The Eclectic's Dilemma

FX’s press release description:
“…about ‘Ryan’ (Elijah Wood), a young man struggling unsuccessfully to make his way in the world until he forms a unique friendship with ‘Wilfred’ (Jason Gann), his neighbor’s canine pet. Although everyone else just sees Wilfred as a dog, Ryan sees a crude and somewhat surly, yet irrepressible brave and honest, Australian bloke in a cheap dog suit.”

Kel’s one sentence  review: 

Wilfred is subversive and insanely awesome.

Full review below.

Wilfred
 Wilfred’s Twitter | FX’s Wilfred Page| Facebook

Starring: Jason Gann (Twitter), Elijah Wood (Twitter)

Pilot title: “Happiness”
Written by: David Zuckerman
Directed by:  Randall Einhorn

Executive Producer: David Zuckerman  (Twitter?*)
who adapted the same named Australian series (co-created by Gann) for FX

Music: Jim Dooley (Official Site | Twitter)

WILFRED: Jason Gann as Wilfred. CR: Frank Ockenfels / FX

Full review:

There have been some bizarre comedy ideas over the years with unusual main characters. My Mother the Car (a Mother’s ghost in a car), The Munsters (monsters), ALF (a puppet alien hairy like Robin Williams) Mork & Mindy (an alien that is Robin Williams), Mr. Ed (talking horse), Dinosaurs (puppet dinos) and recently Cavemen (cavemen) all with varying degrees of success. I’m at a loss currently to remember a post Days and Nights of Molly Dodd half-hour single-cam/no laugh track comedy with anything as bizarre as a man in dog suit though. Wilfred‘s unique in the current TV landscape, however FX’s pairing with Louie is a good fit. Both shows have traditional elements that bust out of the box with “wow, did they just go there?” humor and genre dodging from week to week.

Wilfred comes into Ryan’s life at a crossroads. Although, Ryan’s life isn’t that bad, he is quite a nervous neurotic who is directionless and doesn’t like the path provided to him. Wilfred and Ryan end up becoming wary acquaintances with Wilfred instigating a night-time adventure together in the pilot. Why exactly Ryan sees a man in a dog suit and what Wilfred’s intentions are becomes the opening questions of the series. As Ryan, Elijah Wood is pitch perfect and if you wanted him in more quirky projects like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, then you will enjoy him here. Acting opposite the pent-up Ryan, as Wilfred with crude honesty is Jason Gann. Gann’s very comfortable with this role, having originated it in a short film and later a limited run series in Australia. Out of the gate, both Gann and Wood have these roles perfected.

FX provided the first three episodes for review so some of the following applies beyond the pilot. The jokes are to be expected about all bodily functions of a dog, dog maintenance, dog habits, and dog owners. However, hearing them delivered in an Australian accent by a dude in a dog suit is just so crudely surreal that it works. However, like any good comedy you need more than easy laughs. Wilfred succeeds as a buddy comedy and human observation comedy as well. Wilfred’s motivations are a bit murky in the first few episodes providing some suspense. The viewer may find him or herself rooting for Wilfred to be both a foil and loyal to Ryan, if so than the series has successively made a fan.

Don’t miss a second of the opening, things get going really fast before Wilfred shows up. Like I said, there are some “wow, did they just go there?” moments and Wood plays them with gusto, he goes where the outlandish script takes him and you will soon forget about Frodo or that cute kid from those 90s movies. I also suspect that people will find out quickly if this is the type of humor they enjoy. If you are already a fan of FX’s other comedy offerings like Louie or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia though, you are half way there.

Bonus: For theme song/score enthusiasts, I have to mention Jim Dooley‘s original music cues. When I first watched Wilfred, I thought of Jon Brion’s work (also Eternal Sunshine) on I Heart Huckbees crossed with music from Pushing Daisies. Turns out Dooley did the music for Pushing Daisies, so I hope he takes that as a compliment. While more sparse than Daisies, the original cues mix well with existing songs pulled in to punctuate scenes. The man can sanely score the quirky.

Grade: A

Wilfred airs Thursday nights at 10PM Eastern on FX.

*I am not confident yet but @David_Zuckerman is possibly legit.