PUSHING DAISIES
Season 2 Episode 1
“Bzzzzzzz!”
Written by Bryan Fuller
Directed by Adam Kane
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

Well, this one had its moments, and a bunch of welcome guest spots: French Stewart as Wolsey Nicholls, intent on taking over Betty’s BeesTM; Autumn Reeser as the rather unlucky Number One Bee Girl of Betty’s BeesTM, Kentucky Fitts, who’s the main corpus dilecti of the episode; and Diana Scarwid (yay!) as, not just any nun, but the Mother Superior herself.


Sadly, Scarwid is part of the subplot that I’m having trouble with: for some reason best known to the show’s writers, Olive has been sent off to a nunnery by Lily, the very same nunnery where she brought Chuck to term, because of the secret she’s privy to: that Chuck is in fact, Lily’s daughter, a secret that would kill Vivian, as she was actually engaged to Chuck’s father when the affair took place.
Sure, the nun costumes are cool and kooky, and Pigby has his own certain charm, but I’m dubious about the whole thread and wondering where they plan to take it and what its raison d’etre is.


At any rate, it’s great to have Pushing Daisies back, and to see Adam Kane at the helm again.
They also at least seem to be kicking up Emerson’s lost daughter subplot, so that’s a plus, as Chi McBride rules.
I mean, Steven Harper to Emerson Cod.
Who knew?

(Images courtesy of ABC, avclub.com, and destinything.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (101)

101.1 PIMP MY BOOK


So my online novel Pelicula is now completely available on the ‘net, all its reels and chapters safely floating out there in the aether.
If you haven’t checked it out, or were perhaps waiting for it to boast a proper ending, well, this is your chance.
Just turn off the main infobahn here.


(Thanx to Carl, for all things Pelicula website-y, and to Budj, for co-producing.)

101.2 AUGUST AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE HIGHLIGHTS


August 2, Saturday, 5:00 PM
Aero Theatre
A marathon of the extended versions of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (a whopping total of 682 minutes!), to be introduced by legendary fantasy artist Greg Hildebrandt.
[Special admission price: $3.00.]


A Tribute to Stan Winston [August 15-16]
Aero Theatre
August 15, Friday, 7:30 PM
A double feature of James Cameron’s Aliens and Winston’s directorial debut, Pumpkinhead.
August 16, Saturday, 7:30 PM
A double feature of John McTiernan’s Predator and Stephen Hopkins’ Predator 2.


August 21, Thursday, 7:30 PM
Egyptian Theatre 85th Anniversary Double Feature
The original versions of Ridley Scott’s Alien and James Cameron’s Aliens.
(Both films originally premiered at the Egyptian Theatre.)

101.3 PUSHING DAISIES AT SDCC08


With all the news that has flooded out of this year’s recently concluded edition of the San Diego Comic-Con, one of the bits that has got me giddy is this: a Wonderfalls/Pushing Daisies cross-over!


Mary Ann Marie Beetle, from Wonderfalls’ “Muffin Buffalo” episode, will appear in Pushing Daisies. (And the crowd goes wild…) At the moment, I’m unsure whether Beetle will again be played by Beth Grant (I certainly hope so).


And, and, and… Diana Scarwid appears in the first 3 episodes of Season 2. (Sadly, I don’t think it’s as Karen Tyler.)
Is Caroline Dhavernas far behind?

(Images courtesy of ew.com [Peter Jackson on the set of The Return of the King]; wired.com [Stan Winston]; horrorphile.net [Alien image]; aintitcool.com [Pushing Daisies and Wonderfalls DVD cover art]; and hollywoodjesus.com [Wonderfalls promo image of Diana Scarwid].)

(Pelicula logo by Carl Vergara; Habagat icon and pin-up by Ian Sta. Maria.)

reVIEW (18)
WONDERFALLS

Instead of taking a look at an old film, this installment of reVIEW is about the sadly cancelled Bryan Fuller co-created TV series Wonderfalls. Consider it a companion piece to TV Watch 2007 (3), where I heartily recommended Fuller’s new ABC series, Pushing Daisies.

“It’s a really quirky, smart, feel-good show about a pathological narcissist who wakes up one day to discover the universe has sort-of forced her to become fate’s b!tch.”
-- Bryan Fuller, when asked to describe Wonderfalls


Classic Gen Y underachiever, Jaye Brewster (Caroline Dhavernas) has a Philosophy degree, but works a dead-end job at the souvenir shop of Niagara Falls. However, inanimate animals—wax lions, metal monkeys, stuffed donkeys—begin to speak to her, giving her cryptic instructions, which she finds herself hesitantly following, inadvertently helping others, when all she’d really rather do is nothing in particular.
That’s the quirky premise of a great TV show called Wonderfalls (one of its working titles during its development, Touched by a Crazy Person), which almost never got seen.


Fox, you see, unceremoniously pulled the plug on the show after a mere four episodes, despite the fact that it was a critical darling. Apparently, the show wasn’t racking up the ratings Fox would have liked, and the network wasn’t willing to wait for an audience to discover its witty charm.
(It should be noted that this isn’t the first time Fox has speedily kicked a show off the air. They’ve done it to Chris Carter twice, despite the phenomenal hit he gave them in The X-Files—with his virtual reality series Harsh Realm, and the X-Files spin-off, The Lone Gunmen.)


