Cult | News | 18 March 2004

Wonderful Wonderfalls

Review of the new US show which premiered last week.

The search could be over for anyone looking for a natural successor to Buffy. Making its debut last week in the US was Wonderfalls, which has all the signs of being a big hit - having garnered glowing praise from USA Today, Entertainment Weekly and the aint-it-cool website.

Now you can add Cult to its fanbase- we’ve seen a preview of the first four episodes and are just hoping that someone snaps up the UK transmission rights.

In Wonderfalls, Niagara Falls gift shop assistant Jaye Tyler’s (Caroline Dhavernas) life is radically changed when souvenirs and ornaments start talking to her. Plastic lions and wise old monkeys give Jaye cryptic messages telling her to do things that help people’s lives.

If this all sounds a bit mawkish then fear not; Jaye is not your ordinary heroine and Wonderfalls is not your average feelgood drama. A slacker who lives at a trailer park and who doesn’t fit in with her family, Jaye is a heroine who twentysomethings will easily identify with: her unwillingness to conform and horror when she realises her actions are now achieving good should strike a chord.

What’s more the series is actually funny - and vicious to boot. Right from the start when Jaye describes the legend of the Maid in the Mist in a suitably sardonic fashion to the farcical nature of the hospital-set finale, the show is laced with the kind of biting one-liners and laugh-out-loud moments that most sitcoms would be proud to have one of.

A generally good supporting cast includes Tracie Thoms as the sassy friend Mahandra, Tyron Leitso as a hot barman and potential love interest Eric, and Katie Finneran as her sister Sharon.

Only Diana Scarwid as the rather two-dimensional character of Jaye’s mother battles to engage our sympathies. In the process she tends to go over the top, leaving her husband and son looking rather nondescript.

Future plots feature a Russian bride whose groom is not what she was expecting, Jaye struggling to write a new blurb about herself for her mother’s novel, and one about some muffins with a secret ingredient.

Wonderfalls is a series with a fantastical element, featuring a realistic heroine who has a cool friend and a hot boyfriend. It features a great cast; has laughs a-plenty and lots of pop culture references. There’s even a lesbian subplot. Sounds like a hit to us!

Wonderfalls is currently airing on Fox on Fridays at 9pm in the US. Click on the link below for the official website.

Look out for an interview with the show’s Executive Producer Tim Minear on the Cult site soon.