Hey everyone, it’s been 24 hours since the Pushing Daisies Paley Festival panel took place and we’ve been bat-shit crazy updating ThePieMaker.com with as much information as our brains could possibly muster given the little sleep we’ve had since coming to Los Angeles.

Monday afternoon we’re heading over to Warner Bros. and meeting up with the Pushing Daisies writing staff and we’ll be sure to post more information tomorrow night (including a new Pushing Daisies Piecast Podcast).

Thanks for checking in all weekend and following our crazy weekend with Pushing Daisies.

Hey gang, it’s 1am here in Los Angeles and we just got back from the after party with the cast and writers so forgive me if I’m rambling. I quick wanted to write and say how incredible the Pushing Daisies panel was this evening.

The Paley Center put on one hell of a tribute and the crowd was energetic, enthusiastic and more than willing to oblige the cast in any story they wanted to recant. We’ll be posting a bunch over at our Pushing Daisies site ThePieMaker.com but I just wanted to tell everyone how magical the night was.

Great seeing some of our blogging pals there! Also, some readers who came up and said hello. It was great fun!

One of the best moments of my life took place this evening when legend Ellen Greene personally sought me out to thank me for ThePieMaker.com and to thank me for the “Suddenly Seymour” love I posted a while back. To have Ellen Greene wanting to meet me of all people is the most surreal and amazing thing ever. I just wish my partner Jon was there to meet her as well. We sing “Suddenly Seymour” basically every day of our lives. Simply divine.

We’ll post a bunch tomorrow over at ThePieMaker.com so head on over!

Kath and I are getting ready right now to head on out to the Pushing Daisies panel at Paley and while I can’t promise I’ll be Twittering, I wanted to at least let you know that you can follow updates of the night through the panel and our other site ThePieMaker.com!

gang, as you know I’m in LA for the week and I’ll be attending the Paley Festival with my girl GMMR and I’ll also be having a couple other things in the works (fingers crossed) that you’ll want to know about. Aside from Pushing Daisies, Chuck, Friday Night Lights and Buffy, I’ll be visiting my favorite people in Los Angeles whom I haven’t seen since I left here in 2000 and roaming around town. Visiting with my favorite Casting Agent Jenny and meeting up with someone that will hopefully be giving me (& you) some inside scoop on the return of Supernatural. Not to mention we’ll be podcasting our asses off.

If you want to stay on top of all my nonsense, follow me on Twitter:

While everyone’s known that Kathie would be attending Paley next week, I’m happy to report that I will now be joining her… officially! We’ll be hanging with our friends from PUSHING DAISIES, geeking out with CHUCK, molesting Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton and the rest of the Panthers from FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS and vamping out with my girl BUFFY and her gang of Scoobies!

We’ll be doing nightly podcasts from Paley so now’s the time to subscribe to our TV Podcast so you don’t miss a single minute of our trip.

The PUSHING DAISIES site over at ABC.com is asking people to nominate their favorite PUSHING DAISIES fan site and we hope that you’ll consider nominating ThePieMaker.com. A few of you were already kind enough to do so, and we hope that if you like our site that you’ll nominate us too.

To Nominate ThePieMaker.com visit Pushing Daisies at ABC.com. If you haven’t already done so, take a minute to register, and then simply go ahead and share the love.

Thanks for helping us out everyone;you’re the best!!

Thanks to Daisies_Fan for the heads up on this one

Time to rally Pie Makers!! Word from deep inside the PUSHING DAISIES camp tells ThePieMaker.com that votes for the Favorite New Comedy category at the Tuesday’s Peoples Choice Awards are VERY close. It’s anyone’s category to take but it’s a must win for PUSHING DAISIES.

Stop what you are doing and vote right now - you can vote once a day so please set a reminder to remember to vote daily until Tuesday. If you have more than one email address, then see if you can’t register and vote more than once.

This is an important award for PUSHING DAISIES as it will really help to bring attention to the show.
VOTE FOR PUSHING DAISIES AS FAVORITE NEW COMEDY

Everyone’s sick of end of year lists but how can I not do one on my favorite TV shows of 2007? I always find these lists hard to do because 12 months is a really long time and we watch a LOT of TV. I wish I could prepare enough ahead of time to write up some great “moments” that stand out but let’s be honest… I don’t get paid to do this so that’s not gonna happen.

