The facts are these:

The piemaker, Chuck and the Pie-Ho’s gang of detectives is back solving a mystery after a week’s break, but savor every death-defying moment tonight—it’s all you’ll see of “Pushing Daisies” for awhile.

Tonight’s episode is likely to be the season finale, since the writers’ strike is still going strong and “Daisies” is now officially out of new material.

What a shame, since my fellow Daisy-files and I have grown to adore synchronized swimming, drug-doctored pies, Bedazzled birds and, of course, the love affair between a boy named Ned and a girl named Chuck.

That said, when we come upon our hero and heroine tonight, they’re in the aftermath of Ned’s sudden confession to Chuck: That he killed her father.

(By mistake, of course. He was a kid who didn’t know that his gift for resurrecting the dead meant another had to die in the first victim’s place.)

So Ned’s in a dither, trying to make up to his revived lady love, while Emerson wants him to focus on their newest case—an insurance adjuster found frozen solid. (Hence the episode’s title, “Corpsicle.” Hee hee!)

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

As the Writer’s Guild rejects the deal offered by the bigwigs (the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) (here’s one take on it, from TGuide.com:

Well, that didn’t take long. The WGA has swiftly dismissed the “New Economic Partnership” put forth by the AMPTP on Thursday

The Guild said they were offered “a single fixed payment of less than $250 for a year’s reuse of an hour-long program (compared to over $20,000 payable for a network rerun).” No movement on the made-for-Internet material or downloads.

Even if a deal had been reached, it could have been a while before we saw any new episodes shot.

Zap2It.com recently spoke to several executive producers, who said it could take several weeks for many shows to get back into production if and when a deal were reached. Pam Veasey, an executive producer with CSI: NY, explained:

You have to write scripts, you have to find locations, you have to do casting. It doesn’t just take one week to prepare 200 crew members to film a single episode of a drama.

Hmm.

“Pushing Daisies” was bittersweet for me last night, and not just because the episode revolved around Balsam’s Bittersweets Taffy & Sweet Emporium.

The show was great fun from beginning to end, starting with the odd relationship between a murderer and a blow-up doll and the madcap introduction of Molly Shannon as uber-competitive  sweets lover Dilly Balsam.

But I was really disappointed that the series stooped to cliche caricatures of Italian-Americans when dealing with their first murder mystery of the night.

I mean, the death of Tony DiNapoli wasn’t even the central storyline, yet we were forced to endure “dees” and “dohs” from Tony, his girlfriend and Burly Bruce—including the lame “How you doin’” line from Tony to Chuck when he’s resurrected in the morgue. (Not to mention a pathetic “Friends” rip-off.)

Why, oh why, do TV characters with vowel-ending last names have to be low-class and obsessed with pasta? Good grief, I was expecting one of them to say “paisan” at any moment.

Fortunately, the ridiculousless didn’t last long, because soon the show was off and running across the street from the Pie Hole (which eventually becomes the Pie Ho—hee hee) to Dilly’s sweets shop.

“Pushing Daisies” continues its run of stellar guest stars tonight when former “SNL”-er Molly Shannon pops up as a nasty taffy shop owner, Dilly Balsam, who’s determined to drive Ned’s Pie Hole out of business.

I’m sure our loyal Scooby gang of detectives won’t let that happen. But in the meantime, Shannon is sure to put her kooky, quirky sense of humor to good use.

By her side as Dilly’s brother, Billy, is actor-writer Mike White (remember him as Jack Black’s sad-sack roommate in “School of Rock?”).

This fun comes right on the heels of last week’s episode, which included Paul “Pee-wee Herman” Reubens in a recurring role as super-smeller Oscar Vibenius.

He’s back next week to sniff out what’s different about Chuck. Yay! But unless Hollywood reaches an agreement with the writers, it’ll likely be the last “PD” for a long, long time. Boo!

I didn’t blog about last week’s laugh riot because of Thanksgiving- and blog-related chaos. But wasn’t it a hoot?

Am I weird because I’m excited about Paul Reubens’ appearance on “Pushing Daisies” tomorrow night (8 p.m.)?

Somehow, I don’t think so. Or, at least, the rest of you who are joyfully doing the Tequila dance are just as strange as I am.

You know you’re eager to catch a glimpse of Pee-wee Herman again, even if Paul is playing a totally different character. On “Daisies,” he’s Oscar Vibenius, an olfactory expert who’ll have a recurring role on the series this season.

