime comedy-drama Dead Like Me. ... Neil Gordon Grayston (born on March 24, 1981 in New Westminster, British Columbia) is a Canadian actor. ... A publicity photo of Jewel Staite Jewel Belair Staite (born June 2, 1982) is a Canadian actress. ... Firefly is a cult American science fiction television series that premiered in the United States and Canada on September 20, 2002. ... Tim Minear (born October 29, 1963) is an American screenwriter and director. ...

Trivia

• Jaye's car is a 1964 Studebaker Daytona.
• In the unaired pilot for the show, Aaron Tyler was played by Adam Scott and Mahandra McGinty was played by Kerry Washington.
• Two different music videos were produced to promote the series and its theme song, "I Wonder Why the Wonder Falls" by Andy Partridge. Both videos feature Caroline Dhavernas lip-synching to the song while being filmed on the show's various sets; she's also joined by Tracie Thoms at several points. The videos differ primarily in what scenes from the show are featured (one of the two videos uses footage primarily from unbroadcast episodes); one of the two versions also shows Dhavernas and Tyron Leitso dancing in the Wonder Falls store. Both versions were (and still are) available online, but as noted above, only one was included on the 2005 DVD release.
• All of the Tylers have rhyming names (Karen, Darrin, Sharon, Aaron) except for Jaye.

1960 Studebaker Lark convertible was advertised extensivly; the airborne womens handkerchiefs mimicked the cars stylized lark in flight insignia. ... Adam Scott (born April 3, 1973 in Santa Cruz, California) is an American actor. ... Kerry Washington at the premiere of Spike Lees film She Hate Me at the Loews Astor Theater in Times Square, New York on June 24, 2004. ... Andy Partridge (born November 11, 1953 in Malta) is a founding member, guitarist and chief songwriter of the new wave group XTC. He lives in Swindon, Wiltshire, where he was raised. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Wonderfalls

• Wonderfalls at the Internet Movie Database
• Wonderfalls at TV.com
• Wonderfalls at The TV IV
• Wonderfalls at Television Without Pity
• Save Wonderfalls + Thanks from Bryan Fuller
• Get Her Words Out Forum ("Get off your ass" campaign)
• Wonderfalls Scripts, Music Video, Interviews, & deleted scenes
• Lyrics to I Wonder Why The Wonderfalls by Andy Partridge of XTC
• Cancellation notice from Tim Minear
• Wonderfalls Tour - Guide to filming locations seen on the show
• Caroline Dhavernas interview on WGN Caroline Dhavernas interview on WGN
• Tim Minear interview on WGN Tim Minear interview on WGN