Pushing Daisies

Here’s your chance to win a Pushing Daisies collectibles that includes the following:

• One (1) cast-signed 8×10 (original signatures)
• One (1) cast-signed script (original signatures) entitled: Bzzzzzzzz!
• One (1) Bee Key One (1)
• Bitter Sweets Box (empty prop)
• One (1) Comic Book

You can get this goodies at the Hollywood Charity Auction and as of this writing, there are only four days left to bid on it. The bidding starts at $95. Be sure to read the FAQ’s before acting on a bid.

This is a press release from ABC, after last week’s Wednesday downer. I do not know how to read the numbers that much but it looks like the rating drop didn’t matter to ABC last week, as long as the key demographic, the loyal followers, stays high and constant.

After a 10 Months off the Air, ABC Returns its Wednesday Night Lineup, Earning Second in Adults 18-49 and Winning the Evening in Adults 18-34

“Pushing Daisies” Tops NBC’s “Knight Rider” at 8pm Across All Key Women Demos

Jumping Sharply from its Lead-in, “Private Practice” Returns to Dominate the  9pm Hour and Ranks as the Night’s No. 1 TV Show in Adults 18-34 and Key Women

“Dirty Sexy Money” Dominates its Sophomore Drama Competition in the 10pm Hour, NBC’s “Lipstick Jungle,” and Paces Ahead of Where it Finished Last Season

Wednesday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)
Returning with its Wednesday night drama lineup for the first time in 10 months, ABC took second place to CBS on Wednesday night among Adults 18-49 (2.6/7), while ranking No. 1 on the night with Adults 18-34 (2.4/7) and Women 18-34 (3.4/9). In fact the Net posted its best Wednesday numbers since early January (1/9/08) in Adults 18-34 and Women 18-34.

“Pushing Daisies” (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
On its return to the time period, in its first original telecast since 12/12/07, ABC’s “Pushing Daisies” topped NBC’s Week 2 of “Knight Rider” by wide margins during the 8 o’clock hour across the Women demos: W18-34 +41% (2.4/7 vs. 1.7/5), W18-49 +29% (2.7/7 vs. 2.1/6) and W25-54 +27% (3.3/8 vs. 2.6/6). “Daisies” grew its Adult 18-34 audience from start to finish by 13% (1.6/6 to 1.8/6).

(more…)

Pushing Daisies’ second season premiere took a dive at the ratings. It’s quite a disappointment. Did people forget it was coming on? Have they been waiting and waiting and waiting and finally gave up? Did viewers lose interest?  Was Knight Rider that exciting? Was this because of the strike?

To be fair though, it wasn’t just Pushing Daisies which didn’t do well Wednesday night. All shows on ABC did.

8.00 Block
Bones Fox 9.82 M
Knight Rider NBC 7.56 M
Gary Unmarried CBS 6.98 M
New Adventures Of Old Christine CBS 6.86 M
Pushing Daisies ABC 6.32 M
America’s Next Top Model The CW 4.01 M

9.00 Block
Criminal Minds CBS 14.51 M
America’s Got Talent NBC 12.55 M
Private Practice ABC 8.05 M
Til Death Fox 4.26 M
90210 (Repeat) The CW 1.73 M

10.00 Block
CSI: New-York CBS 14.67 M
Dirty Sexy Money ABC 7.15 M
Lipstick Jungle NBC 5.31 M

Pushing Daisies lost a million more viewers by its next half. What does that mean? Did viewers find it too whimsical?

How close is this show to cancellation? It currently has a 13 episode order but show creator Bryan Fuller and his staff are waiting on a full season order. What are the show’s chances?

Should the 12 Emmy nominations matter?  How about the critical buzz? Is the show going to stick around because it’s refreshing and different or will it be yanked off the air for precisely the same reasons? Do you think it will do better on a different schedule…say, Thursdays at 8 PM?

What do you think happened here?

EW makes a list of the show’s best and worst so far, in anticipation of tonight’s premiere…

Check the list here.

Aunt Vivian of Pushing Daisies (played by Ellen Greene) promises this season will be darker than last time in this interview with Can Mag.

