So I watched the premiere of V Tuesday night, and I have mixed feelings. As a huge fan of the original series, I was kinda let down. In the original, we see the Visitors arrive, tell us that they are here to be our friends and to help us, and then see them doing just that. We gradually get hints that things aren't quite as simple as they seem, with reports of people disappearing mysteriously, and word of a conspiracy of scientists being bandied about. Finally, we learn the true nature of the Visitors when reporter Mike Donovan sneaks aboard their ship and sees them eating rodents, and then gets in a fight with one of the aliens and rips their fake human face off, revealing that they are actually big-@$$ lizards.

(I wrote all that without looking anything up. Nerd!)

In this new version, we see the Visitors arrive, and they tell us that they are here to help us. We hear news reports that they are giving us cures to all sorts of diseases and stuff, but we don't really see them working with humans. We see humans who don't trust the Visitors, but aren't given any concrete reasons why.

The first time we spend any real time with the Visitors, it's their leader telling a news reporter to not ask any questions that will paint them in a negative light. We also see a meeting of an underground resistance against the Visitors (all of whom have either witnessed, or know someone who has witnessed, something that makes them aware that there's more to the Visitors that meets the eye, even though we don't see any of that evidence). At the resistance meeting (and it's not clear what they're resisting, since we haven't seen what the Visitors are actually doing) we are told that the Visitors are not as human as they appear, but are actually literally lizards in human clothing.

Then there's a big fight, and we see Visitors with their skin ripped, and it's really shocking. But not as shocking as it might have been if we hadn't just been told five minutes earlier!

That's my big problem with last night's episode: a lot of telling, not showing. It was slick and well-acted, and I like the idea that the Visitors have apparently been around for a lot longer, infiltrating humanity before going public. And a coworker, who had no history with the show, was really surprised at the actually revelation that the visitors really were lizards. So maybe it's just the baggage I brought with me that hurt my enjoyment of the show.

Regardless, now that the big reveals are out of the way, the show needs to forge its own direction. So I'm going to give it a few weeks to see how I feel about it before I decide one way or the other.

Getting away from the whining about human nature in my previous post, here's what I'm watching on TV on Tuesdays:

On CBS, I watch NCIS. While the cool kids probably don't consider it hip and edgy, I've been a fan since the very beginning. (And when I say "very beginning," I mean I saw the characters in their very first appearance in a two-part episode of JAG, another favorite series.) I like the crime stuff okay, but I could get that from any number of shows. I watch NCIS for the characters.

As soon as I'd heard that Mark Harmon was going to be the lead, I was probably sold on NCIS. He's one of those old-school TV stars, like James Garner or Robert Conrad, who just seems to slip effortlessly into the roles he plays, and totally owns the screen when he's on it. As NCIS agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, he epitomizes cool on TV like nobody else I can think of. He's such a force for calm and reason on the show, which really helps sell it on those occasions that he explodes into righteous anger. He also balances the zanier, more extreme characterizations of the other members of his team, and it's those characters that make the show so watchable.

This season, NCIS is joined by spin-off NCIS: Los Angeles. It would be easy to dismissively say, "It's just like NCIS, only in LA," but I'm happy to say it's not quite that simple. Like the parent show, it's got a distinctive visual style, and it's got the same sense of humor. But instead of dealing with a team of characters, it pretty much focuses on a pair of partners, played by Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J. The interplay between them is like watching a fun buddy movie. It doesn't have a complex, twisty mythology involving time-traveling islands or anything but, like Castle, which I talked about last week, sometimes a show can keep you coming back by giving you characters you want to spend time with.

The third Tuesday night show I'm watching is also new this season, The Forgotten, produced by CSI/Pirates of the Caribbean/Big Explodey Action Movie guy Jerry Bruckheimer. It's a crime/procedural series about a group of civilians who try to identify unidentified victims of crime after the police no longer have the resources to devote to now-cold cases. And it's got that Jerry Bruckheimer TV series dark, moody, broody look and feel to it.

It's also got Christian Slater as the lead. I like Christian Slater just fine, but that wasn't the selling point. No, it was a combination of Michelle Borth (from the HBO series Tell Me You Love Me) in the cast and Stephen Gallagher as writer/producer that got me watching. Gallagher has written books and other TV shows that I've really liked, most recently creating last season's short-lived Crusoe. And Michelle Borth is hot.

