Sharon Tyler, Wonderfalls

Sharon Tyler (Katie Finneran)

On fantasy comedy-drama Wonderfalls, Sharon was lead character Jaye’s eldest sibling. She worked as an immigration lawyer and was the most ambitious member of the family. Sharon was a closeted lesbian but came out to Jaye in the first episode, who kept Sharon’s sexuality a secret from everyone else, particularly their parents.

Sharon was introduced to Beth in the first episode and the two become somewhat of an item. However, they shared little screen-time and their on-screen kissing and intimacy was either hidden behind furniture or off-screen. Sharon and Beth’s relationship was left on an ambiguous note in “Saftey Canary” (1×09) when Beth slept with her ex-husband, Thomas, right before she also had sex with Sharon. Beth was not seen in the series again.

DVD Extras

Fox cancelled the series after airing only the four first episodes but all 13 episodes were later released on DVD and also aired on LGBT-focused digital cable network Logo in the summer of 2005.

In the DVD commentary for “Safety Canary” the show’s creators, Todd Holland and Bryan Fuller, had intended the plot involving Sharon and Beth to continue on into a second season, had the show been picked up. In their storyline, because Beth had slept with Thomas directly before sleeping with Sharon, this would have resulted in an unplanned pregnancy for Sharon which Beth would have then needed to explain to everyone.

One of the planned storylines was that this “miracle pregnancy” would have solved one problem between Beth and her ex-husband, the fact that they couldn’t have children.

Appearances:

• 13 episodes.

Female love interests:

• Beth (Kari Matchett, bisexual, guest 3 episodes)

Relationship story arc with a woman: No

No male love interests

Relationship story arc with a man: No

Male love interest after being identified as a lesbian? No

Filter Relationship Arc:

• None

Storyline during sweeps? No

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.