Pushing Daisies

[bicker]

To add insult to injury, Bryan Fuller is being sent off to Siberia (i.e. Heroes, the most ineptly run show on television) in a vain attempt to try and fix that instead.

Just a note about timing: Bryan Fuller went back to Heroes after Pushing Daisies was canceled and filming on the last episode had wrapped.

 

[dementia412]

I have a habit of falling for shows that end up canceled. Arrested Developement and Brimstone for example.

As for how the writers strike and network hurt Daisies... they had very good viewership the first season, but the strike cut that season nearly in half. Then after the strike ended the network decided to wait an entire season to bring it back. I don't know of any other show that waited the season. Other shows came back to finish the season they were still in. Do you remember how inssanely long the period between season 1 and 2 were? That was bad judgement. To make matters worse, they had almost no advertisement for Daisies. Heck that was a problem from the begining. I almost didn't see it because I only saw one commercial for it (at the movies) and it made no sense.

I think this show would have done better on cable (even though I don't have cable), though I disagree that it is too high brow, my 8 y.o son who loves monkey farts adores Daisies.

Oh, and I love Ned/Chuck, but I always believed it was doomed and one day Olive would get her man. For all you Ned/Olive lovers check out "If you hadn't" on youtube. Emerson is my favorite character though.

 

[SomedayI'llBe]

To be fair, Pushing Daisies was very quirky, and that doesn't go over well with way too many viewers. It isn't clear to me that the writers' strike did anything other than give Pushing Daisies a second chance; without the writers' strike it seems likely to me that the show would not have been renewed at all.

I'm glad we're getting closure; hopefully ABC will schedule the three remaining episodes for January.

I'm also in the camp of believing the writer's strike killed the show. Because we got 9 episodes last season, and had to wait 6 months for new ones, the viewership significantly dropped. At it's height (it's premiere) it had 13.03 million viewers. By the end of the season it dropped to 6.85 million, though this was a record low- the previous week garnered 10.18 million. When it came back, it's numbers were in the 6 million range, and it's dropped to 4 million. I believe the strike is what killed those 4 million viewers.

I disagree that it is too high brow, my 8 y.o son who loves monkey farts adores Daisies.

Best quote about it's quirkiness. I've always been a fan of good dialogue- West Wing, especially. Pushing Daisies has it, and one of my favorite stars, Kristin Chenoweth. I think the past few episodes have been excellent, and I'm very sad just thinking that my Wednesday night love affair will be gone in a few short weeks.

 

[bicker]

Chuck, Private Practice and Life also premiered in Fall 2007 and didn't come back after the writers' strike, were renewed for Fall 2008, and are still on. Remember that the writers' strike was an extended strike, and by the time it was over, there was no way that the team was going to be able to write, produce, and then get to broadcast shows that required a significant amount of production, like Pushing Daisies. There simply wasn't enough time. If you need to blame someone, blame the writers who struck without regard for the shows that they perhaps would damage. It wouldn't matter though: Pushing Daisies just never had, or would have, the kind of audience that would sustain a television show, no matter how much we wish it did or would. Some shows actually didn't even get the second chance that Pushing Daisies did. But Pushing Daisies did get that chance, and was not able to perform well enough to survive.

 

[tennvalgirl]

You know how it is...
talented actors,
good writing,
sweet show,
it must be destroyed!

 

[Aunt Cawa]

You know how it is...
talented actors,
good writing,
sweet show,
it must be destroyed!

How true! I am really going to miss Pushing Daisies!

 

[maddiel]

Chuck, Private Practice and Life also premiered in Fall 2007 and didn't come back after the writers' strike, were renewed for Fall 2008, and are still on. Remember that the writers' strike was an extended strike, and by the time it was over, there was no way that the team was going to be able to write, produce, and then get to broadcast shows that required a significant amount of production, like Pushing Daisies. There simply wasn't enough time. If you need to blame someone, blame the writers who struck without regard for the shows that they perhaps would damage. It wouldn't matter though: Pushing Daisies just never had, or would have, the kind of audience that would sustain a television show, no matter how much we wish it did or would. Some shows actually didn't even get the second chance that Pushing Daisies did. But Pushing Daisies did get that chance, and was not able to perform well enough to survive.

