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Hercules Loves WONDERFALLS
SPOILER ALERT !!
Wonderfalls 1.3 FAQ
What’s it called?
“Wound-Up Penguin.”
Who’s responsible?
Teleplay is credited to “Dawson’s Creek” vet Liz Garcia. Though, for the record, the teleplay feels a lot more like Tim Minear (“Angel,” “Firefly”) than Kevin Williamson (“Glory Days”).
What does TV Guide say?
Jaye is told to track down the woman she and Eric found earlier hiding in the bar, but meeting their quarry's other pursuer sends them on a different quest, spiritual in nature, and in opposite directions. Katrina: Carrie Preston. Schofield: Aidan Devine. Custodian: Boyd Banks. Marta: Karen Ivany. Aaron: Lee Pace. Eric: Tyler Leitso. Jaye: Caroline Dhavernas.
This is the one with the nun, yes?
It is!
How soon do we see her in a habit?
There are no habits in this ‘sode.
Isn't this episode #112? Aren't they airing these "Wondefalls" episodes out of order?
Word on the street is "Wound-Up Penguin" was shot late to air early, as was last week's "Karma Chameleon." The idea, we hear, was to enertainingly address pointed questions posed by those who saw the pilot. But the airing order is that prescribed by the show's creators, not the mercurial network execs. The BIG season one story arc kicks in, if I remember correctly, with "Crime Dog" (1.5) which focuses on Jaye's suspicious brother and a chatty cow creamer.
The big news?
Of all the nine or so episodes I’ve seen, I believe this is the one in which Jaye and Eric (the bartender) spend the most time alone with each other. And they spend some of that time alone in a hotel room, ready for the kissing! It may be the romantic of all the various and sundry “Wonderfalls.”
What else is TV Guide not telling us?
“Wonderfalls” may be a dramedy after all. This is the first installment to leave the mighty Hercules a little weepy!
What’s great?
Jaye generally, but especially her understandable confusion over the difference between holy and magic. “Ironic! Considering.” “Or she may have been looking over her shoulder. Possibly. Running away from something?” Jaye’s excitement when the bartender produces drinking glasses. Dhavernas generally, but especially her reading of “What was all that ‘Leave me alone’ screaming about??” “He didn’t Agnes of God me!” “You grew alfalfa and took a vow.” The references to Sky Bully and the world of tomorrow. “You’re not leaving without her. You’re not leaving her with me.” “No. Yes!!” “Or is it just gee dash dee?” “I have to drink in here?!” “Because if it is? It snuck up on me and nobody’s getting anything.” “You don’t suppose she’s meeting us there?” “Well, smell me!” “It’s a rental!” “No! Yes! Can you repeat the second part??”
How does it end, spoiler boy?
The public address system announces a train leaving for New Jersey, and Eric the newlywed bartender puts his arm around Jaye.
Herc’s rating for “Wonderfalls” 1.3?
****1/2
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than we deserve
**** better than most motion pictures
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for bulletins
9 p.m. Friday. Fox.
Swing the crebbil!
Swing the crebbil!
Watch “Wonderfalls”!! Herc says it’s the season’s best new show!! 9 p.m. Fridays!! Fox!!
Looking for bumper stickers, plush toys and girls’ underwear covered with cartoon double-amputees? Visit The Herc Store!
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Last week's ep did it for me. Great series. Love Tim Minear's work. I'll be tuning in tomorrow night.
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Mar 26, 2004 1:40:31 AM CST
Wonderfalls is easily one of the best shows on TV right now.
by mr. waturi
Great writing, great cast, fresh concept, great reviews... which is why those chimps in middle America will never watch (case in point- "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"). Fox needs to immediately move this show to another night so that it at least has a fighting chance.
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Stop fucking around man, tell us how you real feel! :)
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I mean really, the only people who would watch this show over the NCAA's are girls or homosexuals. And I got a nice belly laugh when I read the TB'er who said that "Wonderfalls" had a "fresh concept"!
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I cancelled mine. its great. I'm way more productive now...at playing Diablo.
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I cancelled my cable too, but instead of Diablo I play EVE online. But I won't be playing tonight at 8pm central time because I'm kind of starting to like wonderfalls. Liking the show and doing a little imagination of the main character if you know what I mean (for those that don't know what I mean, I mean while I'm beating it I'm thinking of the main character).
