Blog DVD Review: Pushing Daisies - The Complete Second Season (July 21)

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for the weekly Blog DVD Review. This week on the Blog DVD Review we take a look at Warner Home Video's Pushing Daisies: The Complete Second Season. Pushing Daisies is a "forensic fairy tale" that is about a pie-maker who has the power to bring the dead back to life, with a little catch. It's a wonderful show for everyone!
See my Blog DVD Review of Pushing Daisies: The Complete Second Season:

Pushing Daisies: The Complete Second Season (Warner, $49.99) brings the second and unfortunately the final season, of the comedic drama that is enchanting, original, different, and entertaining!
Pushing Daisies centers on the life of Ned, a pie-maker gifted with the mysterious ability to bring dead things back to life by touching them. There are a couple of conditions to this somewhat unwanted talent, however. Ned quickly learns that if something is revived for more than exactly one minute, something of similar "life value" in the vicinity drops dead, as a form of balance. Additionally, if he touches the revived thing a second time, it falls dead again - permanently. Ned discovered his gift as a child by resurrecting his Golden Retriever, Digby, after the dog is hit by a truck...now Ned can never touch his dog again. And later he found his childhood sweetheart (Charlotte "Chuck" Charles) dead and resurrected her...and he can never touch her again, either. The pie-maker has now teamed up with private eye Emerson Cod in solving homicides by bringing them back to life for a minute to get clues.

The series aired on ABC and starred Lee Pace as Ned, Anna Friel as Charlotte "Chuck" Charles, Chi McBride as Emerson Cod, Ellen Greene as Vivian Charles, Swoosie Kurtz as Lily Charles, and Kristin Chenoweth as Olive Snook. The series is narrated by Jim Dale. Among the specials guests for the second season are French Stewart, Autumn Reeser, Stephen Root, Fred Willard, Orlando Jones, David Arquette, Wendie Malick, Josh Hopkins, and Gina Torres.
This second season is once again charming and riveting. We get 13 episodes for season two, beating the 9 episodes in the first season which was shortened due to the writers' strike. The series was nominated for 12 Emmys including one for Lee Pace and Kristin Chenoweth in season one. For season two Chenoweth was nominated once again and was nominated for a total of 5 nominations. Some classic episodes for season two include the season premiere "Bzzzzzzzzz!," where Chuck goes undercover as a "Bee Girl" at a honey-based cosmetics company after their new spokesmodel is stung to death. In "Bad Habits," Olive calls on the Pie Maker and Emerson to solve a suspicious suicide of a fellow nun that she believes was murdered. In "Comfort Food," Ned and Olive compete at the Papen County Comfort Food Cook-Off, where Ned brings back to life Colonel Likkin, who was mysteriously deep fried to death. In "The Norwegians," Ned, Chuck, and Emerson finally meet their match when three rival Norwegian detectives start to get in their way after Vivian hires them to investigate the disappearance of Dwight Dixon. And finally in the series finale "Kerplunk," the past becomes the present when one half of the Darling Mermaid Darlings’ arch rivals, the Aquadolls, is killed. Those episodes really stand out, but they are all very good.

The packaging has a box holding the case inside. The front of the box has a nice blue sky with nice white fluffy clouds (show logo in the clouds again) setting with the entire cast sitting on daisies. The back cover has information on the series and has nice artwork of Ned and Chuck in the clouds again, as Ned is sitting on a pie. On top of that we have a nice quote from USA Today. There is also a section detailing the special features and credits & technical specifications also. Then inside is the nice case itself. Last time it was themed for The Pie Hole menu, this time it is themed to look like the Betty's Bees episode. The front of the case has the show logo inside some honey with a few bees surrounding it inside I believe a bee hive. The back of the case also has the bee hive with a few bees. Opening the case, we get an episode booklet on the left side. The episode booklet is very creative again. It is designed for the Betty's Bee episode! The front has the show logo with some bees flying around and a jar of honey. Inside the booklet, it has nice photos, episode numbers, titles, original airdates, writers, directors and a synopsis of the episode. We also get cast credits and special features listings inside some honey. As for the discs, a little white holder holds discs one and two, then you can flip that like a page in a book and you get disc three and four on the next little holder. Each disc is on one side each of the holder. The artwork on each disc is very cool! They are surrounding a big daisy! Disc one has episodes 1-4 with artwork of Chuck and Ned. Disc two has episodes 5-8 and has artwork of Olive and Emerson. Disc three has episodes 9-12 and has artwork of Digby the dog and Pigby the pig. And finally disc four has episode 13 and the extras and has artwork of Aunt Vivian and Aunt Lilly.

The menu screen is basic but it works. The closing theme is playing in the background with the same artwork as the cover art on the box. There are auto-trailers on discs one before the main menu starts...all it is a trailer for Blu-ray for WHV. The options on the main menu are Play, Episodes, Languages and Extra Helpings (disc four only). In the Languages section, we have the option of audio in English or Portuguese and subtitles in English, French, Portuguese, Chinese, Thai or Spanish. The Episodes option has three screenshots on the left and the episodes are listed in he middle, similar to last time. We once again have an option to turn on or off the recaps before episode episode, as they can get annoying if you're watching these straight through. Extra Helpings option is only on disc four and it has those extras.

The episodes run usually between 41-43 minutes or so...unedited of course with all the great music intact. There are about 7 or 8 chapter stops per episode, counting the recaps. There is an option on the menu to turn off the recaps, as mentioned earlier. After the seventh episode of the season, there are no more recaps anyway, so on discs three and four we don't have the option. The video is digitally mastered and is in widescreen and looks very good! The audio is great and sounds very good, as it is in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. This is from the 2008-09 season, so it had better be good. One tidbit, the "Robbing Hood" episode has the full opening theme! Every other episode has that short 5 second opening with the show logo, as that is how it was originally.

Moving on to the Extra Helpings. This is only on disc four. The menu has a honey jar with bees flying around. We get four little featurettes. The first one is titled "The Master Pie-Maker" and it runs 12:32. Interviewed are Bruce Cohen (executive producer), Dan Jinks (executive producer), Kristin Chenoweth, Bryan Fuller (creator, writer, executive producer), Chi McBride, Ellen Greene, Swoosie Kurtz, Lee Pace, Ana Friel, Jeff Johnson (roperty master), Todd McIntosh (make-up department head), and Michael Wylie (production designer). This extra is about the brilliant mind of Bryan Fuller. How creative is he? Then we have "From Oven to Table" and it runs 5:16. Interviewed are Bryan Fuller, Todd McIntosh, Daniel Curet (hair department head), Lee Pace, Ana Friel, Michael Wylie, and Kristin Chenoweth. This one is very short but good, as we see how the make-up department handles the dead people. Lots of make-up! The third one is titled "Secret Sweet Ingredients," and it runs 7:44. Interviewed are Bryan Fuller, Kristin Chenoweth, Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks, and Jim Dooley (composer). Jim Dooley does an excellent score for each scene. We see his secret sweet ingredient added to the show! Finally, we have "Add a Little Magic," and it runs 3:59. Interviewed are William Powloski (visual effects supervisor) and Elizabeth Castro (visual effects producer). This feature is about the effects used in the rhino scene from the episode "Window Dressed to Kill."

