A Look at the TV: Pushing Daisies

Kat and I can't wait until the new season of Pushing Daisies begins. We were lucky enough to see the pilot and cast panel at San Diego Comic-Con last year and have been fans ever since.

To get warmed up, we got the DVD set of Season 1. The episodes are charming, and we saw one and a half episodes we had missed the first time around. I'd strongly urge all the show's fans to buy the set; it is well worth the money.

My only complaint is that the extras, on the third disk, were not very generous. There was a bit of commentary--usually with Bryan Fuller (the show's creator) and Lee Pace (aka Ned the Pie Maker)-- and some illustration of how the show's team conceives the color palette, the different elements, and how various performers tackled tricky material. It's nice but I would have liked full commentary tracks, more from various actors, and so on.

Still, that's a pretty minor quibble. We're eager to see how Ned and Chuck resolve the cliffhanger/big reveal in the last episode, as well as what will move the story forward this season.

Stuff I Liked (Random)

Short post on Stuff I Liked 2007:

• PUSHING DAISIES- absolutely my favorite new show of the year. Incredible cast, excellent storytelling, quirky plots, this one has it all. I hope we'll eventually see the full season, especially since this left off with a very revealing, um, reveal.
• SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON- first time visiting the big show (known uncharitably among insiders and snobs as "geek prom") in about 11 years, it's vastly bigger than I remember. The convention is dominated by the presence of Hollywood just up the road, with more multimedia than you could see if you were the Multiple Man (hey, a comic reference!). Kat loved it and we owe a huge debt of thanks to John Nee for making it possible. (A close runner up: Baltimore Comicon)
• BUGLES PLANET DAILY- our funky little joke blog, it's been a lot of fun writing posts for it over the past several months. It's fallen dormant for the moment but it's only temporary.

I have a few more but... gotta run! Back soon with more.

In other TV news...

Lest you think I don't watch anything but a certain Monday night show...

• PUSHING DAISIES continues to bring something awesome to Wednesday nights. I was almost certain that Ned would never spill the beans about killing Chuck's dad (accidentally)... but he did, and the next episode seems to be about dealing with those consequences. Poor Ned. Still, the show is perhaps the most romantic thing on TV these days, and who can't love that?
• Loving FAMILY GUY and AMERICAN DAD, though I feel I can't watch them now that Seth MacFarlane is on the picket line. I know at least one ep of FG was completed without his input; that's sort of like watching a PEANUTS special knowing that Charles Schulz was boycotting King Features and CBS.
• ROBOT CHICKEN is always great. Their "Half-Assed Christmas Special" airs Sunday night. Seth Green continues to dismay me with the depth of his talent... dammit.
• BEAUTY AND THE GEEK was fun this season, but we missed the live finale. Will have to catch it on a repeat.
• Ditto REAPER. We like Missy Peregrym a lot on this show but wish they'd let her play Candice when they killed her on HEROES. If it was only a cameo, why not? Sheesh.
• CHUCK is a hoot, and this last episode introduced a danger that was really implied from the beginning but never stated outright--and Adam Baldwin continues to be incredible. My wife and I also think Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski are terrific; they have great chemistry and make these two entirely believable.
• NBC's Thursday night lineup is pretty much in repeats now, right? Still, we've loved 30 ROCK especially this year, and are still on board with THE OFFICE, SCRUBS and MY NAME IS EARL (wait, okay, Earl isn't a repeat this week--so watch it!)
• Can't think of anything we're watching on Friday or Saturday nights lately...

And there you have it, folks. The TV season, already chopped short, is almost done. We'll probably keep an eye on AMERICAN GLADIATORS (which was my "guilty pleasure" viewing when I was a bit younger), but besides that...? Not much I can think of. If anything, it'll be a chance to get some writing done without feeling like I'm missing anything worth watching.

Is Pushing Daisies Too Good?

Last week, my wife and I were catching up on Pushing Daisies (having gotten home after it's 8pm start time). She looked at me and said, "It's too good."

I know just what she means.

From time to time, a show will come along that is charming, witty and well-cast. That show often doesn't survive more than a few episodes. Why? Let's look at a few:

• Profit (1996)- a brilliant, darkly humorous show in the rapacious '90s, featuring a young and rather wolfish Adrian Pasdar in the title role. It was way ahead of its time, with themes and elements that are almost standards now--a psychopathic-but-sympathetic lead character, vicious backstabbing under hearty camaraderie, and a driving "who's going to stop this guy?" question hanging over the whole thing. What killed it off? It was AHEAD OF ITS TIME. Maybe the viewing public wasn't ready for a prime-time character that dark--but it paved the way for a lot of what HBO and Showtime have done in the last decade.
• Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974)- the show that blazed trails for an awful lot of others (including The X-Files), Night Stalker was largely "monster of the week" TV viewing but the show carried off what might have been trite or conventional with flair. Darren McGavin was Karl Kolchak, a shabby and fallen-from-grace reporter in an old suit, straw boater hat and sneakers, whose disreputable publication only ensures his incredible adventures are dismissed. Kolchak is no fighter; however, he is heroic in his single-minded pursuit of the truth, wherever it leads. What killed it off? McGavin claims credit, saying he was tired of doing the same kind of story over and over again, but it's equally possible that the "thrill of the new" had worn off in the show's first season. Without anything larger--shows have figured out how to do "meta-plotting" in the decades since--perhaps people felt Kolchak's adventures added up to not very much. Still... I defy anyone to watch those old episodes and not feel a shiver or two.

