I don't have enough time before tonight's airing of Pushing Daisies to adequately preview it for you, so I'll just share a little something that you'll be seeing should you watch the show:Here's a little more:
Good episode. The most sentimental of the bunch so far. I fell for it.
Kongye has more good TV news to pass along. In addition to the swift cancellation of Viva Herpes, the TV gods have graced us with further blessings. Pushing Daisies got a full season order! Blog Central is buzzing over this news. Now all we need is the announcement that VH1's newest show is Flavor of Soviet Love, starring Andre from America's Most Smartest Model and we'll explode with joy.
We'll try to have a preview of tonight's Pushing Daisies for you in the next couple of hours.
Pushing Daisies Preview- Episode 3: TheFun in Funeral
I had a chance to check out the next episode of Pushing Daisies over lunch today. I fall more in love with this show with every new installment. I know I've said that before, I just so need to reiterate it. There is something here that warms the cockles of my cold, dead heart. Yes, I have a heart, and while it normally isn't susceptible to the charms of people kissing through Saran wrap or Chi McBride getting stuck in a window, today was a notable exception. I won't engage in any spoilage because I love Daisies far too much to take away from any one's viewing experience. Pushing Daisies is always worth watching. Tonight is no exception. I preferred this one to "Dummy" from last week. It's just above that episode and just below "Pie-lette"
Here are clips of the aforementioned scenes. I would hate them if they were on any other show.
THE VIEW- I love watching The View. It makes me feel so much smarter listening to those harpies pander to America's housewives. I wouldn't normally review this show; but today was a real turning point. When Sherri Shepherd declared that she didn't know if the world was round I laughed at her; but basically gave her the benefit of the doubt. She may have been nervous then with these bitches 3 times her age were hounding her about evolution. She was probably afraid Joy would eat her. On Wednesday Sherri went from being bad under pressure to being a complete moron. They were talking about the Republican debates and Sherri chimes in, without anyone asking her to, that she couldn't tell any of the old white men apart. "Apart from the big four, I didn't know who any of them were." Listen, ho; if Barbara Walters tells your dumb ass to watch the debate and you know you're going to have to talk about it the next day, the least you can do is come up with 1 thing to say about it other than "all these white people look the same." Here's Sherri's take on a question that was answered definitely over 500 years ago:
PUSHING DAISIES- I love, love, love this show. This installment was even better than the pilot. Then again, I thought the pilot was the greatest thing I saw all summer. Then I saw it again at pilot screening week, was less impressed, and pledged my eternal allegiance to Dirty Sexy Money. I don't know if this show is only fantastic upon first viewing or if my opinion was tainted by being buzzed and needing to pee very badly the second time I saw it. I guess we'll never know. They found a way to work in Kristin Chenoweth's fantastic singing. Anna Friel gets more crushworthy every time I see her, Chi McBride is out of this world, and Lee Pace is growing on me. Pushing Daisies is now a show I will be waiting on every week. Good thing I'll be able to see it a day early. GOSSIP GIRL- I already posted a mini-review. They need to keep the bitch-factor up here or they run the risk of me turning on them. What makes them think we want to see these characters getting along or- Godforbid- helping each other deal? You have betrayed me, Gossip Girl. KITCHEN NIGHTMARES- Gordon Ramsay didn't make anything better. They even try to gloss over his complete failure by pretending the fact that the owner had to sell the restaurant in the end was a great thing. That he got "an offer he couldn't refuse." First of all, that line belongs in the first episode; the big Guido Sopranos ripoff pilot. Second, of course that owner couldn't refuse the offer; his restaurant was tanking and he was going broke. Oh, and I get the feeling the producers bought Ramsay an unlimited LIRR pass and told him to travel across the southern shore of Long Island finding places run by the most annoying people on the face of the planet. Why does he even bother? It's not like people on the Island have taste buds or taste, period. Who goes to Babylon or Islip for fine cuisine? Fuck, I