"PUSHING DAISIES" IS THIS SEASON'S MUST SEE TV!!!
I wrote about "Pushing Daisies" yesterday. I told you I hadn't seen an advanced copy of last night's first episode on ABC at 8. I told you that critics who had seen it, were raving about it.
Add me to that list!
Instead of watching the baseball playoff game between the Cubs and Diamondbacks, I watched "Pushing Daisies".
The show began by showing a young boy named Ned see his dog die after it was hit by a vehicle.
Whoa! Didn't the critics say this was/is a sweet show?!? But when Ned touched the dog, it was alive again.
Then we see Ned's mother die. When Ned touched her, she was alive again. But when Ned touched her again, she was dead again. But this time for good!
What the hell is going on here? Can we get to the sweet part of "Pushing Daisies"?
I don't have the time to fill in all the cracks or the rest of the "back story", but after a couple of other things, including Ned (still as a child) getting his first kiss from another child named Charlotte who he affectionately calls "Chuck", we then see Ned as an adult.
Ned is played Lee Pace and now he is an adult pie maker. And yeah, he still has this "touch" power. One touch, you're brought back to life. Another touch and you're dead for good. There are a couple of things I'm leaving out, but you get the (overall) idea. Ned meets a private detective named Emerson Cod who is played by Chi McBride, in a role that looks like an even better role than the one he had in "Boston Public" when he played the Principal of that school. Cod has found out about Ned's "interesting" power and Cod wants Ned to help him solve murders and they'll share the reward money.
As luck would have it, Charlotte/Chuck (also now an adult) is murdered on a cruise ship and Ned, with a touch, brings her back to life. But if he touches her again, she'll be dead for good. Chuck is played by Anna Friel.
Yes, the person who murdered her is brought to justice, there are some very funny things that happen along the way, you can easily see how a lot of murders will be solved, but what makes "Pushing Daisies" soooo good is that we are watching a very believable love story involving Ned and Chuck played tremendously well by Lee Pace and Anna Friel. I mean, you feel the love that they are feeling and the frustration they feel by not being able to touch each other.
When you create a show that breaks your heart but keeps you smiling, you have created something that's very special.
That's what "Pushing Daisies" is. Very Special!
AND THAT'S WHAT GARY FRANKLIN WAS:
Speaking of special...When Gary Franklin was doing movie reviews on channels 2, 7 and 13 here in Los Angeles (especially channel 7), he was must see (review) TV. "The Franklin Scale of 1 to 10, 10 being best". A catch phrase that everyone in this city was familiar with. Film executives and the stars of films always wanted to know what Gary was going to say about their films.
I bring this up because Gary Franklin died two days ago. He was 79. The cause of death is unknown, but four recent strokes leads us to believe that heart problems were the probable cause.
Gary was opinionated right to the end. He often wrote scathing opinions to laradio.com publisher Don Barrett (which Barrett printed) about the state of news radio and their emphasis on Britney/Lindsay/Paris stories while stories that meant something were glossed over.
I knew Gary and I was flattered when he wrote me an e-mail to tell me that he was a regular reader of what we do here.
R.I.P., Gary Franklin. A true L.A. original.
THREE MORE BASEBALL PLAYOFF GAMES TODAY:
Yesterday's winners were the Red Sox over the Angels, the Rockies over the Phils and the Diamondbacks over the Cubs. The Rockies have that "team of destiny" look.
Today at noon (Pacific Time), Colorado at Philadelphia. At 3:30, the Yankees play at Cleveland. At 7 tonight, the Cubs play at Arizona. All the games are on TBS. At Cleveland, all eyes will be on Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod) because of his most recent less that stellar postseason performances.
EDITOR'S NOTE: THE PERSON WHO PROVIDES PICTURES IS OUT OF TOWN! WE WON'T HAVE PICTURES UNTIL HE RETURNS! I KNOW YOU MISS THEM! SO DO I!
A new blog is written every morning, Monday through Friday and is posted between 7 and 7:15, Pacific Time. Sometimes earlier. Questions and comments can be sent to scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. I do write back.
