Pushing Daisies

Once again, this episode was so packed with everything that’s great about Pushing Daisies. I kind of knew about the surprise guest at the end, based on what I have read of the episode earlier. But I did not expect Ned’s daddy to be none other than —- George Hamilton!

His name wasn’t in the press releases that came out in recent weeks. They really kept this a big secret!

Following last episode’s story…when Vivian becomes suspicious of gentleman caller, Dwight Dixon’s whereabouts, she comes to Emerson for help. But the latter jolts her back to reality and insisted there was no case, prompting Vivian to seek the help of Emerson’s competitors, the Norwegian investigators, instead.

Soon, the trail leads the Norwegians to the Pie Hole. And everything that the three of them have done in the last few weeks snowballed and spilled over. Chuck blames herself for keeping her dad alive. Ned blames himself and his magic fingers. Emerson blames himself for not keeping a lid on all this, since it was his job to keep cases from becoming sloppy. Meanwhile, Olive blames no one but feels mighty left out from the group.

But when it appeared like she has jumped shipped and sided with the Norwegians to find out what really happened to Dwight, I knew that Olive was up to something else. The three couldn’t tell her, they couldn’t say they had something to do with it, so she’s finding the truth for herself. And in the process, helping the PI palooza. If there was one thing Olive Snook does not have in her, it’s disloyalty.

Following some twists and turns, and a jittery trio who think that their secret may soon be discovered…Dwight Dixon’s body reappears in his motel room, as if dying in his sleep. This finally gives the Norwegian’s case some closure, keeping everyone’s secret safe.

But it didn’t make it all better for Aunt Vivian and Aunt Lily, who learned that it seems Dwight Dixon stole the bodies of Charlotte and Charles Charles from the grave.

But the truth is, someone was covering up for Ned and his friends. And that someone was revealed in the last few seconds of the episode. Yup, Ned….it was your father!

Some notes:

• Mother, the Norwegian’s hot crime lab/RV, is short for: Mobile Investigative Lab Facility. Hah!
• Ned feels a little something for Olive! It’s not as if there was nothing there and he didn’t look at her that way. He said so himself. Which is sad and cruel. Way to do that to a girl, dude!
• Vivian and Lily’s scenes together were priceless.
• Vivian’s meekness makes me cry and sympathize for her. Watching her with Emerson, and then later with Lily, just breaks my heart. Ellen Greene is so good an actress!
• Olive is so sharp, she really can have a second career as a PI. And I enjoyed her Q & A scenes with Ned.
• I’m running out of superlatives for Chi McBride and Emerson. He was great this episode, as usual.
• So what do you suppose is Ned’s dad’s name? Charles Charles, Dwight Dixson. Could Ned’s dad be EE? And will we finally know Ned’s complete real name before this series is done?
• This is probably the second best episode of the season…I’m not yet so sure because I also liked Oh, Oh, Oh it’s Magic a lot.

I’m told there haven’t been any promos running for the show’s final episode of the year, which is why some viewers may be wondering if there will be Pushing Daisies this week.

Yes, there will be one! And it’s possibly the last episode of the year.

Episode 10th
Episode Title: The Norwegian
Episode Summary: When Emerson turns down her offer of employment, Vivian hires a team of Norwegian detectives to locate the missing Dwight Dixon. However, the trail of clues leads to Ned and Chuck, and their secrets. Ned, Chuck, and Emerson finally meet their match when three rival Norwegian detectives start to get in their way.
uest Stars: Nicholas Khayyat as Eugene, Stephen Root as Dwight Dixon, Michael Weaver (1) as Nils Nilsen, Ivana Milicevic as Hedda Lillihammer, Orlando Jones as Magnus Olsdatter
Director: Tricia Brock
Writer: Scott Nimerfro

Following this episode, Pushing Daisies has three more left. It’s not yet known when these will air but according to reports, fans will be getting the closure they need when it finally is off the air, permanently. (As in, dead again…forever….*sigh*).

Tomorrow’s episode, and this show’s 7th, is going to once again going to impress us fans, based on how elaborate this set is and based on that funny look on Emerson’s face. Hah.

Episode Title: Robbing Hood

Episode Summary: Ned, Chuck and Emerson investigate the case of a dead millionaire (Shelley Berman) who may have been murdered by a latter-day Robin Hood (Danny Comden) or his much-younger money grubbing widow (Jennifer Elise Cox). Meanwhile, Lily fumes as the suspicious Dwight Dixon (Stephen Root) begins romancing clueless Vivian.

