This past Thursday FX premiered Wilfred to record breaking numbers for the cable channel. Based on an Australian series by the same name, the show stars perpetually youthful Elijah Wood as suicidal and down and out Ryan, who after a particularly bad night begins to see a crass and uncouth man (Jason Gann) dressed in a cheap dog suit, where everyone else sees a dog.
Imagine Calvin and Hobbes, except Calvin is older and more desperate and his imaginary friend never left. The show is still in its infancy and seems to be working on perfecting its unique brand of disconcerted weird humor. At the very least, Wilfred is a breath of fresh air in a sea of police procedurals and reality television. Completely unlike anything else on television right now and worth a watch for that alone.
Wilfred has an obvious quirk; it is a show about a man and his friend the talking dog, after all. That quirk can and often does borders on awkwardness. In its simplest form, it’s a comedy surrounding stoner buddies, but it also traverses much more uncomfortable and darker passageways.
Sometimes, it dares to take itself seriously, waxing philosophical on life and depression. Interspersed are hilariously absurd moments, where Gann as Wilfred the dog can be seen acting exactly as such. The show’s first episode has a difficult time finding its balance, and had a tad too many poop jokes for my taste, but there’s some promise here.
Mostly that lies in the juxtaposition of the absolutely weird and silly against all that is metaphysical and ruminative in life, or rather the back and forth of Wood’s in crisis Ryan and Gann’s free spirited Wilfred, that makes the show really work.
Wilfred airs on FX on Thursdays at 10pm.