I highly recommend you buy this DVD set, especially if you have the first season. It is such a shame the writers' strike ruined the momentum in the first season as I think it could be still going right now if it had a full first season of 22 episodes instead of 9! Who knows it could have had 22 for season two as well. I think the long break between seasons killed the show. Maybe ABC should have brought it back in April of that year for 6 more episodes or so. Warner Home Video has done a great job AGAIN with this series on DVD. We have wonderful artwork, scenery, brilliant performances, and just a fun show to watch. It ended too soon and I wish it didn't. Long live this show and I said "oh hell no" when I heard the series was gone. So you better buy this DVD and watch what you missed!

-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4.5/5 stars)

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Related links:
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Fan Website

Our blog DVD reviews continues tomorrow for the third straight Sunday special, this time a look at the classic American Gladiators on DVD! Stay with us tomorrow!

ABC Announces First Batch of Summer 2009 Schedule; ION Ratings Go Up, Schedule Changes

A few days back we gave you a peek at some of ABC's summer schedule. All of that was right basically but now we have more details! So let's take a look night-by-night! As we knew, the new cycle of The Bachelorette launches May 18 from 9-11pm, but its timeslot launch is Monday, May 25 from 8-10pm. We are not sure how long the cycle will run, since there will be for sure a Men Tell All and After the Final Rose specials, so maybe the finale won't be July 13 and could last longer? We'll let you know. So what will air at 10pm on Mondays? I guessed a second season of Here Come the Newlyweds, and I was right! ABC will air that series for eight straight weeks from May 27-July 13 at 10pm on Mondays. Following the run of that, ABC will launch a new series starting July 20 at 10pm. The reality series Dating in the Dark will air for six weeks making it last through all of August. The show is a unique alternative series that asks the age-old question, "Is Love Blind?" Each week, three single men and three single women, all looking for love, will move into a house together, but be totally sequestered from the opposite sex. While they will have no chance of seeing each other in the light, they will have the opportunity to date in a completely dark room.
Tuesdays will not change until after the NBA Finals are over. Prior to the NBA finals will be filler programming, including two burn-offs of Opportunity Knocks. Then after the NBA Finals (which airs Thursdays, Sundays, and Tuesdays from June 4-18) ends, ABC will launch The Superstars on Tuesdays at 8pm starting Tuesday, June 23. The Superstars, a fresh take on an old favorite, is based on ABC's classic "Wide World of Sports" series, The Superstars, which pitted athletes from all different sports against each other to determine the best athlete in the world. Eight celebrities are paired with eight professional male and female athletes to compete against each other in varying sporting events. Each week a team will be eliminated until one team is ultimately crowned the winner. The six-episode series will be shot entirely on location at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. The finale is set for Tuesday, July 28. As for rest of Tuesday, it is unknown still what will air from 9-11pm starting June 23. And it is unknown what will air following the run of The Superstars starting August 4. As I said, this is only the first batch details.
Moving on to Wednesdays, as we mentioned, Wipeout will have its season premiere on a new night starting Wednesday, May 27 at 8pm. And ABC has 16 episodes this season, well one aired already, as ABC aired the Wipeout Bowl (the 6th one produced) on Super Bowl Sunday. We get new obstacles and a new twist to the big balls! Cannot wait for this as this will last throughout the summer on Wednesdays at 8! Following Wipeout, for six weeks, as we mentioned we get the animated comedy The Goode Family! The Goode Family is a new animated series from he King of the Hill crew Mike Judge, John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky. With standards always changing, no matter how hard you try to be good, it's virtually impossible these days... especially for the Goode family. Gerald and Helen Goode are a couple who live by the motto WWAGD ("What Would Al Gore Do?"). We first thought the series would be aired back-to-back at 9pm & 9:30pm, but now that is not the case. It will air in the 9pm half-hour only. So we get 6 of the 13 episodes produced. Following The Goode Family will be the new night of the Bob Saget sitcom Surviving Suburbia. That sitcom launched to decent ratings on Monday at 9:30 and will air five more times in that slot (through May 11) before moving to Wednesdays at 9:30pm starting May 27 for six more episodes for an original summer run. So ABC will air at least 12 of the 13 episodes produced. I really think this sitcom has potential and ABC could use it next fall to launch new traditional comedies. Both comedies will run through Wednesday, July 1. Starting Wednesday, July 8, we get a second season of the game show I Survived a Japanese Game Show! It is an unscripted reality/game show -- actually a show within a show - that takes an eye-opening, behind-the-scenes look at 12 Americans who are whisked away to Japan to compete in the ultimate Japanese game show. This season we get 10 episodes, so it will last into September. It is unknown what ABC will do at 10pm, but The Unusuals has five episodes remaining in its first season episode order if they want to air originals of that. The series launched last night to good ratings. The series will air for four more straight weeks through May 6, before the Lost two-episode season finale on May 13. So five episodes will for sure air out of its ten episode order. If ABC chooses to air the remaining five in the summer, it would air from May 27 through June 24, for five straight weeks. That would give ABC an entire night of originals on Wednesdays from 8-11pm. If that is the case with The Unusuals, they have not announced what would air Wednesdays at 10pm starting July 1. Or they could hold those episodes for next fall, if the series returns.
There has been nothing announced for Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays. We have specials and stuff, though. Thursday, May 28 will be The Scripps National Spelling Bee from 8-10pm, as we told you. And Sunday, May 24 is the first part of the miniseries Diamonds from 9-11pm, also as we told you. It concludes on Tuesday, May from 9-11pm. ABC has another miniseries in the works called Impact.
Finally, Saturdays at 10pm is a rotating wheel to burn-off remaining episodes of canceled series. Pushing Daisies returns to the schedule from Saturday, May 30 through Saturday, June 13 at 10:00pm for its final three episodes. Then Eli Stone returns on Saturday, June 20 through Saturday, July 11 at 10:00pm for its final four episodes. Then finally Dirty Sexy Money returns on Saturday, July 18 through August 8 at 10:00pm for its final four episodes (which includes the unaired Thanksgiving episode!). It'll be weird seeing the Thanksgiving episode first since they aired three other episodes after that.
Well there you have it, the first batch of ABC summer. Of course more timeslots needs to be announced and we will let you know as soon as we hear what they are! Will Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? return in August for its 10th anniversary? We shall see!

