The early ratings are in, and it looks like the combination of aggressive promotion and laudatory media buzz paid off for the first round of ABC’s delightful Pushing Daisies, which handily won its time period Wednesday and is off to a solid start. Honestly, though, if any of the reality alternatives had prevailed (especially CBS’s snooze-inducing Kid Nation and the is-that-still-on stupid briefcase show over on NBC), I think I’d be wearing a black armband in to work for the rest of the season. I’m dying to see a second episode of Daisies, and am trying to pretend I’m not worried that ABC hasn’t supplied one yet. (A year ago, I was dazzled by the pilot of The Nine, an episode the series never again lived up to.) Still, after watching an opening hour as filled with wonder and whimsy as Daisies’ pilot (or “Pielette,” as the episode was titled), how can anyone express anything but hope?My other top Wednesday night priority was seeing how Priv...
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NBC's 2007-08 lineup features the new dramas Journeyman (Mondays, 10 pm/ET), a romantic-mystery from the Emmy Award-winning producers of The West Wing, concerning a San Francisco newspaper reporter (Kevin McKidd, Rome) who inexplicably begins to travel through time and alter people's lives; and Chuck(Tuesdays, 9 pm/ET), a comedic spy thriller about an unassuming computer geek who is unexpectedly catapulted into a new career as a government agent after spy secrets are mysteriously embedded into his brain. Also new this fall is the drama Bionic Woman (Wednesdays, 9 pm/ET), a re-imagination of the classic from David Eick (Battlestar Galactica) and Jason Smilovic (Kidnapped). Bionic Woman stars Michelle Ryan (EastEnders) as a young woman who is radically altered and empowered after a car crash. Additionally, Life (Wednesdays, 10 pm/ET) features a complex police detective (Damian Lewis, Band of Brothers) who's given a second chance on the Force after serving years in prison for a crime h...
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