Regardless, the end of the 2006-2007 season provided lots of thrills and even a few tears. The 2007-2008 season started off so promising but as we all know, many shows just didn’t live up to the hype and the WGA Strike has kind of killed any hope of making this a banner year for television. So what did I choose? Did I pick a previous favorite that ended last May? Did I give a sophmore series about superheroes another nod? Did those Housewives make a showing after being off the list for so many years? Here goes.

Ducky’s Favorite TV of 2007:

30 ROCK I was late jumping on the 30 Rock train but once I gave it a chance late last winter, I instantly fell in love. 30 Rock is the successor to Arrested Development and I actually may love it even more. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin together are impossibly brilliant and the supporting cast only add to the mayhem and madness. Highlights: Season 1’s “I love NY in springtime” moment, Season 2’s return of Will Arnett, “Me Want Food” and “Gay for Jamie“.

CHUCK Chuck Bartowski, how I love you! The funniest thing about Chuck is that GMMR and I had seen the pilot probably 10 times before we hit Comic-Con where Zac Levi and crew got a superheroes reception from the geek gala. I don’t know that the show has lived up to my expectations but I can’t say that I don’t love watching it every week. There’s an inherent sweetness to this action-comedy that makes me squee. Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski are magnificent together and anytime Adam Baldwin gets to be a smartass, I’m on board. So sad that the WGA Strike put an end to our enjoyment of the Nerd Herd! Highlights: The Pilot, Chuck and Lou, Captain Awesome’s many skin shots, and the return of Bryce Larkin.

DAMAGES Week after week this intense drama built to a shockingly graphic climax and it kept me guessing every step of the way. Glenn Close, Rose Byrne and Ted Danson delivered crazy intense performances for 13 weeks, proving that summer is not for the lazy brainless reality shows any longer. It was great interviewing most of the cast this summer, it really made me realize how brilliant the writing of the show really is. Kudos to FX for sticking with Damages and granting us 2 more seasons. Highlights: The endless time shifting and the seemless togetheness of it all, Glenn Close’s reaction to Ray Fiske blowing his brains out, the closing moments on the dock.

DOCTOR WHO/TORCHWOOD The one-two punch of Doctor Who and Torchwood coupled with my going to Comic-Con made 2007 my geekiest year to date. Season 3 of Doctor Who was probably the best of the new series. While I loved and miss Rose, Martha was a great companion. Capt. Jack may have ended up on Who at the end of Season 3 but more importantly he kicked some demon ass all season on his own show, Torchwood. Harkness, Gwen, Ianto, Owen, and Tosh made their show so much more than a spin-off. Torchwood delivered thrills, chills, and tears and I cannot wait for it’s return early in 2008. Highlights: Who’s Donna the Runaway Bride, “Human Nature” and the scary intense weeping angels of “Blink”. Torchwood’s gayness, “Random Shoes” with Eugene, Billis the scariest wrinkled creepy since the Preacher Kane from Poltergeist.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS The Dillon Panthers won State, the audience won another season and all seemed great down there in Texas. Then poor Tyra and Landry had to dump a body in a river leading to the most interesting coupling the show could ever have concocted. Some balked at the stunt plotline but I welcomed it once I saw how unbelievable both Adrianne Palicki and Jessie Plemons would make their roles. The Taylors continued to bring one of the most realistic and beautiful families to television not to mention Connie Britton’s acting her ass off. Highlights: Winning State, Plemons acting, Santiago’s first moment in the game during “The Confession”… breathtaking.

LOST Say what you will about Season 3 of LOST but the addition of Juliet and the jump forward solidified the show as greatness in my book. While it took a bit to flesh out Ben’s backstory, Juliet’s arrival on the island, Mr. Friendly’s allegiance, and the involvement of the Whidmore’s it was all worth the wait. We got some great answers this season, some scary twists and turns, some great revelations, some wonderful death’s, and HELLO, the chaos surrounding who’s coming to the island in Season 4? Matthew Fox continued to bring anxiety and sadness to the role of Jack and it’s a damn shame he wasn’t nominated for something this year. I’m psyched for it’s return on January 31st! Highlights: The story of how Juliet came to the island, the death of Charlie, the flash-forward, and Patch!

MAD MEN Seriously, do I even need to explain why Mad Men is on the list? The acting, the writing, the art direction, the costuming, the genius? Another summer sleeper that rocked my socks! Highlights: Jon Hamm as Don Draper, any scene with Joan, the sadness of the era, Don Draper’s carousel pitch.

