Thank God!
It's taken me the best part of a week to catch up with the first episode, but I'm happy to say that Pushing Daisies isn't a show I'm going to have to watch every week. So, unlike those who took to the latest US import, I won't miss the second episode, which ITV1 are not showing, due to the surprise start of Euro 2008 (which no British team is actually playing in) in seven weeks' time. If I had taken to the show, I'd be furious at yet more manhandling by British broadcasters of imported series - and indeed, I am furious on behalf of those who did take to it, it's shoddy in the extreme, and don't give me any excuses about the writers' strike, you despise your viewers, ITV1, you despise them. I thought the first episode was quite sweet. Anna Friel's accent was fine (although we're getting used to that type of thing with British and Irish actors, now - Dominic West, Aidan Gillen, Idris Elba, Matthew Rhys, Zoe Slater, Kevin McKidd ... and it doesn't seem to bother anybody that Hugh Laurie can't do one). The chap who plays the pieman seems nice. Good to see Kristin Chenoweth from West Wing (good to see anyone from West Wing). Good to hear Jim Dale narrating. However, it's a little too self-conscious to love. A bit like Tim Burton's films, which I admire but rarely love. I wish Pushing Daisies well in the ratings. (It launched with 5.7 million on Saturday night, which sounds like a lot, but this was Saturday night, and this was ITV1, and it was beaten by Casualty, so expect a dip this week, and then the show will be moved, if not to another night, certainly to another timeslot. It feels harsh when British broadcasters do this, but a US network would simple pull it off air and cancel it. We're still quite quaint in that regard.)Anyway, selfishly, I'm pleased. If it had hooked me in, I'd have yet another US import to watch for a number of weeks (albeit one less than the makers intended). I have enough to watch with Nip/Tuck and Mad Men right now. I'm also glad I didn't like Dirty Sexy Money, or Dexter, or Journeyman, or The Bionic Woman, or The Shield, or CSI (imagine the hours I'd have lost on that particular franchise!), or, going further back, the second series of Lost, the second series of Desperate Housewives, the third series of 24. I have a funny feeling I'm not going to want to watch the second series of Heroes either, but I'll give it a go. I always give these shows a go. But The Wire (for reality) and Brothers And Sisters (for schmaltz) and the recently finished Damages (for pot-boiling intrigue) set the bar very high. As did Six Feet Under, the show Pushing Daisies most wants to be, but isn't.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 7:35 AM
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I share your hesitation about a second series of Heroes. I enjoyed the first series, but inevitably expectations were built so high that the conclusion was disappointing. I'm not sure it's a world I particularly want to revisit. When a programme feels like something you are obliged to watch it's time to switch off. Heroes didn't quite reach that state for me, but it got near on occasions.
Would you recommend Damages then Andrew? I hadn't heard of it until I saw an advert for the DVD box set the other day and it looked intriguing.
While we're talking telly, good Cutting Edge last night on the murder of Meredith Kercher.
Zoe
Thanks for the tip, Andrew - I've recorded this but have so many other programmes to catch up on that I won't rush to see this first.
To add another actor to your list; I've just come back from holiday in Asia, where the 'Star World' network interspersed trailers for the new US series 'Life' with interviews with an American-accented Damien Lewis.
I genuinely had to google to check that he was British - not because of his great accent but because I couldn't imagine why he'd feel the need to be interviewed as an American?
I thought it was okay, but not amazing.
However, as I've found a lot of shows that I loved didn't start off particularly great, I'll not judge it based on Ep 1 and will stick with it for a couple more.
I almost exploded when I read that episode 2 was being dropped. And you're spot on, Andrew - yet another example of quality television in the hands of people who don't know what to do with it. I was drawn in, for the reason that I DO love Tim Burton's work and this was clearly of the same school, and I will calm down and put it with all the others that have been systematically wasted - Entourage on ITV2 at midnight? Brothers and Sisters on at 11.00pm on a Sunday? Studio 60 on More4 at 4.00am? (ok, a bit of an exaggeration, but you know what I mean). It all started with Larry Sanders and Seinfeld, carried on with Curb Your Enthusiasm. Our TV execs simply don't seem to know what to do with these shows.