First quarter 2009 has been a record breaking time for ION Television, with double digit growth in primetime viewership among households as well as in the key adults 25-54 demo. ION has delivered more adults 25-54 than at any other time in its history and ION's top five most watched episodes ever in households (HH) all aired during the first three months of this year. ION's extraordinary growth is a continued reflection of the success of its strategy to build viewership through its acquisitions of critically acclaimed off-network series in primetime.
Primetime delivery for households was up 26%, while adults 25-54 rose 44%, year over year. Also during this time period, viewership for adults 25-54 exhibited double digit growth across every hour in primetime: The 8:00 PM hour was up 20%, the 9:00 PM hour grew 49% and the 10:00 PM hour rose 62%.
ION's primetime off-network series continue to deliver. NCIS and Boston Legal have both grown significantly since their launch in fourth quarter 2008. In fact, NCIS delivered ION's top five most watched episodes ever (HH), reinforcing ION's mission in attracting more viewers than ever. NCIS averaged over one million total viewers in first quarter 2009, up 27% among households and up 31% among adults 25-54. Boston Legal's first quarter 2009 performance has grown 18% among households and 17% among adults 25-54.
ION's ratings gains provide the network with considerable momentum as it prepares its programming schedule for the 2009-10 season and beyond. That schedule will feature 12 originally produced movies a year, the new first-run series Durham County, The Border and The Guard; and the newly acquired off-network hits Ghost Whisperer and Criminal Minds.
Speaking of ION Television, they have just announced some changes to April. They are not major changes, though. All of the RHI movies have been pulled for the rest of April. So this Saturday (April 11) from 6-11pm we will get a M*A*S*H marathon instead. Other replacements include a Boston Legal block on Friday, April 17 from 8-11pm, big screen movies and more M*A*S*H. We already told you for May, the RHI movies would be leaving, so now it is earlier than planned. The Lonesome Dove four part mini-series is still slated to air the weekend of May 2-3, then after that there is no more RHI movies scheduled. More mainstream big screen movies will air. Check out the revised April schedule so you know what is on a particular day.

Stay tuned tomorrow for ABC Family upfront update!

ABC To Air Animated Comedy The Goode Family in Summer with Wipeout; Fox and NBC Updates

Today we have all network news, including some scoops! As we first announced on our message board on Friday (and then later on Twitter), we have gotten the early portion of the ABC summer 2009 schedule! We already knew about The Bachelorette airing on Mondays (it launches in-season on May 18 after the Dancing performance finale), and will air 8-10pm on Mondays starting the following week (May 25). It is unknown right now what will air at 10pm on Mondays, but ABC does have Here Come the Newlyweds on the roster for a possible pairing. The next night will be Tuesday, May 26 as ABC brings back the family game show Opportunity Knocks for at least two weeks airing May 26 and June 2 at 8pm. Then the NBA Finals come, so not sure what ABC will do yet. ABC has six episodes on the shelf, so at least two will see the light of day. ABC will air the miniseries Diamonds on two nights--Sunday, May 24 and Tuesday, May 26 from 9-11pm. Diamonds is a Canadian production starring Judy Davis. Diamonds weaves together five storylines to form the plot, focusing on the daughter of a U.S. Senator who is murdered at a diamond mine in Sierra Leone (in Africa). It is a Hollywood event limited series from start to finish, especially with its stellar ensemble including Judy Davis who won an Emmy for the last role she played which aired on ABC (Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows). James Purefoy (Rome) also stars. ABC has another Canadian miniseries in the works for later in the summer called Impact. Impact is a four-hour disaster epic and stars David James Elliott, Natasha Henstridge, Steven Culp and James Cromwell.
Then on Wednesday, May 27, ABC will launch the second season of last summer's big hit Wipeout! It's back with all the big balls and more for 16 episodes this summer! Wipeout will lead into new animated comedy The Goode Family airing back-to-back in the 9pm hour. The series has 13 episodes to air. The 10pm hour will likely be new episodes of The Unusuals, as that series (which launches this Wednesday) will have only 5 episodes airing of its 10 in the regular season, so the final 5 could air in the summer following Wipeout and Goode Family. As previously announced, Thursday, May 28 will be The Scripps National Spelling Bee from 8-10pm. Saturday, May 30 will see the return of Pushing Daisies! The series has three episodes left and will likely be stripped for the next two weeks as well in the Saturdays at 10pm timeslot concluding the series. ABC could also air the final three episodes of Dirty Sexy Money and the final four of Eli Stone as well in the slot thereafter. We'll let you know for sure when we do. Sunday, May 31 could see game 7 of the NBA Western Conference Finals in primetime, if it is necessary. The 2009 NBA Finals will air from June 4-18 on Thursdays, Sundays and Tuesdays for up to seven games, if necessary. A second year of the half-hour series Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night will lead into all of the games once again. We don't have any other June details or late summer news, so stay tuned for that. Lots of stuff still to come, such as the second season of I Survived a Japanese Game Show and new stuff such as Wide World of Sports Superstars, with possibly the 10th anniversary return of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire this August!
In other ABC updates, they will air a clip show of Lost on Wednesday, May 13 at 8pm leading into the two-episode season finale from 9-11pm, while ABC will air a performance recap show of Dancing with the Stars on Tuesday, May 19 at 8pm leading into the two-hour grand finale from 9-11pm.

Fox has given Bones two special nights. Because of the all preemption by American Idol and President Obama, Bones will have to air on two special nights to catch up on its episode order. The first special night will be Wednesday, April 15 at 8pm, preempting Lie to Me, which has also had its share of preemptions. The second special night will be Monday, April 20 at 8pm, replacing a scheduled House repeat. So, yes that will be three new episodes of Bones in a matter of 5 days, as it will still air and be all-new on its regular night and time of Thursday, April 16.
We gave you the Fox summer 2009 schedule before, but they have added a new series and moved the premiere of one by a week. New medical drama Mental now premiering Friday, May 29 at 9:00 pm ET/PT. Mental follows Dr. Jack Gallagher (Chris Vance), a dynamic, young psychiatrist who serves as Director of Mental Health Services at a Los Angeles hospital. It was previously scheduled to launch on May 22, but now a House repeat will air instead. In other summer updates, More to Love, the inspirational new dating competition out to prove that love comes in all shapes and sizes, is set to premiere Tuesday, July 28 at 9:00 pm ET/PT on Fox. Executive-produced by Mike Fleiss, the unscripted series follows a single average guy with a big waist and an even bigger heart as he romances several confident and secure plus-size women. The series will follow episodes of Hell's Kitchen.