(Paul Reubens as Oscar Vibenius/ABC)

Unfortunately, because of the writers’ strike, that season will likely be cut tragically short.

Oscar was supposed to pop up a lot on “Daisies” this year, but given the circumstances, he’ll probably only be around tomorrow night and during the show’s ninth episode (which will probably be the season finale).

I talked to Paul last week about how he snagged the role on TV’s quirkiest show (a match made in heaven, I’d say!) and whether he’d ever play Pee-wee again (he’s working on it).

In real life, Paul is incredibly quiet, and boy, he sure doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking about his image. At least, not that he’s willing to admit.

Guess you can’t blame the guy if he’s a little reserved with the media, given the field day that the press had with his 1991 indecent exposure arrest.

Read more about Paul in my story in today’s Journal News. He doesn’t talk about his brushes with the law anymore—been there, done that—but he does shed some light on what he’s been up to lately.

And if you’re interested in hearing what Paul sounds like out of character—I know I was—keep reading and check out some audio clips from my interview.

Hmph. I’m as big a fan of “Pushing Daisies” as you’ll get, but is Ned starting to grate on anyone else’s nerves?

Last night’s episode, about the murder of a polygamous dog breeder, wasn’t the series best.

True, it gave Emerson a lot of classic lines (my favorite: “Would you prop him up? He looks like a wine-o on New Years.�) and it was great to see the mystery-solving Scooby Doo gang let Olive in on the fun.

But the episode as a whole seemed as if it was just an excuse to voice Ned and Chuck’s realization of the limits to their relationship. (Chuck seemed to get this a bit more than Ned, hinting that they were probably going need surrogate boy/girlfriends sometime soon.)

This was necessary, of course: It would be silly if the sweet pair didn’t eventually run into some snags.

So, the People’s Choice awards approach. This is where you, the people, get to choose the best shows. So long as they’re in the list of shows that the People’s Choice people decide you get to choose from.

Anyway, here are the TV nominations:

Favorite sci-fi show: Battlestar Galactica, Dr. Who, Stargate Atlantis (my choice: BSG)

Favorite new TV comedy: Aliens in America, Back to You, The Big Bang Theory, Carpoolers, Cavemen, Chuck, Reaper, Samatha Who? (my choice: Reaper)

Favorite TV comedy: The King of Queens, My Name is Earl, Two and a Half Men (my choice: this is a choice?)

Favorite animated comedy: Family Guy, King of the Hill, The Simpsons (my choice: The Simpsons)

We already learned that Heroes redid the end of its final episode before the December break to function as a season finale, should the writer’s strike necessitate that.

Well, it’s just been reported on TVGuide.com that Pushing Daisies and Men in Trees have episodes that can function as season finales should they have to.

Daisies redid the ninth episode, and creator Bryan Fuller explained, “we added several elements that will put many balls into the air and hopefully encourage the audience to come back and see how they land.”

The ninth was the last script they had in hand as the strike became a done deal and it has just gone into production. That means, Fuller said, the crew should be able to work through Thanksgiving. But then that’s that.

For Trees, showrunner Jenny Bicks told TVGuide that she prepared an alternate ending to the final script she had in hand for just this eventuality.

Trees fans got jerked around so much last season, with several episodes never being aired, but that works to our advantage this time around. Those episodes were merged into this season, and the show will have 19 total episodes before it has to shut down.

Usually I wake up on Wednesdays happy as a Nantucket clam: All because three of my favorite shows air on this wonderful mid-week night, one fabulous series after the other.

But alas, I’m boo-hooing into my tea this morning because two-thirds of my evening will be ruined—all because of the darned CMA awards.

Mind you, I don’t hate country music. To paraphrase a line from “Sex & the City,” I’m just not that into it. The most I know about the genre is that Nicole Kidman is married to Keith Urban. And that Carrie Underpants, or whatever that “Idol” winner’s name is, will probably win a bunch of trophies.

But I’m putting voodoo hexes on country music at the moment because tonight’s awards show airs on ABC—thereby pre-empting “Pushing Daisies” and “Dirty Sexy Money.” (Don’t worry, they’re back next week.)

The horror! The only thing keeping complete TV withdrawal at bay is the CW’s “Gossip Girl.” (Which was a repeat last week: Ironic, no?)

Now, I’m glad that “GG” is on—but oddly, it’s not making me happy. It only makes me pine for my regular Wednesday night lineup even more.

