0/5

Wonderland

TEN's new drama is defiantly light, bright and very, very white.

2013-08-17_2127If you’re a friend of Michael Dorman’s just be sure you never ask him to a wedding.

In the opening episodes of both The Time of Our Lives and Wonderland, he single-handedly manages to ruin the whole thing.

In the ABC drama he got cold feet and walked out on the bride (Michelle Vergara Moore) at the last minute. In Wonderland he plays Tom, friend to the groom, but who still manages to send the wedding reception (also at a seaside backdrop) off course. But that’s about where the similarities end.

Wonderland from FremantleMedia Australia is defiantly light, bright and very, very white -this cast could have all stepped out of a catalogue.

It has a principal cast of 8 being 4 males and 4 females mostly in their late 20s, and most of whom live in a rambling apartment block on Sydney’s eastern shores. Two of the couples are married, one is a sibling and the others are part of a wider group of friends who socialise together. Supporting characters include Tom’s mother Maggie (Tracy Mann) and hipster collector Harry (Michael Booth), who also live in the Wonderland apartment block.

The series opens with Dani (Jessica Tovey) and Steve’s (Tim Ross) wedding. Grace (Brooke Satchwell) and Colette (Emma Lung) help Dani prepare for the big day, while Steve’s mates Tom and Rob (Ben Mingay) hit the beach and rib him about leaving single life behind. Tom isn’t enamoured by the idea of the same woman every day, but Steve has “never been more pumped” about marrying Dani.

Tom has a history of sleeping with his female housemates and bets Steve that he won’t sleep with another for 12 months. If he does he loses his pride and joy -his 1964 Ford. I’m unclear what he wins if he actually succeeds, but I’m tipping he will lose it in the first season finale.

Also attending the reception are Steve’s sister Miranda (Anna Bamford) and friend Carlos (Glenn McMillan), both of whom comprise part of the core cast, plus guests Kirsten (Christie Whelan-Brown) and Dani’s father (Roy Billing).

If there is a theme to the first episode it is commitment, with various juxtapositions of characters discussing and venting about single life, fidelity, lust and wedded bliss. Sarah Walker’s script takes a light approach to the topic without much jeopardy in its first outing. But first episodes are notoriously difficult with an urgency to fill in with character backstories.

Wonderland publicity has made much of the show’s weekly FAT night (Food Appreciation Time) in which the characters surrender their mobile phones for a dinner party where they compete to create the best dish (is this MasterChef in a drama?). The first episode doesn’t actually have a FAT night but one in the second made me feel this aspect was oversold. Aside from giving up their phones, it was just a standard dinner party, with little focus to the food or the competition element. Who knows if this will rise or fall in series importance?

At this early juncture the characters seem to live carefree, charmed lives, endlessly talking about relationships and first-world problems without worrying how to bay the bills. Tom is a skilled furniture maker and by the looks of his rather fabulous apartment, is doing so well for himself that he neither has to work much nor fret about the rent.

Wonderland boasts TV’s sexiest cast, which compensates for material that is sometimes pedestrian and antics used in place of character-based humour. Brooke Satchwell does her best to keep things grounded, Tim Ross may well give Offspring‘s Patrick a run for his money and Glenn McMillan is distractingly good-looking.

But aside from McMillan’s Latino roots, this show feels too white-bread to reasonably reflect suburban Australia. Dani is apparently Greek-Australian along with Billing playing her father. The diversity score-card also scores 8 heterosexual characters and 0 homosexual and Tracy Mann is the sole resident cast member over the age of 40.

TEN has had several successes with dramas based around apartment blocks (The Secret Life of Us and Number 96 amongst them) but also a few oceanside dramas that have struggled (Echo Point, Out of the Blue). In tone, this feels like a sibling to Seven’s Winners and Losers, or maybe Last Man Standing.

Wonderland begins from a pleasant launch pad, but has big shoes to fill in the Offspring slot. With a bit more grunt it may just get there.

Wonderland airs 8:30pm Wednesdays on TEN.

51 Responses

  1. I agree with Tomothyd, I’m absolutely sick of the show because of the excessive advertising for it and will not be tuning in. The ads themselves look quite dull anyway, nothing unique about the concept. The name Wonderland also puts me off, it sounds so cutesy and such a silly name for an apartment building. I can’t stand on the ad how one guy says something like ‘we live in the same building as you, we’re already involved’ – wtf?! What busybody neighbours, I would move! After such a great season of Offspring I’m not really interested in watching something that looks second rate. Sorry about being so negative! I’m glad money is being put into the Aussie TV industry but this one just doesn’t strike a chord with me.

