Pushing Daisies

Heads up, PD fans!

Kristin Chenoweth will be on Ellen Degeneres’ show on Tuesday, October 21st. Don’t miss it!

This interview of Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene is so candid. The two speak of their roles as sisters Lily and Vivian and how much they treat each other as real-life sisters.

Excerpts from the interview at Deseret News:

They almost finish each other’s sentences. They interject and take over stories in midstream, passing the narrative back and forth.

“I do set her up for a lot of jokes. She’s very funny,” Greene said.

“I treat her, in real life — I’m sorry to say — exactly the way Lily treats Vivian,” Kurtz said. “‘Ellen, we’re going now! Come on!”‘

Among the many, many quirks on “Pushing Daisies” is that Lily wears on eyepatch. (She lost her eye in a cat-litter accident in the first episode. Really.) And the eyepatches that Kurtz wears really do make her unable to see out of her right eye.

“The minute I put it on it’s very dicey walking around the cables (on the set) and everything. I have to be really careful, especially in heels,” Kurtz said. “She has no depth perception. She’s blind,” said Green, who helps her navigate. They quickly fell into a pattern of Green being on Kurtz’s left — her “sighted” side. “It was a very natural thing,” Greene said.

As a matter of fact, without even thinking about it, Greene was sitting on Kurtz’s left when they took questions from TV critics wandering about the “Pushing Daisies” set. And Kurtz was not in costume. “That’s funny,” Kurtz said with a laugh. “We do do stuff like that that’s odd,” Greene said. “Like when we were walking, I said, ‘She has to be on the other side because I’m comfortable with her on that side. And sometimes we do things at the same time, from our synchronized swimming days. Even though we never really had them,” Kurtz said. “We’ll raise our hands at the same time or move at the same time.”

“Ellen’s very method. She takes it with her. And she was concerned that if we maybe had a fight coming up, how would that be with us on the set,” Kurtz said. “I’ve worked with some actresses who start behaving like their characters,” Greene said. “I pretty much don’t. Although, if it’s a sad scene, it is sad on the set around me. I just stay in the same place.”

The full three page story is here.

Media Blvd recently sat down with the two leads of Pushing Daisies and had a very long interview with them. I picked this to highlight taking note of the fact that David Arquette appears in next Wednesday’s episode and this little story was funny —

• MediaBlvd> What’s your favorite Pie Hole pie?
• Anna> I always ask for apple because I’m a traditional type of girl.
• Lee> I like apple. In the script, there is a lot of talk about rhubarb custard, and that sounds good.
• Anna> Lee put a testicle in my trailer.
• Lee> It was not a human testicle. David Arquette was our guest star, and he comes to make meat pies, so he brings all these awful innards to make these pies. So, before Anna got to work, I took one of the bull testicles and put it in her trailer.
• Anna> And, I have a really weak stomach, so I was on the set, retching.

The complete interview is here.

Pushing Daisies gained some 500,000 viewers last night but didn’t have enough numbers in its key demographic. This site is giving it an orange status for the season, meaning, it is in danger of cancellation. Scrubs, the TV series from NBC which has moved its final season to ABC, is scheduled to air next year but there are unconfirmed reports it’s going earlier, and possibly taking one of the low performing time slots on the Alphabet channel.

What does this mean for Pushing Daisies? Is Scrubs taking over?

Anyway, Wednesday Night’s ratings …

8.00 Block

NLCS Game 5 Fox 7.74 M
New Adventures Of Old Christine CBS 7.74 M
Gary Unmarried CBS 7.71 M
Knight Rider NBC 7.65 M
Pushing Daisies ABC 6.29 M
America’s Next Top Model The CW 3.18 M

9.00 Block

Debate NBC 10.34 M
Debate ABC 9.66 M
Debate CBS 8.91 M
NLCS Game 5 Fox 6.83 M
90210 (Repeat) The CW 1.70 M

10.00 Block

- Debates and after-debate analysis -

I knew that an Olive-centric story would be something worth my time. I am hoping this is the episode that finally wins the viewers back. We should be so lucky as to have witnessed how talented Kristin Chenoweth is.

In case you didn’t watch last night’s show — you have missed a real class act! A lot of things really worked for this episode, and dare I say it is mostly thanks to her. In fact, Bad Habits may just be one of my favorites.

First, let’s talk about the disguises (we’ll get to Olive later) — To get to the secluded convent where Olive witnessed how one of the nuns died, Emerson, Ned and Chuck have to come disguised as holy servants from the Vatican Police. Father Dowling (Emerson), Father Mulcahey (Ned) and Sister Christian (Chuck), the “part-time Italians”? That scene had me laughing really hard.

Ned felt really uncomfortable waking up the dead in the presence of Mary and Jesus statuettes. I love the exchange between him and Emerson who reminded Ned — “It’s not like he never done it before. Lazarus and all that.”

