Posted May 28th 2009 9:37AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Casting, Pushing Daisies, Reality-Free
I know it's only May and hardly the time to start thinking of egg nog and holly and Ebenezer Scrooge or any of the other Christmas standbys, but forgive me if I let out a whoop of happiness about the news that
Kristin Chenoweth will star in The Twelve Men of Christmas TV movie. The romantic comedy is slated to be part of the Fa La La La La Lifetime lineup (try saying that three times fast!), and while another holiday film doesn't usually make me gleeful, this one does.
Kristin Chenoweth is a gem. I'm still bereft that we'll probably never see her Olive Snook again because
Pushing Daisies is gone unless there's a movie, and I was tiffed that the David E. Kelly NBC pilot
Legally Mad was not picked up only because La Chenoweth was in it.
Continue reading Christmas with Kristin Chenoweth
Posted Apr 9th 2009 11:03AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Programming, Pushing Daisies, Reality-Free
ABC announced their summer schedule, complete with returning reality "favorites" and some new shows, but honestly, who cares about all that?! What matters is that three of my favorite sophomore shows that were killed too soon are all scheduled to make their triumphant (?) returns to ABC this summer,
as promised.
Yes, I'm talking about
Pushing Daisies,
Eli Stone and
Dirty Sexy Money. Apparently, ABC has decided that the Saturday 10pm/9pm Central timeslot is the perfect place to air the remaining episodes of each series, one after the other. After all, it is the dead zone of television, so what do they have to lose?
Continue reading ABC schedules the last episodes of Eli Stone, Daisies and DSM for this summer
Posted Mar 13th 2009 10:02AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Law and Order, Grey's Anatomy, The Office, 30 Rock, Pushing Daisies, Reality-Free, Gossip Girl, TV Squad Ten
There's a reason why when you watch
The Mentalist, there are always subtle close ups of
Simon Baker's eyes or of his mouth when he's talking. The producers know he's hot and they know women are watching. Between him, the cast of
Friday Night Lights, and a whole other
list of DILF's, there's a lot of male eye-candy on TV right now. But what about the women? Of course television is filled with hot chicks, but who do other women like to watch?
There are certain female characters who, when you watch them, you just want to hang out with. Either you think she'd be a good friend, or exciting to have around, or maybe you just kind of want to
be her. This, my friends, is a Girl Crush. Here is my list of Top Ten TV Girl Crushes.
Continue reading TV Squad Ten: Girl Crushes
Posted Feb 27th 2009 2:55PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Pushing Daisies, Reality-Free, TV Squad Ten
When TV shows have made the leap to the big screen, the results have not always been great, except when they keep the same cast and come up with a good story that builds on the series, like
Sex and the City and
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. The same is true of some TV movies that have built on a show's lingering appeal even after it's been canceled. James Garner came back for a couple of
Rockford Files movies, for instance, and
The Return of The Man from UNCLE with David McCallum and Robert Vaughn was excellent. Of course, it doesn't always work -- the Rhoda and Mary reunion was painful to watch -- but I'm still a fan of the follow-up TV movie.
Here's my ideas for ten TV shows I'd like to see as TV movies.
Continue reading TV Squad Ten: Shows I'd like to see come back as a TV movie - VIDEOS
Posted Jan 16th 2009 7:03PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Cancellations, Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Reality-Free
I should point out that when I say "coming back this summer" in the headline I mean that
ABC is bringing them back to burn off the remaining episodes that haven't aired yet. That's right, six months from now is the earliest you'll see any of these shows return. They could even come back later.
Pushing Daisies has three episodes left, while
Eli Stone and
Dirty Sexy Money each have four. Fans of these shows might not like this, but the truth is, the shows that have been in the time slots for these shows have actually done better in the ratings.
Continue reading Eli Stone, Pushing Daisies, and Dirty Sexy Money coming back this summer
Posted Jan 14th 2009 2:03PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Pushing Daisies, Reality-Free
I don't know about you, but when creator Bryan Fuller talked about concluding all the story threads from
Pushing Daisies as a comic book, I was less than enthused. Now, however, I've got renewed hope.
No, ABC is not even mentioning bringing
Daisies back. They're not even committing to broadcasting the last few episodes. But
Kristin Chenoweth thinks Pushing Daisies might be a movie. That's right, the show could/would/should be wrapped up as a movie in her estimation.