Okay, that's the two that struck me. Do you have any examples? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

In the meantime... do I expect "Daisies" to go off the air? No, not really. It's a terrific show, lots of fun and (most importantly) has a time slot that isn't the kiss of death. Put up against the heavyweights of the TV schedule and it might wither beyond even Ned's power to revive it, but as it is--I think the Pie Hole will be open for business for some time to come.

UPDATE- Yay! ABC has given a full-season order to Pushing Daisies, from 13 to 22 episodes. Read about it here.

The TV Season Thus Far

Okay, it's coming up on November (aka Nielsen or "sweeps" month), so where do we stand on what's out there now?

• HEROES got off to a slow start--my wife in particular didn't feel engaged in the storylines-- but the last installment kicked it into overdrive; the "last generation" of heroes looks like it will be a goldmine
• PUSHING DAISIES just keeps getting better and better; Lee Pace, Anna Friel, Chi McBride and Kristin Chenoweth are the new Fantastic Four
• BIONIC WOMAN? Haven't seen it, don't have much interest in seeing it. Gives me a faux-Alias vibe which is about as fresh as "the Y2K bug"
• CHUCK-- oddly enjoyable, with Zachary Levi showing range (and likeability) I wouldn't have suspected from his stint on LESS THAN PERFECT
• MY NAME IS EARL is doing very well, considering the lead character's been in prison this season and shows little sign of getting out soon-- btw, did you know Wikipedia has an entry for Earl's list?
• 30 ROCK is the best show not enough people are watching-- my wife and I are absolutely hooked on the byplay between Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin
• THE OFFICE is doing well but I have some doubts if the show will stay "up there" now that the Jim & Pam thing has jelled (unlike in the British original, where that was pretty much the end of the series); we're definitely watching, though
• THE SIMPSONS-- eh
• FAMILY GUY/AMERICAN DAD!-- maybe I'm hopelessly middlebrow in my choice of viewing, but I really like these shows; I think they've been doing great and are only getting better (side note: we saw the AD panel at San Diego and were BLOWN AWAY--Scott Grimes [Steve] is a riot and Seth MacFarlane does the best Patrick Stewart impression I've ever heard)
• ROBOT CHICKEN-- cost of action figures: immense, per episode; value of entertainment (especially the Star Wars bits): priceless. As if Seth Green weren't talented enough...
• BEAUTY AND THE GEEK-- my wife and I know Will (who was eliminated with Rebecca last week) and were watching largely to see him, but we're kinda/sorta sticking with it if we're home Tuesday nights. We don't have any vested interest in anyone winning or losing at this point, so it's just more about seeing the spectacle.

So there you go. Write in if you agree, disagree or just want to talk TV.

Pushing Daisies-- another plug!

Hey everyone!
Just a reminder: keep an eye out for Pushing Daisies. Kat and I have told EVERYONE in DC about the show, which we hope will boost ratings by word of mouth into the stratosphere. Loved the show, hope it lasts for many years.
Not much going on right now, but we're off to NJ this weekend for Beth's birthday party. (She's having her birthday the week of MY birthday... go figure.)
Anyway, take care of yourselves and stay cool!

Look at our Pushing Daisies panel photos here; Kat took some nice shots!

Comic-Con!

Hey gang!
Kat and I went to Comic-Con and yes, we have pictures. I'll upload them this weekend, I promise! But here are some highlights:

• had a hotel room that was absolutely beautiful, courtesy of a good friend;
• caught up with a bunch of old WildStorm colleagues over the weekend, which was absolutely great;
• American Dad panel was awesome!
• ditto the Cartoon Voices panel--Maurice LeMarche and Jess Harnell are still my heroes;
• if there is any justice, Pushing Daisies will be the big hit of the '07-'08 TV season-- and Kristin Chenoweth is one funny lady (look for YouTube footage of their panel!);
• Kat and I hung out Sunday afternoon with Mike Carey, comic book writer extraordinaire and hardest working man in comics;
• got pictures of the Mach 5, Batmobile and Tony Stark's car;
• saw Rosario Dawson out in San Diego and said hi and good luck with her comic book (she said "thanks!");
• got a glimpse of the crated-up Iron Man armor Mk 1 at the Marvel booth;
• got a look at some upcoming Justice League Unlimited toys from Mattel;
• generally suffered the battering and abuse that comes with struggling through about 100k others, all generally interested in the same things I am;
• and so on.

There's a LOT I'm forgetting but will occur to me later, so keep an eye on this space!