Sleuthing for more clues, the two end up in secret wall, revealing a restaurant’s kitchen where they meet Sister LaRue’s contact from the outside. She has been bringing contrabands in exchange for favors. Sister LaRue was working on a top secret project she intended to make lots of money from. Mo Collins was a riot as Sister LaRue, the nun in seclusion who wasn’t really keeping all her vows intact. And she had such a foul mouth for a dead body. Drowning her expletives and outbursts with the sound of church bells was classically funny!

And then there’s Olive Snook —

Loved how she came to hire Emerson to check the case. These two bantering really leave me with my eyes wide open and with a smile in my mouth.

Loved her tender moments with Pigby. Digby will have a new friend!

Loved her confrontation/closure with Ned (touching!) and loved how she revealed Lily’s big secret to him, without really breaking any promises. (They did something like that game Charades, only a lot more fun to watch!)

Loved her concern for Chuck. Loved that they finally came to a closure, too. She said she was never really angry at her and they both were each others’ sisters. And now that Olive has expressed to come back to the Pie Hole (YAY!) will Chuck and her become roomies?

The final scene with Ned telling Chuck the true nature of her family history was also touching. Now that she knows who her mother is, the story is expectedly going to unravel more layers.

Plus, this episode also revealed snippets on Emerson’s daughter and Ned’s father. It’s just getting better and better. You should all come and watch this one regularly!

Tonight’s episode is entitled Bad Habits —

Written By: Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts

Episode Summary (ABC): “Bad Habits”- Chuck, Emerson and Ned go undercover as a Catholic nun and priests and pass themselves off as investigators from the Vatican to help Olive prove that her best pal at the nunnery (Mo Collins as Sister Larue) didn’t kill herself, but was actually murdered, on “Pushing Daisies,” WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on ABC.

Please round up your whole family and watch!

Kristin Chenoweth is also enjoining you to do the same via her official blog on Myspace, according to this report.

“I need to ask all of you for a BIG favor! Please help get the word out that we’re back on! Tell all your family and friends! Post it on your websites!”

CNN Living puts a list of TV Characters together and sums up how much they make if they were actual, living persons. Ned and Olive are in this list:

• Ned, “Pushing Daisies” — Head pie maker, general manager

Real-life median salary: $21,241, according CBSalary.com.

Ned (Lee Pace) probably makes a little more than this as the owner of his restaurant, which is near broke. To pad his pockets in the meantime, Ned helps a private investigator bring murder victims back from the dead to gather details to solve their murders, collecting reward money in the end. That should be enough to buy pie ingredients for a lifetime.

• Olive Snook, “Pushing Daisies” — Waitress

Real-life median salary: $15,850, according to the BLS.

Presumably Olive (Kristin Chenowith) doesn’t rake in much additional money from tips from her services at The Pie Hole, the financially-failing restaurant where she works. Something tells us she’s not in it for the money — she just wants to be near Ned, head pie maker and apple of her eye.

Will there be a new episode of Pushing Daisies on October 29th or will this be pre-empted by the fact that Barack Obama’s campaign is bloc buying the said time slot in time for the November elections?

How will this affect Pushing Daisies? As per these reports from The Washington Post:

• Late yesterday, ABC and Obama’s camp were still in talks about whether the network will sell the first half of the time slot, which it had earmarked for another episode of hour-long dramedy “Pushing Daisies.” The show is one of last year’s freshman series hurt by the 100-day writers’ strike and that the network is attempting to relaunch this fall, but so far without much luck. ABC execs may believe there is opportunity for “Pushing Daisies” to get more sampling on Oct. 29 if the network does not join in the Obama time buy. Source
• In that particular half hour on Oct. 29, Fox may or may not be airing Game 6 of the World Series. And ABC at this moment is scheduled to air its struggling dramedy “Pushing Daisies.” “Daisies” is one of last year’s freshman series that got hurt by the 100-day writers strike and which the network is attempting to re-launch this fall, but so far, without much luck. ABC execs may believe there is opportunity for “Pushing Daisies” to get more sampling on Oct. 29 if the network does not join in a so-called “roadblock” buy by the Obama campaign.  With CBS and NBC’s scripted programming scrubbed to make way for Obama, Fox possibly airing baseball and CW running the reality show “America’s Next Top Model,” “Pushing Daisies” would be the only scripted series in the timeslot on broadcast network TV. Source

Is this going to help the show? The most foretelling fact from these reports is that ABC is still intent on saving Pushing Daisies. There is still hope…

Narrator: The Pie Maker had grown accustomed to the feeling his heart made when it looked out his eyes and saw her sleeping in the next bed.

Chuck: You didn’t sleep well.
Ned: It was deep and perfect, like a nap in the backseat of a car after a day at the beach.

Emerson: You know how to knock?
Georgeann Heaps: I did knock. I came in, I said to myself, “I hope this good man can help me, knock wood,” and then I knocked. My name is Georgeann Heaps.
Emerson: It’s my nature to reward pushiness with inattention, Mrs. Heaps.

Emerson: That thing should have said, “If this van’s a-rockin’, I’m being murdered.”

Olive: I could throw up in my mouth a little and not even know the difference.