Continue reading Could Pushing Daisies wind up as a movie?
Posted Jan 9th 2009 7:06PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Casting, Pushing Daisies, Reality-Free
It looks like Bryan Fuller feels bad for the cast of
Pushing Daisies, so now that he's returning to
Heroes later this year, he's decided to start bringing them with him. First up,
Swoosie Kurtz will be appearing in an episode in April written by Fuller himself. No word on whether the eye patch will be joining her. Considering the generational dynamic established on the show, Kurtz is a great casting choice. Her role will be that of an old society friend of Angela Petrelli. There's already a similarity to Kurtz' character on
Daisies and the way Cristine Rose plays Ma Petrelli.
While casting isn't usually a huge deal by itself, with the way
Heroes has been received this past year, any move on the beleaguered show is being scrutinized. People are cautiously optimistic that Fuller can reinvigorate the show, though why those people weren't watching
Daisies if they loved him so much I'll never know. And with a cast as huge as this, any addition is also scrutinized. Of course, for now this is a one-episode appearance, but Fuller has indicated it's being written in such a way that she could return.
Continue reading Swoosie Kurtz is Pushing her way into a guest spot on Heroes
Posted Jan 7th 2009 4:30PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, Cancellations, Pushing Daisies, Reality-Free
For those of you who were expecting to turn on ABC tonight at 8pm and watch one of the last new episodes of
Pushing Daisies, don't bother.*
Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello reports that a new episode of
Pushing Daisies was indeed supposed to air tonight, but that ABC "pulled it at the last minute." Instead, they're repeating the two episodes of
Scrubs that ran ... last night.
Creator and producer Bryan Fuller (now
back on Heroes) says the remaining episodes "are not on the schedule right now ... and that's all we know." I guess there's a chance that all or some of the remaining episodes could be shown later, but there's probably an even better chance you'll have to watch them online or in the
Pushing Daisies: The Complete Second Season DVD.
*Unless, of course, you love ABC no matter what and want to watch what they do have on tonight: a special
20/20 at 9 and then Barbara Walters' interview with Patrick Swayze.
Posted Dec 19th 2008 1:01PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Stargate, Festivus, Cancellations, Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, Reality-Free
... five canceled shows.
Some shows, like critical darlings
The Shield and
Battlestar Galactica, are allowed to end gracefully; major story arcs are wrapped up and fans are left satisfied. Others are yanked from network schedules like unsightly weeds from a rose garden.
The networks yanked a number of shows off the air this season. Most of them, like
The Ex List, probably deserved the axe, but there were four that deserved more time to develop an audience and one that I'm really gonna miss. In no particular order, they are:
Continue reading On the 5th day of Festivus, TV gave to me...
Posted Dec 19th 2008 12:35PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Casting, Pushing Daisies, Reality-Free
She's been Glinda, the Good Witch (
Wicked) and Olive Snook, the itty-bitty, lovable waitress (
Pushing Daisies), comic strip cutie Sally Brown (
You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown), a PR pro on
The West Wing, and now she's going to be Skippy Pylon. Skippy the lawyer, and she's heading to the courtroom.
Kristin Chenoweth will star in Legally Mad, a new drama series for creator David E. Kelly for NBC. This is by far the smartest, best news out of NBC in months. (Could Jeff Zucker be reading TV Squad? Have we gotten under his skin?)
You can't see me but I'm doing the dance of joy and happiness about this casting. I have been in the dumps over
Pushing Daisies not being picked up by ABC. The network hasn't even said whether it will air the last episodes, and
Kristin Chenoweth has been the one star out there who's really expressed her disappointment that the show has come to an end. Therefore, I'm extremely glad for her that ABC's loss will be NBC's gain.
Continue reading Kristen Chenoweth is now Legally Mad - VIDEO
Posted Dec 19th 2008 11:03AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Industry, Programming, OpEd, Festivus, Cancellations, Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Reality-Free
As we do every year, we here at
TV Squad are reminiscing on the top TV news stories of the year. What has 2008 brought us? Well, while we were all complaining about the lack of quality shows that debuted this season, we may have missed the second-year shows going right down the crapper.