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You say any guy that would watch this show over the NCAA tournament is homosexual, then you use a phrase like "I got a nice belly laugh." No, you don't sound gay at all. No, really.
Anyway, I guess I don't watch enough TV to know which shows "Wonderfalls" is ripping off. Tell me what they are and maybe I'll start watching them, too. -
Wonderfalls =gays and women? Basketball = straight men only? Well, first off, I know a bunch of straight guys who could give a flying fuck for basketball. And I know a few women who live for March madness. Jeebus why must you compartmentalize (ooh, big word for you, I know, but you can look it up?) people. We are individuals with different tastes. Basketball sucks for some, and obviously, Wonderfalls sucks for you. Then again, you probably think Two and Half Men and Good Morning, Miami are brilliant comedies and you have every episode of Full House on video because that's all the humor your brain can handle. Tool.
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I don't like the main character. Jaye is just a complete spoiled brat. There is nothing about her I can relate to; I just want to slap her! I like her family, because, even though they're all caricatures, at least they have a reason for being there. I like Eric because he's cute and very obvious in his motivations. Jaye's African-American friend, on the other hand, is kind of vapid and meaningless in my opinion. She's just seems to be there so Jaye doesn't have to talk to herself all the time, they don't feel like real friends. It would be more interesting if they had Jaye talk to a different stranger at the bar each time she goes there. Or gave the bar a group of interesting regulars to rag on her. Anyway, I'll give the show a couple more episodes to see if they can make me care about what happens to Jaye, but if she remains a shallow little piss, I'm bailing.
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I'd rather see weekly talkbacks for Joan of Arcadia or Tru Calling, but I guess those shows don't appeal to Herc like this one. To each his/her own, but I hate seeing so many Wonderfalls stories when shows I like better might as well not exist in Coaxial. At least the Smallville crowd is big enough to have pestered Herc into throwing 'em a few bones.
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I like the idea that the main preotagonist is not necessarily lovable, but is still symapathetic. A lot of the credit for that goes to the actress playing her. Caroline Dhavernas could be playing a serial killer and still be adorable. She's not shallow, she's just bored and directionless. Caroline D shows this without wallowing in it. She has made Jaye Tyler my dream girl. As for Herc, I think his wanting to draw attention to this show is warranted. It's a great show that is very low rated. It needs all the help it can get. Joan of Arcadia is plenty successful without Herc doing a talkback on it (even though I personally I find it a preachy snoozefest) and Tru Calling just sucks, I'm sorry to say. Wonderfalls deserves all the attention it can get. And if you do not like these editorial choices, why did you click on the article and respond?
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She's supposed to be disenchanted Gen Y, didn't you see the second episode? The show would be awful Joan of Arcadia if she was this quirky likable cute girl who sees things. Maybe they'll give her a puppy so she'll be more likable. You sound like a network exec who wanted Mal to be more likeable after seeing the Firefly premiere. Or maybe you like the change where Greedo shoots first.
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I always wished for a live-action "Daria but who knew it would debut 3 years later in the form of "Wonderfalls". I mean how can you resist a show with a snarky, ironic protagonist? Not to mention the tighter writing and more touching nature of the show. I've never seen "Joan", but it always came off as a CBS type drama if youm know what I mean. So I'm sticking with "Wonderfalls".
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When Jaye is getting the studderers words out and the studderer says "I can't cause I have a st.. st.. st.." then jaye says "STD" that was classic. Jaye chooses to live simple and the damn things talking to her complicate her life so she reluctantly goes through with the stuff just to get the damn things to shut up, that's why she doesn't give a damn if when getting the words out of someone she says stuff like STD and such. By the way I would like to do Jaye.
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End of story.
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Just like every other new show that I've taken a liking to recently (Miracles, Firefly, etc.), this one has "soon to be canceled" written all over it. Good + Original + Friday Time Slot = Bub-bye. I hope I'm wrong, but then again I also hope George Lucas doesn't screw up the next Star Wars movie. So I'm kinda low on hope these days. By the way Herc, didn't you do Alias talkbacks once upon a time? Last weeks episode ended with a light bulb brightly burning over Jack's head. He looked ready to chew nails and spit bullets and there was no talkback. Lets have one this week. Okay, Luv? LHP
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Did anyone hear this or am i hallucinating? Watch Wonderfalls on its new night next thursday.
