Well, can it? Not according to the Renew or Cancel Index, barring a remarkable turnaround.
But E!’s Kristin Dos Santos has all the info on attempts at saving the show.
Do I think the show has a chance at being saved? Should it be saved?
Well, I suppose it has a chance, just like there’s a chance that the hair on my head would, you know, just magically grow back. Should it be saved? Honestly, with the numbers it has been pulling, ABC should certainly cancel it. It performs horribly among the 18-49 demographic that advertisers salivate over.
I know, I know “look at all the pretty colors.” But the colorful cinematography isn’t pulling in hordes of viewers. While I understand the show has millions of fans — at least five million — so far this year it’s averaged only 2.6 million 18-49 year olds, well less than ABC’s average even including PD and other 18-49 dogs like Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone. Pushing Daisies has been the worst performer of the lot of them.
Do I think it should be saved? No. Do I think it could be saved? No. Am I quite often wrong?
Oh yeah.
Will Pushing Daisies score massively improved numbers up against a wall of Obama and what turns out to be the final game of the World Series? Probably not, but remember, I’m quite often wrong. Check back tomorrow for our overnight ratings report and see the details for yourself.
As much as I love Pushing Daisies, I do realize it’s fate is not good. It’s a shame. I’ll miss it. Am I ready to join some big “Save Our Show” campaign? No. Been there, done that (and oddly enough it was for another Bryan Fuller show- “Wonderfalls”), maybe if I was still in my 20’s. It seems, unfortunately, that Bryan Fuller’s creativity doesn’t appeal to the masses (although I have LOVED his 3 shows to date).
PD is to abstract for network tv, it needs to be on a cable channel for it to last
I more concerned with ‘Life on Mars.’ Thank You
PD can do just that.
I love the show but no. ABC should move on
Saddie, saddie…
I love the show, but i’ll use ABC’s terms to explain my theories. PD is such an bright and shiny show, so it’s delusional and unbearable for our dark and twist country to watch it.
Even so I still think they should save the pie maker, so they’d save my wednesdays
I think this show represents what is wrong with America. The fact of the matter is that America is too stupid to understand it. When a show like Survivor can make it until their umteenth season it’s proof that America doesn’t have the attention span for something as complex as Pushing Daisies. Just look at the number of stupid crime dramas with ridiculous plotlines that pop up every season… ehem Life on Mars.
I agree with Mandy. While I love Pushing Daisies I felt it was doomed if held to normal network standards. However, since ABC Family is, well, in ABC’s family, and the show budget could somehow match, I’ll happily follow the show there.
Last time I saw Pushing Daisies, Shwa, it was a stupid crime comedy with ridiculous plotlines.
Schwa, I understand that you’re upset that a show you like is going to be canceled, but insulting those who don’t like the show isn’t going to help your cause or garner any sympathy. The problem with Pushing Daisies isn’t that it is too complex because it’s not complex at all. Personally, I think its biggest problem is that it is far to cute and whimsical. The colors and bizarre plot lines are OK for a little while, but annoying week after week.
Pushing Daisies complex? If you think that show is complex…your level of stupidity can’t be read.
The best shows are simple, not complex. Even if you are smart, complex shows can confuse you and tend to be more boring. Not because people are stupid, but simply because the plot lines are boring. When it’s simple, it’s entertaining (which is what TV is SUPPOSED to be). Also note that just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it is stupid. Frankly put CSI is simple, yet it has depth and intelligence (even if you don’t like CSI, you have to give credit where credit is due). Pushing Daisies is simple: A pie-make temp. brings people back to life to help solve crimes. It has more depth than that, but overall it’s pretty simple.
Oh yeah:
Star Wars (The Original Trilogy): Simple
Lord of the Rings: Simple
Gladiator: Simple
Live Free or Die Hard: Simple
All of them are great, and all of them are pretty simple.
I think the problem with Pushing Daisies isn’t that it’s complex. It’s simply to colorful and different. Americans have always had a problem choosing something different over something similar. This is a weakness and a strength at the same time, such as it made Frost extremely popular but Whitman really unpopular. Those two by the way are some of the greatest Realist Poets from America. Frost was more traditional, while Whitman was more “modern”-as in different.
When I first saw a promo, I thought it was going to be canceled…and I thought it was British. Apparently it was American…and it got renewed. It might not get renewed again, but it has survived longer than it would actually have been expected.
I think I will die if the show gets canceled. Honestly, I’m getting tired of stupid reality shows that make no sense and just spend millions of advertising dollars on stupid people and following them around with the camera. It’s voyeurism at its worst. In the end, I know they go with the ratings and that the ratings they look at, have to go with the demographic of the advertisers. It’s stupid, but it is capitalism.
Also, I’m 37, so I’m in the demographic they look for.
This show is totally amazing and funny and witty gives you every sort of warm fuzzy that people need to brighten their day.
Heradite did you READ her whole comment or just like five words and go off half cocked like a DOPE?
Bill had this pegged all along. Rhymes with toon night….
Move along, nothing to see here…
Rhymes with toon night….
^^ what?
I’m still holding on to any scrap of hope for this show I can find… I guess you could say I’m in denial.
