Wonderfalls...Wannabe?


With Joan of Arcadia bounced off for basketball tonight, you’ll have to get your quirky quotient filled this evening with the second episode of Wonderfalls. Whether the show is wonderful is yet unanswered around here; I found the pilot episode alternately annoying, a bit charming, trying way too hard, and succumbing to the same bag of tricks -- throwing in the word “orgasm” for titillation value, throwing in a lesbian subplot just because that’s evidently what you do this season -- that are already old and tired. People are trying to squeeze this one into the same genre occupied by Joan of Arcadia and Tru Calling, but those two young ladies seem to at least have a touch of grace rather than total petulance and great deal less self-absorption than Jake. Yes, I know her character is supposed to be a narcissist, and I get that she’s going to be embarking on a journey to find herself in the series, but until she works through a little of that spoiled, rich, over-educated rebel-with-absolutely-no-cause stance, she might be just too obnoxious to watch at all.

And despite their adjacency on the TV schedule and some reviews that seem to put them in the same quality-TV niche, this is no companion piece for Joan of Arcadia, far from it. First off, Wonderfalls is not a family show. It is to JoA’s credit that it manages to be a show that a wide range of ages might conceivably view at the same time without being uncomfortable, but Wonderfalls, primarily because of the language, subject matter (at least in the pilot) and general sour taste, certainly doesn’t seem like the rightful inheritor of Joan’s audience. If it didn’t work for Miss/Match on NBC, which was, by comparison to Wonderfalls, a ray of sunshine, it won’t work here, and didn’t, at least the first week out.

Wonderfalls could work as a match with its own lead-in, another pathetic dirty joke of a reality show, this one where some beautiful girl has to sniff out the gay contestants in her search for a date. That Wonderfalls is scheduled after Playing It Straight says more about what Fox is up to or hoping for more than anything else; they really shouldn’t be too surprised that it’s not sharing in Joan of Arcadia’s bounty. It shouldn’t. I’m hardly a pious believer, but there’s a world of heart and soul between what Barbara Sullivan is doing with Joan and what’s going on in Wonderfalls. The family on Joan of Arcadia is working with more realisitic problems -- disabled son, money troubles, teen angst -- than anything we’re likely to encounter on Wonderfalls (not that you have to be realistic to make a good TV show, of course). You know that all the resources Jake would ever need to become an SUV-driving overachieving super-bitch like her sister are back home at the family manse, and her living is a trailer is reverse-ostentation at its most kitsch.

My primarily objections to Wonderfalls are at a philosophical level, not about how well the show is done. It looks good, it’s full of nifty visual effects that are a little too proud of themselves to just become part of the ambience (unfortunately), but it’s all about people who might be too unlikable to watch. That shouldn’t be a liability during this TV season that’s as full of more horrible people than ever before, but that’s only on reality TV. The people of Wonderfalls are far from awful, but they’re also far from wonderful.

Go on. Watch it once more. I’m going to. I just wish the show knew that being intelligent doesn’t mean being well, mean to people. That’s one of the first things our poor little rich girl Jake needs to figure out. Let’s see if her little talking friends can help her with that one, pronto.


ABC’s premiering a new prosecutorial drama tonight at 10pm, The D.A., starring Steven Weber (from Wings, but that’s a while ago), Sarah Paulson and a nice cast of multi-ethnic young thespians. Why a new show about District Attorneys? Why not? This one probably isn’t anything special, and I definitely question the choice of a plot for the pilot -- something about the Russian mob. Ugh. It may be true-to-life, but it’s usually deadly dull stuff and about as likely to catch Americans interest as they’d be inclined to petition Campbells to add borscht to its soup line. The Handler had a Russian mob story in its early weeks; look, Americans hate foreign accents, even if they’re on the bad guys. Let’s hope next week’s episode deals with something a little more exciting and relatable. It’s not good when the log line alone makes you wants to avoid the show. The D.A. must be a throwaway for ABC, and goodness knows they’re well-practiced in that in that area, what with their discarding of the perfectly serviceable, more-than-entertaining and interesting Karen Sisco and Threat Matrix earlier this season. Even if The D.A. were the next big franchise, ABC probably wouldn’t recognize it.


Oh, and if you missed the debut of CBS’ Century City on Tuesday night, you might want to catch a special episode Saturday night at 10pm. Here’s what I wrote about it on my CBS Schedule Analysis page:

Century City: This new legal drama is being touted as a possible replacement for The Handler on Friday nights, which despite a strong start hasn't been able to keep it up. Set in 2030 Los Angeles, which from their swank office windows doesn't look nearly as grim as I'd envision, Century City stars Emmy-winning veteran actor Hector Elizondo (Chicago Hope), stalwart Nestor Carbonell, Tony Award winner Viola Davis, Welsh potential heartthrob Ioan Gruffudd, mildly slimy Eric Schaeffer, and Kristin Lehman as a genetically-enhanced lawyer (heaven forbid!). Other than a few futuristic doo-dads like see-through paper and table-top holograms -- looking a lot like Princess Leia's "Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi" turn or Anne Francis posing in her space miniskirt in Forbidden Planet -- this feels like pretty standard TV lawyer stuff, though it is fun to see them tangling with philosophical issues like cloning and bionic body parts. Century City obviously wants to be Minority Report, but it's more Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law; either you're intrigued by the slightly goofy glimpse into the near future, or you ain't, and I'm enough of a dreamer to want to see how somebody else feels about it. Men are still wearing neckties, btw, and if you want to read the series' extensive manifesto, check out their website. I'm all for stem cell research, but if it's going to lead to bigger, better and faster lawyers, maybe I'm going to reconsider....

This Saturday’s episode is about a baseball player with a bionic eye and the promo made me laugh out loud, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it’s probably not what CBS wanted.



Planning ahead to Sunday, FX is showing a six episode marathon of Arrested Development beginning at 2pm. I haven’t fallen for this show, but I might try to watch this super-dose to see if I can catch the fever. Fox is obviously trying to keep this one going on Sunday nights at 9:30p, and with some special plays after American Idol. The Ron Howard narration bugged me – not the narration itself, but that it was Ron Howard – but I’m always open for persuasion.




Wonderfalls airs at 9pm tonight on Fox. Here's their website.


The D.A. premieres tonight at 10pm on ABC. Check out their website for more information.


CBS' Century City will air a special episode Saturday night at 10pm after basketball; check out the show website here.