Question: I am trying very hard to be a fan of Pushing Daisies. I thought series creator Bryan Fuller's Dead Like Me was just magnificent. There was not a character on that series who I didn't love, even the actors who had never appealed to me previously. While there are some elements in Daisies I find very amusing, there are so many positive reviews out there that I can't help but wonder if I'm watching the same show. Here's my beef: When I read the show's concept, I thought the idea of the girl he couldn't touch was great. But now I find Anna Friel's Chuck to be about as milquetoast as the new Jaime Sommers, and maybe even more so. To see Lee Pace drawn to her rather than to the brilliant and nearly perfectly played Olive (Kristin Chenoweth) is unbelievable and certainly disappointing. I honestly keep hoping Ned will accidentally touch Chuck so the real fun can begin. I feel like I'm waiting for the scenes that Chuck is in to end so they'll get back to the fun, and I can't believe ...
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Question: I've been amazed when people have said in previous Ask Matt questions that they don't want to start watching a show because of the chance it might be canceled. I've lived through the agony of having shows I've cared for canceled. I was crushed when Dark Angel ended mid-story. I was in agony when Firefly ended prematurely and stunned when Farscape was canceled after a gut-wrenching cliff-hanger. And there are many others: Wonderfalls, Dead Like Me, Veronica Mars, Drive. Doubtless there will be others. But I don't regret having watched any of these shows. Would my life have been less rich if I had never watched Firefly? Would I be better off if I had never seen Dead Like Me? I understand wanting a beloved show to go on for seven or eight seasons, but I'm grateful even for the brief glimpses into alternate realities that these shows provided. I would have loved to see where Wonderfalls would have gone, but I'm delighted that I got to experience the show at all. So yes, some of ...
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Question: Have you seen any other episodes beyond the pilot of Pushing Daisies? I watched it last night — it's absolutely fantastic! But I'm worried it might be too quirky and non-mainstream to get a big enough audience to satisfy ABC, as was the fate of Bryan Fuller's previous Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me. I've seen promos during other ABC shows and have read that it's been screened at various functions and festivals recently, but probably only in larger cities like New York and L.A. It seems ABC is getting behind it, but what kind of numbers do you think it will have to achieve, and hold on to, in order to stay around a full season?
Answer: Impossible at this point to know or predict. And for the record, I haven't yet seen beyond the pilot of this or any other fall series. Can't wait, of course. There are so many intangibles involved in deciding a show's fate, including the timeslot it's in, how the quality of the episodes holds up, how its performance affects the rest of the
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Could the third time be the charm? Being an eternal optimist when it comes to TV shows I love, I certainly hope so. For the third season in a row, the show I’ve picked as my favorite pilot of the fall season is on ABC, and once again, after two consecutive seasons of my pick failing to make the grade, this show’s projected success is far from a slam dunk. But let me tell you why I believe, despite all logical skepticism to the contrary, that the dazzling “forensic fairy tale” called Pushing Daisies has a shot at making it.First, here’s why my earlier picks didn’t pan out. For one thing, both shows — Invasion in 2005, The Nine in 2006 — had the mixed fortune of being scheduled directly after Lost. (As we’ve learned, the Lost viewing experience is so intense and its fan base so obsessed that it’s pure folly to put any show, especially a demanding one, after Lost.) Both shows were also exceedingly dark in tone, whereas Pushing Daisies...
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