My hope is that if it IS cancelled, it will ge picked up by another network…. I know that there are many varying opinions on this show, but (in my opinion) it is the most interesting, unique, and colorful show on TV and it would be a shame to take it off the air.
I’ve still got my fingers crossed that, even if it’s not renewed, we have not seen the last of Pushing Daisies.
Amanda, I say this as a PD fan, but if it is not renewed, it’s the last we’ll see of it. Period.
PD is the comedy-type of show ABC has on their hand, they shouldnt let it go. Everyone knows that comedies dont last too long..theyre the last watched shows on TV…so 5-6 million is good.
Warner Bros, however, can move it to another network. Like CW would be perfect, on that network the highest is a 4 million.
Heradite,
I agree with your Star Wars example (for obvious reasons) but am a bit lost at your comparison between Frost and Whitman. I have always found Frost’s subject material to be more interesting than Whitman’s, not really a difference in traditional vs. modern. Alas, if only this were a literary criticism blog, we could debate further.
Robert,
Let’s not be too harsh. The debate of whether simple or complex shows are better intrigues me.
This show is over if its numbers aren’t above 2.5/6 in the 18-49 last night. Last week it was 1.9/5. ABC plans on letting Fuller know tomorrow so that he can re-write the 13th episode as a Series Finale over the weekend. This show is over is my guess. Then again maybe 10 million people watched it last night.
Wow the author of this article is biased against this show. Anyway, Eli Stone did its worst last night, so it might be in last place after today. Don’t write out pushing daisies yet!
Josh, it’s not bias to note that a show is the least watched show on a Network. You can take a swipe at Eli Stone, but Eli Stone was watched by 2 million more people and 100,000 more 18-49 year olds than last week’s Pushing Daisies.
It’s over. Dead.
To Josh, Pushing Daisies is doing WAY worse than Eli Stone. Even after ES’s not so good ratings on this Tuesday, it still had 7-8 million of viewers, while Pushing Daisies is getting 5-6 million.
It’s not good to wish badly onto other shows. There are a ton of fans who love ES as well. And would like to see Eli Stone keep going.
Pushing Daisies fans are just irrational. They make outragious claims of “well maybe ABC will stand behind it like X Network did with Y, Y had bad ratings too.” They seem to ignore the fact their Y examples were never LAST on that network.
Well, as a fan of Pushing Daisies during its first season, I am not surprised that the show is not doing well. Last season, it was a breath of fresh air and something new. But this year, the show just hasn’t been very good. Where there was some depth of characters in the previous season, this season all the characters seem to be flat. Seriously, the characters seem to be their more for the plot points and little else. As people keep pointing out, the producers of the show seem to think that colors and whimsy will carry the show. It just isn’t. This season, the show seems to think its more cute than it actually is.
I gave up watching tv when another one of Bryan Fuller’s great shows were cancelled… “Dead Like Me”. It was one of the oddest, sweetest, funny, and saddest programs i’ve ever seen rolled up in one. Some American viewers are so dumb. They would rather watch a stupid reality show, or some played out cop and doctor show with the same crap over and over. I can’t tell one cop show from the other. One day my friends creativity to television will come back…one day. We can all hope right?
Personally I’d like to call for all people using the “reality tv sucks and my show is so much better; America is so stupid” argument to be banned. It’s so cliched and unoriginal.
In the UK, we have specific channels that really go for US TV. The only programmes in the last few years that really have made it into our ‘mainstream primetime slots’ are the CSIs, Lost, Desperate Housewives, Shark, NCIS, Law and Order and Heroes. The rest of the programmes go on side channels which cater for what is referred over here as ‘cult’ audiences. These channels will have most of our imports.
Pushing Daisies got a primetime slot last year, but its ratings were poor over here, and it wont return. I myself watched it, and like Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me before it, I enjoyed it for the most part, but really wished that they could dial it back a few notches. It’s all well and good being original, but it’s quirky to hell. Everything is quirky. Keep the colours, but when you’re being wallopped with zany characters in zany situations every week, it’s a bit much.
However it’s biggest problem is its lack of car-crash syndrome. People like tension and drama and characters overcoming difficulties; its psych 101. PD has a situation in place but was never overly tense, and audiences aren’t use to a show with an overarching happy vibe.
Overall: Pushing Daisies is just a little bit too ‘11′ for everyone to handle. (Spinal Tap reference), but shouldn’t be saved cause reality television sucks.
1) Pushing Daisies doesn’t get “the dudes” watching. It’s too whimsical and there’s not enough gun-toting or hand to hand combat. Look at all of the serial dramas that are currently on network television and thriving. 24. LOST. Heroes. If you can’t get young male viewers watching, then you won’t be able to get anybody else. It’s alright to not have young males if you’re a procedural (and let’s face it, HOUSE is a procedural as well) but if you have an ongoing storyline, there’s pretty much no chance. Older audiences will easily forget about your show and tune out, same with the younger audience. Basically, shows like 24/LOST/Heroes appeal to the people that don’t really watch much else on television. The video game playing kid that remembers X-Men turns on Heroes. The 30 year old blue-collar guy sees the adrenaline pumped promos for 24 during an NFL game and gets excited. The nerdy college guy obsesses over LOST when he’s not taking keg sips. Average young males need pyrotechnics or sci-fi or they’ll zone out awfully fast.
