Wonderfalls

[Henry]

I watched it, and though I liked it much better than I thought, it still did not grab me right away the way shows like Angel and Buffy did. (The blurb from TVTome does not do it justice, though.)

I'll try to watch it again tonight and see if it grows on me.

Also, a request: I missed the last ten minutes of the show, due to running an errand. Can someone spoiler me on what happened the last ten minutes? I watched all the way up to them wheeling "poor bitch" into the hospital, then had to leave at the commercial break.

 

[takyris]

Henry, here goes:

Spoiler

The guy is taken care of by doctors, who give Jaye information about the proper pen to use. The guy's ex-wife, who left him for an unknown reason, is still his primary emergency contact, and she arrives and immediately begins flirting with Jaye's lesbian sister -- they actually begin making eye contact and giggling right there in front of Poor Bitch's bed, while he wheezes incoherently (because, you know, punctured throat), and Jaye says "Oh, so THAT's how it is," with brilliant delivery to Poor Bitch and then adds, "Well, at least now you know." He is cheered up later in the scene by the arrival of an incredibly sexy nurse who seems immediately taken with him.

Sharon and Jaye have a heart-to-heart at home -- albeit a sarcastic one. They hug, slowly and awkwardly. Jaye is supportive of her sister's lesbianism. After the monkey says "I love you" over and over again, she finally tells her sister she loves her, and her sister says it back, and they are both surprised at the fact that it doesn't feel awful to say it. In a cut-scene, the sexy nurse gives Poor Bitch a sponge bath...

In the final scenes, Jaye appears to be happy that stuff has worked out -- Poor Bitch and the nurse show up in her store, and he gives Jaye notes that say "Worst date of my life, Best night of my life, I'm going to marry her" -- and then he looks on in horror as his sexy nurse gives a passing woman a glance. Jaye insists that she was probably just interested in her outfit. The episode ends with another inanimate object talking to Jaye and telling her, elliptically, to go off and help the woman who is walking around with toilet paper stuck to her shoe.

Personally, I thought that the ending really made the episode -- it's easy to say, since you haven't seen it, but I'd give it another look, if you have the chance to see the full thing. In any event, glad you checked it out!

 

[Berandor]

Sharon and Poor Bitch was my favorite, too. My wife's only complaint about the show, being named Sharon and all, was that all Sharons on television were absolute bitches, and what's up with that?

That's just reverse TV psychology. You know, how TV portrays gamers as losers, David Caruso as cool, reality shows as real? Just the same. If TV shows Sharons as bitches, it's because they're supercool, nice and affable to begin with.

Berandor
hopes affable means what he thinks it means

 

[takyris]

"Dude, that chick is AFFABLE, man."

"No kidding, bro. I'd Aff her in a hot minute."

"Dude, totally."

 

[Pielorinho]

Dude, you BETTER not be calling my wife affable!

Henry, I admit it didn't grab me as fast as Buffy did, either. However, I started watching Buffy midway through the third season, whereas I caught the first episode of this; ofr a first episode, it was very strong, I thought.

I'm hoping that they switch up the gimmick a bit once the show gets going: if it's the same every week, I can see it growing old. However, hopefully we'll get to see some real development happening.

On a similar note, we watched Tru Calling before Wonderfalls came on, and were disgusted at how trite and lame it was. The characters were not compelling, the twists were either blatantly obvoius or nonsensical (He's an abusive ex-boyfriend that's she's moved away from to escape! No, wait, they talked that morning, and now he's proposing, and she's all excited about it! huh?), and the humor was just painful. Here's hoping Tru Calling gets canceled, freeing up both a spot for Wonderfalls and Eliza Dushku's otherwise promising career.

Daniel

 

[John Crichton]

I will have to agree with the catch-factor. I started watching Buffy in Season 1 about halfway through (first ep was a weak one, the hyena ep) and watched the rest in repeats before season 2 started. Buffy had a easier to understand feel and plot.

With Wonderfalls, I could tell it was pretty good but didn't catch everything the first time around. So I watched it again. It was better the second time! The show moves so fast that it holds up well to repeat viewings, much like Farscape.

One thing that it really has going for it is the cast, especially the lead. She really carries the show with all the dialogue and reaction shots. The second ep is supposed to be even better...

 

[takyris]

Piel, I posted this on another board. It's a tad snarky, but, from what I saw, it captures Tru Calling quite well:

"Calling is off my season pass list, after I realized that I could write an episode in my sleep:

Tru: Hey, Harrison.

Harrison: Hey, Tru, look at me! (presses button that drops anvil on his head)

Tru: D'oh. Hey, Meredith.

Meredith: Hey, Tru, look at me! (snorts entire contents of kitchen-cleaning box up her nose).

Tru: D'oh. Hey, boss-person.

Boss: Hey, here's a nun who was killed by Jews.

Nun: Tru, save me.

Tru: (flashes back, wakes up on morning of the same day) Hey, anybody seen a nun? Harrison, don't drop an anvil on your head.

Harrison: Tru, I know what I'm doing.

Tru: Meredith, I need help with a nun. And don't snort that. That's Clorox.

Meredith: Tru, you can't save everyone, just like you couldn't save your mom from being killed before your eyes by a murderer who has never been caught. Oh, and the nun is actually a white supremecist whose father was a guard in Auschwitz.

Tru: Oh, crap, moral ambiguity.

Nun: Hey, I've gone through some tough stuff.

Tru: Yeah, that's great, could you just not run into any Jews this afternoon? Harrison, get away from the button!

Harrison: Tru, you can't control me, I'm a wild man! I'm a hip young guy with longings!

Jews: We wouldn't start fights, but if we ran into someone whose father was a guard in Auschwitz, we'd do what we had to.

Tru: Could you be a little more specific?

Nazi: Haha! I'm going to frame the Jews by killing the nun and making it look like they did it! Hey, Harrison, nice button!

Tru: Suddenly I know martial arts! (pushes Harrison out of way as Nazi pushes the button and gets crushed by anvil)

Meredith: Wow, Tru, I guess you were right, it wasn't the Jews that killed that nun. Arg, giant purple spiders are eating my legs! (twitches uncontrollably)

Tru: Oh, I saved Harrison, but I can't save you, so I guess we're stuck in a continuing story arc.

Joss: Really, Eliza, "Faith the Vampire Slayer". Just think about it. Real writers and everything.

Tru: Dude, what's the big? Your Fox series didn't even last a whole season!

(end credits)"

 

[Pielorinho]

Taky, that's awesome! I'm sending a link to it to Sharon now . I think my favorite part of the episode was the 60-second recap of the previous half-hour of the show. What the hell was that? I mean, I know they think we're stupid, but really.

Daniel

 

[Mistwell]

Second episode was good, but took me a second viewing to really like it. I think this is my favorite new show in a long while.

My favorite line of the first episode was the hospital staff yelling "Stabbing victim!"

Second episode: Scene where the "other" girl shoots the manager in the eye with the rubber dart; tied with "Sister, age 35."

 

[John Crichton]

Second episode was good, but took me a second viewing to really like it. I think this is my favorite new show in a long while.

Second episode: Scene where the "other" girl shoots the manager in the eye with the rubber dart; tied with "Sister, age 35."

Nailed my favorite 2 from that ep. You can also add in "Did you just write that down?" to Jaye's correction of 'whichever.'