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TV today is so paralyzed by B-school mentality it's amazing there is ever anything good on. Always trying to appeal to the greatest number of people sounds like a great business strategy until you divide the number of target customers by the number of businesses aiming at the exact same market. Then it should be obvious that niche businesses tend to last longer and have fewer problems with changing tastes than do the ones that try to be everything to everyone. The problem is finding a large enough niche to make a go of it at all.
Despite, people who give me reasons they think to the contrary, Wonderfalls still seems like the bastard child of Malcolm in the Middle and Tru Calling to me. This week it revealed its roots in the "Highway to Heaven"- "Touched by an Agnel" genre and had a pretty good laugh while doing it. Like Malcolm it's a show full of unnecessary close ups with the actors mugging wild extremes of whatever emotion they are supposed to be showing. Going back to silent pictures its been a techinique for slapstick comedy and comedy with children as central characters. Jaye's "Oh, my god, this is awful" expression has a lot in common with Stan Laurel's and Buster Keaton's. But she's not the buffoon charcter the others played. I think the style does have a tendency to make Jaye look clownish. Maybe that's what they are shooting for, but I think that's going to disappoint some of the people who had a high opinion of the first couple of episodes. The general opinion on the net seems to be that it was a weak episode last night. It certainly was if you in the group that wants to see some depth in Wonderfalls. But, if Wonderfalls is just supposed to be a joke on the educated (ala Frasier) maybe not. Jaye constantly being at a loss about what she's really supposed to be doing , frankly works better for me than Tru constantly on a wild goose chase. Wonderfalls' "I don't know what the hell I'm doing, but it seems to result in some good" makes more sense than Tru Callings' "I'm on a great, noble mission, but I'm really lousy at it."
For the audience the hook in Wonderfalls is the junk souvenirs that come to life and talk to Jaye. In a way it's a curse. Jaye clonked the statue of the Maiden of the Mist on the head with a quarter. It not only clonked her back, but cursed her with the power to do good without knowing what the heck she's doing. The theme of the pilot was the maiden surrendering to her destiny, while Jaye's story so far is one of fighting hers tooth and nail. It's hard to say how long that can keep up. As I said after the pilot aired, it would have made a terrific movie in which after a couple hours of run time Jaye could have done what she needed to do to move on, either surrendering and being done with the 'curse' because of it, or just surrendering to doing good in her odd way with or without help from the trinkets.
I guess I'm saying I like Wonderfalls, but it's certainly not great nor is it going to be for everyone. I think if FOX moved Wonderfalls to Thursday permanently behind Tru Calling it might convince me to watch both of them. Right now I don't watch Tru Calling because there's nothing else on Thursdy I want to watch. Wonderfalls current lead in which challenges a woman who obviously knows nothing useful about men to pick the straight guys from a batch men all of whom have at least some effeminate traits, doesn't seem like a suitable intro to anything and probably not good enough to close a night's scheduling with either. What audience it's supposed to appeal to I can't imagine. But, it does make turning on the set early to catch the begining of Wonderfalls a little unpleasant.
Class line of the week "Hey, I have to drink in here!"
Despite, people who give me reasons they think to the contrary, Wonderfalls still seems like the bastard child of Malcolm in the Middle and Tru Calling to me. This week it revealed its roots in the "Highway to Heaven"- "Touched by an Agnel" genre and had a pretty good laugh while doing it. Like Malcolm it's a show full of unnecessary close ups with the actors mugging wild extremes of whatever emotion they are supposed to be showing. Going back to silent pictures its been a techinique for slapstick comedy and comedy with children as central characters. Jaye's "Oh, my god, this is awful" expression has a lot in common with Stan Laurel's and Buster Keaton's. But she's not the buffoon charcter the others played. I think the style does have a tendency to make Jaye look clownish. Maybe that's what they are shooting for, but I think that's going to disappoint some of the people who had a high opinion of the first couple of episodes. The general opinion on the net seems to be that it was a weak episode last night. It certainly was if you in the group that wants to see some depth in Wonderfalls. But, if Wonderfalls is just supposed to be a joke on the educated (ala Frasier) maybe not. Jaye constantly being at a loss about what she's really supposed to be doing , frankly works better for me than Tru constantly on a wild goose chase. Wonderfalls' "I don't know what the hell I'm doing, but it seems to result in some good" makes more sense than Tru Callings' "I'm on a great, noble mission, but I'm really lousy at it."
For the audience the hook in Wonderfalls is the junk souvenirs that come to life and talk to Jaye. In a way it's a curse. Jaye clonked the statue of the Maiden of the Mist on the head with a quarter. It not only clonked her back, but cursed her with the power to do good without knowing what the heck she's doing. The theme of the pilot was the maiden surrendering to her destiny, while Jaye's story so far is one of fighting hers tooth and nail. It's hard to say how long that can keep up. As I said after the pilot aired, it would have made a terrific movie in which after a couple hours of run time Jaye could have done what she needed to do to move on, either surrendering and being done with the 'curse' because of it, or just surrendering to doing good in her odd way with or without help from the trinkets.
I guess I'm saying I like Wonderfalls, but it's certainly not great nor is it going to be for everyone. I think if FOX moved Wonderfalls to Thursday permanently behind Tru Calling it might convince me to watch both of them. Right now I don't watch Tru Calling because there's nothing else on Thursdy I want to watch. Wonderfalls current lead in which challenges a woman who obviously knows nothing useful about men to pick the straight guys from a batch men all of whom have at least some effeminate traits, doesn't seem like a suitable intro to anything and probably not good enough to close a night's scheduling with either. What audience it's supposed to appeal to I can't imagine. But, it does make turning on the set early to catch the begining of Wonderfalls a little unpleasant.
Class line of the week "Hey, I have to drink in here!"
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