Review for Wilfred Season 1

America do not have a great history with adapting TV shows. II'm sure everyone knows the story about how they once tried to create their own version of Fawlty Towers... without Basil Fawlty? The failed Red Dwarf, Men Behaving Badly, One Foot in the Grave starring Bill Cosby?

So when I heard that they were adapting the hilarious Australian show Wilfred I had no hopes. But funnily enough it has worked. The reason? Because they kept the creative team together in making the show and also the main character of Wilfred played by Jason Gann.

For those of you who have just watched the American remake you may not have been able to witness the sheer wonder that was the australian original of which it is based. Now you can and you will thank me for recommending it to you.

Wilfred is a show about Adam (Adam Zwar) who is a seemingly ordinary guy, upon meeting Sarah (Cindy Waddingham) he thinks that he has found the one. The most gorgeous girl in the world. Perfect! That is until he meets her dog, Wilfred. Wilfred is a potsmoking, beer drinking prankster whose sole purpose it seems is to get Adam into trouble or himself, though no one would ever blame Wilfred, because he's a dog, right?

The show works because you have to question everything. Is Adam insane and genuinely mad that he sees Wilfred as a man in a dog costume. Or is Wilfred really just a dog? It's complex and the more you think about it the cleverer the show becomes. It is almost like the paradox about whether anyone can hear Stewie when he speaks in Family Guy.

The first season consists of eight episodes all of which are as funny as the next one. Most of the shows involve Adam's attempts to woo Sarah and Wilfred's jealous attempts to thwart this. It's a simple story and one that works even better when one of them is a dog... oddly enough. As the show progresses you almost forget that Gann is in a dogsuit and this makes the show even better. The jokes come thick and fast and although you could argue about the morality of the drug use, when it is this funny you can't help but enjoy it.

The DVD includes a behind the scenes features, outtakes and bloopers which are hilarious and trailers. I'm sad that there were no commentaries, or at least one on the first episode. And the lack of the original short film the show is based on feels a bit of a let down, but maybe this is juts me being greedy.

Wilfred is one of the funniest shows that I have seen in a long time and one of the few times when the remake is almost as good as the original. I feel that my heart belongs to the original though as it feels more real. So next time you talk to you dog you'll wonder how cool it would be if they would answer back... or maybe not.