I didn't watch Pushing Daisies last season - I wanted to but missed taping the first few episodes, so I waited and waited for them to be re-run, which they never were. I rented Season One when it came out on DVD and my DD15 and I were hooked.

I've never watched Chuck or Life, but I thought they were just barely hanging on too? And Private Practice is a spin off of Grey's Antomy - it has a huge population of people who recognize the main character and an it's built of relatively stand-alone plot episodes. You can follow an episode without following the series - Pushing Daisies is far more serial. It needs a different sort of promotion. Look at how they promote Lost - losts of recaps and re-airings to help viewers follow the plot (and not give up on the show.)

The strike PLUS the lack of decent, targeted marketing is what did Pushing Daisies in - not to mention a poor fit with the other shows in the Wednesday night line up.ABC needs to think more about what they are sellling and to whom.

M.

 

[debbieandroo]

Nah, I can do without the Ned/Chuck love subplot.

I'm probably one of the few Ned/Olive shippers out there.

I'm with you on that one - Chuck, meh but Olive? And Olive and Ned????

I do think the whole bring-back-Dad-from-being-dead-20+-years was a little macabre....not sure what else could be done about the plot.

And Chi McBride [sp?]? Definite Emmy contender - he's the funniest one of the bunch.

 

[Dancind]

Ah, my family loves this show. Or I guess it would be more accurate to say that we love Bryan Fuller. PD was in the second season before I realized that Bryan Fuller was also the guy behind Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls, both shows that we discovered after they were canceled and own on DVD. Apparently we are all in a minority of people that love that unique sense of humor.

The best thing about PD is that you can watch it several times, and laugh more each time. Since we are never all able to watch it at the same time, I find myself sitting down again when my DD or DH watches it. We own Season 1 on DVD, and will definitely buy Season 2 if it comes out.

Favorite is Olive, and I'm glad we will see Kristen in another show. She's a very funny lady. But I love all the actors on this show, and hope to see more of them. Particularly Lee Pace, what a cutie! And the Aunts! And Chi! I love Anna too, and wanted to see more of Ned's twin brothers. Sigh.

Show, you're breaking our hearts!

Wouldn't you know we also love Chuck and Eli Stone, which also seem not long for our TV. Chuck is very funny (in a completely different way), and Eli has the heart tugging thing down.

Just finished reading an article in this week's EW magazine about the second golden age of TV (the last 10 years) coming to an end. And they do mention the demise of PD.

A very PD movie you might want to rent: Penelope. I was thinking about the Piehole during the whole thing. It's very sweet and a little magical.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

Wow, glad to see there are more fans of the Chuck/Olive possibility! I just think Olive is adorable, she's cute and so funny, but not saccharine at all.

I have to say, though, my favorite character is Emerson Cod. He gets all the best lines/outfits/scenarios. Keeps the whole Ned/Chuck thing from getting too sappy. I think the weakest character by far is Chuck--I just don't find her that interesting.

 

[bicker]

I've never watched Chuck or Life, but I thought they were just barely hanging on too?

Chuck is firmly above the typical threshold for renewal for a third season, with an index of 0.91, according to TV by the Numbers. (They're 95% accurate.) Private Practice also has an index of 0.91. Life is in trouble, not much better off than Pushing Daisies, and unsurprisingly, Life is a quirky show, just like Pushing Daisies.

Folks can come up with another few reasons why their favorite show is wholly different from everything else, or the examples I'm providing are otherwise inapplicable, but short of running reality over again from the beginning, there will never be a perfect analogy. The point was that the writers' strike actually saved some shows, including Pushing Daisies, shows that, in normal years, would have been cancelled after just their first season, because they weren't popular enough for a second season. That is what the experts in the industry have been saying since the writers' strike ended; none of them are talking about the writers' strike as something that hurt the chances for the shows that actually were renewed. It is likely to have been responsible for the cancellation of shows that didn't get renewed for the second season (like Journeyman), but, logically, shows that were renewed (like Pushing Daisies) could have done no worse than if they had premiered this fall.

I loved Pushing Daisies. Unfortunately, it just isn't what goes over well with American viewers.

 

[Lanshark]

DH and I loved Pushing Daisies. The dialog was quick and clever.