The Fox network is notorious for canceling great shows. It canceled "The Ben Stiller Show,” a comedy skit classic that was way ahead of its time. It canceled "Keen Eddie,” which my wife swears was an excellent show and made me mention in this column. It canceled "Andy Richter Controls the Universe,” which was an excellent show.
Of course, I can't discuss shows canceled by Fox without mentioning my favorite, "Firefly.” While "Family Guy” was the fortunate recipient of a reprieve, and Fox brought it back after canceling it, the quirky and original "Wonderfalls” was, unfortunately, not so lucky.
"Wonderfalls” tells the story of Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas), a Brown University graduate with a philosophy degree who has decided to work as a clerk (not even an assistant manager; she didn't get the job) in a Niagara Falls gift shop called Wonderfalls. She is living in a trailer park and freaking out her wealthy dysfunctional family, who believe she might be losing her mind. She shares that belief once she has her first experience with the beyond — inanimate objects begin talking to her, starting with a defective wax lion from a vending machine in the store with a chunk missing from its head.
She fights it as long as she can, but as much as she hates it, she "surrenders to her destiny” and listens to what they are telling her. She follows their orders, no matter how odd they seem, leading to some amazing results. It's not always easy, because they often make her do things she really doesn't want to do. Along the way, she learns a lot from and about her friend Mahandra (Tracie Thoms) and her family, including her tough sister, Sharon (Katie Finneran), a lawyer who has some impressive emergency medical knowledge. She also falls for Eric (Tyron Leitso), a bartender who came to Niagara Falls for his honeymoon and never left after his new bride cheated on him with the hotel bellhop.
The DVD for the show includes all 13 episodes that were filmed and a "Greetings from Wonderfalls” documentary. Fox only showed four of the 13 episodes before it dumped the show. Happily, the final episode wraps up the story nicely, and in an exciting way. So, as sad as it is that there won't be any more episodes, you won't be left hanging and feel cheated. "Wonderfalls” will leave you feeling happy.
