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{{short description|2004 comedy-drama television series}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2012}}
{{Infobox television
▲ | caption = Promotional photo. Left to right: Neil Grayston, William Sadler, Diana Scarwid, Tracie Thoms, Tyron Leitso, Katie Finneran, Caroline Dhavernas, Lee Pace
▲ | genre = [[Comedy-drama]]<br />[[Fantasy]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/wonderfalls-tv-series-v305155|work=Allmovie|title=Wonderfalls [TV Series]|accessdate=November 21, 2012|author=Dillard, Brian J.}}</ref><ref name="BFI" />
▲ | runtime = 42 minutes
▲ | creator = [[Todd Holland]]<br />[[Bryan Fuller]]
▲ | executive_producer = [[Bryan Fuller]]<br />[[Todd Holland]]<br />[[Tim Minear]]
▲ | starring = [[Caroline Dhavernas]]<br />[[Katie Finneran]]<br />[[Tyron Leitso]]<br />[[Lee Pace]]<br />[[William Sadler (actor)|William Sadler]]<br />[[Diana Scarwid]]<br />[[Tracie Thoms]]
| language = English
▲ | opentheme = "I Wonder Why the Wonderfalls" by [[Andy Partridge]]
▲ | language = English
| first_aired = {{Start date|2004|03|12}}
▲ | company = [[Bryan Fuller|Living Dead Guy Productions]]<br />Walking Bud Productions<br />[[Regency Television]]<br />[[20th Century Fox Television]]
}}
'''''Wonderfalls''''' is
The show 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 various 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.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VNnM_pZVBkwC&
''TV Guide'' included the series in their 2013 list of 60 shows that were "Cancelled Too Soon".<ref>Roush, Matt (June 3, 2013). "Cancelled Too Soon". ''[[TV Guide]]''. pp. 20 and 21</ref>
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[[Caroline Dhavernas]] as Jaye Tyler – A 24-year-old graduate of [[Brown University]], at the start of the series Jaye is discontentedly working as a sales clerk at Wonderfalls Gift Emporium and living in a [[mobile home|trailer.]] She avoids her loving – and overbearing – family, whose successes she seems determined not to emulate, spending most of her time at The Barrel, a local bar at which her best friend, Mahandra, is a cocktail waitress.
Despite her being extremely caustic and a deliberate underachiever, Jaye's life takes an odd turn when various muses, in the form of animal objects, begin talking to her and delivering cryptic instructions. At first uncooperative, Jaye eventually breaks down after they inflict on her various forms of passive coercion, such as keeping her awake all night by singing, and harassing her with their messages when she is around others, forcing her to accede in order to avoid appearing crazy.
Jaye's attempts to ignore or go against the messages often result in unexpected misfortunes, such as when Jaye's father is hit by a car. Jaye's guilt over the event leads to her following the muses' instructions throughout the rest of the episode, only to discover that her father's injury was, in fact, a blessing, as it led his doctors to discover a potentially life-threatening blood clot. As the series progresses, Jaye becomes more willing to follow the muses' instructions, although she fights them when they make her do things she doesn't like, such as driving Eric back into the arms of his wife.
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==== Eric Gotts ====
[[Tyron Leitso]] as Eric Gotts – Jaye's love interest – is introduced in "Wax Lion" under unusual circumstances: Six days prior to the events of the pilot, Eric arrived in Niagara Falls for his honeymoon with his new wife, Heidi. Upon returning to their hotel suite one day, he discovered Heidi "servicing" a hotel bellman. Anguished, he retreated to The Barrel and sat and drank for
Extremely sweet, thoughtful, and kind, Eric is the antithesis of Jaye's often-abrasive personality, although he seems intrigued by her brashness and convinced that she is not as uncaring as she claims to be. Although his interest in Jaye is reciprocated, his light flirtation is often rebuffed because of Jaye's fears that she is going crazy, his status as a married man, and Jaye's deeply rooted fear that she will hurt him. Toward the end of the series Eric's wife Heidi arrives in Niagara in an attempt to win back her husband. Despite having fallen in love with Jaye, her refusal to admit her feelings (caused by the warnings of the muses, rather than her own inclination) leads him to remarry Heidi and decide to leave Niagara.
