

While the backdrop of the Horseshoe Falls very explicitly places the filming location in Canada to those who are aware, those who don’t have as clear a knowledge of Niagara Falls’ cross-border geography can have that backdrop reclaimed through the familiarity of their currency (and Jaye’s reference to Brown, and other culturally specific details). I find currency to be the most definitive marker of setting when thinking about shows that blur the line between Canadian and American, if it’s present Canadian money is so distinctive in its multi-colored bills that it’s easy to spot and also thus easy to potentially confuse American audiences (and thus often not featured in shows that don’t want to call attention to their Canadianness). It’s an interesting test of how we understand textual representations of place. And yet on the other hand, the most definitively national piece of iconography in the episode is the American currency featured prominently throughout (although even that could be explained through the high volume of American tourists who would be visiting the Falls which would even lead tourist traps to accept American currency).


#Wonderfalls niagara falls ny tv
In the midst of Les’ great first TV Club Classic review of Bryan Fuller’s one-season Wonderfalls, he makes a slight mistake, albeit an understandable one: he refers to the show being set on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, which every fibre of your being will tell you is true if you’re simply following setting-based indicators (like knowing that the Horseshoe Falls featured prominently in the episode are also known as the Canadian Falls for a reason). Bryan Fuller’s quirky yet human Wonderfalls jars a retail clerk out of apathy with a force of mysterious talking tchotchkes.
