For two weeks back in the pre-DVR days of 2000, anyone flipping the channel to ABC during an ER commercial break might've been shocked by what they saw on a new show misleadingly entitled Wonderland: no cute doctors in love; no furrowed-browed surgeons trading jargon in an operating theater; no easy solutions to the medical emergency of the week. Instead, what they saw was one of the most uncompromising depictions of the brutal realities of the health-care system, specifically mental health, ever seen on broadcast television - not to mention powerful, nuanced performances from actors like Ted Levine, Michelle Forbes and Martin Donovan. In retrospect, it's less of a mystery why the show was yanked prematurely than it is how it made it on air in the first place.

Now audiences have a chance to see what they missed out on as all eight completed episodes of Wonderland air each Wednesday at 10PM ET on DirectTV's The 101 Network (with the big final episode premiering March 4). To mark the occasion, the show's creator, Peter Berg, chatted with us about the origins of the series, the real story about its abrupt end and more.

Tags: peter berg, wonderland