2) I agree that the “quit airing reality crap” argument is staid, stale & tired. Before reality shows, we had cookie cutter laugh track sitcoms airing in those time slots. You’re absolutely bonkers if you believe pre-reality was a Golden Age. Also, quit using good reality shows like Survivor in your annoying whining. Survivor is a critically acclaimed masterpiece and certainly allows for more brain usage during (and after) viewing than any network procedural. CBS would be the most creatively bankrupt network on television if it wasn’t for their daring, exciting, and innovative reality shows.
It’s pretty hypocritical to suggest that using “reality TV sucks and Americans are stupid” is cliche but then you go on to say that people “like tension and drama”, you know. It’a an obvious fact that drama and tension has nothing to do with it, otherwise tensely written dramas (and I don’t mean PD at this point, as iwayt’s different genre anyway) would actually survive in American network television. All that casual viewer actually wants, be it consciously or subconsciously, is a framework that is easily followable – someone dies/guys analyze and find killer/first choice of killer is wrong/someone out of the investigators sees light and figures out correct killer (that may or may not be someone they at first dismissed).
Now the new way of doing those shows is adding some sort of quirky character who has some sort of “mystical knowledge” to solve all the crimes whatever it takes.
Bottom line, don’t give me the BS about cliche when you’re giving shows like that as a comparison to PD (and before you or anyone else says that PD also follows same sort of frame, yeah it does. Likely Fuller figured that otherwise
people wouldn’t watch it at all nowadays. Or it could be an ironical take by him.
Regardless, PD’s power stems from its textual features and stunning graphics, the actual plot is secondary.)
*rofl* Survivor being critically acclaimed masterpiece if definitely my favorite sentence of the week, or even of the month.
And yeah, pre-reality was the golden age. I’ve always thought that Television is about mediating Art (and perhaps I’m really bonkers for believing that), and there’s nothing to do with art when random stereotyped people fight with each other
on screen. It is simply a cheap way to make money for the network by milking clueless people who have no idea how to “eat” anything that actually matters once it’s offered.
Pushing Daisies is an innovative different kind of show that I really like. But its just too different for the masses. Could it survive on a cable network? Maybe. Depends on the cost of production. It doesnt have a large cast and if they were willing to “take one for the team” and accept salary cuts – there might be a chance.
After the Jericho campaign, that ultimately failed after the 2nd season ratings cratered, it will be a long long time before any network keeps a show on the air based on people sending things like Daisies into the network offices. Yes, Ive actually heard some people want to do this – please dont – it will just be a waste of money. At least the Jericho peanuts went to charities. Who eats daisies? They would just end up in the trash.
HEROES fans, dont be suprised if HEROES gets the axe at the end of the season. It looks like its headed down the same road as USA’s THE 4400. Liked both shows, but both suffered from bad writing and muddled plots. Its not too late for HEROES but the way the ratings keep declining, if things dont turn around, its over and out. It has to be an expensive show to produce with such a large cast and special effects. I guess they could cut the cast size and the budget but that sort of thing didnt exactly work for Jericho.
I tried watching last night’s PD pretending to be someone who had never seen it before (I have in fact watched every episode because a dear friend likes it) – I don’t see how such a person could have possibly wanted to wait through the first commercial break without running screaming from the choking cuteness and far-too-rapidly delivered dialogue masking a horrendously convoluted plot.
I doubt the ratings will have improved at all. Even said friend realizes it’s all too much and the end is imminent.
Of course, that nutball Kristin Vietch is advocating to her horde of sheep that they mail stuff to ABC. That woman is dangerous.
I just came up with a genius idea.
Move the show to ABC family. Honestly. What’s better on cable than a show with a positively loyal couple million viewers in the 18-49 demographic? There’s few non-network shows that could match those numbers. If a third of the Daisies audience were to flock over to ABC Family, those would be pretty impressive cable numbers for episodes that ABC has already paid for…I mean, if you’ve already guaranteed Fuller a baker’s dozen of shows and they aren’t successful enough to air on network television, you might as well air them on a network where they could be very succesful due to lower standards.
ABC Family should immediately run the two dozen episodes that are out there five days a week like they do with Gilmore Girls. After the new audience is caught up, start airing the remaining Daisies episodes left in the can. If the show does manage to get 1.5 million or more viewers, contemplate either producing a low-budget television movie or a shortened third season run with a cheaper budget.
Honestly, ABC has a product on its hands that certainly still has commercial value and can recoup some of their losses via cable. Why not take advantage of this rather than let 8 episodes go completely un-aired?
Chris:
I watched the episode last night as someone who has never seen the show before, and my opinions on it were pretty much blah. I mean, it had a good charm to it, and the episode itself was pretty enjoyable (though very strange), but the whole premise is kind of a bit…dark if you ask me. So, this guy brings these people back to life just to get some info out of them, and then touches them again and that’s it? They’re dead again? “Sorry, but we don’t need you anymore. Thanks!” It just seems weird. And the narrator made me feel like I was constantly watching some Dr. Seuss movie or something. I guess that’s what the charm is supposed to be though, huh?
