Pushing Daisies and other shows gone too soon
It’s semi-official: “Pushing Daisies” is now doing just that. The show is abominably expensive, critically adored and ever-so-low rated, so it should be no surprise that multiple sources are reporting the show will not live through its sophomore year. Also gone are “Eli Stone” and “Dirty Sexy Money” (which pretty much eliminates ABC’s entire Wednesday lineup).
This season is looking to be a let down all around ratings-wise, meaning that some of last years cast offs are looking a bit more solid now. Here are the top three shows network execs probably wish they could bring back from the dead:
“Moonlight” As millions of moviegoers are finding out today, vampires are in. So it’s no surprise that the sexy vampire detective Mick St. John and his forbidden love of the very human Beth Turner made for smart, compelling TV, even in the death zone of Friday nights.
With rising post-strike ratings, a strong demographic and legions of female fans begging to donate whatever bodily fluid star Alex O’Loughlin asked of them, this show’s renewal seemed a slam dunk.
But somehow the stars did not align and CBS went with “The Ex-List” instead. Which garnered about half of Moonlight’s ratings and was summarily dumped by the ‘net a few weeks ago.
To paraphrase their now painful promos, gee, CBS, do you miss Moonlight now?
“The Comeback” As you can tell with HBO’s current line up, standards are a bit different than they were in 2005 when Lisa Kudrow starred as Valerie Cherish, a has-been actress seeking to make (you guessed it) a comeback. Kudrow’s outstanding comedic timing and delivery made for some deliciously awkward moments on-screen and, in the end, Valerie was painful adorable.
The first funny sad fictional reality show comedy hybrid predated the US version of “The Office” by a few months and it was actually better than the early episodes of the NBC show. Unfortunately, we’ll never be able to compare their evolutions because “The Comeback” never came back.
And the seminal canceled-too-soon show: “Firefly.” Joss Whedon’s first effort after the huge cult successes of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel” had all the snark of his first two babies, but this one was a little more grown up. Described as a western set in space, it had cowboys, spaceships, and Nathan Fillion’s ass on display.
Unfortunately what it didn’t have was support from the network. After running the episodes out of order and pre-empting others, fighting Whedon on characters and plots and filming styles, then plopping it in the ever-so-favorite Friday night death slot, Fox unceremoniously canceled “Firefly” after airing just 11 of its 14 filmed episodes.
With the help of their diehard “Browncoat” fans, the show spawned a modestly successful movie and a comic book series, but fans worldwide are still pissed at Fox and living in fear that the midseason’s “Dollhouse” doesn’t get the same bum rush.
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