Unless you count the circus sideshow documentary that airs on the Learning Channel once a year, there has been nothing like this on television before. The Wonder Cabinet fully taps into our timeless fascination with the grotesque; our sick urge to look, but at the same time, not want to look. But the human anomalies being investigated here aren't just objects to be dumbly stared at. This series is a fantasy fiction, but based and researched on real facts and case studies. The timing for it seemed right. It's a subject matter that could have taken the country's interest by storm. Like what Jim Cameron did for the Titanic. What Gap ads did for the swing revival!

Fox would have gotten so much more from this than a freak-of-the-week exhibition! While most shows tend to thrust a bunch of characters into a situation to create chaotic conflict, (Forbidden Island and Mulholland Drive included), Morgan and Wong give us a calculated backstory for the heroes. Not enough writers create real character arcs, or myth-arcs. Homicide did, but it's been canceled. The X-Files currently does it, but it always hits the Reset button. That is, what usually entails is a lot of angst and adventure for Mulder and Scully, only for them to end up at the same point where they began and none the wiser for it the next week. In contrast, the doctors in The Wonder Cabinet would have actually been affected by past events; change, and remain changed in subsequent episodes. They are the true masters of character growth through continuity and events.

James Morrison, the series lead of The Wonder Cabinet, is one of the finest actors I've ever seen to come out of television. He has the unique ability to present a cool, calm facade all the while allowing the viewer to see the tension, the pain, the turmoil, and the raging fire underneath. Sort of an anti-Gary Oldman. So what's the issue here? In the eyes of the marketing execs (not studio) Morrison is a veritable dinosaur, what with his silver (heh heh) hair and OHMYGOD! wrinkles! I mean how would that look when placed next to Jennifer Love Hewitt and Scott Wolf in the promos? He's only good for dad material, not a series lead. At least that's what their teenage audience would think. Forget those mature, intelligent people who have disposable incomes. Who cares about them?

The Shit Conspiracy. Someone close to Lynch's Mulholland Drive project recently commented that, in addition to it being 'too weird', ABC was opposed to a shot of dog poop on the sidewalk. This incident led me to connect something with The Wonder Cabinet. You see, while writing for The X-Files, Glen Morgan's younger brother, Darin discovered that the broadcast censors have very strict rules about Number 2:

A) It's acceptable to use terms like crap, but not when actually referring to defecation

B) It's acceptable to show a pile of dry crap, but unacceptable if that pile is moist

Didn't Darin tell his brother not to mess with these [absurd] rules? They must have forgotten. Because as soon as the network watched THIS scene, The Wonder Cabinet was clearly doomed from that moment on.

After four years developing unproduced pilots, you would think Morgan and Wong would be frustrated as hell. But these guys are fighters, simply comparing their misfortune to a crummy baseball game.

"Let's say you're at bat with two strikes against you, and you swing and miss on the third pitch. What's the word for that?" asks Wong.

"Umm..." I say, "You're out?"

Wong gives a decisive nod, believing that this best summarizes their situation with Fox.

"But," Morgan then adds, "what can you do when the pitcher is always throwing you a curve ball that you'll never be able to hit? Quit the team?"

After a thoughtful pause, Wong then concludes: "Ask for a trade."

And not long after our conversation, that's exactly what they did. Morgan and Wong got out of the final year of their contracts at Fox Television. This summer they signed a new multi-year deal with Dreamworks SKG to run the mid-season replacement ghost series, The Others for NBC.

Well, at least that gives a spark of hope to this otherwise hopeless tale of corporate greed and network insipidity. You may have noticed my growing cynicism as this investigation progressed. That just means I'm tired. And so, the time has come to wrap up, get over it and move on. My final thoughts? Read books. Well, at least, until Who Wants to be a Millionaire? comes back to TV. What an awesome show...