Friday, November 21, 2008

Pushing Daisies Canceled

Sounds like even Young Ned has his life-restoring limits - Entertainment Weekly announced yesterday that ABC will order no more episodes of its BEST show, Pushing Daisies. While production will complete on all 13 episodes, the article says they may NOT be aired due to failing ratings.

This is the most depressing TV news since Friends decided to call it quits ... the time that it actually did.

Freshman series Eli Stone and sophomore Dirty Sexy Money also took the hit at ABC - but they deserved it. At the very least Dirty Sexy Money, which was neither innovative or different from myriad other self-promotion-esque shows.

Pushing Daisies is my favorite show on TV now. The costumes, the sets, the story-lines, the effects, they're all so graphic, so unusual, such a positive departure from other TV shows today. Voice-over-narration done RIGHT, quirky scenarios, dark humor, subversive commentaries on acceptable social norms and performances such as our treatment toward death/funerals, comfort food and sexual relationships. This show was evolution. I guess I forget the US has a problem with such change.

Simply put, there is nothing on TV as good as Pushing Daisies.

Everyday I'm starting to believe more and more in John Stuart Mill's description of the tyranny of the majority - how democracy is flawed because the majority is not always right.

To illustrate the point, in the past month there have been a few shining examples: the passing of Proposition 8, California's revocation of same-sex marriages, TV's insistence that Paris Hilton's broken relationship with some dude named Benji is actually interesting news, the strange success of Perez Hilton and the cancelation of MadTV.

To drive the knife in even further, ABC announced that it IS keeping Private Practice, a considerably WORSE SHOW, bumping it up to a more competitive spot on Thursday nights. Private Practice is good for only one thing - Taye Diggs - and even he is overshadowed by some over-bearing woman a trite TV relationship scenario that should have died with disco.

Remaining as impartial as possible, I can name several inferior, uninnovative shows that should have kicked the can long before Pushing Daisies: Private Practice, The Bachelor, Brothers & Sisters, According to Jim, Dancing with the Stars, Super Nanny, Scrubs to name a few on ABC - and although I hope they don't cancel them, Pushing Daisies IS better than Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy.

On other networks there are shows I do like and are doing swimingly that are not nearly as good as Pushing Daisies: Heroes, True Blood, Dexter, and Kath & Kim.

Pushing Daisies was a star in an otherwise blasé American TV line-up that is supposedly in its platinum period. Color me disappointed in ABC, call me sad about the future of TV, and think of me unhappy with the people of California and TV watchers everywhere.

Because of you, even Young Ned can't save our stinking TV souls.

2 comments:

judycolby said...

Just wanted to say HI. Been waiting for you to post something!
Sorry, I've never watched the shows you talk about.
You can always come to my blog and read about our continuing medical drama.

Jim Longs Garden said...

I agree that Pushing Daisies was one of the best shows on tv. BUT, not better than Desperate Housewives. No no no. Think back to all those scenes of the lawnboy, from the back, falling out the window naked, running down the street, boxered. While I agree totally about Pushing, the color, the plots, the breath of fresh air it brought, it just didn't have enough intriguing skin to hold the audience. It will be greatly missed. And MadTV going, too? No, tell me it's not true.