Dana Stewart loves "Wonderfalls: The Complete Series" on DVD

By Dana Stewart
Published: August 28th, 2008 | 12:05am

This show, which had a blink-and-you'd-miss-it run on FOX back in 2004, is fantastic, funny, and has "Venus Zine girls" written all over it. Created in part by the same guy who now produces "Pushing Dasies," the show focuses around a sarcastic brunette named Jaye, played to Juno-like, sardonic perfection by Caroline Dhavernas. Jaye is an aimless Brown graduate with a degree in philosophy, who spends her spare time waxing intellectual and drinking. She lives in a trailer (alone), works in a gift shop by Niagra Falls (hence the title), and is surrounded by a family of quirky, somewhat suspicious, over-achievers.

Like "Pushing Dasies," though, "Wonderfalls" has a metaphysical twist: Some of the toy animals in the gift shop talk to Jaye. They tell her to do things, helpful things, but still she finds it disconcerting. Understandably. She wonders if she's totally insane, hesitates to tell her family and friends.

She's a great TV heroine; smart, funny, self-sustainable, and imperfect. Like a lot of us. For Dhavernas' character alone, "Wonderfalls" should get bumped to the top of your Netflix queue.

Dana Stewart is a Venus Zine writer