Last night’s episode of “Pushing Daisies” wasn’t quite as kooky as last week’s: It would be difficult, after all, to top windmill romance, bedazzled pigeons and dancing in beekeeper’s suits.

But “Girth” was sufficiently quirky and threw in a fun ghost story appropriate for Halloween night. And I loved that we got to hang out a bit more with Olive: It’s great that the show is continuing to show off the talents of the fabulous Kristin Chenoweth.

The show cleverly spun an entire episode around Chenoweth’s teeny-weeny stature (she’s only 4′11″) and made Olive a jockey in a former life. But when a race (the Jock Off 2000, classic!) goes wrong and claims the life of star jockey John Joseph Jacobs, Olive quits the business.

I didn’t think it was possible to be more delighted by “Pushing Daisies.”

But each week, the series gets more charming and—perhaps unbelievably—more wacky.

Last night’s episode, “Pigeon,” gave me a particularly warm glow because it featured Olive and Aunt Vivian’s duet of “Birdhouse in Your Soul.”

For those not familiar, that song is by the duo They Might Be Giants, known for their goofy tunes like “Don’t Let Start” and a cover of “Istanbul (Not Constantinople).” (Sing it with me now: “Even old New York was once New Amsterdam…”)

So how happy was I when Olive broke into that fun little ditty—and then somber Vivian chimed in!

Well, ABC just confirmed what we already knew: “Pushing Daisies” is freakin’ awesome!

Looks like the network ordered what the biz calls the “back nine,” which is the final group of episodes to make up an entire season.

So we’ll be solving crimes with the “Daisies” gang—and witnessing perhaps some more plastic wrapped kisses between Ned and Chuck—until at least May.

Hooray! That news just makes me want to have an anti-depressant-laced piece o’ pie.

This is perfect timing, too, since our quirky crew returns for another installment tonight.

Well, the stock market’s down and Joe Torre’s gone — at least, from the Yankees — but all in all, it’s been a pretty good week on the tube, with NBC’s Matt Lauer navigating the tricky Sen. Larry Craig waters gracefully; PBS’ “Frontline” doing solid work, once again, on Vice President Dick Cheney; the PBS documentary “Wordplay” offering real insight into the psyche of New York Times crossword puzzle fanatics (Who knew the Yankees were such word-smiths?); and the village of Tuckahoe offering stellar support on Fox in “Kitchen Nightmares,” with chef Gordon Ramsay at perhaps his most rational. Take a bow all.

Surfing the nets this week got me thinking about a variety of subjects. For one, I’m wondering if Det. Dani Reese could possibly be the missing Rachel on NBC’s “Life”? Consider this: She’s about the right age and coloring, and she’s got enough personal demons to make it plausible that she endured some trauma as a child (like surviving the psychopathic murder of her entire family). Of course, she would be deliberately hiding her identity from her partner, Det. Charlie Crews. But still, there could be an explanation for doing so. I’d love to hear from fellow “Lifers” on this.

Still on “Life,” how come everybody on TV seems to have some variation on the name Charles this season? There’s Charlie on “Life” and on CBS’ “Two and a Half Men,” who’s played by a real-life Charlie (Sheen). Then there’s Chuck on ABC’s “Pushing Daisies,” Fox’s “Back to You” and, of course, NBC’s “Chuck.”

“Charles,” from the Old German meaning “free man,” is a chilly, formal name. “Chuck” and “Charlie” have a friendly sound. That must be it.

TV’s Charlies certainly live in fabulous abodes, “Two and a Half Men’s” Charlie in a Malibu beach-house (Does he know Barbie?), while “Life’s” Crews dwells in the quintessential Los Angeles house. Is this the season we go from “House” to houses? Dan’s Victorian on “Journeyman” is to die for, leaky ceilings and all, while the jewel-colored, Cuban-style manse on CBS’ “Cane” is virtually the only reason to tune in the show. (Honestly, if “Cane” is hoping to be the 21st-century’s “Dallas” or “Dynasty,” it’s going to have to get down and dirty and unleash Polly Walker.)

There’s also some nice real estate on CBS’ musical dramedy “Viva Laughlin,” which is otherwise unspeakable. Someone should foreclose on this one.

By far, however, the most entertainment on the tube this week was provided not by a network drama or comedy but by the news divisions reporting on China’s women trouble. Back in 1980, the government instituted a one-child policy, which led many couples to favor boy babies over girls, since sons take care of the parents in old age. Apparently, it never occurred to anyone that this would lead to a scarcity of marriageable women, who would then gain the upper hand in, oh, say, 2007. Duh.