“The thing is, when you last left us, [Aunt Lily] was high as a kite and I was very happy thinking we were going to go on the road again,” Greene reminded viewers. “There’s so much to go back down to because I had risen. What’s so nice is on the truth level, it’s nice to see how people deal with how to choose, I think it’s brave to choose to be happy. It’s a great line and it’s a great idea for everybody because everyone is trying to begin again, to start living. Everyone learns. It’s pretty dreary out there, so in this wonderful world, it does have also real, wonderful lessons. Yeah, I cry a lot but it will get better. I know that because he’s told me.”

I’ve read about this in a spoiler section somewhere else. In one of Pushing Daisies new episodes, we’re going to come across three people who appear the same as our favorite trio.

EW has the scoop.

• Pushing Daisies is about to get seriously bizarro. Orlando Jones (Drumline), Michael Weaver (Notes From the Underbelly), and Ivana Milocevic (Casino Royale) have been cast as a band of Norwegian detectives who bear striking similarities to Emerson, Ned and Chuck, sources confirm to me exclusively. The trio flee their home country looking for bigger, better crimes to solve, which makes things mighty difficult for Emerson and his untouchy-feely sidekicks. Rumor has it the script for the episode, titled “The Norwegians” and slated to air in November, is nothing short of Snapplarious (i.e., so laugh-out-loud hysterical Snapple will likely shoot out your nose). If it’s half as funny as this Wednesday’s second season premiere — particularly a certain subplot involving reluctant nun Kristin Chenoweth and Mother Superior Diana Scarwid — then we are in for a treat.

These are photos from the third episode, Bad Habits:

• “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”.

Source

Below is the official episode description of Season 2’s second episode - “Circus Circus” 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.

Did your bets win at this year’s Emmy Awards? Sadly, only one of mine did. All the rest…well, I was half-expecting a 30 Rock and Mad Men victory, anyway. I couldn’t turn to a site on the internet analyzing the Emmy’s without mentioning how great these programs are. But these weren’t my bets (except, I do enjoy watching 30 Rock).

But congratulations are in order for Pushing Daisies’ director Barry Sonnenfeld, who won the Emmy for Best Directing, Comedy! This is probably his first Emmy (if I’m not mistaken). This would also be the show’s 3rd Emmy Win, having won two more at the Creative Emmy Awards last week. For a program that only had 9 episodes total in its first Emmy Season, Pushing Daisies was nominated for 12 categories and won three of it. Not so bad, eh?

Lee Pace and Kristin Chenoweth (who lost the trophy to Jean Smart) were in tonight’s awards show and Kristin was a presenter.

The complete list of winners and nominees are after the cut…

(more…)

Our favorite foursome were in a press conference last Sept. 18th at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Below is the official episode description of Season 2’s first episode - “Bzzzzzzzzz!” from ABC…

CHUCK GOES UNDERCOVER AS A “BEE GIRL” TO SOLVE A MURDER, AND LILY GETS OLIVE TO A NUNNERY, ON ABC’S “PUSHING DAISIES”

The Critically Acclaimed Series, Nominated for 12 Emmy Awards, Makes its Second-Season Premiere, Wednesday, October 1

“Bzzzzzzzzz!” - Chuck goes undercover as a “Bee Girl” at a honey-based cosmetics company after their new spokesmodel (guest star Autumn Reeser) is stung to death.  She soon discovers that office politics are killer (literally) between the founder (guest star Missi Pyle as Betty Bee) and the new owner (guest star French Stewart as Woolsey Nicholls). Meanwhile, Ned can’t stand her growing independence - or the fact that she wants to move out of his apartment. In other developments, Lily spirits Olive off to a nunnery so she won’t spill Lily’s deep, dark secret, on the Second-Season premiere of ABC’s critically-acclaimed “Pushing Daisies” - nominated for 12 Emmy Awards — WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1 (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 “Bzzzzzzzzz!” are Field Cate as Young Ned, Sammi Hanratty Young Chuck, Sy Richardson as the coroner, Diana Scarwid as the Mother Superior, Peter Cambor as Dusty Fitz, Autumn Reeser as Kentucky Fitz, Missi Pyle as Betty Bee, Robin Gwynne as the customer and French Stewart as Woolsey Nicholls.

