Wonderfalls = Joy

My absolute favorite (and the best reviewed) new show of last season was Wonderfalls, which was sadly killed by the bastards at Fox after just four episodes -- and one of the worst ad campaigns I've ever seen in my life. (Pretty much the same thing that happened to my beloved Firefly a season prior, actually.)

Anyway, the deliciously brilliant Caroline Dhavernas stars as Jaye Tyler, a wry Brown University grad who suffers from a chronic lack of ambition, lives in a funky trailer, and is stuck working retail at a tourist-trap gift shop in Niagara Falls. Amusingly self-absorbed (largely, we gather, due to a dysfunctional upbringing), she gets a metaphysical kick in the ass once various inanimate objects not only start talking to her, but issuing Cryptic Commands She Must Follow. Of course, no one else can hear them, so Jaye starts to seriously question her sanity as she is compelled to interfere in the lives of others -- with (of course) unexpected results.

It is a very odd, very funny, and quite brilliant little show -- at long last available on DVD today, including the nine never-aired episodes that complete its first and (sadly) only season. And according to this Associated Press article, a large measure of credit for the DVD release goes to sites such as SaveWonderfalls.com, which rallied an extraordinary amount of support from fans, who can now finally get some closure. (Happily, according to a New York Post interview with co-creator Bryan Fuller today, the 13 episodes "tell a beginning, middle and end for the character's journey. The ending ties everything up, so you're leaving the universe with a satisfying story being told.")

Have a pancake!