Meanwhile NBC has pulled Law & Order: Criminal Intent Wednesday repeats after one airing effective this week. The repeats had replaced the recently pulled Chopping Block. Instead now NBC will air repeats of the original Law & Order. After the Life season (or series?) finale this Wednesday, repeats of Law & Order: SVU take over starting the following week (April 15). So, the night will be turned into an all Law & Order series night, with repeats of the original at 8 and repeats of SVU at 9, leading into new episode of the original at 10pm. This could be a test for the fall to see how Law & Order and Law & Order SVU do from 8-10pm, back-to-back, even though they will be repeats right now.

Hallmark Channel March 2009 Schedule Revised; Pushing Daisies and Valentine's Themed Episodes Come to TheWB.com

Early last week we gave you the Hallmark Channel March 2009 schedule, but then later in the week we told you some changes were being made to February with I Love Lucy being reduced a lot. Now as a result, some of those February changes will be in effect or alter March.
So, we won't have I Love Lucy airing weekdays 3-4pm in March, Little House on the Prairie will remain in that slot, but it will still lose its 4pm hour to The Golden Girls starting March 2. Weeknights from 11pm-3am will be altered, too. Murder, She Wrote will remain weekdays at 11pm now and will not leave the schedule, so Golden Girls won't air 11pm-1am, but will air 12am-2am now. Originally I Love Lucy was airing in the 1am hour, but now it will air 2am, cutting the return of Cheers to just 2:30am, when it was originally slated for 2-3am.
Saturdays 6-9am will now be The Golden Girls, as the original plan was Lucy 6-7:30a and Golden Girls 7:30-9a. Then late night on Saturdays from 1-3am will remain Murder, She Wrote and won't be I Love Lucy. In February, the block was Walker, Texas Ranger.
As for Sundays, 8:30am-10am was originally supposed to be I Love Lucy, now it will be The Golden Girls. The Golden Girls was slated for 10am-12pm originally, but now 7th Heaven will air 10am-12pm. Then late night on Sundays from 1-3am will once again remain Murder, She Wrote and won't be I Love Lucy. In February, the block was Walker, Texas Ranger.
Confused? View the full edited Hallmark Channel March 2009 schedule. So originally Murder, She Wrote was leaving, now it will remain and air weeknights at 11pm and Saturday & Sunday nights from 1-3am. But The Waltons is still leaving. As for the sitcom recap, The Golden Girls will air weekdays 9-10am, 4-5pm, and 12-2am, Saturdays 6-9am, and Sundays 8:30am-10am. I Love Lucy is just weekdays now, airing weekdays 8-9am and 2am. Cheers will air weeknights a 2:30am. And of course, M*A*S*H remains weekdays 5-7pm. View the full schedule above link for more!

TheWB.com announced that the destination site will help fans get in the mood for love by featuring Valentine's Day and relationship-themed programming during the week of February 9–17, followed by a "Love Hangover" week from February 18–March 1. TheWB.com is also giving Pushing Daisies fans a reason to rejoice, as it will now feature full episodes of the critically acclaimed romantic comedy created by Bryan Fuller.
Re-live the ups and downs of the romance of Ross and Rachel (David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston) with 10 Friends episodes, including the two-part series finale. Valentine's Day episodes of hit series Smallville, Gilmore Girls, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Everwood, Veronica Mars and The O.C. will be available from Feb. 9-17. TheWB.com will premiere the first five episodes of acclaimed series Pushing Daisies, starring Lee Pace, Anna Friel, Chi McBride, Ellen Greene, with Swoosie Kurtz and Kristin Chenoweth in that time frame as well.
Then Feb. 18-March 1, for those feeling a little ill from all of that saccharine Valentine's Day activity, TheWB.com offers Janice (Maggie Wheeler) from Friends to squash any leftover amorous feelings, with 10 Friends episodes featuring the shrill love interest of Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry). Break-ups and other bumps in the romantic road on special episodes of One Tree Hill, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Gilmore Girls will also be available in that time frame.
This seasonally themed programming and content adds to TheWB.com's already robust collection of new and classic programming available on the site. The month of February also features new episodes of TheWB.com's latest original series, Pushed, a thriller from Jeremy Littman and Morgan Gendel. Additionally, viewers can watch full episodes of acclaimed action/comedy series Chuck, from co-creator/executive producer Josh Schwartz. Schwartz fans can also log on to www.rockvilleca.com to see the trailer for Rockville, CA, his highly anticipated original digital series coming to TheWB.com March 17. The scripted romantic comedy will also feature performances by a number of acclaimed indie music artists, including Kaiser Chiefs, Phantom Planet, Travis, Lykke Li, Anya Marina, The Kooks and many more.
As for Pushing Daisies fans, word is the final three episodes will air on ABC in the summer as they are obligated to air it. The second season DVD should be coming out that time as well from Warner Home Video.

TV One November 2008 Highlights; New Partridge Family Possibly Soon on NBC; Tonight's Preview

This November on TV One there will not be much in terms of series television highlights, but we do have a few still! Thursday, November 27 is Thanksgiving Day and TV One has a Holiday Weekend full of Family, Fun, Music, and More to keep viewers high on holiday spirit through Sunday, November 30. I will only discuss the series highlights. On Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 27), catch Thanksgiving episodes of TV One sitcoms Good Times, All of Us, The Hughleys, Living Single and Martin from 8am-2pm and again from 1am-6am at night.
On Friday, November 28 (Black Friday) beginning at 8pm, let the good times roll as TV One presents the Good Times family sitcom mega-thon. As viewers are spending time with their families during this family holiday weekend, they can also spend time with the Evans family and relive those special moments that make family so special in our hearts while the antics of J.J. and the crew will keep viewers laughing in this 24-hour mega-thon event.
On Sunday, November 30 concluding Thanksgiving weekend, beginning at 12pm through 8pm, TV One airs an All of Us Family Edition marathon that features episodes focused on family issues and themes to keep viewers in the family holiday spirit. The marathon will also be seen from 2-6am.

The Partridge Family is possibly headed for a return to the small screen, according to The Hollywood Reporter. NBC has picked up a contemporary single-camera pilot on the classic ABC '70s sitcom. The show's writer, Jeff Rake, is a fan of the 1970s sitcom who plans to "turn the premise on its head," as he calls it. "In the original, the kids actually recruited their mom to front the band, which I can't see happening in any family on this planet," he said. "The new version will reflect what seems to me to be the more realistic family band scenario these days: a struggling, sort of well-meaning mom pimping her kids in order to create a wholesome-slash-sexy cash cow."
Oh boy. If this is picked up to an actual series order, will NBC have more success with this than attempts for Bionic Woman, American Gladiators, and Knight Rider? It remains to be seen. For fans of the classic series, the third season DVD comes out Oct. 14, so buy it if you want more seasons. See our full DVD review.