  2. With four sets of couples, Jo Porter had the opportunity to cast 8 people whose ethnicity reflects the “real” Australia. When the heck are Australian producers/production companies going to start embracing the fact that Australia has a plethora of people of different ethnicities and it’s their social & cultural responsibility to reflect that authenticity on our screens?! What are they afraid of? Do they really think that Australian viewers are so discriminative that they won’t watch people on screen if they’re not white? What’s changed since this article was published in 2011: goo.gl/B77AiG And another article published last week: goo.gl/RNdedS

  3. I watched the pilot episode through Channel 10’s Facebook page, and overall I didn’t enjoy it. I can’t pin-point why, I think it’s that the characters don’t interest me or something, but overall I don’t think I’ll tune in.

  4. Not reflecting a variety of ethnic groups. I can’t see what the problem is. Are those with physically disabilities not going to watch because their demographic is not represented? Will people over 50 not watch because they’re not the focus? No.

    People will either watch because the storyline creates escapism, or because it holds up well. If we where waiting for a show that covered all demographics it would look something like the novel “War & Peace” with its 500 characters, and in this fast paced world that would be too much for most people to handle IMO.

  5. Oh no David I just thought I’d go a bit off topic and talk about Austria. Perhaps the suburb where they’ve set this is really white, but the audience they want to watch it isn’t. The audience is the general public. They should set dramas in the real world not white ghettos.

  6. The show is set in Coogee Beach, an upwardly mobile and expensive suburb in the eastern suburbs of Sydney Property values in the area are well out of reach of the average Gen Xer. It is not a particularly ethnically diverse area, to be honest, in vibe the area is similar to Cronulla, the area featured in the ill-fated “The Shire”.

  7. I’ve been seeing the promo for this show for the last couple of weeks and more so in the past 7 days. It has now got to the point where I am now completely sick of this show, and hate the background song which they use. I almost cannot be bothered watching it now.
    There is promotion, then there is bashing people senseless with it to the point that they do not want to go near it. TEN, you’re pushing towards the latter. Too many networks are doing this now and it certainly does not encourage me to watch.

  8. @Loz. The issue is that Austria is a multi-racial country. Most people have friends from lots of different backgrounds but network dramas are not reflective. Look at all the hospital dramas where most of the doctors are white. Have you been to a hospital lately? The doctors are not all white! Drama should reflect reality or it becomes comical. When you look at these ads you just think what sort of fantasy land does this world resolve. It’s not believable. The networks need to get people to watch tv period not just watch their shows over other options. Over 15% of the country has either an Asian, African or Indigenous background. ie. not remotely white.
    That is not reflected in drama.

  9. I saw the ad for this immediately after the brilliant Offspring finale. Right next to each other, Wonderland looked woeful. But then again, Ten aren’t exactly brilliant with their promos. For a station that is supposedly “youth”, I’m surprised at how white this show is. Will give it a go but I can’t say I’m too excited about it.

  10. Who cares if it’s an all white cast? What’s the need for every show on Australia to be of mixed culture? Does it matter? As long as the actors can act, that’s all that matters.

    Can’t wait to watch this show, but really sick of all the promos for it.

  11. Never fear, I’m sure it won’t be long before one of the main characters has to confront their repressed desire to engage in same-sex relations. Most Aussie dramas are so predictable these days and that storyline always comes up. I think it’s silly to commission 22 episodes of a show before it has even aired, no wonder Ten are in a mess. They would have been wiser to give it a 13 episode order initially. I hope it does well though, we need more non-crime based Australian dramas on our screens. Good on Ten for taking a risk.

    1. Re Emma Lung: I spoke to Freo to check on character ethnicity and identified the ones they mentioned. Roy Billing as part Greek, who knew?

      Andrew: Thanks for noting Jo Porter error which I have now deleted. I actually checked your fab soap history book for struggling soaps but decided at 430 eps Breakers got a pass.

  12. Another very white Australian drama. But aren’t they all? Rafters,Losers,Offspring,TOOL are all very white(with the odd token Greek,Aboriginal,Chinese character)

  13. Jo Porter didn’t produce Winners and Losers. And don’t forget Ten’s other apartment drama Breakers which we would put in the “struggling” department

  14. Emma Lung is part Chinese. You can probably tell because her surname is Lung! But yes it is too white and they are too good looking. It’s just not realistic on both fronts.

  15. David the guy playing the Brazilian in the ads does not appear to have much of an accent. I may give this show a chance but if this is set in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney then they definately have cast it wrong.
    @carolemorrissey I lived in an apartment in Bondi many years ago & like you I knew never spoke to any of my neighbours.

  16. I’m looking forward to it, sounds like it will be ok. I must pick the wrong apartment blocks to live in. They have never been like in these TV shows where everyone hangs out together and goes to each other places and have parties on roof tops. I barely even know my neighbours and usually just say hello if I bump into any of them.

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