Wonderland (TV Series) Pilot (2000) User Reviews

One of the Best Series on Television

[slich-1 · 10/10 · 24 August 2004]

This promised to be a great series, with compelling characters and realistic and excellent writing. I suppose the sponsors were frightened of being associated with a program that took such a naturalistic view of what it is like to work in a mental hospital, and especially with the outcome of one particular patient. I hope that the series is picked up by another network or cable sometime in the future. I am certain there are episodes that were not aired. It is sad that something so good would not "make it" past the first two episodes. We need to understand more about true aspects of life and have fewer silly shows that do not even come close to reality.

Totally real

[jhooper-3 · 10/10 · 17 September 2004]

As a forensic psychiatrist, I was overjoyed to actually see a TV show that matched the reality of my work. The personal lives of the characters were far more interesting than mine, but the patients, and the hospital, might have been filmed over my shoulder. I was devastated when ABC dumped it. I know NAMI thought it stigmatized the Mentally Ill, but I believe the truth is what the public needs, and that show was the truth! Perhaps if the world were aware of the horrible conditions many chronic MI patients live in, and saw how ever-further budget cuts destroy lives, there would be some sympathy to help these poor people who have nothing else. If anyone reading this has a copy of the 2 episodes that aired, please email me, I want to buy them.

Well, well, basic cable comes up with an original idea and scraps it...

[slouchingpoet · 10/10 · 26 March 2005]

I'm not quite as convinced as others that the reality of the severely mentally ill in America was represented accurately with 'Wonderland' but I do know it was a well done and engrossing series that didn't survive its premiere. Its such a horrid cliché that everything good on TV snuffs it off the bat - Freaks and Geeks, Bonny Hunt, Family Guy, etc. Anyway, what was made available of Wonderland promised for good television. I was most impressed by Ted Levine (best known as the psycho from Silence of the Lamb) as a doctor coping with the end of his marriage and following civil but trying custody battle. The patients with the exception of the mass murderer introduced in the debut were decidedly ordinary to the point of banality. I recall fondly an elderly couple, one accusing the other of being crazy, citing idiosyncrasies as evidence, thus forcing the counselors considering the case to examine their own romantic relationship. Ahhh, but who needs such depth when you can force wannabe actors and models to eat raw pig parts for prizes and entertainment?

the greatest series that never was.

[arthurdamage · 5 February 2004]

It's a damn shame that this program got pulled by the network only two episodes into the series.Oh well...who needs a compelling drama about the mentally ill and the doctors who work with them when you can fill that airtime with another stupid reality show or dopey sitcom?