I can't say I've completely embraced the show in the same way I have NCIS: Los Angeles or other new shows this season. I watched the pilot, skipped the next episode, but came back the following week and have stuck around since. What keeps me interested, I think, is the focus is more on identifying the victims and learning who they were than on solving the crime. Instead of focusing on forensic detail, we see the characters talking to people to learn about the victim as a person. That feels just a little more positive and interesting to me, and that's what keeps me coming back.

As I write this, I haven't seen the premiere of the remake of V but I'm totally planning on watching it. I loved the original V miniseries as a kid, and this one is produced by Scott Peters, creator of The 4400, another much-missed favorite. Plus it's got Elizabeth Mitchell, Morena Baccarin, and the chick who played Supergirl on Smallville. So, you know, totally there.

Sunday before last, my car got hit from behind while stopped at a stoplight. By a guy in a big pickup truck on his cell phone. With his kids in the car.

As of today, his insurance company still hasn't gotten a hold of him. So I'm in limbo until that happens. And, before anyone asks, I was stupid and didn't call the police when the accident happens. I figured nobody seemed to be injured, our vehicles were driveable, and the police have better things to do with their time. And, before anyone asks, I realize now that was stupid, and will probably end up causing me huge frustration and problems.

I hate that we live in a world where the police aren't just there to protect us against crime and enforce the law. We need them to make people do the right thing, to just stand up and be honest.

The other day I was driving down to the insurance place to have the damage to my car appraised. The freeway on-ramp is metered, and there's a carpool lane for cars with more than one person in them. And as I sat in the line of cars waiting to get onto the freeway, I saw one car after another zip down the carpool lane with only one person in them. And that's when I think I snapped. Or just broke.

I try to be a nice guy. I try to be polite and courteous and follow the rules. And what's the point? People push in front of me in lines, they race past me on the freeway, they get whatever they want in stores and restaurants and wherever because they know that if they push and shove and shout they can pretty much bully the rest of the world into giving them whatever they want. And they know that, because it totally works for them.

A friend of mine told me that she's reading a book that says just that: if you raise your kids to be polite and caring and to follow the rules, they're just going to get screwed later in life, because nobody else is raising their kids like that. And that upsets me on a fundamental level.

Don't get me wrong; being who I am has benefited me in the only ways that are really important. I have people who respect and love me because I'm not a pushy jerk. Lura wouldn't be with me if I was that sort of person.

More importantly, I can live with myself. Maybe I feel bad or tiny or powerless because I can't even get a fucking store clerk to back me up when I ask people to not cut in front of me in line, but I'd rather feel all those things than how I know I'd feel if I pushed in front of people or treated them badly. And I'd rather live with the frustration of getting stepped on all the time than the knowledge that I had chosen to be a jerk.

But that doesn't make it any more fun.

As part of my (once again) renewed committment to try to post a blog entry every week, I'm going to go through the TV shows that I'm watching. Rather than try to say it all in one huge, boring post that becomes a struggle to finish, I'm going to break it down and write about one day each week.

On Mondays, I watch The Big Bang Theory on CBS. I can best sum up its appeal for me when I tell you that after my lovely fiancee and I watched it together for the first time a couple of weeks ago, she started laughing hysterically, then turned to me and said, "I'm marrying the Big Bang Theory." I wish I could say that there were moments on the show that weren't exactly like times spent with my friends, but sadly, that's not the case.

Part of what makes the show great for me, besides it being really funny, is that it treats the geek characters with warmth and sympathy. They're funny because--like all geeks--they're obsessed with things outside the mainstream, and this makes them outsiders to a certain degree. But while this may make them awkward, it doesn't make them stupid, or unemotional, or whatever. Penny, the "normal" woman in the cast, doesn't treat them like they're any less human just because she doesn't understand all the things they talk about. And that's what won me over from the very first episode.

(Also, producer Chuck Lorre's vanity cards at the end of each episode are hilarious, if you take the time to freeze and read them. Or you can just read them online at the handy link I just posted.)

