Discovery creator is uncastable

Is there an alternate reality where Bryan Fuller shows last more than a few seasons (or even that)? It’s a comforting thought, but I doubt it a little. Fuller’s visions are too idiosyncratic to fully resonate with the general public without watering them down, and the artist himself is known for adamantly refusing to do so. It is why the creator of “Star Trek: Discovery” left this series in pre-production, in addition to (possibly) leaving the original iteration of the “Friday the 13th” prequel show “Crystal Lake” … And The rebirth of “Amazing Stories” on Apple TV … And the Starz-backed TV adaptation of “American Gods.” This happens a lot, that’s what I’m getting at.

Then there are the series that Fuller stuck with through thick and thin, only to watch them die an untimely death through no fault of his own. This was the case with his Whimsical, murder investigation romantic comedy starring Lee Pace “Pushing Daisies” (Even categorizing Fuller’s work can be difficult!), but at least this series has been more influential than his previous collaboration with Pace on “Wonderfalls.” Never heard of it? That’s because it’s not available (legally) for streaming at the time of writing, and physical copies have been out of print for some time. But even back when the series aired its only 13-episode season on Fox in 2004, the network was actively trying to kill (To learn more, you should read this column “Wonderfalls” that a hiker wrote for /Film.)

As for why a show with an undoubtedly original but seemingly innocuous premise involving trinkets and talking trinkets (never fear, we’ll get to that in a moment) found itself in Fox’s crosshairs before being banished to the non-streaming void? This probably has a lot to do with its thematic underpinnings.

Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas), protagonist of “Wonderfalls,” is a sardonic recent college graduate who rebels against her overbearing, conservative parents in the only way she can think of: by working as a saleswoman in a Niagara Falls gift shop and living in a trailer. Can anything shake her out of her quarter-life malaise? Why yes: When various animal-shaped objects (ranging from little wax lions to plastic pink flamingos) inexplicably start telling her to do things and refuse to shut up when she ignores them, Jaye eventually heeds their cryptic instructions. The result? She begins to change other people’s lives for the better.

On a smaller show, these talking novelties might have helped Jaye get a better-paying job or a nicer place to live, but not “Wonderfalls.” Instead, he argues that doing good is worth more than appearing successful. Take Jaye’s older sister Sharon (Katie Finneran), a type-A immigration lawyer who’s firmly in the closet, or Jaye’s older brother Aaron (Pace), a PhD student in comparative religion who basically thinks his entire field of study is BS. Although the couple seems more respectable than their younger brother on the surface, they are just as messy in their own ways, and it is only through Jaye’s actions (at first confusing, but ultimately selfless) that they begin to get their lives back together.

You can understand why Fox bigwigs might have blanched at an avant-garde series like that circa 2004, especially one as tonally and stylistically eccentric as “Wonderfalls.” (The series frequently draws on aesthetics and motifs from various genres, in addition to adopting offbeat storytelling choices and camerawork all its own.) Its unavailability on streaming makes it harder to track down, but as Jaye learns, some tasks are worth the extra effort.