Well, those chickadees have now come home to roost, and anxious young Chinese men are vowing to win the persnickety ladies’ hearts by earning a lot of money and buying big houses. (Gee, like on “Life”? Forget the shacks, guys. Try acquiring some of Damian Lewis’ charisma.)

“Life” may be good, but real life remains unparalleled in its irony.

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.

Once upon a time, long before “Pushing Daisies” premiered to stellar ratings, I told you that Peekskill-born Paul Reubens (a.k.a. Pee-Wee Herman) would be joining the cast.

Well, Pee-Wee’s still on board, but he won’t appear in next week’s episode as originally planned.

As TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello dished this week, Reubens will play another character named Oscar Vibenius, an olfactory expert who smells something fishy about Chuck.

He was originally supposed to debut on Oct. 17 as Alfredo Aldarisio, a traveling homeopathic-antidepressant salesman. (Broadway star Raul Esparza took over that part.)

Reubens was also meant to be a recurring guest star on “Daisies”—no word yet whether that will be true of his new alter ego. Hopefully Mr. Vibenius will stick around.

As for tonight’s episode, don’t worry: “PD” stays true to the quirky weirdness that viewers apparently loved, loved, loved last week.

In fact, the show may have upped the odd factor a bit.

Barry Sonnenfeld’s a hot television commodity these days.

He directed the “Pie-lette” for the ABC fantasy dramedy Pushing Daisies and may direct future episodes.

It was announced this week that he’s directing an untitled drama pilot for NBC, which’ll star Alan Tudyk and Andrew Lincoln. Here’s what The Hollywood Reporter had to say about the show:

The legal thriller from Universal Media Studios revolves around unapologetic lawyers at a prestigious New York civil firm, who will do whatever it takes to win their high-profile cases and outmaneuver one another.

Tudyk, by the by, is late of Firefly and its spinoff film, Serenity, where he played the hotshot pilot Wash. Lincoln might be most recognizable to American audiences as Mark in the Hugh Grant film Love Actually. (Mark was the bloke in love with his best friend’s new wife.) Tudyk’s lawyer is “slick” and “gregarious” and “will work all the angles” to make it to the top. Lincoln’s character is “soulful” and has “a true sense of justice.” Oh, “and a hidden past.” Plus, they’re in love with the same woman.

The nameless show is supposed to begin production Oct. 22.

But that’s only the tip of the Sonnenfeld TV iceberg.

Great news just in about last night’s “Pushing Daisies.”

It ROCKED the ratings!!!

The quirky fairy tale-murder mystery won its 8 p.m. timeslot, averaging  12.8 million viewers, according to the Nielsen estimates. 

“PD” also nailed the coveted 18-49 age demographic—which means the all-important advertisers must be deliriously happy.

So did you love last night’s “Pushing Daisies” as much as the critics?

Are you totally in love with the non-lovers Ned and Chuck yet?

Which non-contact did you love the most?

Touching through the bedroom wall? Having Emerson give Chuck a hug from Ned? Holding their own hands? The monkey kisses?

I thought the show hit just the right tone with this odd romance: It was as sweet as one of Ned’s apple pies, but didn’t give you a toothache.

The bizarre touches—Chuck’s aunt losing an eye in a cat litter accident, having the killer use smiley-face plastic bags to suffocate his victims—were quirky without being overbearing.

Yes, it’s a bit weird and whimsical, but it’s also brilliantly creative and fun. If you don’t like, say, Tim Burton movies, you probably didn’t like “Pushing Daisies.”

Still, I was happy that it was totally unlike anything else on television: Who needs another medical drama? (Sorry, “Private Practice…”)

And as for those who think the show can’t sustain itself beyond one episode, I say I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of trouble those aunts cause now that they’ve left the house.

Anyone else have their fingers crossed for a Darling Mermaid Darlings reunion?

(Photo courtesy of ABC)

OK, or next year.

According to James Hibberd at TV week, CBS scheduling chief Kelly Kahl said if anything in the new lineup tanks, Jericho could well be the next show on the air. But, she said, no show (not even Jericho) is guaranteed the next open slot (I swear that’s not what they said when they brought it back, but whatever).

Shows that could tank and allow Jericho to come back soon: Read more of this entry »