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.

• 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.

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).

“Private Practice” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Building sharply on its lead-in during the 9 o’clock hour, opposite competition including CBS’ “Criminal Minds” and the season finale of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” the sophomore season opener of “Private Practice” dominated its time slot and stood as Wednesday’s No. 1 TV program among Adults 18-34 (3.4/10) and key women: W18-34 (5.2/13) and W18-49 (4.8/11-tie).

* “Private Practice” generated ABC’s biggest audience (8.0 million) and highest Adult 18-49 rating (3.2/8) in the time period in 8 months - since 2/27/08. Additionally, the series posted its top Women 18-34 number since mid November (11/14/07), topping its final 2 original airings last season.

“Dirty Sexy Money” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
In the final hour of the night opposite CBS’ veteran drama “C.S.I.: NY” and NBC’s “Lipstick Jungle,” “Dirty Sexy Money” took a solid second in its time period, beating its sophomore drama competition (”Lipstick Jungle”) by 1.8 million viewers (7.1 million vs. 5.3 million) and by 32% in Adults 18-49 (2.5/7 vs. 1.9/5).

* “Dirty Sexy Money” finished ahead of where it left off in its freshman season in December, topping its most recent original telecast by 6% in Total Viewers and by 9% in Adults 18-49 (12/5/07 - 6.7 million and 2.3/6).

Chuck: They’re not gonna kill me during business hours.

• Chuck: What if he was made entirely out of bees and that’s why she couldn’t see his face, because he didn’t even have one? What if there’s a whole beefolk society who walk around shaped like people?
• Ned: You’re thinking about how you can train your bees to walk around in people shapes, aren’t you?
• Chuck: Yeah.

Emerson: Ain’t no bees walking around in no people shapes. Kentucky was wigedy-wigedy-wigedy whacked!

Emerson: I’m goin’ dose the both of you with a dose of shut-the-fudge-up.

• Chuck: Poor Kentucky. What a horrible way to die. Thousands of little stingers stinging you.
• Olive: Like little stinging secrets that don’t just sting you once. They keep stinging you until you’re bloated and filled with pus. Who wanted a la mode?
• Ned: Could that have happened to me? On the roof? Could I have been swarmed? In my underwear too. I could’ve been swarmed in my underwear!
• Emerson: Hey! You don’t get to just put them pictures in my head! That’s an assult on my imagination!

Vivian: You need a drink. Lily, give her your bag.

• Lily: This place knows things about me nobody knows.
• Olive: Like that you holidayed here thirty years ago and found a baby in a cabbage patch. And by “cabbage patch,” I mean your lady parts.

Olive: These nuns aren’t my people. Unless you’re telling me “flibbertigibbet” is a title of respect.

Olive: I spent so much time praying, I’ve run out of things to say. I’m having awkward silences with God!

Olive: Forgive me, Father, for I’m gonna file a police report for all my worldly possessions.

Olive: But I like my belongings. That’s why they belong to me.

Vivian: It was her father’s. I’m sure it’s teeming with fungus and microscopic bugs that feed on flakes of human skin, but she was fond of it.

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?

Thanks to Hannah!

For someone watching this show for the first time, I bet you would be plenty confused. Fortunately, there was a good two to three minute recap of what went on in the first season at the beginning of Bzzzzzzzzz!. And if that wasn’t enough, you can always watch the five minute Season 1 Starter Kit ABC has prepared.

For long time fans though —- wasn’t this episode just what we needed? The last nine-ten months was worth the wait, wasn’t it? It had plenty of everything we love!

An intimate Chuck and Ned…

(Alright, not exactly…Chuck had a swarm of dead bees she would like Ned to bring to life again)

Emerson and his pop-up books…

(Is he dedicating this to his long lost little daughter?)

Olive freaking out with all the secrets she is keeping…

… and subsequently learning more of Lily’s secrets while she finds resolve in a convent. (Aunt Lily just told her Chuck’s biological father was Aunt Vivian’s fiance!)

Speaking of Aunt Vivian, she unexpectedly shows up at the Pie Hole again (the first time was with Aunt Lily which was what triggered Olive’s freak out moment). Aunt V was looking for someone to talk to, with Lily gone and she doesn’t know where she is (convent, with all the secrets!).

“Everyone seems to be leaving me. Home isn’t my haven now.
Everything there just reminds me of everything not there.”

We just want to give Aunt Vivian a hug, don’t we?

Speaking of home, Chuck decides to occupy Olive’s apartment (next door to Ned) now that Olive is off to the nunnery. Ned isn’t open to the idea at first because he thinks he has to be near Chuck all the time. He thinks that’s the best way to keep her safe. But he began to understand that this is not a “separation” but an “expansion”.  He adorns Chuck’s new house with all of her old stuff.

This week’s case involved a bee murder, which I must say, felt like a storyline used in order for the main characters to interact and transition from where we last saw them. Ned, Chuck and Emerson proceeded with their investigations but the real drama unfolded away from the crime scene and into their personal lives.

For an episode so packed, I was still waiting for more. Next week is such a long wait, isn’t it?  Especially when we know, Ned’s been having a special visitor at The Pie Hole… his father (who looks awfully short, compared to Ned).

Check the list here.

“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.”

What’s happening with Emerson Cod this season?
Emerson is looking for his daughter — a lot’s going to be revealed this season about Emerson and what his story is, why he is the way he is. You’re going to see why Emerson seemingly only cares about his own ass and his wallet. There’s a reason for that: finding his daughter is his mission in life.

Full interview here.