PUSHING DAISIES The facts are these: Lee Pace, Anna Friel, Kristin Chenoweth and Chi McBride are my favorite finds of 2007. Bryan Fuller created a vivid, magical world I didn’t realize was missing from making my life complete until it slapped me in the face. My favorite pilot of 2007 led to stalking Fuller and Co. at Comic-Con, creating a fansite called ThePieMaker.com, and landed me on the Red Carpet interviewing these great talents. What a summer and fall leading up to the premiere of Pushing Daisies. This show makes me beyond happy and I cannot wait for its return in 2008. Highlights: The pilot, Ellen Greene, the musical numbers, Ned & Chuck, Bryan Fuller and Lee Pace recognizing me on the red carpet with hugs all around. Swoon…

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE I have to include SYTYCD because seriously could there have been a bigger obsession all summer long? Sure I loved Damages and Mad Men but sweet lord did it not compare to my lunacy over Neil Haskell and the rest of the dancers on SYTYCD. Highlights: Neil and Sabra’s boardroom brawl, Cat Deeley’s flawless hosting, Mary Murphy’s continued screaming, Wade Robson’s increased involvement, Debbi Allen and Shankman, backstage on tour.

SUPERNATURAL Love those Winchester’s. In a year that saw Sammy go real dark, the demise of YED, and a soul searching Dean, how can I not love Supernatural? The end of Season 2 was a wild wild ride but the beginning of Season 3 proved that this show is not and will not be stereotyped. Broadening the horizons of the demon world has suited the show nicely. Sure the addition of Ruby and Bela has been problematic for some but I can overlook that because the suspense and the gore has increased! Highlights: Visiting the set last May, blood and more blood, Supernatural:Origins comics, the return of Gordon.

The rest of the best: Battlestar Galactica, Big Bang Theory, Brothers & Sisters, Gossip Girl, How I Met Your Mother, Project Runway, Psych, The Closer, The Office, Top Chef and the end of Veronica Mars.

Should be on the list but isn’t for one reason or another: Dexter (never finished Season 2 because we got rid of Showtime but I’m dying to see the rest), Bones (just got addicted so I felt it couldn’t be added just yet - though let it be known that I’m obsessed), Dirty Sexy Money (something just isn’t right just yet, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love it).

Have a safe and Happy New Year! Looking forward to a wonderful and hopefully television filled 2008.

Hope everyone had a great holiday and that you’re not too sick of sugary sweetness just yet because today is Wednesday and that means it’s PUSHING DAISIES time!

ABC is airing a repeat of Pushing Daisies episode 1.02 “Dummy” at 8/7c. Relive the plastic body bag greatness, the usefulness of knitting needles and brilliance of a well placed Hummer. If you’re new to Pushing Daisies, watch the magic for the first time!

Head on over to ThePieMaker.com at 8/7c and chat with other Pushing Daisies fans about “Dummy.”

These guys might be on strike but that’s not stopping the WGA from nominating the best in their field this year! Here are the Writers Guild of America Awards Nominees.

DRAMATIC SERIES
DEXTER, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, MAD MEN, THE SOPRANOS, THE WIRE

COMEDY SERIES
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, ENTOURAGE, FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS, THE OFFICE, 30 ROCK,

NEW SERIES
DAMAGES, FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS, MAD MEN, PUSHING DAISIES, THE SARAH SILVERMAN PROGRAM

EPISODIC DRAMA
Final Grades (The Wire), The Second Coming (The Sopranos), The Round File (The Closer), Flashes Before Your Eyes (Lost), The Hobo Code (Mad Men), The Dark Defender (Dexter)

EPISODIC COMEDY
Pie-Lette (Pushing Daisies), The Job (The Office), Negotiation (30 Rock), Local Ad (The Office), Phyllis’s Wedding (The Office), Sally Returns (Flight of the Conchords)

LONG FORM - ORIGINAL
Pandemic, The Lost Room

LONG FORM - ADAPTATION
The Company: A Story of the CIA, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, The Starter Wife

ANIMATION
The Haw-Hawed Couple (The Simpsons), The Homer of Seville (The Simpsons), Kill Gil Volumes 1&2 (The Simpsons), Stop or My Dog Will Shoot! (The Simpsons), The Passion of the Dauterive (King of the Hill), Lucky’s Wedding Suit (King of the Hill)

COMEDY/VARIETY
THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART, THE COLBERT REPORT, LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O’BRIEN, PENN & TELLER: BULLSHIT!, REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

