March 20, 2004
Wonderfalls
As somebody who hates, I mean hates, Joan of Arcadia, I had my doubts whether I'd like this new series that has drawn a lot of comparisons to that wretched show. But the ads made it look interesting and the critics seem to like it, so I decided to check it out when they repeated the series pilot on Thursday.
I've only seen bits and pieces of Dead Like Me, but this series was created by the same guy [Bryan Fuller] and has the same kind of dark, twisted humour. Todd Holland [Malcolm in the Middle, My So Called Life] and Tim Minear [X-files, Angel, Firefly] are also involved. Pretty impressive, but how did the show stand up? Pretty good, actually. The lead actress, Caroline Dhavernas, plays the sardonic slacker Jaye Tyler perfectly. The other great thing was the dialogue, very funny, a lot of dry, witty humour. Very much like Buffy, maybe even a little darker. I won't quote any of it here and spoil it for you, but it's definately memorable. The pilot did lose a little steam in the second half, it seemed to try a little too hard to tie up loose ends and the story seemed a little scattershot. But I think that's a little understandable as the series pilot has to introduce all the character's and tell some kind of story at the same time.
So while I liked the pilot, I couldn't say I was hooked. Then I caught the second episode last night about Binky, the psy-psy-psycho stalker. This entry had a much more cohesive story, much better flow to it than the pilot. And they managed to keep the same level of sarcastic humour going as in the debut. The whole "crazy chick talking to tchotchkes" didn't really get played up much either, which was encouraging as it shows that they aren't going to rely on that gimmick to carry the show. This episode was still very much a stand alone, I hope they have a bit of a story arch that carries over from ep to ep. I'm rather partial to that kind of thing. And yes, now I'm hooked, it's a pretty good show. I just hope FOX gives it a chance, I guess the numbers for the pilot weren't that great and the Friday night slot they have it in is not the best. Whatever, it deserves a chance.
TWOP thread with all the good quotes.
Posted by Fungii at March 20, 2004 03:07 PM |