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== {{anchor|Production}} Production ==
The series was an American production, filmed in [[Niagara Falls, Ontario]] and [[Toronto]], Ontario (standing in for [[Niagara Falls, New York]] and environs),<ref name="BFI">{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/39918|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110824002244/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/39918|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 24, 2011|work=[[British Film Institute]]|
Despite its cancellation, ''Wonderfalls'' developed a loyal fan base. A campaign spearheaded by fans,
| title = Save Wonderfalls – Thanks from Bryan Fuller
| url = http://www.savewonderfalls.com/messages.html
|
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}}</ref>
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== Episodes ==
Fox aired the first four episodes out of sequence, although the episodes were produced in a different order than was intended for broadcast. The order below is how they are presented on the DVD release.<ref name="DVDTalk">{{cite web |url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/14200/wonderfalls-complete-series/ |title=Wonderfalls: Complete Series |website=DVD Talk |date=January 23, 2005 |
{{Episode table |background=#FF5F5A |overall= |overallT=DVD order |overallR=<ref name="DVDTalk" /><ref name="IGN" /> |title= |director= |writer= |airdate= |prodcode= |viewers= |country=U.S. |episodes=
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber = 1
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|DirectedBy = [[Todd Holland]]
|ProdCode = 1AHM79
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2004|
|Viewers = 4.31<ref>{{cite web |work=[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC Medianet]] |date=March 16, 2004 |url=http://abcmedianet.com/Web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=031604_07 |title=Weekly Program Rankings (Mar. 8-14)|access-date=June 10, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707082550/http://abcmedianet.com/Web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=031604_07 | archive-date= July 7, 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref>
|ShortSummary = Jaye, an Ivy-league educated, underachieving retail employee, begins hearing voices from toy animals, who tell her to do things.
|LineColor = FF5F5A
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|DirectedBy = Todd Holland
|ProdCode = 1AHM01
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2004|
|Viewers = 2.93<ref>{{cite web|work=[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC Medianet]] |date=April 6, 2004 |url=http://www.abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=040604_07 |title=Weekly Program Rankings (Mar. 29-Apr. 4)|access-date=June 10, 2021|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221170938/http://abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=040604_07 |archive-date=December 21, 2008 }}</ref>
|ShortSummary = The voices tell Jaye to help a disliked high school classmate organize their high school reunion.
|LineColor = FF5F5A
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|DirectedBy = [[Marita Grabiak]]
|ProdCode = 1AHM10
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2004|
|Viewers = 3.68<ref>{{cite web |work=[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC Medianet]] |date=March 23, 2004 |url=http://abcmedianet.com/Web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=032304_04 |title=Weekly Program Rankings (Mar. 15-21)|access-date=June 10, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707082554/http://abcmedianet.com/Web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=032304_04 | archive-date= July 7, 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref>
|ShortSummary = Jaye helps a young woman who is down on her luck until she begins assuming Jaye's identity.
|LineColor = FF5F5A
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|DirectedBy = Todd Holland
|ProdCode = 1AHM12
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2004|
|ShortSummary = When Jaye encounters a nun ([[Carrie Preston]]) who has lost her faith, she shares her experiences with the talking animals with the nun who tries to perform an exorcism on her.
|Viewers = 3.25<ref>{{cite web |work=[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC Medianet]] |date=March 30, 2004 |url=http://abcmedianet.com/Web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=033004_05 |title=Weekly Program Rankings (Mar. 22-28)|access-date=June 10, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221203950/http://abcmedianet.com/Web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=033004_05 | archive-date=December 21, 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref>
|LineColor = FF5F5A
}}
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|DirectedBy = [[Allan Kroeker]]
|ProdCode = 1AHM02
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2004|
|Viewers =
|ShortSummary = When their illegal housekeeper is deported, a cow creamer's urging sends Jaye and Aaron to Canada to bring her back.
|LineColor = FF5F5A
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|DirectedBy = [[Craig Zisk]]
|ProdCode = 1AHM05
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2004|
|Viewers =
|ShortSummary = Jaye
|LineColor = FF5F5A
}}
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|ProdCode = 1AHM03
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2004|10|27}}
|Viewers =
|ShortSummary = Jaye helps a woman ([[Rue McClanahan]]) that people believe is the first woman to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel
|LineColor = FF5F5A
}}
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|DirectedBy = Todd Holland
|ProdCode = 1AHM04
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2004|11|
|Viewers =
|ShortSummary = Worried that she isn't sane enough to enter a relationship, Jaye deflects Eric's advances while they work together to help a Russian mail-order bride whose prospective husband turns out to be a 13-year-old boy. The boy soon turns his romantic attention towards Jaye.