Tonight is the long awaited returns of Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, and Dirty Sexy Money on ABC. They haven't aired since last December due to the writers' strike, and ABC is relaunching them all tonight. They were last fall's number one shows on Wednesday night in 18-49. I expect that to happen once again. Anyway, the reason I'm mentioning this is because I've seen all three season premieres and I want to share with you all what I thought. Check out my thoughts on the Wednesday premieres.

Blog DVD Reviews: Pushing Daisies - The Complete First Season (9/16) and CSI: Miami - The Sixth Season (9/9)

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for the weekly Blog DVD Review. This week on the Blog DVD Review we take a look at Warner Home Video's Pushing Daisies: The Complete First Season and CBS DVD's CSI Miami: The Sixth Season. Pushing Daisies is a "forensic fairy tale" that is about a pie-maker who has the power to bring the dead back to life, with a little catch. It's a wonderful show for everyone! Today we also travel south to sunny Miami for CSI: Miami: The Sixth Season. CSI: Miami stars David Caruso, Emily Procter, Adam Rodriguez, Khandi Alexander, Jonathan Tigo, Rex Linn and Eva La Rue.
See Pavan's Blog DVD Review of Pushing Daisies: The Complete First Season and Todd's Blog DVD Review of CSI: Miami: The Sixth Season:



Pushing Daisies: The Complete First Season (Warner, $29.99) brings the first season of the new comedic drama that is enchanting, original, different, and entertaining!
Pushing Daisies centers on the life of Ned, a pie-maker gifted with the mysterious ability to bring dead things back to life by touching them. There are a couple of conditions to this somewhat unwanted talent, however. Ned quickly learns that if something is revived for more than exactly one minute, something of similar "life value" in the vicinity drops dead, as a form of balance. Additionally, if he touches the revived thing a second time, it falls dead again - permanently. Ned discovered his gift as a child by resurrecting his Golden Retriever, Digby, after the dog is hit by a truck...now Ned can never touch his dog again. And later he found his childhood sweetheart (Charlotte "Chuck" Charles) dead and resurrected her...and he can never touch her again, either. The pie-maker has now teamed up with private eye Emerson Cod in solving homicides by bringing them back to life for a minute to get clues.
The series will return for a second season in its Wednesdays at 8:00pm timeslot on ABC this coming season and stars Lee Pace as Ned, Anna Friel as Charlotte "Chuck" Charles, Chi McBride as Emerson Cod, Ellen Greene as Vivian Charles, Swoosie Kurtz as Lily Charles, and Kristin Chenoweth as Olive Snook. The series is narrated by Jim Dale. Among the specials guests are Paul Reubens, Raul Esparza, Joe McHale and Molly Shannon.
This first season is very good. However, only 9 episodes aired this past past fall because of the writers' strike. The series did not return following the conclusion of the strike in the spring, as ABC wanted to give it a better promotion platform this fall. The series has been nominated for 12 Emmys including one for Lee Pace and Kristin Chenoweth. Some classic episodes include the series pilot titled cleverly "Pie-lette," where the story begins. It was one of the better pilot episodes of this past season. In "Dummy," in the present, Ned, Emerson and Chuck visit the morgue to inspect the body of a victim of a car accident. In "Smell of Success," Ned, Emerson, and Chuck's next case involves an olfactory assistant who was killed when her scratch-'n'-sniff book combusted. In one of my favorite episodes thus far, "Smell of Success," business at the Pie Hole plummets when a new candy store opens in town. In the first season finale, "Corpsicle," Chuck learns the most shocking secret of her life and refuses to forgive Ned. Those episodes really stand out, but they are all very good. The episodes run usually between 41-43 minutes or so...unedited of course with all the great music intact. There are about 7 or 8 chapter stops per episode. The video is digitally mastered and is in widescreen and looks very good! The audio is great and sounds very good, as it is in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. This is from the 2007-08 season, so it had better be good.
Packaging has a thin outer box that you can remove from the top or bottom. The outer box has we have a nice blue sky with nice white fluffy clouds (show logo in the clouds) setting with Ned & Chuck's head lying down on the nice looking grass with a nice flower in the middle. The back cover has information on the series and has a nice cast photo with our main six and Digby the dog. There is also a section detailing the special features and credits & technical specifications also. Then inside is the nice case itself. The case is like a menu for The Pie Hole! The Pie Hole logo is on the front of the case with a nice tan background, similar to a pie crust. The back of the case lists different types of pies available like apple, cherry, and peach. Opening the case, we get an episode booklet on the left side. The episode booklet is very creative. It is designed exactly like a menu! It has nice photos, episode numbers, titles, original airdates, writers, directors and a synopsis of the episode. But that's not all! It has nice quotes from the press, like real restaurants would with food critics. As for the discs, a little white holder holds discs one and two, then you can flip that and you get disc three on the right panel of the case. The artwork on each disc is very cool! They are shaped in different pies! Very clever, Warner! Disc one has episodes 1-3 with artwork of an apple pie. Disc two has episodes 4-6 and has artwork of I believe a blueberry pie. Disc three has episodes 7-9 and has artwork of I believe a pumpkin pie. Damn I'm hungry now!
The menu screen is basic but it works. The closing theme is playing in the background with Chuck in a red dress and Ned in a suit in a grassy setting with a nice blue sky and fluffy white clouds. There are auto-trailers on discs one and three before the main menu starts...disc one has a pirating disclaimer video and disc three has a season two promo for the show on ABC. The options on the main menu are Play, Episodes, Languages and Pie Time: Time for Pie (disc three only). Languages section has the aunts on disc one, Olive & Emerson on disc two and another shot of Ned & Chuck on disc three. We have the option of audio in English or Portugues and subtitles in English, French, Portugues or Spanish. The Episodes option has three screenshots on the left and the episodes are listed in he middle. We have an option to turn on or off the recaps before episode episode, as they can get annoying if you're watching these straight through. Pie Time: Time for Pie option is only on disc three and it has those extras. All of the sub-menus have different background music.
Moving on to the Pie Time: Time for Pie. It is a very different and interesting way of presenting special features, and like the show, it pulls it off well! Pie Time: Time for Pie is described as a delicious interactive featurette with flavorful , fresh-baked pie slices as your entree as cast/creative team members are dishing forkful of series secrets. There are nine pies on this screen and each of the nine is representing an episode. The pies are rotating in circles clockwise with the theme song playing in the background. The pies are labeled by episode title...and when we select "a pie" a nice phrase from the show is uttered via audio before you get to the pie. When an episode is selected, you see pie slices! Each episode has multiple slices. A fork is your selector. Warner has really done a good job on this. Each slice of a pie has information on the episode you chose. "Pie-lette" has three slices. One about the director Barry Sonnenfeld (3:23) with interviews with creator Bryan Fuller, producer Bruce Cohen, Sonnenfeld himself and producer Dan Jinks. The second slice is about The Pie Hole (1:44) with the designer Michael Wylie. The third slice (2:52) has Lee Pace and Bryan Fuller's favorite scenes from the pilot as they discuss. Episodes 2-6 each has two slices each with similar type of interviews. You'll learn a lot. Episodes 7 and 9 has just one slice, but you should be full by now. Episode 8 has three slices. Among the other people interviewed in all of the remaining slices are Kristin Chenoweth and visual effects gurus Elizabeth Castro & William Powloski.
I highly recommend you watch this series and buy this DVD set. The show is not nominated for 12 Emmys for nothing. Yes, 30 Rock has 15, but like a handful of those are for special guest stars...so this series really has the most and deserves it. It is such a shame the writers' strike ruined the momentum and limited the episodes to only 9, but I have a great feeling we will get a nice full season worth of great episodes this year that will make up for that! Warner Home Video has done a great job with this set, with the nice disc "pies," the creative episode booklet menu, and the very different pie special feature. I urge you all to buy this DVD because not only you'll like the show, but you'll also eat some nice pie! Don't try to eat the discs, though...use your imagination like Pushing Daisies! You better buy the DVD or Emerson Cod will say, "oh hell no!"