Overall, I thought the show was decent, and I feel bad for the people who really love the show if it does get canceled. I guess we’ll just have to see if Obama TV helped draw some extra viewers to it last night. It did for me.
1) Meant to say “first dozen” rather than “two dozen” episodes of PD since there aren’t that many.
2) Alde, Survivor appeared to tremendous critical acclaim out of the gate. It was one of the highest listed shows of the last 25 years in a recent Entertainment Weekly list. TV Guide also ranked it very high in their greatest game shows list. Time Magazine put it (along with The Amazing Race & American Idol) into their 100 Greatest TV Shows list. Tim Goodman of the SF Chronicle, one of the staunchest supporters of shows like The Wire & Arrested Development watched every single episode of the first twelve seasons of Survivor and often wrote acclaim for it in his weekly columns.
And you say pre-reality was the golden age? You mean, television before the year 2000? Before Arrested Development, both Offices, The Wire, Gilmore Girls, most of The Sopranos, Deadwood, Mad Men, Dexter, LOST, 30 Rock, yada yada. Really? Laugh track sitcoms everywhere and dramas that were far less complex aside from the occasional X-Files or Northern Exposure. Really? Reality television helped slay the weaklings of both the comedy & drama genres and its presence on cable helped divert viewers away from network television. The less viewers those shows received, the more networks have catered to minute audiences resulting in far more compelling television and a sudden explosion of great television. Nothing sucked more than television through the late 80’s when nobody had cable or the internet and they had no choice but to gum down one of the shitty offerings on ABC/CBS/FOX/NBC. Reality television increased competition in the market place and if you really think a show like Survivor is preventing a good show from airing on CBS rather than a lame procedural pilot that the network turned down, then I have a bridge to sell you…
Daisies is produced by WBTV, they even release the DVDs. If is ending on cable, more likely that it ends up at HBO.
Honestly the problem of of PD, is that it’s pretentious crap, trying to pass as artsy.
They steal the look of Amelie,a blatant wink to the pretentious critics that like to say they watch subtitled movies, and nothing worth watching happens. You know you got trouble when the set is better than the plot.
Jenna, they did advertise the hell out of the show BEFORE the season premiere. It only garnered a 2.0 rating in the key demographic so I can see why ABC didn’t bother after. In fact, they didn’t need to. The show’s 18-49 base has actually showed up consistently, it’s the older/younger viewers that have caused the overall viewer erosion in the ensuing weeks. If all you can muster is a 2.0 after all of that promotion and you’re able to garner the same rating without it, then I can see why ABC chose to disregard hyping up this show in the first place since there wasn’t much of a point. Anybody watching ABC before the premiere of Daisies knew of its existence and I doubt there’s anyone that tuned into an ABC show for the first time in the middle of October that also would’ve jumped over to PD on Wednesday nights.
BUT, the fact that this show can manage roughly a 2.0 without advertising means that there is potential for a larger 18-49 audience that doesn’t know of its existence. Again, running the episodes on cable would be hugely helpful. Far too many young people didn’t know of Family Guy or Scrubs until they were shoved down their throats via incessant reruns.
Pushing Daisies is doomed. And that comes from someone who thinks it is the best, most original show on television. It’s too expensive for cable and, quite frankly, I think it would lose a lot if they reduced the budget to make a go of it there.
The problem with the show is not that it’s particularly complex; it’s that you have to be familiar with the “mythology” for the characters to have resonance. Rachel P above is a good example. Unless you know that Ned has to touch a resurrected person again within 60 seconds or someone else dies, you’ll have the same reaction she did.
ABC should have promoted it as a love story where the main characters can never touch and should have put it on after Ugly Betty. But Grey’s Anatomy is such a ratings power in that spot, it would never happen.
At this point, I will be very sad if it’s canceled, but I think it’s inevitable. I just hope they allow Fuller to write a finale and then find a way to show all the remaining episodes.
I don’t have much time to go into details, hence I’m just going to say few things.
CBS doesn’t air good shows, CBS airs shows that cater en masse (see above in my post what sort of shows those are). CBS tends to cancel shows that break away from this frame and consequently doesn’t receive as much viewers, Jericho for instance.
I suppose suggesting that shows such like that are actually *bad* because they are not watched enough, is a big leap towards naivety and I honestly can’t help but smirk.
Yeah, things were different back in a day. Personally, I don’t know much about 80ties but I know 90ties well enough (I suppose age pays a big part in it, too). Quite several of my all-time favorite shows wouldn’t live a week these days, Babylon 5 and Farscape being only few among many examples I could give. Acclaiming that 90ties was riddled with laugh track comedies is an down right illusion. Right at this moment, a lot of network TV consists of the same stuff
where people are hinted to when to laugh. Ironically, sitcoms that actually doesn’t provide a laugh track aren’t watched as much (say 30Rock), funny why that may be?
