It’s been one year, 22 weeks and 4 days since the Piemaker brought a girl named Chuck back to life.

OK, so the fabulous folks who put out “Pushing Daisies” aren’t math whizzes. (The show actually debuted one year and five days ago.)

But why get technical? Everything else the show’s creative forces touch is pure perfection.

Take last night’s episode, which sent Ned, Emerson and Chuck to a circus. Yes, a real, live circus. As if life in Coeur d’Coeurs wasn’t freaky enough.

The mystery of the week for our investigative trio? Find a missing teen-age girl, who, quite literally, has run away to join the circus. Of course, murder victims, who Ned must resurrect briefly to help solve the case, pile up along the way.

What follows is hilariously clever jokes about circus staples like mimes (Emerson: “The mimes just pulled up, and they ain’t talkin’.”), clowns (dead ones keep coming out of a car that plunged into a river) and the human cannonball (who is used as an almost-deadly weapon).

In other hands, this material could have been painful to watch. But the quality of the show’s writing—along with the nimble acting by Lee Pace, Anna Friel and Chi McBride—made it seem fresh.

Not to mention that the “Daisies” crew just seems to be having so much gosh-darn fun! Who didn’t giggle along with the main characters when they made fun of a witness’ name, Bryce von Deenis? (Insert your own lewd limerick here.)

So who ended up being the clown killer? Why, the French acrobat, who was upset that the clowns wanted to unionize. Their Norma Rae move would have put the circus out of business!

Oh, and our fun threesome found the missing girl, too. Plus, they got to show off some secret skills: Chuck speaks fluent French! Ned can throw a mean baseball!

A roundabout plot? Sure. A flimsy motive for murder? Absolutely.

And as for the whole story about Lily really being Chuck’s mother? Forget that one, I’m still a little fuzzy on how Lily and Vivian are Chuck’s “aunts” if neither are related to her. (Vivian was Chuck’s father’s fiancee; her sister, Lily, had an affair with Charles Charles behind her back.) Perhaps it’s just one of those terms of endearment, but what does it matter?

Because once again, “Pushing Daisies” possesses the uncanny ability to make the viewer forget about all those silly little details.

You’re just happy to be along for the ride.

(Photos courtesy of ABC)

The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films announced the nominations for the 34th Annual Saturn Awards this week. Not surprisingly, in the television nominations, Lost led the way, with an impressive seven nominations. Dexter, with five, and Heroes, with four, also did well.

But what was missing?

Jericho.

Now, I know that not everyone considers Jericho to be science fiction. But most sci-fi fans do consider it to be, at least. Sci-fi websites cover Jericho and it’s a post-apocalyptic drama; seems to fit the category, at least loosely. How is it less so than, say, Pushing Daisies? Or Shrek the Halls??

As much as I appreciate most of the noms listed below (but Battlestar Galactica totally should have gotten more nominations, as much as I love Lost!), Jericho should have gotten some Saturn love.

And the (television) nominees are (for a full list, go here): Read more of this entry »

The Golden Globes Press Conference airs tonight on NBC. Sure, it’s hardly the same drama and pageantry as it usually is with the champagne dinner, but there’s still a whole lotta hardware handed out.

So I snagged the Remote Accessories’ Golden Globes picks from a previous post and reworked it to make it easy for you to see our picks and our predictions for each of the television categories. Come back later to see how right (or wrong) we were.

Will 30 Rock and Damages walk away with armfuls of trophies? Stay tuned.

As I previously posted, the Golden Globe television nominations (by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association) were announced this morning and lots of new shows got their due.

Well, my fellow Remote Accessories and I have had a chance to mull these over and here’s some of our picks (and predictions) for winners, after the break

Released this morning, the Golden Globe television nominations (by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association) had lots of love for critical (and ratings) darling Pushing Daisies, as well as lots of cable fare, particularly Damages.

Here’s a look at the (television only) nominees, with my picks noted (as well as what I think will actually win):

Best TV drama:
Big Love (my pick — this season was outstanding!)
Damages
Grey’s Anatomy
House
Mad Men (what I think will win)
The Tudors

Best TV comedy or musical:
30 Rock (my pick)
Californication
Entourage
Extras
Pushing Daisies (will win)

Because it’s awards season, the International Press Academy (who? I dunno, either) announced its nominees for the 2007 Satellite Awards (never heard of them, either, but this is apparently the 12th annual ceremony, to be held Dec. 16). Awards will be given in 49 categories, in television, film, DVD and “new media.”

Here’s a link to the official list of all the nominees and past nominees and winners, too). Variety also reported that Mad Men won a special achievement award for best ensemble cast, but I couldn’t find that on the official list.

Miniseries:
Jane Eyre, BBC/WGBH
The Starter Wife, USA Network
The Company, TNT
Five Days, HBO
The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard, BBC/Kudos Productions

Motion picture made for television (otherwise known as the made-for-TV movie, or, now, MPMFT):
The Wind And The Willows, Masterpiece Theater, PBS/BBC
Mitch Albom’s For One More Day, ABC
Longford, HBO/Channel 4
Life Support, HBO
The Trial Of Tony Blair, Channel 4
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, HBO

ABC’s “Pushing Daisies” is one of the most imaginative TV shows to come along in awhile, so have you ever thought: Where the heck did this wacky idea come from?

Well, turns out that this brainchild of creator Bryan Fuller’s was almost a mere subplot on Showtime’s “Dead Like Me.”

Fuller was working on that death-happy show when he got the notion of a character who was thwarting the Grim Reaper by bringing people back to life with a single touch.

Luckily for “Daisies” fans, Fuller left “Dead” to work on FOX’s “Wonderfalls”—he does like them quirky shows—so that storyline was never used.

Read more about how the show came to life in this TV Guide story. (My personal favorite tidbit of info is that director Barry Sonnenfeld asked that the color blue not be used when developing the show’s vivid color scheme.)

And as for what’s up with the murder-solving “Daisies” crew, tonight’s episode brings back Chuck’s kooky aunts Lily and Vivian.

Apparently collecting that reward money for capturing Chuck’s killer didn’t make the aunties happy for long.