-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4.5/5 stars)

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C.S.I.: Miami - The Sixth Season (Paramount Home Video/CBS DVD, $79.99)
Set against a backdrop of blue skies, turquoise water, and Art Deco hotels, CSI: Miami is hotter than ever, as criminologist Horatio Caine (David Caruso) and his team return for their edgiest season yet, all captured in this 21-episode collection. Horatio battles the mother of his son, a deadly seductress from his past, while the rest of the team (Adam Rodriguez, Eva La Rue, Rex Linn, Jonathan Togo, and Khandi Alexander) works to rescue Calleigh (Emily Procter) from kidnappers! Catch all the action in this provocative Sixth Season of CSI: Miami.

This 6-disc set contains all 21 episodes of the sixth (2007-08) season. The episodes are presented in Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround audio. It has a total running time of approximately 15 hours, 14 minutes. The attractive packaging features a holofoil photo of David Caruso wearing his trademark sunglasses (you can see the Miami skyline on them) on the cover. There is an orange background, and the set has an overall orange and black color scheme. This was the second consecutive season that featured only David Caruso on the cover. For the first time, this set comes with a outer cardboard sleeve and 3 slim cases with black edges. Previous seasons have used digibook packaging. On the back of the cardboard sleeve, there is a large photo of David Caruso without the sunglasses and photos of La Rue, Togo, Rodriguez, Alexander, Linn and Procter standing. A synopsis of the set, a listing of the special features and the DVD specs are noted. Slim case #1 holds discs 1 & 2 and features a photo of Procter and Caruso with sunglasses. Slim case #2 holds discs 3 & 4 and has a photo of Alexander and Rodriguez. Slim case #3 rounds out the set with discs 5 & 6 and has a photos of Togo, Linn and La Rue. The episodes are listed on the back of the slim cases. Inside the slim cases, there is just black space. Some episode summaries or additional photos would have been nice. The discs are very plain looking with a silver background and just the show logo.

The menus are very stylish and easy to navigate. They have a montage a video clips, with some instrumental music playing in the background. Options are available for Episode Selection, Set Up, Previews (only on Disc 1), and Special Features (only on Disc 6). On the Set Up menu, you can choose either Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround or Spanish 2.0 Surround. Closed captioning is available for all of the episodes. As you would expect from such a recent show, the video and audio quality is outstanding. This is the second time that the show has lacked "Complete" in the title. The episodes have running times of 42-44 minutes in length. There is nothing on the packaging to indicate that any of the music has been changed, so these episodes appear to be complete.

Unfortunately, there are fewer special features on this set than on the previous releases. There are only 2 audio commentaries this time and 4 featurettes. Here is the breakdown by disc:

Disc 2
Audio Commentary on Episode 608 "Permanent Vacation" by Director Eagle Egilsson and Writers Barry O'Brien and Krystal Houghton

Disc 4
Audio Commentary on Episode 612 "Raising Caine" by Elizabeth Berkley and Rex Linn - Elizabeth Berkley makes her first appearance on the show.

Disc 6
Four-Sight: Directing CSI: Miami (16:46) - This featurette highlights four of the directors of the series: Sam Hill, Matt Earl Beesley, Eagle Egilsson and Gina Lamar. They talk about how they got their start on the series, their directing traits and specialities and the differences between them, and their other duties on the show. Interviews include Producer Don Tardino, Script Supervisor Will Alovis, Supervising Producer Barry O'Brien, Co-Executive Producer Sunil Nayar, Director Sam Hill, Scripy Supervisor Claudia Yarmy, Rex Linn, Jonathan Togo, Director Matt Earl Beesley, Director Eagle Egilsson, Adam Rodriguez, Director Gina Lamar and Emily Procter.

Playing Dead (6:11) - This featurette details the process of how actors are made to look like they are dead, how they apply the make-up, and how they make the incisions and gunshot wounds. As they say, it isn't easy plaing dead. This is a pretty time consuming process, but the end results look very realistic. Interviews include Department Head Make-up Cheri Montesanto, Producer Don Tardino, Co-Executive Producer Sunil Nayar, Khandi Alexander, Supervising Producer Barry O'Brien, and Jon Briddell.

The Real Women of the MDPD (16:28) - Emily Procter does a short introduction on this featurette which focuses on the real women of the Miami-Dade Police Department. Many different jobs are detailed, including the units for underwater recovery, marine patrol, k-9, police surivial and firearms. They also show some surivival techniques for female officers and building searches techniques. These are some tough women that can hold their own. More women are becoming parts of specialized units. Inteviews include Sgt. Monica Diaz, Ofc. Grace Green, Ofc. Laurel Huff, Ofc. David Macias, Ofc. Veronica Dixon-Ferguson, Ofc. Yolanda Bloom, Ofc. Marlene Trujillo, Ofc. Victor Gatell, and Det. Roy Rutland.

Analyzing Season 6 (13:20) - This featurette gives an overview of the season. This was a real transitional year, and they talk about how they went into the heart of the characters. They comment on Horatio's son and the introduction of Elizabeth Berkley's character. This was a decent segment, although there won't be anything really new if you've already watched all of the episodes. Interviews include David Caruso, Co-Executive Producer Sunil Nayar, Supervising Producer Barry O'Brien, Emily Procter, Evan Ellingson (Horatio's son), Rex Linn, Adam Rodriquez, Eva La Rue, Jonathan Togo and Rex Linn. Where was Elizabeth Berkley?

