Bad News from ABC

Well, the day we all feared has finally arrived: Pushing Daisies has been canceled. They've already shot the 13 episodes ABC ordered, so we still get 7 more episodes. I have to assume the decision was made for how much the show costs, because the ratings were bad, but not that bad. Maybe this was a case where an Emmy win for comedy would have made a difference. But with nothing else on TV like it, there isn't any other show that can easily fill the void. Creator Bryan Fuller has tried to put a hopeful spin on it. He says he plans to finish the story through comic books. That's great in theory, but I can't say I've read a single issue of Buffy Season 8. He talks about a movie version, but so did Rob Thomas after Veronica Mars was canceled. And as for reports that he'll be going back to Heroes? A couple watchable episodes of Heroes doesn't make up for the loss of a much better show.

But Pushing Daisies wasn't the only show canceled yesterday on ABC. Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone got the plug pulled as well. I didn't watch either show, so I can't say if the cancellations were warranted. The Dirty Sexy Money pilot didn't do it for me, and those advertisements with George Michael were enough to lose my interest in Eli Stone. But I do know both shows have a lot of passionate fans, if not to the same extent as Pushing Daisies. And as a television viewer, it pains me to think that ABC let these three go while keeping Private Practice.

But the TV news isn't all bad today. A few sprinkles of good news:

Mitchell Hurwitz and Ron Howard are making a deal with Fox Searchlight for an Arrested Development movie. That's right. It's no longer just Jason Bateman saying it would be cool. It is actually happening. Now we just need the cast to gang up on Michael Cera and force him to join in.

Also, a new promo for the new season of Lost:



Sure, The Fray isn't the most obvious musical pairing for Lost, other than that the word "lost" is in the song. And yes, nearly all of the clips are from previous seasons. But after 6 months with no new Lost, I'll take anything. Only two more months from today!