Written By: Jim Danger Gray
Directed By: Paul Shapiro

Spoiler notes after the cut…

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We sadly do not have Pushing Daisies for the next two weeks. On November 12th, the show is pre-empted because of the CMA Awards. This week though, the election is expected to take much of TV airtime. As I understand it, there might not be an airing of Pushing Daisies and Dancing With The Stars will take over the slot for it tomorrow, after the election coverage.

From ABC’s viewpoint, putting a higher rated show next to the coverage is a better move than putting Pushing Daisies. After all, this business is about making money too.

But then if they have a change of heart and decides to air Pushing Daisies, this is the next episode coming up:

“Oh Oh Oh It’s Magic”

Episode Summary: Ned reluctantly agrees to help “The Great Herrmann” (guest star Fred Willard), a famed magician whose animal assistants are being mysteriously killed off. The magician has been a surrogate dad to Ned’s half-brothers Maurice and Ralston (Alex Miller, Graham Miller) ever since their father walked out on them. Meanwhile, Dwight Dixon (guest star Stephen Root) insinuates himself into the Aunts’ lives, but Lily is instantly suspicious of his motives,

Written By: Katherine Lingenfelter

Save Pushing Daisies! Watch new episodes!

• **Emailing is a great, but please send a tangible letter also. Having a full mailbox right there in front of them as opposed to on the internet sends a more powerful message.
• Write to: ABC, Inc. 500 S. Buena Vista Street Burbank, CA 91521-4551. Email them here.
• ALSO- Sign the petition. You can technically sign it as many times as you want, with only one email address. (Use different names) I have a friend who has signed it a LOT.

Episode Synopsis (ABC) — “Frescorts” - When the most popular escort at a rent-a-friend agency turns up dead, the team investigates who killed him, including likely suspect Randy Mann (guest star David Arquette), the guy’s antisocial, taxidermy-loving roommate. Meanwhile, Emerson’s famed private investigator mom, Calista Cod (guest star Debra Mooney), pays an unexpected visit, on “Pushing Daisies,” WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/DANNY FELD)

David Arquette has just signed on to return in a future episode, where he will play the same character and will become Olive’s love interest.

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!”

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.

Warning: I’m keeping the guides right after the cut, in case some of this blog’s visitors don’t want to be spoiled of the story…

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Lee Pace was promoting in Brazil recently and the press had a chance to talk to him. Here’s an audio video of what Lee has apparently divulged about what should be happening in Season 2.

The audio isn’t quite clear but here’s a written transcript of that interview (which I got off this Portugese website, translated and edited to English).

What are the changes the network wants to make in the second season of Pushing Daisies?

My hair finished being horrible [ during the first season ], then we’ve got to make this right. This is one of the things that they go to arrange itself: my haircut is really bad.

There were a lot of things the network did not like, but that I find very good. The [ Alfred ] Hitchcock references, Tippi Hedren…and they had found that extreme. I think it’s perfect. Only it was a little expensive to do.

Olive must be a bigger threat in the next season. It’s hard to really believe in Ned not finding Olive attractive. The actress playing Olive is a beautiful girl and really, really funny. It is important to have him come to his senses on that

That’s not to say that Ned and Chuck….that’s the absolutely primary love story.

Another thing that the Bryan [ Fuller, creator of the series ] wants to make is to create longer arcs of histories. In the first episodes I felt that many possibilities were set up and expect pay-offs down the line and this pay-off never came (pertains to the strike) and was just sitting there…for three episode archs.

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ABC has come up with another teaser to tonight’s final episode, Corpsicle. Watching it made me suddenly feel that Christmas is definitely just around the corner; and also, it made me wish ours is a Christmas that is as lovely as the set of Pushing Daisies! Isn’t it just magical? It brings such a festive mood!

But at the same time, we all know this will be the last episode. *sniff*. Based on the teasers, it looks like we’re in for some of that….sniffling, as a hurting Chuck tells an apologetic Ned “I can’t look at you…” Aww, shucks.

Sad, sad, sad…:(

After this episode, ABC is planning on airing repeats of Pushing Daisies, beginning Dec. 26. Plus, sometime today, ABC will announce its latest schedule for January to April 2008.

Pushing Daisies, Pushing Daisies teaser, Pushing Daises Corpsicle Preview, ABC

Well, this Wednesday is it….the final episode to what isn’t hopefully a very short season for Pushing Daisies.  (Bummed!) :( 

The episode this week, airing December 12th, is a follow up to what happened after Ned told Chuck about the circumstances of her father’s death.  The teaser below will show that Chuck avoids Ned and rans away from him but a fresh spoiler from E! is telling us, it will not be such a devastating news to Chuck as we would have imagined.