All in all, though, the main problem right now as opposed to the situation way back when is how big of an impact advertising has for the TV industry. Perfect example is the length of episodes. You could rarely found an episode of whatever show that wouldn’t last 45 minutes or more, now you’re extremely lucky if you get even that (and when you do, its on cable, if you exclude Fringe).
I suppose what I’m trying to say is that in the past, TV resembled more to an art form. Now its just pure business and creativity suffers for it.
Jenna, ABC did not kill PD. They bought print ads, promo’d it, and gave it what should have been the cushiest timeslot of the week. It bled viewers virtually every single week and tied with Top Model (!) for 5th (!!) among its target audience twice.
No show should lose to Knight Rider. That’s how little it resonated with viewers.
Alde: CBS airs plenty of good shows. This college-educated demo viewer finds plenty to enjoy there. You are not doing your argument any favors by belittling people who like what you don’t. It causes us to root against your shows when we normally would just be indifferent. So stop.
Chris the TV sag: Personally CBS shows are just about crimes and death; they’re comedies are for me incredibly crap. Two and a half men is one of the worst shoes ever; so is the Big Bang Thoery. Shows were theres no character developement or actual good storylines. I think a show like PD at least deserves much better ratings than a show written by half-witted writers.
Incidentally, I gave some thought about the shows you listed in your last post towards me, DDK. It’s interesting that those were the shows you chose because several of them illustrate my point pretty nicely. Examples: Dexter aired on CBS but got perhaps even smaller number of total viewers as PD does now (though I may be wrong). Arrested Development was canceled. Deadwood wouldn’t have lived a day on network television, it’s textual merit is a lot more hard to take as of that of PD. Unlikely Sopranos nor Mad Men would either do well.
As most of what you named were/are premium cable/basic cable shows, it’s particularly interesting that you chose them. Isn’t it because cable tends to let good stuff grow and won’t yank it as network TV does (with very few shows excluded), I imagine.
America disagrees. (And according to Wikipedia, so did the UK – 6.3 million viewers for the premiere down to 2.7 million for the S1 finale.)
Once you strip away the cloying cuteness, isn’t PD a procedural about “crimes and death”?
Yes mind numming tv; but my point against what you’re saying Chris is that PD does it with more elegance. In terms of comedy there are much better shows Two and a half men; like a UK show called Extras (over now) but its how they write and develope that is important. Shows like Heroes wane in the ratings because there are very high expectations for Heroes whereas when i tried to watch Two and a half men all there was is just the same joke after another; no intelligence in plot or even character developement. The same with PD and CSI; all that i find in CSI is just death and how it happens. Like i said its just how its done that matters; and to me CBS just does every genre the same with very little thought.
Plus although i use Wikipedia for stuff like this; remember anyone can write what they want so Wikipedia is not a relyable source.
Let’s not knock CBS without hitting upon ABC as well. ABC has an even poorer track record historically. Once in a while, they get a groundbreaking show like Twin Peaks or Pushing Daisies and then make a few mistakes here or there that lead to audience loss. Quite frankly, Daisies would be a potential hit on FOX five-to-ten years ago and the same for the X-Files-y Twin Peaks. Hell, they even have problems with LOST which was absolutely abysmal at recouping revenue via reruns, hence the “all in a row” format. Still, they hurt that show by not tightening the reigns in the 2nd/3rd seasons when LOST wasted many hours going absolutely nowhere, and they definitely should have told the producers to wrap it up in five seasons rather than the six as the upcoming one seems absolutely superfluous…nothing much will go on at the island and the Oceanic Six will end up back on the island by the season finale. Talk about not progressing your story!
If we’re going for best overall network of the last twenty years, it’s definitely FOX. If you were to list every “good” to “great” show that has aired on FOX at that time, you’d be absolutely astonished by how long the roll call sheet would be. Unfortunately, FOX is no longer a risk taker and is fine with hobbling its schedule around tired animation, a giant reality show, and some meh procedurals. I guess they did indeed decide to morph into CBS Lite after having an endless stream of great shows for about three years that didn’t pan out into ratings successes….I mean, Firefly/Wonderfalls/Dark Angel/Family Guy/The Tick/Action/Andy Richter/Undeclared, etc. Can’t say FOX didn’t try although they certainly screwed up the marketing on a lot of these.
I agree with your FOX comments; its schedule is filled with the same shows being renewed. But i want you to think about internet revenue, which may be making up for the loss in TV ratings. So shows that are hits on the internet like Heroes may make loads on the internet. So shows like PD might not be such failures (but thats proberly an overstatement). Although FOX’s new Family Guy spin-off doesn’t look like it will impress me but it looks like FOX migth be taking a risk, who knows.
Fin: You can verify the UK ratings at barb.co.uk.
I know; but u said wikipedia. Anyway thats not my point.
I watch Pushing Daisies, but the show has lost whatever it was that made it so good last season. It seems to be getting cutesier with every new episode and that is not a good thing. I think ABC should be commended for giving it a second chance, when it really didn’t deserve one (same goes for Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone).
As an aside, was anyone else nauseated by the following paragraph from the Watch with Kristin article?
