Wonderfalls
Mar. 12th, 2004 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jere7myI just watched the premiere of "Wonderfalls". I likes it. A lot. It has some of the best dialogue on TV today, nontraditional editing (like ViewMaster scene changes, appropriately tacky for the Niagara Falls setting), and blessed, blessed sarcasm. The characters need to settle into their roles a little, but I'm definitely going to keep watching.
Minor SPOILERS below:
It's eerily similar to "Joan of Arcadia" (though both, as far as I know, were developed independently): voices from beyond tell a young woman to do small things, which cascade into large, happy (ish) endings. The difference with "Wonderfalls" is cynicism: where JoA is sanitized to Hallmark standards, WF has a "Heathers"-lite streak of darkness running through it.
E.g.: estranged sisters bond over an emergency tracheotomy. The tacky little tchotchkes ("I should call them tchotchkes, because I'm Jewish now") that talk to her seem just a _bit_ malicious, and have more personality than JoA's God-people. "Surrender to Destiny" is clearly the driving phrase for the protagonist -- but it appears on T-shirts and coffee mugs in her Niagara Falls gift shop, and it refers to a young Indian woman who _died_ when her tribe sacrificed her right over the falls. What's the message there?
(It's also, basically, the Kira show, which can be seen most clearly when the protagonist says "Dumbass.")
I fear only word of mouth will save it from Foxecution.
(I'm watching Army of Darkness on AMC now. They ran an ad for The Day the Earth Stood Still right after the Klaatu Barada Nikto scene. Well done, AMC.)
Minor SPOILERS below:
It's eerily similar to "Joan of Arcadia" (though both, as far as I know, were developed independently): voices from beyond tell a young woman to do small things, which cascade into large, happy (ish) endings. The difference with "Wonderfalls" is cynicism: where JoA is sanitized to Hallmark standards, WF has a "Heathers"-lite streak of darkness running through it.
E.g.: estranged sisters bond over an emergency tracheotomy. The tacky little tchotchkes ("I should call them tchotchkes, because I'm Jewish now") that talk to her seem just a _bit_ malicious, and have more personality than JoA's God-people. "Surrender to Destiny" is clearly the driving phrase for the protagonist -- but it appears on T-shirts and coffee mugs in her Niagara Falls gift shop, and it refers to a young Indian woman who _died_ when her tribe sacrificed her right over the falls. What's the message there?
(It's also, basically, the Kira show, which can be seen most clearly when the protagonist says "Dumbass.")
I fear only word of mouth will save it from Foxecution.
(I'm watching Army of Darkness on AMC now. They ran an ad for The Day the Earth Stood Still right after the Klaatu Barada Nikto scene. Well done, AMC.)
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Date: 2004-03-15 11:06 am (UTC)