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First ep was good and promising, the last two have been tremendous. This may be the best thing on TV right now and the first show since vintage Buffy to be both explosively funny and genuinely moving. Then again, I'm a sucker for this sort of plot structure, where mysteries about the nature of the fantastic reality are explained satisfyingly at the end. "Bring her back to him" was perfect.
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Did anyone else notice that the show appeared to run about a minute long, and that they started it a minute early? And that the first minute included absolutely crucial back story on Eric's marriage, which is therefore missing from anyone's TiVo copy?----------
Yeah, they did say Thursday, but TiVo and TV Guide don't reflect that. Did somebody make that decision today?
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First off, let me say I love this show. Best show of the new season. Best show in a long time. It is totally going to break my heart when its cancelled.
Now... I know this is nitpicky, but one thing I noticed in this last episode that annoyed me... At the end of the show, they announced a train headed from Niagra Falls to Paterson, NJ with stops in White Plains (NY), Hoboken (NJ), and Trenton (NJ). Obviously, the writers did not do much research here, but rather just looked up some populous NJ cities because Trenton is SOUTH Jersey and Paterson is NORTH Jersey. There is no way a train would go from Niagra to Hoboken, then all the way down to Trenton, and then back up to Paterson. It would be like saying a train is going from Boston to NYC with a stop in Baltimore.
Again, I KNOW this is nitpicking, so save the "F-tard" replies (and if I REALLY wanted to nitpick, I'd mention that the main train destinations in NJ are Hoboken and Newark, not Paterson, but...) - the only reason I mention this is because the writing is so brilliant on this show, it dissapoints me that the writers couldnt take 2 seconds to simply look at an effing map before jotting down a couple of NJ city names to use. -
So Wonderfalls is moving to Thursdays next week, teaming the show with Tru Calling. Now Fox can cancel two of my favorite shows in one fell swoop. Sons of bitches.
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...I agree that this ep was mediocre. Fucking Herc and his 4 1/2 stars. You'd think the ep was written and directed by JW.
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great line! this ep was great allthough i wanted to see more of the talking penguin
fuck my keyboard is screwing up! -
Mar 27, 2004 8:09:08 AM CST
F U C K W O N D E R F A L L S...Long live Forever Eden..
by mentallymariah
I think wonderfall smells like rotten pussy..there I said it, fuck this stupid show and the stupid cunt who looks like Jennifer Connely's evil twin sister! I tried watching this show and realized FUCK WONDERFALLS! Why should I get hooked on a show that will get canned in a few weeks? That happened to me years ago with MODELS INC...and I have been bitter since!!!
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Mar 27, 2004 12:01:39 PM CST
Wonderfalls is Fox's answer to "Joan of Arcadia." And it's a goo
by truthseekr1488
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Mar 27, 2004 3:46:49 PM CST
Wonderfalls is the best written show I've seen in years...
by mr. waturi
I am amazed at how great this show is. Every episode just keeps getting better.
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Solid third episode, but treads where I feared it would end up sooner or later: Catholicism and all the mystical hooey that goes with that particular religion. Let's hope future episodes steer clear of religion. Clever business about the mystery man in black, though. Jaye is thinking he is an assassin. He is, as it turns out, a priest. Nice use of the bartender in this episode, and the business with the broken taillight was clever. I hope this series will be with be us for a good, long time.
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It dawns on me this show is probably too whitebread for a lot of today's viewers. No rap. No shizzle on the drizzle. We white middle-class viewers are a fast-disappearing TV audience, I suspect. At least of the Fox Channel. And most certainly UPN and to some degree The WB as well. I guess we are mostly watching Discovery, HGTV, Lifetime, Animal Planet, Disney, The History Channel and TLC these days.
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Okay, so I tuned into the first ep cuz Herc says it's good. It was... interesting, and pretty funny. Then I read that a journalist saw the first 4 eps and liked them more and more. Then Herc says he likes episode 2 even more than the first. Me gets all excited!