|LineColor = FF5F5A
}}
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|ProdCode = 1AHM06
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2004|11|17}}
|Viewers =
|ShortSummary = Jaye is determined to turn her and Eric's first date into their last when she begins to realize that she is a maneater like both Mahandra and Aaron say. [[Kellie Waymire]] guest starred in this episode; she died shortly after filming, and the closing credits begin with the dedication "In memory of Kellie Waymire."<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Safety Canary |series=Wonderfalls |time=43:12 }}</ref>
|LineColor = FF5F5A
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|DirectedBy = [[Peter O'Fallon]]
|ProdCode = 1AHM07
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2004|
|Viewers =
|ShortSummary = While Eric's wife Heidi tries to win him back, Jaye tries to listen to the voice and stay out of the situation, even though it is difficult for her.
|LineColor = FF5F5A
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|DirectedBy = Todd Holland
|ProdCode = 1AHM08
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2004|
|Viewers =
|ShortSummary = Upset that the voices told her to let Eric go back to Heidi, Jaye is looking for a reason to suspect Heidi of wrongdoing. She misreads the signs that the voices give her, which leads to her alienating Eric but saving the life of her psychologist.
|LineColor = FF5F5A
}}
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|DirectedBy = [[Jeremy Podeswa]]
|ProdCode = 1AHM09
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2004|12|
|Viewers =
|ShortSummary = While visiting an Indian reservation, Jaye encounters the spirit of a holy woman, who she thinks can help silence the animal voices forever.
|LineColor = FF5F5A
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|ProdCode = 1AHM11
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2004|12|15}}
|Viewers =
|ShortSummary = A bank robber takes Jaye, Sharon, and some of the gift shop employees hostage just as Jaye and Eric are supposed to meet to say a final goodbye. Circumstances of the crime provide life-saving treatment for the security guard. As the episode and series ends Eric has moved back to Niagara Falls and Jaye and Eric kiss.
|LineColor = FF5F5A
}}
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There is an alternate version of the first episode "Wax Lion". It features [[Kerry Washington]] playing Mahandra and [[Adam Scott (actor)|Adam Scott]] playing Aaron. On the DVD commentary, the creators state that both actors had to be replaced because they could not commit to future episodes. The alternate version omits Thomas telling Jaye at the end that he is going to marry the nurse. The scene was added because the network wanted the Thomas subplot resolved, even though the creators disliked the scene. It also omits a scene where Jaye throws a quarter into the fountain before any muses start talking to her. The network supposedly wanted an impetus for why the muses started talking.
==Reception==
On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the series has an approval rating of 76% with an average score of 8.3 out of 10 based on 17 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Although the premise couldn't sustain the show beyond a single season, ''Wonderfalls''{{'}} deadpan protagonist and witty dialogue offer a distinctive take on twentysomething angst."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/wonderfalls/s01 |title=Wondefalls: Season 1 |website=Rotten Tomatoes |accessdate=November 12, 2021}}</ref>
==Broadcast and syndication==
All 13 episodes of ''Wonderfalls'' were aired to completion for the first time on Canada's [[VisionTV]] beginning in October 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jam.canoe.com/Television/TV_Shows/W/Wonderfalls/2004/10/04/pf-732969.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812212125/http://jam.canoe.com/Television/TV_Shows/W/Wonderfalls/2004/10/04/pf-732969.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 12, 2016|title=Vision TV rescues 'Wonderfalls'|date=October 4, 2004|publisher=Canoe.com|first=Bill|last=Brioux|
''Wonderfalls'' was aired by the digital cable network [[Logo (TV channel)|Logo]] in the summer of 2005. The same summer, the British network [[Sky1]] picked up ''Wonderfalls'' and aired the series to completion, though not in the original intended episode order.
The [[Museum of Television and Radio]] held a two-day screening of the entire series on January 29 and 30, 2005.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.paleycenter.org/press-release-2005-screening-wonderfalls/ | title = Marathon Screening of Wonderfalls! |date=January 11, 2005 |
==Home media release==
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{{wikiquote|Wonderfalls}}
* {{IMDb title|0361256}}
{{Bryan Fuller}}
{{Niagara Falls}}
[[Category:Lesbian-related television shows]]
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[[Category:2004 American television series debuts]]
[[Category:2004 American television series endings]]
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[[Category:Fox Broadcasting Company original programming]]▼
[[Category:Niagara Falls in fiction]]
[[Category:Television series by 20th Century Fox Television]]
[[Category:Television
[[Category:Television shows set in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Television series set in shops]]
[[Category:American English-language television shows]]
[[Category:Television series created by Bryan Fuller]]
[[Category:American fantasy drama television series]]
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