The Golden Globe Nominations were announced this morning and there are some squee worthy nods and sadly some of my faves that are missing. *cough* Friday Night Lights *cough*

DRAMATIC TV SERIES
“Big Love”
“Damages”
“Grey’s Anatomy”
“House”
“Mad Men”
“The Tudors”

BEST ACTOR, TV DRAMA
Michael C. Hall, “Dexter”
John Hamm, “Mad Men”
Hugh Laurie, “House”
Jonathan Rhys Meyers, “The Tudors”
Bill Paxton, “Big Love”

BEST ACTRESS, TV DRAMA
Patricia Arquette, “Medium”
Glenn Close, “Damages”
Minnie Driver, “The Riches”
Edie Falco, “The Sopranos”
Sally Field, “Brothers & Sisters”
Holly Hunter, “Saving Grace”
Kyra Sedgwick, “The Closer”

TV SERIES, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
“Californication”
“Entourage”
“Extras”
“30 Rock”
“Pushing Daisies”

BEST ACTOR, TV MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock”
Steve Carell, “The Office”
David Duchovny, “Californication”
Ricky Gervais, “Extras”
Lee Pace, “Pushing Daisies”

BEST ACTRESS, TV MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Christina Applegate, “Samantha Who?”
America Ferrera, “Ugly Betty”
Tina Fey, “30 Rock”
Anna Friel, “Pushing Daisies”
Mary-Louise Parker, “Weeds”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Rose Byrne, “Damages”
Rachel Griffith, “Brothers & Sisters”
Katherine Heigl, “Grey’s Anatomy”
Samantha Morton, “Longford”
Anna Paquin, “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee ”
Jamie Pressly, “My Name is Earl”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Ted Danson, “Damages”
Kevin Dillon, “Entourage”
Jeremy Piven, “Entourage”
Andy Serkis, “Longford”
William Shatner, “Boston Legal”
Donald Sutherland, “Dirty Sexy Money”

BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
“Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee”
“The Company”
“5 Days”
“The State Within”
“Longford”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Bryce Dallas Howard, “As You Like It”
Debra Messing, “The Starter Wife”
Queen Latifah, “Life Support”
Sissy Spacek, “Pictures of Hollis Woods”
Ruth Wilson, “Jane Eyre”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Adam Beach, “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee”
Ernest Borgnine, “A Grandpa For Christmas”
Jim Broadbent, “Longford”
James Isaacs, “The State Within”
James Nesbitt, “Jekyll”

I’m super psyched for a good chunk of nominations. Pushing Daisies, Lee Pace, and Anna Friel have to be my biggest joy this morning! You know I love me some PD and this really gives me hope that the show can be bigger and better post-strike. Kick ass for summer shows like Damages and Mad Men! They kept television in a higher class all summer long so they are much deserved of this honor. Kudos to John Hamm and Rose Byrne for being the summer newbies! Also huge props to 30 Rock, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin because there is pretty much not a funnier duo on television at the moment.

Sadly Friday Night Lights is shut out, as is Battlestar. It’s hard to believe that The Office got shat upon as well. I thought for sure there was a nomination in there for Jenna Fischer. She killed it at the end of last season and the beginning of this short season. Lost’s Matthew Fox and Elizabeth Mitchell were robbed. What about Barney? Oh god, Neil Patrick Harris didn’t get a nom, kinda sucks.

The 65th Annual Golden Globes will be awarded on January 13th (NBC).

If anyone is wondering why I’ve not had many posts over the last couple days its because I’ve been dead sick, like get Ned The Pie Maker on standby because he may just need to touch me and touch me and touch me… sorry.

After finally getting a new DVR that looks like it may have fixed my cable issues of the last 2 weeks, I forced myself to stay up late and watch PUSHING DAISIES “Corpsicle.”

Thankfully the Pie Maker, that Dead Girl, and a heavy dose of stage snow lulled my aches and pains away, sweeping me into the fabulously decadent world of Pushing Daisies where I could forget I was about to throw up from all the phlegm in my body.

The Winter Finale if you will was superb. There was mopping, some tears, lots of snow, a couple gruesome snowmen, a sassy invalid in need of a heart, hallucinations (not mine though really with all the cough medicine I’m on I could be seeing little dancing crabs), confessions, ass shavings, tension, and one really really long scarf for our lanky lead.