They should all be prime time on major networks, but as my wife pointed out, there is probably a 'reality' show with performing monkeys to put on at 8.00pm on a thursday. And that gets more viewers than Entourage. Why? because the public don't know when Entourage is on!
I'd better go have a cup of green tea and calm down. Nurse said I shouldn't get all excited...
StephenC
I like Dexter. Perhaps that's because I have secret fantasies about shooting people who push in front of me in the queue, take too long trying to pay for their bus fare, stop suddenly in front of me (a cattle prod would be more appropriate there methinks) etc etc. The worrying thing is, I've discussed this with colleagues at work and they all harbour the same fantasy. Either that or they're humouring me...
Heroes series two is MASSIVELY disappointing. The pacing is all wrong; the characters aren't as good; the story arcing is all over the place; there is no slow drip-drip of revealing odds and sods to be hooked up in later 'wow' moments, and new character Zach's 'flying' looks like it was done on the TV equivalent of a Primark shopper's budget. Here's hoping series three picks up again but after the beauty, brilliance and subtlety of series one - it was a BIG disappointment.
Anna
I would have preferred another series of Six Feet Under, but Pushing Daisies did get me hooked even though the coy narration will probably get me too cross to watch a second series.
Oh, wait, I'm cross already because of the scheduling.
I would say Pushing Daisies most wants to be Amelie. Not every episode is great, but when it clicks it's one of the best hours of television on right now, and certainly unlike anything else on TV.
Heroes' second season is not good. I'd say skip it.
But you should come back to LOST. They really found their footing once they were given an end-date for the series. You could just start with the seventh episode of Season 3 and watch the "Previously On LOST" which will catch you up, cause nothing happens in the first six episodes.
Sorry, forgot to sign my earlier comment. Durr.
Deb H (secret Dexter fan and cattle prod owner)
Zoe, I really enjoyed Damages. It begins at the end, almost, which is pretty rare for a series (not so rare for a film, obviously) - but the way it fills in the blanks over 13 is very skillful. You'd be hard pushed to second guess it. Glenn Close is great as the venal lawyer, and it's great to see Ted Danson as the villain, oh and Peter Riegert (Animal House, Local Hero) turning up all fat and old. I love the grainy look, too. It's high quality, I'd say. Perhaps 13 eps is just a couple too many for the story, but you won't want to bail out until you know exactly how we got to the end, which is at the beginning.
And before you ask, as I did, the theme tune is not by Marilyn Manson or some such, but a band I'd never heard of called Via. You'll be singing it every week though.
Just noticed that the excellent Charlie Brooker has done a feature on The Wire for FX called ‘Tapping the Wire’. He’s another huge fan and it was reading and hearing his praise that alerted me to the programme in the first place.
I haven’t seen it yet (it’s just appeared in the Sky ‘Anytime TV’ section) but from the trailer he’s got access to the cast and guess what? The guy who plays Stringer Bell is from East London too. I know it shouldn’t be an issue but getting the accent wrong can be so distracting and The Wire’s two (I dunno maybe there’s more) English actors seem to get it spot on to me. And I should know; I am from Redcar.
Apologies if I sound like I reckon I've suddenly become the show's biggest and best fan four years after everybody else but better late than never eh?
I agree about Hugh Laurie by the way. Tremendous bloke it would seem but from the snippets I’ve seen of House, it’s very much a Brit ‘doing’ an American accent and it’s too conspicuous to be able to relax and enjoy it.
Damages was the best thing I have seen on TV this year - should have got much better exposure.
Zoe - buy the box set - you won't regret it
AnonoNick
Have you tried NCIS, Andrew? Kind of like CSI with jokes. Great cast, very funny.
John
I really enjoyed all the episodes of Pushing Daisies that I've caught. It doesn't quite seem like your kind of show, though. A little too "charming". I just think it's so sweet and fun. As for Lost, I am sooo frustrated by the third season. You're better off not having gotten hooked.
And to take a sudden turn, happy early Earth Day!
I share your sentiments about Pushing Daisies, but am very unimpressed about the decision to drop an episode, regardless of how 'self-contained' it is.
If you do wish to catch a cracking US series that's both short and highly gripping and stylish, then The Kill Point is one to seek out on DVD. It star Donnie Wahlberg and John Leguiziamo and has been showing on Bravo for the last 8 weeks or so and the finale is next week - really good.
