I was really prepared to mock this show a lot. Really, a community of werewolves in a suburb in Washington? Which is how it was described in the “TV fall previews” I saw. But now that I’ve seen two episodes, I find myself liking it even though a) it tries too hard to be “Twin Peaks” and b) it is really kind of silly.
Twin Peaks. It shares the setting (small town in Washington) and a similar basic premise (big city lawman comes to small town in the Pacific Northwest to solve a mystery about a young girl, only to find that things are not what they seem to be). And I always felt there was a strong lycanthropy motif to TP. Each one has a symbol recurring as a central motif (TP’s owl cave symbol and WL’s runic R). Some of the characters seem similar (rich brewery owner instead of rich department store/hotel owner, sheriff) and some of the settings are the same too (especially the hotel and the diner, both heavily featured in TP). Some of these settings and characters are pretty stock, and were so before TP, but it does seem like WL is borrowing pretty heavily.
Silliness. Well, come on, the idea of a town full of werewolves is pretty darn silly. It looks from tonight’s episode, though, that the lycanthropy is genetic as opposed to mystical, although the town has built a religion around it with the werewolves as the “chosen ones.”
I like a lot of the actors, including Lou Diamond Phillips and Grahame Greene. The young woman playing Sophia seems like a good little actress too. I’ve always thought Tim Matheson was underrated as an actor (and has been stuck in garbage too many times to count), and I am a huge fan of Sharon Laurence. It looks like she will be much better utilized here than she was on NYPD Blue (hardly a woman’s show), especially if her husband dies and she gets locked in a power struggle for the leadership of the community.
I’m looking forward to watching this show develop, and when CBS inevitably cancels it after six episodes or whatever, I hope that Sci Fi or maybe FOX will pick it up.
It’s starting to grow on me…the first episode was only mildly engaging, but the second one was more interesting. I may continue to tape (what? actually watch it when it’s on?) until its cancelled.
I’m not sure I like where the show is going. It seemed to start off as a missing persons in a mysterious small town thing, then it veered into a Dynasty thing, and now it seems to be heading into X-Files territory. I don’t understand why, if being wolves is such a big secret, that the sheriff would make Canaan his deputy. We see the problem with that decision starting almost immediately when he had to censor the M.E.'s report on the murdered girl. Just from a practical standpoint it doesn’t seem worthwhile to hire the guy if you’re not going to be able to use him.
I watch, and I like it so far. Too bad it’s going to be cancelled before they get a chance to delve into all the subplots. I think the Twin Peaks similarities are no coincidence… if you notice the closing credits, the name of the production company is “Cherry Pi”
Oh…I’m still watching it. I don’t really get it, especially the third episode, but I’m watching it… This show makes me wish I had been old enough to watch Twin Peaks (hey, I had a 9:30 bedtime back then!) some day a channel I actually get will re-run it.
But looking at CBS.com it’s still listed as being on at 10:00 EST on Wednesday nights. I predicted it would last six episodes and so far we’ve had five. I’m really hoping I’ll be proved wrong but it looks like CBS has decided this show is expendable. Because CBS has so many other big hits right now…
epguides.com gives the following set of airdates for Wolf Lake :-
1- 1 62555-001 19 Sep 01 Meat The Parents
1- 2 62555-002 26 Sep 01 The Changing
1- 3 62555-003 3 Oct 01 Soup To Nuts
1- 4 62555-004 10 Oct 01 Tastes Like Chicken
1- 5 62555-005 24 Oct 01 Excitable Boy
1- 6 62555-006 10 Apr 02 Four Feet Under
1- 7 62555-007 17 Apr 02 Leader of the Pack
1- 8 62555-008 24 Apr 02 Legend of Lost Lenore
1- 9 62555-009 1 May 02 If These Wolves Could Talk
It’s on in the UK at some ungodly hour on Friday nights… I dunno about this one; I’m a sucker for werewolf stories, but the first couple of episodes seemed a bit thin - seems to be warming up as it gets going, though.
I fondly call it the “borrowed parts network.” <grin> if only they’d pick up 2 Guys and a Girl, and Norm! Their own orginal comedy, The Random Years, is pretty damn funny, so if they got a couple more comedies…
I think the Twin Peaks similarities are no coincidence… if you notice the closing credits, the name of the production company is “Cherry Pi”