–
TV was once a vast wasteland, but through ingenuity and small-screen spirit it has been turned into a flourishing paradise of awesome. However, if we begin to let go of revelations like Pushing Daisies on ABC, there is a very real threat to quality television as we know it. The wasteland may creep back and overtake all that is gracious and good in our living rooms every night. Join the fight against the scourge of bad TV, won’t you?
–
That’s at least partially sarcastic, right?
Right?
That’s the only point you made that can’t be boiled down to a simple difference of opinion. You think PD is better than CSI and BBT, and I don’t. Neither of us is going to sway the other.
(For the record, I have yet to watch a full ep of 2.5 Men. I assume I’ll catch it in reruns someday.)
Don’t; its a waste of time.
I’m gonna have a lot of time to kill in the old folks’ home.
Fortunately, I have hundreds of eps of “Law & Order” to watch yet too.
Doghouse: No, that’s Kristin.
Ah well pushing up daisies just can’t pull itself up and will be cancelled if it was ABC i would quickly whip up a reality tv show and quickly replace its: cheap and proberly only a lower cut of ratings.
I’m a big fan of Pushing Daisies and I think it’s a lot better then other crime procedurals that use the same boring story elements over and over again. I realize people like what is familar, but it seems like Nielsen ratings generally come down hard on shows with fantasy/sci-fi elements. I wonder if the general trend of older viewers being more representated in Nielsen polling is causing the trend?
Oh well, at least shows like Lost prove that there can be breakaway hits with fantasy/sci-fi elements in them. I think over the next five years we’ll see a lot more hits from this genre. I do wonder though if shows like Eureka, Reaper, and Supernatural would have been hits if they have been broadcast.
i say we pull a Jericho and send hundreds of tasty pies to the network.
Seems like that would be rewarding them, Champ.
No point in doing those save-our-show campaigns they never really work. The numbers don’t lie and the network heads know just how much each show is making financially. Yes, Jericho’s an exception, but a definite waste of time still. CBS was banking on the show having a great DVD/online presence and becoming a LOST type water cooler show. Daisies, on the other hand, is known to at least half of this country via advertisements…I don’t think it’s anywhere near on the same level as Jericho in not being recognized, especially since Jericho aired on an older skewer network which is why the younger audience didn’t know of its existence.
Anyway, the best thing to do is to tell your friends and family to watch this program! It went up .3 in the 18-49 demographic last night and saw a boost of nearly a million viewers. If most of these new viewers return for the next slice of pie and tell a few of their friends, you never know what could happen. If this show could capture the amount of viewers it did last night and add on a meager million more, that could be just enough to be borderline on the renew/cancel index.
Enjoy Pushing Daisies while its still on the air
because it will get the boot this season
Pushing Daisies is an excellent, wildly entertaining show. Can it be saved? I highly doubt it. Maybe this show just isn’t a fit for ABC. People who watch ABC don’t seem to do well with the whimsical, fantastic, or supernatural. Just look at Life On Mars or Eli Stone. Same deal. With the exception of Lost, these types of shows just don’t seem to resonate with ABC viewers.
What I really want to know is where they get their ratings from? How many 18 year olds do you know that actually participate in the neilsens? I can’t disagree that this show is quirky and colorful. Perhaps people are distracted by all those bright colors and too slow to catch the quick and clever dialogue. Maybe Americans; with their fast food and credit card debt are too impatient to spend time with a show that makes you think, feel, and is visually pleasing. I was amazed it was renewed in the first place. Once its gone maybe ABC can copy CBS and NBC and start its own crime series franchise, or maybe! maybe the CSI and Law and Order series could merge on ABC. They could call it Law and Crime Scene Toledo… Pushing Daisies was bound to be cancelled. After all this man is too brilliant for network television. I’d really like to see what he could do in features. I won’t apologize for calling Americans stupid or even lazy for that matter. We are and the less defensive we are about that the better things could be.
Wow Pushing Daisies fans are delirious! I love the “ABC didn’t promote it!” Why then was it the 2nd most promoted scripted show so far this season by ABC? “It would have done so well 5 to 10 years ago on Fox!” What are you smoking? A bad show is a bad show anywhere. Pushing Daisies steadily loses viewers.
Also it got canceled today (well Fuller was told to make the 13th episode a Series Finale, but I suppose some miracle could happen and people watch the last few episodes, but that would take a miracle).
Honestly, PD got boring after a few episodes of the first season. At least PD got its leading actors some Emmy nods, so once it’s cancelled, the actors can move on to bigger projects.
I love this show, but i agreed with jamie, laste season PD got boring after a few episodes, however improve a lot to the final.
the mistake about this series was to try make a crime drama.
Oh I forgot to say we would put happy drugs in them, just like the show. !P
As another poster mentioned, it’s too smart for average viewers. They would rather watch Dancing with the Stars or Survivor or…Knight Rider.
That pretty much says it all.
PD’s episode last night was my last. When I saw them scoping out the dim sum poker game I tuned out and switched to the Obama infommercial. I did not switch back.
What elitism to claim that a show is “too smart.” PD is failing because it is TOO DUMB. People believe in a talking transforming car more than they can believe two people can fall in love and have a good relationship when they can never touch. The talking car is easier to believe in. The “they can’t ever touch!” crap is DUMB. Too dumb for TV it would appear.
