Good start, but then it gets ruined

Good movie but grossly overrated

Admirable film.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

I watched the first two episodes on Direct TV's 101 network and they're showing the rest in case you didn't know. I felt all the same emotions people commented on here, even though its 9 years later. It really shows you it was a great show that held up over time and would have been big if it didn't get banned. I didn't think it was that controversial. I loved it and the characters and want to see what happens next.I volunteered in mental institutions twice and the people are more calm not shouting as much and not as uncontrollable as much as in the TV show, but thats not saying that all people with mental illness are like that, since the show is more about the extremes. Every episode of House has the strangest most unlikely illnesses possible, but no one points out how unrealistic it is. I thought the show was quite realistic.

and severe depression and an innumerable amount of anxieties and I was not offended by this series. Sorry. And you know what I attribute this to? The mere fact that I can differentiate between the functioning mentally ill and the non-functioning mentally ill. Yes, there are both, no matter what NAMI or any other extremist group wants us to think. There are places like Bellevue. They're called state hospitals. While I can't say whether Wonderland depicted them to a -t-, I will say that I did have family in one such state hospital for a brief time and yes, there are people who act in very extreme manners. You must remember that these are the extreme cases and more often than not they cannot simply be cured by a few days of hospitilization and therapy and a prescription or two. Sometimes it takes a lot more time to find the appropriate treatments, and sometimes they simply don't have the funding to take on a single patient's case that long. And that's why it's a vicious circle, why the same people may go in and out again and again. These such people in particular were the sum of who was portrayed on "Wonderland". They were not me. They were not the kind of people that NAMI claimed to be defending. They were chronic and "non-functional". Apparently NAMI doesn't want their stories told...Some people complained that a man was having a silly hallucination of a tiny rhino walking across the floor. They said that it was a silly stereotype, the mentally ill having hallucinations. Has anyone seen "A Beautiful Mind"? Why didn't anyone bitch about that? Probably because Ron Howard was given enough time to tell the whole story, to explain what fueled it. Unlike the ill-fated "Wonderland", which wasn't given enough time to tell that character's story. It was wildly misjudged and done a great disservice by getting stopped in its tracks. And for that, I think that NAMI shot itself in the foot. I don't think that isolating a whole segment of the mentally ill population, (no matter how big or small), is going to make their stories go away...or help us get any closer to understanding them.If they really wanted a sympathetic portrayal of the functioning mentally ill in the media, they should've just shut their mouths about this show and waited for it. Because you know it's only a matter of time since it's becoming more and more apparent how very many of us are walking around.This show was quality. I only saw 2 episodes and I feel cheated. I *loved* the Ted Levine character and wanted to know what happened with his kids. I wanted to know what happened to that woman's baby, how she dealt with her trauma and if she got back to work. While not a pleasant show to watch, it sure felt dirt real and rough. As it should have...I hope they release all the episodes on DVD someday.

Wonderland too good for television? I think not, guys. Here's the real reason why the network pulled the plug on this garbage: real mental patients, such as those represented by the National Alliance For The Mentally Ill, banded together and protested this show in such huge numbers that sponsors began pulling their advertising from the show en masse. The network had no choice but to cancel the show, lest it become entirely bereft of sponsors through the efforts of real mental patients who found this show grossly offensive.Now think about that: a show set in a mental hospital gets the thumbs down from mental patients, including myself. Puts all the positive comments given to this dreck in place, doesn't it?

When people would ask what I wanted to do for a living I used to have to explain what forensic psychology was and that it did not involve gathering hair at a crime scene. Now I can just tell them to watch this truly amazing show. After just two episodes I already find myself wondering if this could be the best show I've ever seen. Both episodes left me emotionally drained and wishing for much, much more.