I thought the 2nd episode was SHIT, and fell FAR short of episode 1. And then last night's episode... oy vey... wishy-washy blubbery SHIT. I'll give this show one more chance... but if the 4th episode resembles the last 2 more than the first, say good night, cuz this show doesn't deserve to be on the air. -
I agree about the lack of Alias discussion. I checked this site the last 2 weeks to see what Herc thought of tonight's episode, but nothing. I, too, have watched Wonderfalls based on Herc's recommendation & Tim Minear's attachment to the show, but so far I haven't been terribly impressed. If it wasn't for the fact that most of my Friday shows are now in reruns, I doubt I'd watch future episodes. An hour is a long time to invest just to learn the explanation of this week's cryptic instructions from the plastic lion/penguin/etc.
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Sorry, but after three episodes, there is simply no way to avoid it: talking figurines that encourage a mysteriously chosen, somewhat hot, and even-more-bitter-than-me gift-shop employee to do good deeds is a ridiculously stupid idea. It could work if it weren't written without all the ironic quotation marks around lines that simply aren't funny enough to deserve them. But it is, and they aren't.
The upside for far more talented purveyors of this sort of material -- Hal Hartley, Whit Stillman, Noah Baumbach, Alan Ball, the entire writing staff of "Gilmore Girls," and even Adrienne Shelly -- is that, no matter how little commercial success they achieve, at least this pale, overwrought imitation achieved even less.
(Tim Minear will presumably recover just fine.) -
best discussion of faith/theology I have seen on TV in a long time. Frankly I think this show is actually getting BETTER and deeper as it goes along. It straddles the line between comedy and drama with remarkable aplomb. Anyone who doesn't think so (especially Mr. Artiste above me) can bite my ass.
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Mr. Artiste? Is that me? I'm flattered, but your ass doesn't meet my standards any more than my honest opinion evidently meets yours.
I expressed a critical opinion, to which you responded with a personal attack. That's just sad. Either debate me on the merits, or blow me off and stick to saying why you like this show.
I stand by my belief that everything that this show has stated, with respect to religion and faith, has been stated better before. Go watch Hartley's _The Book of Life_. Or, go screw yourself. It's not that big a deal to me either way. -
It felt more like a snarkier episode of "Touched by an Angel", not that i would have ever watched that religious crap. I wish people would stop stuffing religion down our throats. "Wonderfalls" is at its best being sarcastic, not trying to give us some religious under-meaning. I am glad however it's getting a shot on Thursday. If FOX would hold out (and Friends going away next season), I think given time Tru Calling and Wonderfalls could build a solid 1-2 punch together on Thrusdays. The shows make sense to pair together. I also agree that maybe the 2 shows should be given a shot at the 8-10 pm slots on Tuesday and move American Idol and 24 to Thursday. Frankly, I don't care what happens to Idol because it's the most awful, evil, drekky, garbage show on Television, but that's the SHOW that gets big ratings. Tuesday could be more 'wide open' for the 2 well done girls shows on FOX to have a shot.
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I am a great admirer of Hal Hartley. Trust is one of my all-time favorite movies. I think Wonderfalls compares well to his stuff. I'm sorry if you took offense to my comment. It just sounded to me like you were simply name dropping to somehow sound profound, a practice I find extremely annoying. Anyway, it really doesn't matter, does it?
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Okay, that's cool...peace. It was not my intention to come off as pretentious or more-indie-than-thou by dropping names, but I can see how you'd take it that way. I'd just like to see a few of those names get a bit more respect, and so much of the dialogue in Wonderfalls has reminded me so much of at least one of them that it seemed worth mentioning. If you think WF brings something new to the party, I certainly respect your opinion, even as I can't quite bring myself to agree with it.
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Yes I love wonderfalls. I think this is one of the best shows on tv right now. The characters are a joy to watch, the writing is excellent and witty. In this era of rehashed plots and premises it is an original. The show is quirky without going over the top. It amazes me that the people that really like the show tell why they like it and the others use vulgar expletives with no real reason for not liking it.
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You could do worse than to bet on it.
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I think you exaggerate somewhat. Yes, some have used expletives in their criticism of the show, and that's lame. At the same time, others have had expletives directed against us after posting entirely expletive-free explanations of why we don't care for it, and that's lame too.
My original critique is at . I think it does an adequate job of expressing my "real reasons for not liking" WF...though, if you want me to elaborate, I'll do my best.
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