Final Comments: Has it really been six seasons already for CSI: Miami? They continue to make the show fresh and edgy. It's the #1 most watched show in the world, so they must be doing something right. They weren't affected by the strike as much as some other shows, as they were still able to produce 21 episodes this season. Memorable episodes this season included "Bang, Bang, Your Debt," "Stand Your Debt," "Miami Confidential," "Raising Caine," and the explosive season finale: "Going Ballistic."

Although it was a thrilling season, this DVD set isn't as impressive as some of the previous seasons. There are fewer audio commentaries and featurettes. Maybe they are just running out of ideas they haven't already covered. The packaging, while still pretty nice, isn't as attractive as the earlier seasons. At least they include all the original music on these CSI sets, unlike a lot of other CBS DVD shows. Who shot Horatio Caine? Tune in for the season premiere on September 22 on CBS!

-- Reviewed by Todd Fuller
(4/5 stars)

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ABC's Post Strike Schedule; CBS Swaps 'Bang' and 'Mother's' Slots; NBC Announces Classic TV Streaming Episodes

ABC has saved their post-strike schedule for last, but it is well worth the wait! ABC will return television's biggest hit shows, including Boston Legal, Brothers & Sisters, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Samantha Who? and Ugly Betty. Returning first is the hit new comedy Samantha Who? with 6 new episodes (three of those are from pre-strike episodes, so three more new ones will be shot). The show returns Monday, April 7 at 9:30pm following Dancing with the Stars, which will be two-hours on March 24 and March 31 (season premiere on March 17 is 90-minutes). Boston Legal returns next with 6 all-new post-strike episodes also starting Tuesday, April 8 at 10pm. The megahit Desperate Housewives returns on Sunday, April 13 at 9pm for the first of five original episodes and a special two-hour finale (so, seven hours total). What will this mean for Oprah's Big Give? That reality show will launch on March 2 and was supposed to be for 8 weeks (lasting through its April 20 airing), so maybe ABC will move the last two episodes into the 8pm slot giving Extreme Makeover: Home Edition a well deserved two-week break (as the show has done very well in two-hour episodes this season)? We will find out and let you know. The other Sunday hit Brothers & Sisters returns with four all-new post-strike episodes a week later, on Sunday, April 20 at 10pm. The bit Thursday shows will return on April 24 with 5 all-new episodes each for Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy. Lost will move to its new 10:00pm time period on that very same day (Thursday, April 24), with five weeks of original episodes. Lost will end its 8-week run at 9pm, which are the pre-strike episodes, on Thursday, March 20. Three of this season's top hits, Pushing Daisies, Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money will return next season with all-new episodes.
Everything else not mentioned scripted wise, is in limbo and has no status yet, which includes According to Jim, Cavemen, Carpoolers, Women's Murder Club, Big Shots, October Road, MEN IN TREES, Cashmere Mafia, Eli Stone, and Notes from the Underbelly. A few of these could return next season...having the best shot is Women's Murder Club and MEN IN TREES. According to Jim always seem to have some life, so it could also return.

CBS's hit freshman comedy The Big Bang Theory will lead off CBS's Monday comedy block when it moves to Mondays at 8:00PM, beginning March 17 when it returns with all-new episodes. This means, How I Met Your Mother, which was airing at 8:00PM, will shift to The Big Bang Theory's former Monday 8:30PM time period when it returns with new episodes on the same night.

NBC Digital Entertainment and NBC Universal Cable Entertainment announced that they are streaming vintage television content on their entertainment websites. Full episode streaming of classic, fan-favorite series including The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Kojak, Miami Vice, the original Battlestar Galactica, The A-Team and Emergency! will be offered on NBC.com, SCIFI.com, ChillerTV.com and SleuthChannel.com beginning this month.

Here is a full list of shows on each website:

NBC.com
The A-Team
Emergency!
Night Gallery
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Miami Vice
Battlestar Galactica (1978)
Buck Rogers

SCIFI.com
Battlestar Galactica (1978)
Buck Rogers
Tek War
Night Gallery

ChillerTV.com
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Swamp Thing
Tremors
Crow
Night Gallery

SleuthChannel.com
Kojak
Miami Vice
Simon & Simon
The A-Team
Night Gallery

Still to come this week on the blog...full details on Classic TV Reunions happening next week and how the move of Everybody Loves Raymond from Tribune stations to Fox stations will affect New York City.

Day 15: WGA's Writers' Strike; Alice Returns to ION Television; Remembering Dick Wilson

We are now in day 15 (week 3) of the writers' strike. We have some potential good news, though! Late last week we got word that the writers plan to go back to the negotiations table with studios on Nov. 26. So, hopefully this is the last week of the strike and by next week we get a settlement. If we get a settlement sometime next week, maybe we can start production again on TV shows before the holidays even. If not, for sure in early January. We might get a lot of repeats in January, but Feb-May will be essentially all-new episodes with very little repeats. This all depends what happens next Monday! Let's pray and hope they settle it!
ABC has announced that they have picked-up the back nine episodes of the addictive new drama Dirty Sexy Money. This is the first show to be picked-up for a full season during the strike. As of now 11 of the original 13 episodes have been completed, so when the strike ends, they will start working on the 11 episodes they need to for the season.
ABC is moving the holiday classic Santa Claus is Comin' to Town to Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 8pm now. It was slated for Tues., Dec. 4 at 8, but CBS will now program Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer there. So as a result, Pushing Daisies is pre-empted on Wed., Dec. 5. And a holiday encore of AFV, which was scheduled Tues., Dec. 4 at 9pm will move to 8pm. AFV will also air an encore on Dec. 18 at 9pm. Airing at 9pm and 9:30pm on Dec. 4 and Dec. 11 will be encores of According to Jim.
More network news: The CW's drama One Tree Hill returns for season five with a special two-hour premiere on Tuesday, January 8 from 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET. Subsequent episodes will take over the 9:00 p.m. ET timeslot beginning Tuesday, January 15, following encore presentations of Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants. Reaper will return to the schedule with original episodes later in the season.
NBC and Donald Trump return to New York City with The Celebrity Apprentice, with an all-star celebrity lineup of candidates in its seventh season. The Celebrity Apprentice with host Donald Trump begins its latest edition on Thursday, January 3 (9:00PM ET). Participating are Tracy Adkins, Stephen Baldwin, Nadia Comaneci, Tiffany Fallon, Jennie Finch, Nely Galan, Marilu Henner, Lennox Lewis, Omarosa, Piers Morgan, Tito Oritz, Vincent Pastore and Gene Simmons. I wonder what will happen to this show if the strike ends? NBC for sure would want The Office to air instead...

First we announced Amen is returning to ION Television (which starts tonight at 6p!), now we got word late last week that '70s sitcom Alice is also returning! Alice will air Mon-Thurs at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT starting next week (Monday, Nov. 26), replacing one of the Designing Women episodes (that show will still air in the 7 p.m. half-hour). And the good news for fans who watched Alice from April-June is that they will start from where they left off! So, episode 62 "Sweet Charity" will air first. So we won't have to start all over again! For those who felt like telling ION "kiss my grits" at the end of June, let's take that back and watch the show starting next week!
I should post the full December highlights shortly, so come on back either today or tomorrow for that.