don't even think people who live there go Babylon or Islip for a good meal. Go back to Britain and make some good TV for me to download, Gordon. TOP CHEF- It was the reunion show show this week so nothing happened. We were treated (?) to clips and montages. Casey won the viewer's choice prize. Apparently being completely generic and boring wins tons of love. I'm going to go back a week in Top Chef and talk about how excited I am that Hung won. Often reality shows will have one contestant that's clearly much more talented than everyone else. That person will likely know that he or she is incredibly talented and may occasionally make comments or engage in behaviour that reveals to the viewer that he or she is aware of their talent. In reality land, producers will decide to only show clips of that side of the contestant. He or she will become the villain and we will root for them to lose, just like well-trained chimps. From what I've seen, the villain always makes it to the end; but never wins. The winner is always the bland but inoffensive contestant. Well, Top Chef totally broke that tradition and crowned Hung its winner! I've gotta say, Hung may have been the worst villain on reality TV because he wasn't explosively mean. He was just competitive, couldn't take criticism from anyone, and refused to help people around him. In fact, Top Chef featured numerous occasions of Hung being finished like half an hour before everyone else and just standing around mocking the other contestants as they scrambled and prayed to get their food on a plate. They would ask him to help, and he would just ignore them. Hung was also creepy-looking. Much like Marcel from Top Chef 2, I became quite attached. You've gotta love someone who clearly was raised by wolves. CONGRATULATIONS HUNG! DIRTY SEXY MONEY- Good times, as usual. The show was back to form this week. Brian had some great scenes and Samaire Armstrong was almost never on screen without Seth Gabel. Smart move on the show's part. I can't stand her; but the family dynamics she has with him are genius. They still have to turn the outrageous up a few notches. The writers need to stop holding back and so do the actors. Expect clips in this week's All-Stars.
Ratings are in for Wednesday, which is quickly shaping up to be the most competitive night of television this fall. My inability to post a pilot review doesn't seem to have hurt Pushing Daisies, which got off to a strong start. The fate of this show remains to seen, as viewer retention is the real test. Speaking of which...
Interesting news in the 9pm timeslot. Overnight ratings show a 10% drop in Private Practice's ratings and a whopping 21% tumble for Bionic Woman. Ok, it remains to be seen if NBC thinks it's as bad as I do (with the bubble of hatred I've built around this show); but I think 2 things are clear: 1) All the hype in the world can't make up for mediocre execution 2) Isaiah Washington is a show cancer.
In other news, The CW is pimping Gossip Girl's numbers like you wouldn't believe.
More updates- including the numbers on Dirty Sexy Money-later when I'm in front of a computer instead of floating in Blackberry land.
UPDATE: Took a look at The Futon Critic's full ratings report today and here's their report:
Week-to-week changes (new series): "Bionic woman" (households: -17.86%; adults 18-49: -27.27%), "Life" (households: -10.77%; adults 18-49: -28.57%), "Kid Nation" (households: -2.08%; adults 18-49: -10.71%), "Private Practice" (households: -14.43%; adults 18-49: -11.76%), "Dirty Sexy Money" (households: -9.46%; adults 18-49: even), "Back to You" (households: -4.35%; adults 18-49: -14.29%), "Kitchen Nightmares" (households: +8.57%; adults 18-49: +20.00%) and "Gossip Girl" (households: even; adults 18-49: +8.33%) You can also find the complete ratings on their website. I'm glad to see Kitchen Nightmares gaining viewers. It's not nearly as good as the British version, but I think it's pretty good for reality TV and I'd love to see it take off. My hope is that there's a Season 2 so we can get a Nightmares Revisited for some of these places. Those were my favourite episodes of the original show. Gossip Girl is performing well and I think its future is very secure because The CW has been emphasizing the fact that its #1 in its target demo in major markets. Dirty Sexy Money's fate is still in some limbo. Its week-to-week numbers are solid (especially audience retention in the all-important 18-49) but it didn't have strong numbers to begin with so there may not have been enough viewers to keep. Let's hope ABC decides to stick with this, it's good TV.
Here's a little more:
