You Killed Pushing Daisies!

America! I'm deeply saddened today by the sudden loss of Pushing Daisies. And no, Ned-the-Piemaker can't even bring this corpse back from the dead. Word came down yesterday that ABC was canceling the unique show after it's 13th episode (which only makes for 22 total, barely a full season with last year's writer's strike). There's already talk of a comic book series or feature-length film to tie up loose ends, but still, that's not good enough for me. Why, why, why does this keep happening? Good shows seems to die right before my eyes, where crappola like The Bachelor is entering its 13th season. You wanna know why? It's all YOUR fault! You're not watching quality TV. Never before have I seen a show like Pushing Daisies -- great acting, witty writing, smoldering romance, and visually stunning to boot and you didn't even give it a chance. A single episode could rival any Tim Burton flick, but Gary Unmarried got twice the ratings that Daisies did this week. This is not a new problem either -- dating back to awesome shows like Relativity, Action!, and oh-my-God My So Called Life, smart TV always gets canceled before it has had a chance. Networks just don't have the patience to let you catch on (and it doesn't help when they play a shell game with the timeslot). The only reason why a show like Madmen got a second season was cable, baby. Cable will re-run the show a million times during the week (allowing viewers watch on their time) and let an audience build by buzz. Networks need instant satisfaction. I'm sure all the visual effects on Daisies weren't cheap either (whereas another episode of Nanny Jo can be slapped together on a tight budget). So, I hang my head in sadness and employ my peeps -- don't let the next good show die. TV needs you (especially if you're a Nielson Family).

Ad-itude: Commercials Make Kids Fat

This is going to be more rant-y than my usual posts, but I couldn't help but feel a little crazy as I sit at my local VW dealership, waiting for my car, reading the news. There was an article posted on Yahoo entitled Fast-food ad ban could cut child obesity: U.S. study. The article states that childhood obesity rates will go down if kids see less fast food commercials. Who are the idiots who came up with this theory? They are forgetting one crucial piece of information -- KIDS CAN'T DRIVE. Therefore, they are somehow getting to the local McDonalds. There is a middle man -- Mom and Dad. Someone is buying these kids triple bacon deluxes with a side of giant fries. If the kids never saw the commericals again, I doubt they would forget about Happy Meals. Plus, the reason why kids are so fat is not because of an occaisional Happy Meal -- it's the food that is stocked in their kitchens for snacks, sugary cereal breakfasts, processed food lunches (Lunchables in the lunchbox and pizza in the school cafeteria), and the fast food dinners mom and dad grab nightly on the way home. Far be it from me to defend either advertising or the fast-food industries because lord knows they are guilty of contributing. But let's remember who's really feeding our kids -- and not turning the TV off. It ain't Ronald McDonald reaching through the screen. Gotta go now, there's still some cookies left on the dealership's counter behind me. . .

Remembering Michael Crichton

During all the excitement of our new president yesterday, word came down that author Michael Crichton passed away at the young age of 66. In the company of Stephen King and Orson Scott Card, Crichton is one of my favorite authors of all time. As Michelle on BestWeekEver mentioned, Jurassic Park was her first grown-up book. I think it was mine too. I remember being glued to it in the back room of my parents' store. I wanted to read the whole thing before the movie premiered that night. I finished the book (probably when I should have been working instead) and got ready for the movie, only to find it completely sold out (this is before the days of Fandango, or even MovieFone, kids). After Jurassic Park, I became obsessed and read the The Andromeda Strain, Sphere, Congo(got right into that movie, didn't think it would suck so much). Unfortunately, Crichton also wrote Jurassic Park 2 (The Lost World) -- one of two books I chucked across the room after finishing (Contactwas the other). It was so terrible, that it was the end of Crichton's books for me. ER, which he created, was a redemption of sorts. Therefore, I will always appreciate him for introducing me (and the world) to George Clooney and for explaining chaos theory in a way a high school kid could understand. Thanks, Michael.