I third (or maybe fourth) Damages - yet again missed by lots of people because of the BBC's inablitiy to properly schedule a US drama - Medium is another example!
ITV1 despise their viewers? That would explain a lot.
I'm told BSG is the best thing on the box at the mo, and I need to go back to the TV movies before the proper series.
new Wire in July - not as good as previous seasons, but still great closure.
machine levine.
Pushing Daisies wasn't that great but please will it on as I'm disappointed it didn't beat the unspeakably awful Casualty. Anything to get that predictable, spirit-crushing, wooden dirge off our screens.
Hi Andrew,
I find it strange that you think it's wanting to be Six Feet Under?
In what way do you think it is?
If you've seen other Bryan Fuller shows 'Dead like me' or 'Wonderfalls' (especially Wonderfalls) it seems like he's just jumbled a few ideas around. Which of course you can take or leave. I quite like his stuff so will stick with it.
Neil
Thanks for the recommendations, I will definitely look out Damages. Just got to finish season two of The Wire first! I can't believe Stringer Bell is English though, his accent is amazing!
Andrew, have you seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall yet? Just wondering how it compares to Knocked Up (which I loved)?
Zoe
"I won't miss the second episode, which ITV1 are not showing"
Well I watched the second episode on Saturday 19 April so is it the *third* episode that ITV are going to drop?
Or perhaps it is all a rumour to drum up interest in the show, and actually ITV will end up finding room in the schedules (somehow) for all the episodes in chronological order eventually?
For me it's not the sort of show I would become seriously hooked on, but a nice enough piece of entertaining hocus pocus fluff to pass the time on Saturday evenings, if I happen to be in.
The Wire rocks. I feel jealous of anyone who has yet to see it. If you're willing to give it your attention and commitment, you have an amazing experience ahead.
I got a bit bored of reading comments like that before I saw it (not least from Charlie Brooker), but five seasons later (over the course of a year) and I'm one of the people making seemingly OTT statements of the same kind.
BTW, it seems many Americans are surprised when they find out Hugh Laurie is a brit. As a brit myself I'm not a good judge of what is a good American accent. His accent sounds odd to me, but I suspect that's just because it's coming out of Bertie Wooster's mouth.
Jonathan - how can you diss Casualty? Alright, I admit I haven't watched it in about ten years, but you have to admit it's part of our heritage, like Last of the Summer Wine, The Antiques Roadshow and Songs of Praise! These shows must NEVER be axed, lest the entire country go to rack and ruin.
Axe Casualty, and you axe the nation.
P.S. I'd rather watch Britain's Worst Teeth (again) than sit through Pushing Daisies. It looks 'orrible. Not that my view's worth tuppemce.
I just have to chip in and defend Hugh Laurie in House, not only were series one two and three all fab-tabulous, I thought his accent was spot on.
Really.
I know I seem to be going against the grain here, but that does not bother me. Series four is good, but I am not as in to it as the first three, maybe it's because I watched them all on DVD box set and I have been cheap and watched the new series on Channel Five so have to forward through the annoyingly placed ad breaks..
Anyway, I disagree with you Andrew on the House accent, in fact I am sure I read something in the Times or the London Lite by an American who virtually rated his accent as the best Brit impersonation he had heard, and he was American!
Proof enough if ever you need one, surely... - am I being ironic here? you decide. But he did say it was very very good.
So, no then, no irony at all.
Sorry Swineshead - 'Casualty' and 'Last of the Summer Wine' part of our heritage? That doesn't make them a good thing. Slavery, imperialism and casual racism were also part of our heritage but I don't feel the need to celebrate any of them either! But to return to the subject of US imports. I've seen (what there is of) Series 2 of 'Heroes' and it's ... OK. Not great. Not awful. But OK. 'Pushing Daisies' is twee and nice but didn't grab me either. 'Dexter' was, again, OK (both series). The only show that I can honestly say has grabbed my nads and clung on in recent years has been 'My name is Earl'. The writing is still as good on series 3 (I refuse to say season)as it was on series 1. Okay, so it's not 'Frasier' but it's consistent and it's funny. Nice blog Andrew - keep it going matey!
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