According to E! reporter Kristin Dos Santos (who once had a cameo appearance on the show and who has confessed to being a great fan of this series) —- “the dead father might not be so dead after all”…. Huh?? How could that be? The only way Chuck’s dad is still alive is if the one who is actually pushing daisies six feet under is not Chuck’s biological father.

Kristin also mentions another big twist in relation to Chuck’s mother, who could still be very much alive. The coming episodes, sans WGA Strike, would have to deal with major parental issues.

In the meantime, here’s what we have to look forward to this week, in the episode, Corpsicle. The episode is written by Bryan Fuller and Lisa Joy and directed by Brian Dannelly, who has also directed a couple of episode for the TV show, Weeds  —

Episode Summary: After a shocking turn of events, Ned tries to make peace with Chuck. Meanwhile, Emerson tries to get him to concentrate on their latest case, an insurance adjustor found frozen solid. And scent expert Oscar Vibenius (guest star Paul Reubens) returns, trying to figure out what’s so different about Chuck and Digby.

And here’s the teaser:

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Just some scheduling reminder for this Wednesday’s episode of Pushing Daisies — Bitter Sweets will be delayed by at least an hour this week, following two holiday specials that will air on its regular time slot. And then for next week, the show will be pre-empted by another Christmas Special. I have yet to confirm if all of December’s schedules are repeats or pre-empted.

So, this week’s episode would have to be one we should all embrace and savor like a very special tasty piece of pie…because we might see the final episode during this self-imposed strike hiatus by January next year.

Anyway, Bitter Sweets will feature special guest star, Molly Shannon, who, like Paul Reubens, is someone I have been waiting to see in this series. I happen to have caught an appearance of hers on Saturday Night Live the other day (thank god for reruns!) and I’m thrilled no less about her three episode arc for Pushing Daisies.

They do cast some amazingly talented people in this series, don’t they? (props to the casting director!).

Molly Shannon will play Dilly Balsam, a business owner that will rival Ned’s Pie Hole. In one scene, we should expect her character to supposedly be defacing The Pie Hole’s signage, knocking down the L and E from it (so that it reads Pie Ho, ha-ha!).

Episode Summary: A vindictive taffy shop owner (guest star Molly Shannon as Dilly Balsam) sets up shop down the street from The Pie Hole, determined to drive Ned out of business by any means necessary.

Here’s the preview as shown on TV:

Also in this episode is Mike White, who will play Dilly’s brother Billy. (How charming is that — Dilly and Billy!!!)

Pushing Daisies, Pushing Daisies episode preview, Pushing Daisies episode guide, Pie Hole, Molly Shannon, Mike White

From previous episodes, it was quite evident that Ned became obsessed with pies because of his mother. And as last night’s show puts it, pies made Ned remember her. Its smell was his safe sanctuary. So, when Chuck suggested that they make additions to his traditional menu for the Pie Hole, it became an issue with Ned. It was a big step — to moving on. Anyway, more on that later….The episode Smell of Success had two storylines this week.

The Olfactory Experts

Story A is about Napoleon LeNey (French for “the nose”), an olfactory expert who’s had near brushes with death. There were a couple of attempts on his life and all of it suspiciously taking place at a time when he was about to relase a book on scents that was supposed to be his money machine.

LeNey thinks its his nemesis Oscar Vibenius (Paul Reubens) is behind all the attempts to murder him, citing that Oscar was jealous of his work and that their views often collided. But as Emerson and Ned dug deeper, they have learned that the victim was in fact the suspect.

The facts are these: The release of LeNey’s book was bumped to a different release date. This was not in his favor because the week his book was supposed to come out was not a “prime holiday spot” where sales are sure to rise. Learning that his publisher was gonna bury his work, he decided to create buzz around it. LeNey thought it would help sales if there was controversy behind the release of his new book. When the first attempt resulted in an accident, with one of his students dying, instead of feeling remorseful, LeNey wanted more because news of the first accident caused pre-orders of his book to increase. So he sets another plan, another attempt on his life, by framing his enemy, Oscar Vibenius, and capitalized on the publicity the book was generating.

The outcome of this was attempted murder case was actually predictable. With LeNey’s plans discovered, the case was easily solved.

The Darling Mermaids

The other running storyline this week involved Chuck, Olive and her Aunts.