Long-time Charmin bath tissue pitchman Dick Wilson -- known to millions as Mr. Whipple -- died today at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, CA. Wilson portrayed grocer Mr. Whipple and made "Please don't squeeze the Charmin" a household phrase. Wilson appeared as Mr. Whipple in more than 500 spots for Charmin from 1964 through 1985. After a 14-year hiatus, Wilson reprised the role in 1999 to introduce a new version of Charmin. In 2001, Procter & Gamble, maker of Charmin, presented Wilson with a lifetime achievement award to commemorate his contribution to the brand.
Wilson's television credits include Captain Gruber on Hogan's Heroes, Assistant Mayor Dino Boroni on McHale's Navy, a popular recurring character on Bewitched as a drunk, and other roles in Alice, The Bob Newhart Show, Adam-12, Love American Style, Get Smart, I Dream of Jeannie, The Flying Nun, Gidget, My Favorite Martian, Perry Mason, The Hero, That Girl, Don Rickles Show, The Rifleman, Fantasy Island, Quincy M.E., The Rockford Files, Arrest & Trial, Petticoat Junction, Maude, The Partridge Family on the Bewitched spin-off Tabitha, and many more.
Wilson is survived by his wife Meg, three children (which includes Perfect Strangers co-star Melanie Wilson) and three grandchildren -- all located in the Los Angeles area. He will be missed. I always loved him as the drunk on Bewitched. Mr. Wilson was 91.
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The Status of All the New Network Shows

So do you want to know if your favorite new shows will last the season or get canceled? You'll get a sense after reading this post! As we have announced, the following new scripted shows have gotten a full season order, which means at least 22 episodes: Back to You (24 episodes actually), The Big Bang Theory, Gossip Girl, Private Practice, and Pushing Daisies. So, all those are safe at least through the end of the season, unless something crazy happens.
Then a ton of other new series have added additional scripts, which means the network is trying and will see how the show continues to do before picking up additional episodes or a full season. Samantha Who? got an additional six scripts order, which means it is very close for a full season pick-up. The next highest is four scripts, which are Cane and Moonlight. Tons of other series have three scripts such as Aliens in America, Bionic Woman, Carpoolers, Chuck, Dirty Sexy Money, Life, Journeyman, and Reaper. It could go either way with these. K-Ville has an additional two scripts ordered, but that was weeks ago, and nothing has been said since, which means, the clock is ticking for that show.
So far no word at all on series such as Big Shots, Cavemen, Life is Wild and Women's Murder Club. That is not good, but Women's Murder Club is doing well and has just started basically, so expect additional scripts or even a full season pick-up very soon. Viva Laughlin was canceled.
Among the new reality shows, it looks like Kid Nation will finish its cycle, but that looks to be it. Kitchen Nightmares was ordered for another season. The outlook is not good for CW Now and The Next Great American Band. Online Nation and Nashville were canceled.

So, here is my take. Among the series with additional scripts, Samantha Who, Dirty Sexy Money, Moonlight, Chuck, Bionic Woman, Reaper, Aliens in America will probably get full season pick-ups or at the very least additional episodes. So shows like Carpoolers, Cane, K-Ville, Life and Journeyman are in danger...so don't get too attached. Among the shows with no status yet, expect Women's Murder Club to get the season pick-up VERY soon, with Big Shots, Cavemen and Life is Wild in danger.

New Knight Rider Possible; ABC Encores This Week's Grey's on Friday

NBC is bringing back Knight Rider, signing Doug Liman to produce a Transformers-inspired reworking of the 1980's hit action-drama series about a man and his indestructible supercar, Variety reports.
NBC is readying a two-hour backdoor pilot for the project, with tentative plans to air it as a movie-of-the-week later this season. Liman is open to the idea of directing, assuming his schedule allows. If the TV movie clicks, a new-model Knight Rider series could be on the air as early as next fall.
It's also likely the new show will explore the idea of "evil" cars to offset the heroic talking K.I.T.T. car of the original series, which starred David Hasselhoff. That said, the series is expected to essentially remain focused on the story of a single man fighting for justice with the help of his superadvanced car.
The TV movie could serve as a good replacement for repeats come spring, perhaps replacing an encore of Heroes or Bionic Woman.
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ABC has made a schedule change for this Friday. They were scheduled to air an episode of Primetime: Medical Mysteries this Friday at 9, but now they will air an encore of this Thursday's Grey's Anatomy instead. The encore of the Pushing Daisies pilot will still air at 8 and 20/20 at 10pm.

If we have more news we will post it here. So come on back if you can.

Tune in tonight for the third week of sitcoms from Fox's Back to You and 'Til Death. They air back-to-back starting at 8/7 central on Fox!
Also tonight, it is the series premiere of the best pilot of the season...Pushing Daisies. I saw the show this summer and it is fantastic. I won't give a full fledge review, but you've seen the promos and reviews, everyone loves it. It is a forensic fairytale with laughs, romance and mystery. It is about a guy named Ned who has this special touch of awakening the dead. The pilot starts off with a flashback showcasing us how this had happened. He has had the touch since he was little boy. The thing is, if he touches them once more, they go back to being dead. Also he only has one minute in keeping them alive, otherwise another person will die.
He owns a pie shop that looks so cool. His life as a pie maker gets more complicated when private investigator Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) finds out about Ned's secret. Emerson convinces the cash-strapped Ned to help him solve murder cases (and collect the hefty reward fees) by raising the dead and getting them to name their killers.
Then Ned is handed the case that changes his life forever. His childhood sweetheart, Charlotte (nickname is Chuck), is murdered on a cruise ship under strange circumstances. Her death brings him back to his hometown of Coeur d' Coeurs to bring Chuck back to life, albeit briefly, and solve the crime. But once reunited with Chuck, Ned can't bring himself to send her back. He helps her escape after her grieving aunts, Lily and Vivian, former synchronized swimmers Darling Mermaid Darlings, think they've buried her forever.
Chuck becomes the third partner in Ned and Emerson's PI enterprise, but she encourages them to use their skills for good, not just for profit. Ned is overjoyed to be reunited with Chuck, the only girl he's ever loved. Life would be perfect, except for one cruel twist -- if he ever touches her again, she'll go back to being dead, this time for good.
That is the pilot in a nutshell. It is really good!!! I urge you all to watch it because it is very charming. It is like a storybook serialized procedural with tons of laughs, mystery and romance. The show has it all and everyone will like something from it. The show airs tonight at 8/7 central only on ABC!