Great TV While You’re High: Wilfred

Wilfred is my personal addition to an on-going segment here at Weedist discussing great TV to watch while medicated (or, in laymen’s terms): “Great TV to Watch While You’re High.”

Wilfred is a comedy (ish) that just wrapped-up its second season on FX last month. Based on the Australian version of the same show (both of which star co-creator and writer Jason Gann as eponymous talking dog) and staring Elijah Wood, this show is great on many different levels. A good friend of mine described it best when he said that it is ‘the kind of show that makes you think things that you just wouldn’t have thought about otherwise.’

Video: Explaining Wilfred

In the first episode of the series, Elijah Wood is a twenty-something living in Los Angeles, and in the process of committing suicide. After staying up all night, wondering why the drug cocktail he took hasn’t killed him yet, he is startled by a knock on his door from the cute next door neighbor that he never had the balls to talk to; she comes to ask if he wouldn’t mind watching her dog Wilfred while she attends to an emergency.

Wilfred is addressed as, and seen by the rest of the characters, as just a normal dog. To Elijah Wood’s character Ryan, however, Wilfred is an Australian guy in his mid-20s who smokes pot, convinces him to do things he doesn’t want to, and is a general pain in the ass. Wilfred is that friend that you just can’t get off your back; usually right about things you don’t want to admit to yourself, and generally there to tell you what a pussy you’re being. To quote Jason Gann, “Wilfred is part labrador and part Russell Crowe on a bender.” The rest of the show is about the (mis) adventures of Ryan and Wilfred, as Ryan tries to be a ‘normal human being’ and get a job, maintain relationships, and generally be happy, while Wilfred seems bent on doing everything he can to prevent that from happening.

Wilfred as a character is often stuck with still being a dog, despite the ability to speak, smoke pot and cigarettes, and concoct diabolical schemes that ruin Ryan’s life. Played to comic effect, it honestly makes Seth McFarlane’s latest project Ted seem unoriginal by comparison. With much the same set up (talking companion acting as a crutch for a slacker man to actually get his shit together), Wilfred is able to delve into some much more real (and ultimately more funny) things, and get into some fairly heavy topics. Ryan’s sanity is questioned throughout the show, and his life is pretty dark; the dark side of comedy is always the writer’s first instinct, and the balances between that and general dog-related antics creates a truly hilarious show.

For stoner-specific humor, the well is deep. Early on in the series, Wilfred talks Ryan into getting his MMJ license; we see him come out of a dispensary, smiling and with the papers in his hand as he says. “I can’t believe how easy that was.” Trips to the dispensary occur a few times throughout the show and weed is related to a good number of jokes and occurrences. A notable scene comes later on in the second season, where a major part of the plot revolves around Wilfred dosing Ryan with some ayahuasca plant they buy from the budtender at the dispensary, who tells him how great his trip in South America was.

There’s nothing like sitting back and laughing uncontrollably after smoking a bowl, and Wilfred is definitely a great show for it.

Check out other posts from Weedist’s Great TV While High series!