Wolf Lake?

SGrayWolf · Post by **SGrayWolf** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 12:09 am

Anyone remember or seen any of the "Wolf Lake" series that originally aired on CBS? I miss it.

I thought it was a good program and had great potential but sadly it was shut off after a few weeks of airing time.

Apokryltaros · Post by **Apokryltaros** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 12:40 am

I remember that show...
Not terribly fond of it.
They never showed anyone actually changing, but, that was the least of the show's problems.

Rodentia · Post by **Rodentia** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 1:14 am

I liked it and thought they tried some interesting things with it...what got to me was they'd re-edit episodes together and then show them as new ones.

Mitternacht · Post by **Mitternacht** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 1:48 am

I liked the premice of the show and I really don't think that CBS gave it enough time. Then again, most TV shows that actually make the viewer think, unlike say reality TV, dont do well and usually get canned early on.

I also got to see the unaired 2nd Pilot of the show and I think it woudl have been better if it had gone with that story line.

As for seeing nobody cahnge, I think it would have eventualy, but didnt progress far enough in the episodes for that to happen.

-Mitty

ps: I am a fan of Grahiam Green and I *will* watch anything he's in. I also think his character was the best think in Wolf Lake.

Howling Fan · Post by **Howling Fan** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 11:50 am

"Wolf Lake" was so bad, they canceled it on two different stations. My favorite scene was when Lou Diamond Phillips, Mr. "La Bamba" Man himself, barges into a church in the middle of a mass holding a photo of his ex-girlfriend in his hand and demands to know where she is, accusing everyone of lying to him. I could maybe understand if it was a small Town Hall-style meeting--but church??
Then there was the "Dallas" ripoff cliff hanger when the Pack Alpha gets shot at the end of the last episode aired, looks up at the perp (but we never see who it is), and says "Thank you." Say what??
It was also quite a tease. There was one scene where a young couple is making out in a car, someone walks in on them, and we see the girl is half changed, using prosthetics, not CGI. But that's about as close as this show got to showing anything TF related. Frankly, I was so frustrated week after week by this show, I'm glad it was canceled and freed up my schedule. If it couldn't even please us werefans, who'll take any bone Hollywood throws us, it deserved to be canned.

Apokryltaros · Post by **Apokryltaros** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 2:17 pm

I agree...
That the whole place practically screams "Everybody in town, except for Lou Phillips Diamond, is a werewolf" and yet, the show never bothered to move beyond teasing the audience just got so annoying and tiresome.

ABrownrigg · Post by **ABrownrigg** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 6:46 pm

Some makeup images from "Wolf Lake"

Apokryltaros · Post by **Apokryltaros** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:56 pm

Like I said, tease tease tease.

Bete · Post by **Bete** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 8:57 pm

SGrayWolf wrote:Anyone remember or seen any of the "Wolf Lake" series that originally aired on CBS? I miss it.

I thought it was a good program and had great potential but sadly it was shut off after a few weeks of airing time.

I saw DVDs for the TV series "Wolf Lake" (and for the TV Series "Werewolf") at a comic con over the weekend. I am assuming they were VHS to DVD transfers, as I bought the "Werewolf" TV series at a con about 4 months ago and they were a bit "rough" to watch.

WolfVanZandt · Post by **WolfVanZandt** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 9:35 pm

I liked Wolf Lake but admit that there were huge gaping holes in the story. The fact that they even allowed the outsider cop to hang around without eating him was incredible. But I read some synopses of the episodes after they switched channels and it looks like they blew out all the stops in bad.

ChaosWolf · Post by **ChaosWolf** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 9:53 pm

Say what you will about the series (I never saw it), but, judging from those images, they had definite potential to be something good, had they actually tried to do so. That's some great prosthetic FX.

WolfVanZandt · Post by **WolfVanZandt** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:05 pm

Actually, they didn't do much at that level - but they did use real wolves. Anyway, I've sorta transcended my obsession with FX. I really would have prfered that they spent more thought on the story line.

Werewolf · Post by **Werewolf** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 11:08 am

I liked Wolf Lake myself, I used to watch it every week till it was cancelled... and they way they left it off like that too

Sure it was flawed, but how could I not like a show with wolves

Apokryltaros · Post by **Apokryltaros** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 3:34 pm

ChaosWolf wrote:Say what you will about the series (I never saw it), but, judging from those images, they had definite potential to be something good, had they actually tried to do so. That's some great prosthetic FX.

It was a tremendous potential that they wasted.

Goldenwolf · Post by **Goldenwolf** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 5:56 pm

Apokryltaros wrote: It was a tremendous potential that they wasted.