I WANT MORE CHENO!!!!
Nick C – where did you read Fuller was told to make Ep 13 a series finale? Got a link? Clearly, you do not care for PD, and your bias shows. Why are you here commenting if you dislike it so much? Just wondering why you are in such an uproar that people like the show.
Frankly, PD is indeed too clever for the huddled masses. It is well acted and the writing is excellent! The dialogue is just too fast-paced and witty to be “understood” for certain folks, who then turn to mindless reality TV (Dancing, Survivor etc) or poorly written crime procedurals because they don’t have to think. Come on, have you listened to the dialogue of the CSI, L&O shows? A 5 year old could figure out the plot in the first 2 minutes. How come only drama cable shows received Emmy nods for writing this year? PD got a not in comedy. Sorry, these shows are dumbed down to the lowest common denominator. I’ll keep rooting for PD!
If I still smoked pot I’d probably tune in weekly, but since I don’t I’ll have to agree that the show sucks. It is not complex at all. It’s just stupid.
“As another poster mentioned, it’s too smart for average viewers.”
Smart show? I wouldn’t necessarily label this. Creative? yes. The investigation cases are boring, in a sense where you wonder why you’d care. The interactions between the character are mostly fun (especially when there’re Emerson and Oliva involved), but I didn’t find them interesting enough, enough for me to care. Ned and Chuck can’t touch? Are we ever putting them together? Writers give viewers more on why these two are so in love with one another, other than they were each other’s first kiss/childhood friends. The set decorating department and makeup dept. & rest of the crew should be creditted for the creatively. Oh, and Fuller for his concept.
Also, there is nothing that’s going on to engage the viewers to. Towards the end of last season, they did had something -Olive finding out Chuck “fake” her death, and one of the aunts is Chuck’s mother. Both secrets are in the hands of Olive, in which she tried to keep. But that suspense quickly diminished when it was resolved in the first three episode of season 2, simply with Ned telling Chuck the truth about her mother. Where did the suspense go?
I enjoy PD, but it’s not a show I’d look forward to every week (it’s still on my DVR list).
Phillip, it’s not “too clever for the huddled masses,” it’s a dumb show that people just don’t like. More people dislike the show than like it. How do I figure? 13M people watched the first episode. 6M people on average watch it now. That means 7M people think it’s not worth watching. There are 8M people who’d rather watch Knight Rider which isn’t a smart show at all. That means to me, that PD is disliked.
There is nothing about the show that is “clever,” or even smart. The mysteries are horribly dull. The show contradicts itself every episode that someone doesn’t say “whats with the animated corpse hanging out with you guys?” The Chuck character isn’t alive, but an animated corpse. No one notices? That is rather stupid.
Does it have neat sets? Sure. Is it quirky? Sure. Is it smart or clever? Nope. In fact I’d say it’s pretty stupid.
Just because I think it’s stupid doesn’t mean I don’t watch it. I’m amused by Emerson. The rest of the characters are actually rather annoying. I keep watching expecting them to fix the obvious problems, but they never do. Now I watch it like I slow down to look at a car wreck. This show is a wreck and it’s fun to watch it die a slow and painful death.
Fuller should return to Heroes and try and save it.
Your odd Nick C. I can think of a million other things to do with my time than watch a show I can’t stand just in the hopes it crashes and burns. Nor do I find it necessary to go online and bash shows I don’t care for. I just don’t watch them. First, KR is doing only marginally better than PD in the key demo, and mainly because NBC overall is doing so poorly. And you proved my point with KR; it’s a show they can understand without much mental effort, therefore attracting a “few” more viewers. I suspect your a KR fan, and hoping PD dies so it can maybe get more viewers. Still looking for your reference on PD being done at 13 eps. Maybe you weren’t being truthful?
One last thought Nick, most shows have experienced eroded viewership this season, even the biggies like Desperate Housewives, CSI and Grey’s Anatomy. Granted not as harshly as PD, but I think they’re all down due to the writers strike. People found other things to watch and changed viewing habits. Freshman series from last season got hit the hardest as people haven’t gone back to check them out again. Just my opinion.
Phillip, You kind of kill the “I like Pushing Daisies because I’m smarter than you” argument when you can’t tell the difference between between a contraction and a possessive pronoun.
people get so defensive about their opinions sometimes. Sadly, it’s just part of human nature. I don’t think it has anything to do with how smart (or stupid) the show is. I think it’s more what I wrote about this weekend on why some shows find a broad audience and some don’t.
Regardless of the IQ necessary to watch Pushing Daisies the broad audience didn’t buy in. And very clearly, men in particular were not buying in to the premise. It basically averaged a 2.9/8 with women 18-49 and women 18-34 last night, and a 3.1/8 with women 25-54. None of the younger male demos had above a 1.7, though as with women, it performed better with older males, with a 2.2/6 among men 25-54.
@Vader:
If you study history, Frost was more Romantic and used traditional forms. Whitman didn’t as much, and back then it was change.
@Alde: Survivor has been critically acclaimed. Hate it at all you want…critics didn’t.
ABC took a huge risk when they put Wednesday night as Sophomore Night. I think PD would do really fine if put after a popular ABC show.
