Wonderfalls (Pilot)

Let me preface this by stating that I very seldom watch TV - nearly all of my input comes from sitting behind this keyboard or listening to talk radio. However, every so often a show comes along that changes that. . .

A couple of months ago, Robert Rouse posted about a GREAT new series, "Pushing Daisies". I became an immediate fan after watching the first episode! The show immediately reminded me of the last show that I fell in love with, "Wonderfalls", for some reason (Lee Pace).

If you aren't familiar with that show, I have found the pilot episode and posted it below. It was extremely popular, yet was still canceled after only four episodes:

Originally scheduled to debut in the fall of 2003, its premiere was delayed until early 2004. When it finally debuted in March 2004, Wonderfalls received positive reviews from critics, but had trouble attracting viewers. The pilot episode, “Wax Lion”, received a higher Nielsen rating when it was repeated the Thursday after its premiere, and the show was moved from a Friday night time slot to Thursday. However, there was little notice or promotion of the time change, and the show was subsequently canceled after airing the fourth episode. (A fifth episode was advertised but never aired.)

Immediately after the show's cancellation, its producers attempted to interest other networks, including The WB, in picking up the series. If they had been successful, Wonderfalls would have been the first American series in history to change networks in the midst of its first season. In addition, some episodes were shown in theatres in Los Angeles during the summer of 2004 in order to drum up support for the series.

The series holds the dubious honour of being the second show produced by Tim Minear that was cancelled in the midst of its first season, the first being Firefly. Another similarity between "Wonderfalls" and Firefly is that they were both aired out of the order in which they were originally intended to be shown. The show now lives in syndication on the Logo cable network.