Agreed. I watched this show religiously when it came out, and while I did like some plot elements, overall it was just a huge let down of a show that could have been amazing. In fact, Mitty mentioned that we own a tape of the ORIGINAL first episode with a completely different plot and characters that would have worked SO much better. As it is they completely reworked the plot and what was going on and it became Dynasty with wolves. Always teasing, always hinting, but never ever getting to the truth of things. It was like all through the first season you had to guess what was -really- going on. And I couldn't stand the way that town worked. They just allowed the kids to hang out, beat each other up, drink, cruise, and what not all night long every night? Sorry, but if I were in that pack, some scruffs would have been mauled a LONG time ago. Blarg.

Anyway, yes, a show with great potential that died too soon. I disliked many things about it, but hey it was the FIRST TV show about a pack of non-demonic werewolves, so I couldn't stop watching it. I taped every episode while it was on, and hopefully there will be a DVD of the entire season soon and I will have to have that, too. RIP Wolf Lake. You never had a chance.

Terastas · Post by **Terastas** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 7:22 pm

Never saw it myself, but it sounds like a very familiar scenario; a unique concept, lots of hints droping but with a first season that spent more time introducing the concept than developing a plot and thus killed off in its first season before an actual plot could develop, just like so many other shows I used to love (Brimstone anyone?).

Scott Gardener · Post by **Scott Gardener** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 11:32 am

Wolf Lake has joined the ranks of The Phoenix, Manimal, Kindred: the Embraced, and a long list of other sci-fi / fantasy shows that ran less than half a season before getting the axe. Many of them never had a chance to get good or bad before getting creamed. Wolf Lake had potential. Sure it was slow, but Kindred was pokey the first few episodes, getting smited just as it started getting decent.

WolfVanZandt · Post by **WolfVanZandt** » Sat Mar 19, 2005 12:41 am

"Hey, somebody else remembers Manimal?" I say as I wipe drool off my chin from my toothless mouth and hobble off leaning heavily on my walking stick. "Fancy that," and I walk into a closet and shut the door behing me. "Hello? Is anybody out here?"

hwango · Post by **hwango** » Sat May 07, 2005 1:48 am

I gave Wolf Lake a try and found it somewhat painful to watch, particularly because of the awful, awful dialog. I tried to give it a chance, hoping that it would improve, but in the end I gave up even before it was canceled.

...also, I have incredibly vague memories of Manimal, since I was only 8 years old when it aired, but I do remember the show.

Howling Fan · Post by **Howling Fan** » Sat May 07, 2005 12:09 pm

Yes, I'm old enough to remember "Manimal." It was one of my favorite shows when I was kid--that and "The Incredible Hulk," for obvious reasons. I saw a few TF clips on the web recently, and considering that there was no CGI back then, and it was just cheesy '80s TV, I thought they did a pretty good job, i.e., skin bubbling, eyes changing color, nose pushing out into a muzzle, etc. The only thing that bothered me was the sound. Not only were there no sounds of him changing, but there was soft, easy-listening music playing in the background, for some reason, instead of something dramatic to emphasize the tension.

Scott Gardener · Post by **Scott Gardener** » Sun May 08, 2005 4:37 pm

Wolf Lake and Manimal both fell victim to the fate of a lot of great potential science fiction and fantasy shows--they aire for six episodes and then get axed because the network execs decide that the show isn't working, when in fact a good show usually takes a season or two before half its fans even start watching. Other examples of this fate include Kindred: the Embraced, The Phoenix, and, of course, Werewolf.

If net execs had that same mindset with The X Files, that show would never have made it. Indeed, they did kill off another show, The Lone Gunmen, which was a great X-Files spin-off.

Howling Fan · Post by **Howling Fan** » Mon May 09, 2005 3:09 pm

Scott Gardener wrote:If net execs had that same mindset with The X Files, that show would never have made it. Indeed, they did kill off another show, The Lone Gunmen, which was a great X-Files spin-off.

This is a little off topic, but I watched only the pilot of "The Lone Gunmen," and I'm surprised not many people mentioned this, but the plot of that particular show focused on a group of terrorists trying to fly a plane into the Twin Towers. Of course, this was years before 9/11, but I remember thinking that it was a good evil plot for a T.V. show. I even remember thinking about this episode a few days after the real 9/11, but no one seemed to mention it. Does anyone else remember this, or am I crazy?

Scott Gardener · Post by **Scott Gardener** » Mon May 09, 2005 11:22 pm

No, you didn't dream it. That's what the pilot episode was about. And it did aire BEFORE Nine-eleven.

spooky...

Ochiba · Post by **Ochiba** » Sun May 15, 2005 1:34 pm

Wow I had totally forgotten about this show! Of course, I watched it back then with no interest in werewolves but more as regular wolves. I don't remember much about it but now i'm hoping they'll put these out on DVD.

Scott Gardener · Post by **Scott Gardener** » Sun May 15, 2005 10:25 pm

Welcome to the club! (You got bit, too, huh?)

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Wolf Lake?

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The Lou Diamond Phillips gazing stare expression

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