Ned: Emerson needs me.
Chuck: Why? There’s no dead body to wake up.
Emerson: Nice. Anyone not hear that?

Narrator: In less than 16 seconds, the dead girl who was not dead would be involved in the smallest of ironic coincidences. For just as she said to herself….
Chuck: I wish I were where the action were at
Narrator: She was where it were at

Narrator: Pigby enjoyed the warbling sounds the nice smelling thing that fed him made.

Is it time to start the Save Pushing Daisies campaign? Should fans and begin sending pies to ABC? The show once again suffered in the ratings this week, losing some 700,000 viewers more.

8.00 Block
Bones Fox 10.34 M
New Adventures Of Old Christine CBS 7.64 M
Gary Unmarried CBS 7.43 M
Knight Rider NBC 6.73 M
Pushing Daisies ABC 5.55 M
America’s Next Top Model The CW 3.88 M

9.00 Block
Criminal Minds CBS 15.90 M
Private Practice ABC 7.26 M
Biggest Loser NBC 6.56 M
Til Death Fox 4.97 M
Til Death Fox 3.97 M
90210 (Repeat) The CW 1.86 M

10.00 Block
CSI: New-York CBS 15.86 M
Dirty Sexy Money ABC 5.95 M
Lipstick Jungle NBC 4.77 M

What’s gonna happen now? Should a change in time slot and day be in order. If the show doesn’t get a full season order by the end of the month, then dear PD fans…we’ve got something to worry about!

Start sending in your letters of concern (or protest) to these addresses (details courtesy of The Pie Hole LJ Community):

ABC, Inc.
500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-4551
(818) 460-7477

Pushing Daisies
Warner Bros. TV
300 Television Plaza
Burbank, CA 91505

Let them know how much you love Pushing Daisies and why we don’t want to see it off the air.

Like last week, last night’s episode was once again packed and so very layered with characters, stories and plots. I’m not even sure I got the case of the week all figured out! But I’ll try…

With his reputation as a private investigator now very solid, Emerson could have picked any case he can work on. But instead, he takes on the case of a rather insistent woman who left him with no choice but to find her missing daughter, Nikki.

With no dead body as lead, the trio takes Nikki’s best friend in the Pie Hole for questioning. She wasn’t willing to talk but thanks to Chuck’s unorthodox ways of interrogation, they crack their first lead. Nikki apparently had dreams of becoming a star so she ran away from home to join her boyfriend, a mime.

This information led them to discover the mime who they found dead inside his van. Using Ned’s powers they learn from the him that Nikki ran off with a clown who was willing to take her as apprentice at the Circus of Fun.

Once there, Ned and Emerson talked to the Ringmaster who doesn’t supply them with any leads and Ned suspects the Ringmaster was hiding something. Further investigation led them to discover a clown car swallowed into the lake, with all its passengers in it. The parade of dead clowns was funny stuff! It was a gag that had me laughing in stitches.

(more…)

TV Guide talks to Lee Pace as he examines Ned’s “sexual frustration, their family dysfunctions, his biggest fear and Chuck’s big secrets…

Thanks Lauren again for the tip!

(more…)

New spoilers out from E!Online

(This photo is from the 5th episode, Dim Some Lose Some)

The spoilers are after the cut…

(more…)

Curious about what happens behind the scenes of Pushing Daisies? ABC’s Good Morning America takes us to the set of Pushing Daisies in this feature:

(Click on the photo to be redirected to the video. Or click here)

Up next for Pushing Daisies this Wednesday is the second episode called Circus Circus. And here is the official description and promo video from ABC.

NED, CHUCK AND EMERSON GO LOOKING FOR A GIRL WHO’S RUN OFF TO THE CIRCUS, AND LILY TURNS UP AT THE NUNNERY, ON ABC’S “PUSHING DAISIES”

“Circus Circus” Ned, Chuck and Emerson search for a missing teen (guest star Hayley McFarland as Nikki Heaps) who’s run off to the circus . . . a circus where people keep turning up dead. Meanwhile, overcome with guilt, Lily pays Olive a visit at the nunnery, on “Pushing Daisies,” WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

“Pushing Daisies” stars Lee Pace as Ned, Anna Friel as Chuck, Chi McBride as Emerson Cod, Ellen Greene as Vivian, with Swoosie Kurtz as Lily and Kristin Chenoweth as Olive Snook. Jim Dale is the narrator.

Guest starring in “Circus Circus” are Diana Scarwid as the Mother Superior, Nicole Greenwood as Ms. Moss, Rachael Harris as Georgeann Heaps, Casey Weiant as Randi Jean, Michael C. Alexander as customer no. 1, Theodore Zoumpoulidis as Pierre, Lee Arenberg as Bailey, Jackie Harris as Bailey’s assistant/De Jong, Mark Povinelli as the small person, Googy Gress as Von Deenis and Hayley McFarland as Nikki Heaps.

“Circus Circus” was written by Peter Ocko. Lawrence Trilling directed the episode.