TOMORROW: A story titled, "Standin' on the Corner, Watchin' all the Birds Fly By", we'll have a story about a special bicycle (that I planned to do today) and anything else that makes me say, "Whaaaat?!?"
Add me to that list!
Instead of watching the baseball playoff game between the Cubs and Diamondbacks, I watched "Pushing Daisies".
The show began by showing a young boy named Ned see his dog die after it was hit by a vehicle.
Whoa! Didn't the critics say this was/is a sweet show?!? But when Ned touched the dog, it was alive again.
Then we see Ned's mother die. When Ned touched her, she was alive again. But when Ned touched her again, she was dead again. But this time for good!
What the hell is going on here? Can we get to the sweet part of "Pushing Daisies"?
I don't have the time to fill in all the cracks or the rest of the "back story", but after a couple of other things, including Ned (still as a child) getting his first kiss from another child named Charlotte who he affectionately calls "Chuck", we then see Ned as an adult.
Ned is played Lee Pace and now he is an adult pie maker. And yeah, he still has this "touch" power. One touch, you're brought back to life. Another touch and you're dead for good. There are a couple of things I'm leaving out, but you get the (overall) idea. Ned meets a private detective named Emerson Cod who is played by Chi McBride, in a role that looks like an even better role than the one he had in "Boston Public" when he played the Principal of that school. Cod has found out about Ned's "interesting" power and Cod wants Ned to help him solve murders and they'll share the reward money.
As luck would have it, Charlotte/Chuck (also now an adult) is murdered on a cruise ship and Ned, with a touch, brings her back to life. But if he touches her again, she'll be dead for good. Chuck is played by Anna Friel.
Yes, the person who murdered her is brought to justice, there are some very funny things that happen along the way, you can easily see how a lot of murders will be solved, but what makes "Pushing Daisies" soooo good is that we are watching a very believable love story involving Ned and Chuck played tremendously well by Lee Pace and Anna Friel. I mean, you feel the love that they are feeling and the frustration they feel by not being able to touch each other.
When you create a show that breaks your heart but keeps you smiling, you have created something that's very special.
That's what "Pushing Daisies" is. Very Special!
AND THAT'S WHAT GARY FRANKLIN WAS:
Speaking of special...When Gary Franklin was doing movie reviews on channels 2, 7 and 13 here in Los Angeles (especially channel 7), he was must see (review) TV. "The Franklin Scale of 1 to 10, 10 being best". A catch phrase that everyone in this city was familiar with. Film executives and the stars of films always wanted to know what Gary was going to say about their films.
I bring this up because Gary Franklin died two days ago. He was 79. The cause of death is unknown, but four recent strokes leads us to believe that heart problems were the probable cause.
Gary was opinionated right to the end. He often wrote scathing opinions to laradio.com publisher Don Barrett (which Barrett printed) about the state of news radio and their emphasis on Britney/Lindsay/Paris stories while stories that meant something were glossed over.
I knew Gary and I was flattered when he wrote me an e-mail to tell me that he was a regular reader of what we do here.
R.I.P., Gary Franklin. A true L.A. original.
THREE MORE BASEBALL PLAYOFF GAMES TODAY:
Yesterday's winners were the Red Sox over the Angels, the Rockies over the Phils and the Diamondbacks over the Cubs. The Rockies have that "team of destiny" look.
Today at noon (Pacific Time), Colorado at Philadelphia. At 3:30, the Yankees play at Cleveland. At 7 tonight, the Cubs play at Arizona. All the games are on TBS. At Cleveland, all eyes will be on Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod) because of his most recent less that stellar postseason performances.
EDITOR'S NOTE: THE PERSON WHO PROVIDES PICTURES IS OUT OF TOWN! WE WON'T HAVE PICTURES UNTIL HE RETURNS! I KNOW YOU MISS THEM! SO DO I!
A new blog is written every morning, Monday through Friday and is posted between 7 and 7:15, Pacific Time. Sometimes earlier. Questions and comments can be sent to scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. I do write back.
TOMORROW: A story titled, "Standin' on the Corner, Watchin' all the Birds Fly By", we'll have a story about a special bicycle (that I planned to do today) and anything else that makes me say, "Whaaaat?!?"
posted by Scott St. James at 5:46 AM
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