“Corpsicle” gave us quite possibly the most darkly humorous murdering of them all. There was no malice, no hatred, no heat of the moment to it at all. The murdering was done in the name of Charity, the best kind of murder when the Holidays are coming around if truth be told. You know how they say “Kill em with kindness”? Well, last night the wishing wishy wish-giver did just that… in the form of a bat with “Kindness” etched into it.

The reveal that Madeline was killing the insurance claimsmen that denied the jaded Abner a heart was genius. That she was willing to do this evil deed in the name of wish fulfillment was simply one of the darkest and most humorous things Pushing Daisies has come up with yet. Genius.

We learned last night that Emerson Cod has a daughter whom he’s estranged from and that its a itch Ned need not scratch. We also learned that Chuck is indeed the daughter of Aunt Lily (long rumored). I loved learning this tidbit about Emerson. He’s still pretty much an enigma. We know he likes to knit and he likes him some pie. About damn time we got to his backstory some. Chi McBride nailed that scene too. It was touching. As for the reveal that Aunt Lily is Chuck’s Mother… eh. I’m fine with it but I figured that there would be something more outlandish and creative to the reveal. I’ll survive.
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E!’s Kristin Dos Santos (click here to watch) had some possible spoilers about where PUSHING DAISIES could be going in the future. If you recall, in the last Pushing Daisies episode, my our beloved Ned The Pie Maker confessed to his beloved Chuck that he may possibly sorta kinda killed her Father.

Does that even matter if Papa Charles could possibly be not dead? What about Chuck’s Mother? Can our untouchable duo survive this fallout?

ThePieMaker.com has more information.

*Reminder: The last Pushing Daisies episode (”Corpsicle“) finished before the WGA Strike airs tomorrow night on ABC.

ThePieMaker.com Presents Kathie and Dan’s first Pushing Daisies PieCast! From the town of Coeur d’Coeur these two Pie Hos talk about the genius of Pushing Daisies first 8 episodes. Which episode was their favorite? Which episode disappointed them most? Which guest star had the best death? Which Ned and Chuck moment made them squee?

It’s all here as Ducky and GMMR don their aprons and roll out some delicious Pushing Daisies chatter as their alter ego’s ThePieMaker.com hosts Ned and Chuck.

Listen Online: PieCast #1

Subscribe and Listen via iTunes

This podcast has been posted as a special edition of the Ducky Does TV & Give Me My Remote TV Podcast. If this becomes a popular post we may make this is a permanent fixture at ThePieMaker.com

If there is a direct opposite of anything on PUSHING DAISIES it’s that while Young Ned lost his ability to imagine, series creator Bryan Fuller continues to allow his to grow and flourish in a technicolor dreamcoat of greatness. There is such imagination and joy in each episode of Daisies that as a hopeful writer, it blows my mind and gives me goosebumps.

This week, THE SOUP’s Joel McHale was poisoned by one of his four wives but actually died by accidentally falling on the sharp handle of a metal dog brush 7 times. Whoops. If you hadn’t guessed it, this week’s theme was polygamy, desire and need.

Yet another gang of TV Scoobies was created this week when Ned, Chuck and Emerson brought Olive into the loop, each taking a wife and a shot at going undercover with Digby to find out which one poisoned my man McHale. I know what you’re thinking… “Bitches“ refers to the dogs that the deceased and his wives bred and you’d be correct but in some cases it also applied to the wives. Greedy, selfish, delusional, and depressed each had motive to kill the husband but which one did it?

The doggie shop keeper, the doggie therapist, the doggie trainer, or the seeing eye dog expert? The clue was in the coffee with almond creamer that masked the arsenic. Or so we thought. The real answer lie in the secret the deceased almost took to the grave, that he sold their special 4 breed hybrid to a competitor named Snuppy who planned on cloning their precious Bubblegum for every family on every corner and on every block.

Polygamy seems tricky and thankfully it appears that Ned The Pie Maker refuses to have anyone but his beloved Chuck. Gotta hand it to Olive Snook for trying, that Halloween night smooch was something but sadly it wasn’t enough and she knows it. Chuck questions Ned’s desire to only be with her, resisting the human need for the physical but Ned’s holding out for his untouchable. Does this mean that a girl named Chuck is the one we need to look out for? Is that cold bitch going to ruin my Ned’s heart? Oh she better not. I know a legion of girls out there ready to pounce on some Ned if need be. Could I be more fickle? I question Chuck’s true desire based on speculation and then call her a bitch. God I’m heartless. Love me some Chuck and you all know it. Girl’s fierce.

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