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October 30, 2008 · 8:34 am

Facing the Fate of ‘Pushing Daisies’

October 30th, 2008

Last night may have been Pushing Daisies’ last stand. After weeks of dwindling ratings, dangerous for a show that ended its strike-shortened first season already down considerably from its original premiere, ABC made a decision (their hand forced by Obama’s decision not to buy airtime on the network) to air the season’s fifth episode up against the aforementioned Obama infomercial. On network television, your options are simple: Obama or Ned, Olive, Chuck and Emerson; the American Dream vs. a dream-like television series unlike anything else out there.

But until about 12pm EDT today, we won’t know for sure whether or not this matchup will kill or revive the struggling series; and while I’d like to say that there’s great potential for growth, at the same time numerous qualities lay doubt on such a strategy. At the same time, I think that calls for the show’s immediate cancellation seem premature by half: the show has been a success in at least some qualities thus far this season, and the show’s quality remaining high does count for something.

Whether it will be enough to govern the fate of the show, however, remains to be seen: in the meantime, let’s weight the upsides and downsides of the show’s current position.

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Tagged as ABC, Cancelation, Chuck, Eli Stone, Obama, Ratings, Save Pushing Daisies, Scheduling

October 29, 2008 · 9:41 pm

Pushing Daisies – “Dim Sum Lose Some”

“Dim Sum Lose Some”

October 29th, 2008

If there is a new mantra on Pushing Daisies, it seems quite simple: leave no character behind.

Excluding the Aunts, who have been absent for quite some time now likely in an effort to save money and focus the show on other issues, we’re seeing a lot more interaction between our four main characters. Ever since Olive’s last stand at the monastery, especially, the four have been intertwined into the mysteries in a way that the first season only really accomplished once, in “Bitches.” Perhaps it is no coincidence, then, that Simone, one of the four wives of the polygamist dog breeder returns in this episode to a similar dynamic, and a similarly strong episode.

Although the episode deals a bit with Ned’s past, and Emerson gets almost all of the great one-liners, it really is a group effort: when the episode evolves into an almost “Chuck”-like espionage scenario at the Dim Sum restaurant, the entire cast comes together in a comic scenario that just clicks. I wouldn’t contend that this is amongst the show’s best episodes, but it’s a definite sign that the creative resurgence that began the season is still going strong.

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