Let's start over at ABC. Three very promising shows premiered last season --
Dirty Sexy Money,
Eli Stone, and
Pushing Daisies -- to praise from the critics and buzz from the viewers.
Dirty Sexy Money, with the cast that could be someone's fantasy cast, started off strong. There was a mystery, unique and complex characters, and some integrity. With the writer's strike went the integrity and the ratings, and recently, we got the news that
no more episodes of Dirty Sexy Money would be ordered.
Continue reading Top TV Stories of 2008: Second-year shows go down the toilet
Posted Dec 18th 2008 9:01AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Pushing Daisies, Reality-Free
(S02E10) "Chuck's father is alive?" - OliveI'm sad. Even if, contrary to
what I reported a few weeks back,
Pushing Daisies' final episode ever - episode 2.13 - will offer some closure to most characters thanks to last minute editing and retooling, I'm sad as "The Norwegians" could very well have been the last episode we will see of the series on a TV screen. ABC claims it plans to air the final three hours as a block sometime in the near future but fans know networks can change their mind rather quickly, especially when money talks. Will ABC live up to its promise? Will they put the episodes online? Or, worse, will we have to wait months and months to watch them on DVD?
No matter the answers to these questions, we should cherish "The Norwegians" as we don't know when we will see our favorite pie maker and his crew next. One thing is for sure, the episode gave us a lot of action and left us saying "WTF?" and "OMG!"
Continue reading Pushing Daisies: The Norwegians
Posted Dec 11th 2008 12:08PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Pushing Daisies, Reality-Free
(S02E09) "We're so together electrons couldn't get between us." - Chuck to Ned on the roofIs it all right for me to say right up front that I don't like Charles Charles? Bear in mind, I'm not one of the "I want Ned and Chuck to wind up together" crowd. I'm with Olive; I want Ned to realize that Olive is the girl for him, but I digress.
The point remains that my blood was really boiling as I watched Mr. Charles threatening Ned, warning him to never see Chuck again, and even going after Ned physically -- with a broom! For a dead guy, the swaddled Mr. Charles sure is a pushy S.O.B.
Continue reading Pushing Daisies: The Legend of Merle McQuoddy
Posted Dec 5th 2008 2:09PM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Watercooler Talk, Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, Reality-Free
I want to talk to you about a grass roots campaign to save Eli Stone. You see, I had this idea where fans of the program would send George Michael paraphernalia - CDs, MP3s, T-Shirts, programs, videos - to the executive mugwumps over at ABC in order to express their frustration that they were not picking up the back nine episodes of the series. It would have been similar in scope to the Great Peanut Campaign of 2007 that ending up (temporarily) saving Jericho.
Then I got to thinking, which is always a bad sign. While a campaign such as this could result in programming executives opening their minds for just a minuscule amount of time to the possibilities of continuin the series, I'm not too sure it would be worth it. Not 'worth' in the terms that the campaign would fall on the deaf ears of the tailor-suited wonks. I'm talking about 'worth' in what it would cost the fans of the show to get the materials and ship them out to send a message. We are in a recession, after all.
Continue reading The grass roots costs of saving a television show
Posted Dec 5th 2008 1:17PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Cancellations, Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Reality-Free
One of the worst words to hear for a devoted TV fan is the word "
cancellation." Just having to type it makes me cringe. Hearing this word a year in advance allows fans, cast and crew to prepare and usually means that we will get a satisfying ending (I say usually because, let's face it, not everyone was satisfied with
the Seinfeld gang ending up in prison or with the
black screen at the end of The Sopranos... then again, can we satisfy all fans?).
What makes the "word that shall not be typed again in this post" so scary is when it is said after a series wrapped up its current episode order or when it is said almost a mere minute before said episode order is completed. When this happens, it usually means that the shows will not have the money/time/leisure to go back to the drawing board and rework what will now be known as their series finale.
When ABC announced that
Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone and
Pushing Daisies were
canc... not renewed, a lot of fans frantically searched the web to know if production had wrapped up in order to find out if there was hope for some closure. Well, my fellow TV fans, I come with answers:
DSM and
Eli finales will offer some closure while
Daisies will end with a few cliffhangers!
Slight spoilers coming up!Continue reading Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone fans to get closure; Daisies viewers won't
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