The magnitude of this injustice is compounded even further when you consider that, a) Wonderfalls was actually a really good show, and b) as I’ve pointed out before, this is a world with three CSI’s. Three CSI’s and we can’t have room for one unique show with a voice all its own, managing to fuse the inertia of Gen Y slackdom with the inevitability of destiny, turning in an existential comedy bristling with witty dialogue, and pop culture referents and metaphors aplenty.

“She’s a snarky character, so she’s going to be snarky about the things that she encounters in her life. When tchochtkes start talking, let the snark reign.”
-- Bryan Fuller, discussing Jaye


As Jaye Brewster, Dhavernas (from a host of Canadian productions) displays a refreshing, disarming quality, even when she’s in her persnickety slacker mode, and witnessing the character’s torturous metamorphosis from self-involved, aimless cynic to confused, hesitant Samaritan is a peculiar joy.
Surrounding Jaye with their own brand of insanity is her family, father Darrin (William Sadler, from The Green Mile and Kinsey), mother Karen (Diana Scarwid), sister Sharon (Katie Finneran, from You’ve Got Mail, and the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead), and brother Aaron (Lee Pace, from Soldier’s Girl).
Of particular note amongst the Brewsters is Scarwid (from What Lies Beneath and Party Monster), whose Karen is the aloof, snotty socialite who nonetheless loves her family (though she may not particularly understand them).

Ultimately, Wonderfalls is a show that manages to give us a funny glimpse at the workings of those “mysterious ways” we keep on hearing about. It’s like an Early Edition or a Touched by an Angel, but with a lot more wit, and a lot more brains; a show that displays the causality of destiny, and how every little thing we do, no matter how seemingly insignificant, impacts somewhere, on someone, thus keeping the great engine of life moving in perfect synchronicity with the Will of some higher, manifest Power, a Power that, apparently, has a pretty hip (and often absurd) sense of humor.


Parting shot: Though only four episodes of Wonderfalls were broadcast on Fox, thirteen were actually filmed, and all are available on DVD.

(Images courtesy of aintitcool.com, episodeguides.com, hollywoodjesus.com, and logoonline.com.)
(The above is an altered version of a previously published article entitled “The Causality of Destiny (Or, The Greatest TV Show You May Never See).”)

LOST Season 3 Episode 9 (WARNING: SPOILERS)
“Stranger in a Strange Land”

So last week was Desmond, this week it’s Jack.
Now, I’m not necessarily against spotlight episodes. (And, by Lost’s nature—with each episode having flashbacks centering on one character—each episode is, in a manner of speaking, a spotlight episode.) It’s just that we seem to be losing sight of all the other characters, not to mention the plot.
Sure, we see Kate and Sawyer, but what about Locke, and his plan to get Jack and company back? What about Sun (who did, after all, shoot another person dead)? Then there’s the little matter of Des’ lady love, Penny, picking up the electromagnetic anomaly that was the hatch implosion during season 2’s finale.
I only point this out because Lost is the kind of show that may have difficulty attracting a new audience, given the complexity of its story. It’s also a show that at the moment, seems to be losing some of the less faithful (and less patient) portions of its core audience.
Now, it’s always been my firm belief that the best Lost episodes are those that give us a deeper, better insight on the psychology of the characters (through the flashbacks), while at the same time, advancing the plot of the story taking place on the island.
The thing is, at the moment, the island story is moving at a snail’s pace, and I feel the show should step it up, considering all that doomsayer talk surrounding its flagging ratings.
Come on, people! This show is still one of the best on the air today, with one of the best ensembles, and some of the sharpest writing around.
Sure, I love Bai Ling, but did we need to see more of Jack again? I mean, we’ve brought in Paulo and Nikki but these two have done little more since their introduction than be two more pretty faces stranded on the island. And while we have yet to learn more about Paulo and Nikki, we are then sucked into the lives of Alex and erstwhile boyfriend Karl. We also make the acquaintance of the new sheriff in town, Isabel (played by Diana Scarwid, fantastic as Jaye’s mom, Karen, in the sorely missed Wonderfalls).
So, so many players. And will some of them end up deader than disco even before we really get to know them?
And perhaps because of the Cecil B. DeMille cast of thousands, sometimes it seems the focus of the show gets too diffuse; though we do learn more about specific characters, the main story gets sidetracked. We also need to ask ourselves, was what we learned about the character truly significant in the larger scheme of things, or was it ultimately a character note to add to that person’s bio?
I bring this up only because I want the show to have firmer footing than it has right now. I want Abrams, Lindelof, Cuse, and company to end the show according to their plans, and not because ABC decided to pull the plug due to ratings.
I think it’s safe to say that window when Lost burst into the social consciousness as a phenomenon is shrinking (if it hasn’t already disappeared). The Lost team needs to make what we, the hardcore fans, already know, glaringly obvious: that this is a great show.
Of course, there will be hiccups, there will be lags. No show is perfect, after all. Peaks and valleys and all that. But what needs to be done is to minimize the hiccups and the lags, keep the peaks high and the valleys shallow. Episode in, episode out, we need to kick a$$, gentlemen.
Let’s get down to it. A little over a dozen episodes to go till season end.
Dazzle us. I know you can.

(Originally posted 022807)