Olive has become better friends with Chuck and for this week, they sought to move to phase 2 of Chuck’s plan to help her aunts move on. The plan was to have them back in the water, with Olive trying her best to make the aunts enthusiastic of the idea. Except Aunt Lily was harder to convince. Not even the smell of chlorine, which she calls a “bottle of sunshine”, could bring her back to the to swimming. But then, it was Vivian who eventually motivated her sister. And on cue, Vivian lets out a sweet, beautiful and moving rendition of Cat Steven’s “Morning Has Broken” (watch video), as they swam and did their routines as the Darling Mermaid Darlings in the pool. And with that, Chuck’s Phase 2 was complete.

And then there is Oscar…

Oscar Vibenius returns for one last scene towards the end of the episode. Meeting Chuck earlier, he smelled something very peculiar about her and it intrigued him enough to steal Chuck’s sweaters. This, of course, will not be the last we’ll see of him. Could he one day discover Chuck’s secret?

Other things to note:

• Emerson is consistently funny and consistently in pink shirt! We learn that aside from knitting, Emerson is very fond of pop-up books.
• Olive looks smashing in a Darling Mermaid Darling outfit that it was almost too sexy for this show. And I had a child watching with me!
• As for Chuck convincing Ned to add a new menu, her cup-pie idea, with its honeybaked crust is actually a good one. And Ned relented in the end. Would you like to see the new menu of The Pie Hole?

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I have just finished watching this week’s episode, Smell of Success. In a word, I’d have to describe it as peachy. Although, it wasn’t the strongest episode to date, it’s delightful, nonetheless. Parts of it were also tugging my heart, especially some of Chuck and the aunt’s scenes (not together). I’ll provide a more detailed recap of this by tomorrow.

Also in this episode is another anticipated musical number, a Cat Stevens number. Composer James Dooley, who creates the music for Pushing Daisies, mentions this in an interview a while back. He said, “I did an arrangement of Hopelessly Devoted for Kristin and Ellen sings Birdhouse In Your Soul by They Might Be Giants. I’ve already done a Cat Stevens song and there are rumors about doing more. We have so much musical talent on this show!”

So what was that big Cat Stevens song Aunt Vivian was supposed to have sang in this episode? I don’t wanna say it yet, since the actual episode runs tonight in the US. But let me just say that Vivian absolutely sang it with gusto and heart. It was like listening to a lullaby, an ode, and a lovesong combined. I was in tears listening to her rendition.

And while the song was playing, visuals like this played on TV, making the moment more magical:

I’ve spoiled you just a little bit, sorry about that.

So, what was this song again? I’m not saying anything more except that it was originally a children’s hymn Cat Stevens adapted from and today you would often hear this being sang in Unitarian Churches.

Don’t forget to watch Smell of Success tonight!

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Update: Now that the episode has been shown on TV, here is the video of Vivian singing Cat Steven’s Morning Has Broken:

Pushing Daisies, Pushing Daisies preview, Pushing Daisies episode guide, Pushing Daisies Aunt Vivian, Cat Stevens, Morning Has Broken

Wednesday’s episode marks the anticipated guest appearance of Paul Ruebens, who was earlier invited to portray the role of a traveling salesman but was eventually re-cast in the episode Smell of Success. His new character Oscar Vibenius is an olfactory expert who sniffs something very peculiar with our favorite girl, Chuck.

In an interview with Journal News, Paul Ruebens was said to have been given a hand at developing his character. So, he fashioned his hairstyle after Tim Burton. Fans of the show note that much of Pushing Daisies has this certain Burtonesque charm to it.

Of the re-cast in the show Ruebens says this: “I don’t think there’s some big ultra-secret behind it or anything. I think they just wanted to go a different way once they had already discussed it with me. And for me, the good news was there was another part that has turned out to be better.”

Oscar Vibenius will appear on a few more episodes.

Smell of Success is written by Scott Nimerfro with Lawrence Trilling as director. Guest stars include, Christopher Sieber as Napoleon LeNez, Tim Conlon as Chas Spielman and Sarah Jayne Jensen as Juanita Gray.

Episode Summary: When the assistant to renowned scent expert Napoleon LeNez (guest star Christopher Sieber) is found dead after a scratch ‘n’ sniff book explodes, Ned, Chuck and Emerson investigate whom the deadly missive was intended for. Meanwhile, Olive continues her campaign to get Aunts Lily and Vivian back in the swim of things.

And the preview promo below….

Hearing Chuck say the last line in the end is making me wish I can watch the episode already! It looks like another good one.

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