Members of Pushing Daisies’ creative team, as well as series creator Bryan Fuller, will be part of Pushing Daisies panel at the Paley Center Fall Season Special Screening. It will be held on November 11th 7 PM at the Los Angeles location.

Tickets are available for $25. But this may be discounted to $15 if you are a registered member of the Paley Center.

Previously, the center hosted a very special season premiere at both the LA and New York offices of Pushing Daisies Season 2. It took place last Sept 10 and 12th respectively, with a panel also attending the LA event.

More details to this event may are available and may be found at the official Paley Center site.

Kicking off the Emmy Awards ceremonies, which will culminate next Sunday (Spet 21st) was the Creative Emmy Awards held the other day in Los Angeles. The program will be aired in E!, the night before the Primetime Emmy’s

Pushing Daisies won a total of two trophies for:

• Single- or Multi-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series: “Pushing Daisies: Pie-Lette,” ABC.
• Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score): “Pushing Daisies: Pigeon,” ABC.

Congratulations to the show and the people who deserved this recognition! The photos below are of Stuart Bass (Editing) and Jim Dooley (Music).

(more…)

Returning for its second season on October 1st, Pushing Daisies’ promo ads now running on television contain the latest song from the band, Seabird. The song is entitled “Rescue” from the band’s debut album Til We See The Shore. The lyrics to the song, matches the show quite perfectly, in fact — “I’m pushing up daisies, I wish they were roses. I feel like I’m drowning but nobody knows it… I feel like I’m dying, just want you to notice.”

The band consists of the following members — brothers Aaron (vocals/keys) and Ryan (guitar) Morgan, as well as Chris Kubik (bass), and Aaron Hunt (drums); they are based in Cincinnati. The band is currently on tour. You can check their schedules here.

Here is Seabird’s Music Video of Rescue:

Bryan Fuller had a lengthy interview with Blast Magazine and he reveals a few spoiler alert as well as a clearer picture of where Pushing Daisies is going for the second season…

• BLAST: Can you give us a preview of what we might be seeing in the second season?
• BF: Well all the cliff-hangers that we had; we had the cliff-hanger with Swoosie Kurtz’s character Lily, that plays a big factor in the first three episodes. Really, beyond that, it really is just a big game changer that affects all of the characters; we understand why that secret was kept and why Lily made the choices that she did to not be honest with Chuck about their relationship and we see what happens when Olive, who has been keeping all these secrets from everybody, how her breakdown sends her off to a nunnery to keep those secrets and what happens when she comes back and lets Chuck know and where does that take Chuck, what’s Chuck’s reaction. She’s in a difficult situation because she can’t just go to Lily. Here are these two people like mother and daughter who both think the other one is dead, and it puts them in a really odd situation that we’re going to have a lot of fun with that drama of that particular situation. We also are introducing a character in episode five named Dwight Dixon played by Stephen Root, and he will have a shared history with Chuck’s father and Ned’s father and will stir up a lot of hullaballoo for Ned and he becomes a catalyst to really bring the aunts into the story of the Pie Hole in a way that we really hadn’t seen last year because it was one of those things we were forced to do because of Chuck’s situation and people not knowing she was alive again was to keep the aunts separate. In our first episode, we have the aunts marching through the front door of the Pie Hole and what happens to our characters when that world starts to encroach on theirs and how do they react. It really is about trying to put the characters in really fun situations where they’re forced to keep the secrets that they’ve been trying to keep keeping but may not be able to for long because the walls between worlds are crumbling down.
  
• BLAST: So is it safe to safe to say that Chuck’s secret becomes more tenuous? That it might be harder to keep, which we were kind of seeing at the end of last season?
• BF: Yes, definitely. We’re definitely steering towards as much drama as we can mine from that idea as possible. Last year we had an episode “The Fun in Funeral” where Chuck discovers that a watch that was buried with her was stolen by the funeral director, and she gets it back. That watch basically plays a pivotal role around the middle of the season, and we understand that there is significant weight on that watch and that people want it for various reasons.

You can follow more of that interview here.