Phillip,
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b66522_did_abc_just_cancel_pushing_daisies.html
First industry buzz site to mention that what I posted on here early today was true. I’m pretty sure the rumor was posted here first (and it wasn’t a rumor, it happened).
The show is over. It would take a miracle. Obviously I watch shows for a reason. That reason is tied to how I knew what Fuller was told before it was reported publicly. I can also attack a show and it’s elitist fans all I want. You guys ASK for it.
Thanks for the link Nick. Sorry you think PD fans are elitist. While some like you may dislike the show because they find the show DUMB and STUPID(your words), I disagree. I think it has a smaller audience because a lot of the “nuance” of the show is dialogue driven. I am not saying EVERYONE is too dumb to get it, this type of entertainment is just not their cup of tea, so to speak. They’d rather watch something easier to digest. Not judging them, they can watch whatever they want, but to call PD dumb or stupid is not a fair charactersation. It’s quality is much better than the majority of shows currently airing.
Whatever, Holly. Not going to bother going back to check on what I am sure is a typo, but now that I know the English nanny is on high alert, I’ll try and be more careful.
Oops Holly, I am so stupid. It’s spelled characterization.
Phillip, sorry your argument lacks merit. Dialogue driven shows aren’t watched or understood by the masses? This argument really doesn’t hold up.
The facts are these:
Pushing Daisies made a brilliant pilot that scored high in many areas. ABC executives tried to get certain aspects of the show fixed (where it scored low) and Fuller said the rest would make up for it. He bet that the exceptional STYLE would keep people around for the rest to work. He also bet on a cast member that scored extremely low. Fuller also bet heavily on “the love relationship,” hooking female viewers because it was a tragic love.
Ratings are the worst on ABC for a scripted program. ABC is currently in 3rd place among the networks.
Fuller gambled and unless some miracle happens and viewers fall out of the sky he lost.
Viewers are not relating to the show. It isn’t because dialogue is too snappy, it isn’t because the show is too smart. It isn’t that the show is too quirky. It is that they don’t buy the concept. It’s an OPINION. The people have chosen to watch something else or not at all. It happens.
Fans making absurd claims is pointless. It’s over. Move on. For every claim you fans make, I’ll make my own about it being stupid. Whose is more valid? Doesn’t matter, show is done with. Enjoy the final episodes, and if they don’t air (could happen) then enjoy the DVDs.
Dang. It’s a warzone in here. :/
Nick C., now you have me curious. The cast member that scored extremely low,
Who was it? I’m curious because the reason I can’t stand the show is the leading actors. Specially Friel. She is so damn annoying, to me, and it rubs on Pace. PD was one of the shows I was salivating for last season, but I can’t overcome the visceral dislike of the leads.
With Dead Like Me, it took a little time to get used to the lead, no instant likability either, but at least she grew on you. Friel just bugs me.
S, lets just say your opinion seemed to have been shared by others. Fuller was told the same thing with DEAD LIKE ME (notice that actress hasn’t worked since). A few people at ABC really wanted him to cast a slightly younger and more traditionally “hot,” actress. Fuller would have none of it. Friel did score better with women than men. The scores were enough to green light, but they were definitely a warning sign.
Thank you NicK C.
Pushing Daisies a completely unique experience that has been cultured for a very discerning audience. It is smart, quirky, original, colorful and one of the shows that makes the viewer happy after viewing. Most shows that succeed are the opposite in every way: predictable, low-brow, simple, repetitive, mean-spirited, and based on a trite, overly recycled ideas that easily absorb into the small minds glued to reality tv. I love Pushing Daisies for its audacity and tenacity, and was completely shocked it was picked up for a second season. Once the curtain falls, I will enjoy those episodes repeatedly. Great TV like this doesn’t happen very often (see Freaks and Geeks, Arrested Development, Wonderfalls, Aliens in America, etc). I’m glad we got these many episodes.
It’s a shame really. I adore the show, and I am only 19 myself.
However I have to admit that I’m the only one of my friends that watches it.
I would hope that they would give it a chance, but as this is a business, anything that doesn’t make they money they want is cut.
ABC can revolutionize television. With a show thats quirky, original, and truly entertaining, its not like any other shows out there.
I love this show and I’m in the 18-49 group. I even stay during breaks and watch the commercials because I don’t want to miss a moment of this delightfully quirky fantasy, so just keep it on the air please!
I love this show and I’m in the 18-49 group (22 in fact). I even stay during breaks and watch the commercials because I don’t want to miss a moment of this delightfully quirky fantasy, so just keep it on the air please!
I accidentally posted twice, so now I look like a jackass, but I don’t care. I love the show that much. This show has won my heart and I would love to see it developed further.
Love the show, my whole family…12, 14, 16, 46, 53 years old…we all watched it and taped it, EVERY WEEK. Boo hoo.
Pushing Daisies is my favourite TV show. I’m 17, I live in England and watch it, recorded, thrice a week.
I’m stunned it’s not incredibly popular because I adore it, but if there are simply too few viewers then it has to go. Sadly, business is objective.
It will be very sorely missed, nothing else compares to it.