A new show I'm watching on Mondays is Castle on ABC. It stars Nathan Fillion, of Firefly/Dr. Horrible/Buffy fame, but I'm not just watching it for the geek casting. I skipped the entire first season, because the concept just sounded DOA. Fillion plays Richard Castle, a mystery writer who helps the NYPD solve crimes while working with them for research for his books. It's Murder, She's Old, only tonight the part of Jessica Fletcher will be played by Nathan Fillion. At least, that was my initial perception.

Now that it's made it to a second season (and been renewed for a full 22 episodes) I'm willing to give it a shot, especially since it comes highly recommended by a friend whose opinion I trust. And it's a lot of fun. It's got a police setting, but it's not a cop show. It's an old-fashioned mystery/romance show, kind of in the vein of Moonlighting but more grounded. The dialogue is snappy and witty, and the characters are engaging. It's got nothing really to do with police procedure, but Columbo isn't any less of a show than Hill Street Blues for the same reason.

Coincidentally, the two shows I watch on Mondays star actors from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: Nathan Fillion and Simon Helberg. Maybe I should start watching How I Met Your Mother again for Neil Patrick Harris, but there's just not enough time.

The last book I finished reading was And Another Thing by Eoin Colfer.

As a kid, I loved the works of Douglas Adams, and that probably had more of an influence on my sense of humor than anything (except maybe my Dad). Loved the books, the TV series, the radio series... I even got to go hear him speak once (with my Dad) at the University of California, Berkeley. He may have been the first one of my idols I actually got to see live, if you don't count the guy in the Darth Vader costume we could barely see in a crowded Fisherman's Wharf T-shirt store one day back in 1978. (Which I was also taken to by my Dad. I miss him.)

Those books are products of such a distinct voice, I--quite reasonably--balked when I heard that his estate had approved a new book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, almost a decade after his passing. It's one thing for an author to be one of a crowd writing a series of media tie-in books. It's also one thing for an author's estate to commission someone to finish a series left incomplete by an author's untimely passing. But this... It's not like Adams had left notes about a new Hitchhiker's book, or even had anything beyond vague plans to write another book at some point, reportedly.

However, this was going to be written by Eoin Colfer, who I also like. I really liked the first three Artemis Fowl books that he wrote. (I thought the third one ended the series so perfectly I really don't have any interest in reading beyond that.) I also loved The Supernaturalist by him, and have Airman on my to-read stack.

So it became clear to me that I was going to have to read And Another Thing... I planned on just getting it from the library, but as the publication date approached, and Internet buzz from folks who had read preview copies of the first half seemed good, I decided I didn't want to wait, and went ahead and ordered the book.

It's hard for me to really articulate my opinions about it. It's not just a new Eoin Colfer book; it's a new book by him about somebody else's characters, continuing somebody else's story. It's not just a new Hitchhiker's Guide book; it's the first one not written by Douglas Adams (something which would have once seemed unthinkable). So I come to this book with more baggage and expectations than I might if it was just one thing or another.

I enjoyed it enough that I read it all the way through, but I found it ultimately dissatisfying. For one thing, it's mainly a Zaphod Beeblebrox story, and he's not really my favorite character. Everyone else pretty much spends most of the book sitting around doing nothing. Not saying a Hitchhiker's Guide book needs to give everyone equal time; I love So Long and Thanks for All the Fish even though it's mostly an earthbound romance story featuring Arthur Dent. But this isn't just another book in the series.

To Colfer's credit, he doesn't try to write a pastiche of Douglas Adams' writing style. But this may also be a reason for my ambiguous feelings. He gets the characters' voices right--I can totally hear the radio/TV actors saying the lines--but the story they're in isn't written like any of the others I've read. So it feels a bit different, because it is a bit different. Also to his credit, he describes his own book as "authorized fan fiction," instead of claiming his is the official continuation of the series.

There are funny bits, which made me laugh out loud. It feels true to the spirit of the original series, which is good. It's also kind of unnecessary, and if someone--Colfer or anyone else--were to create another Hitchhiker's book, I'm pretty sure I'd wait to get it from the library this time.

This is like six different flavors of awesome.

The Cat Piano from PRA on Vimeo.

So the big comics news of the day is the restructuring of DC Comics, with Paul Levitz (who I once met, and is a really nice guy) stepping down as publisher.

For me, though, that's all business stuff. Another story, bigger for me, because it's more personal, involves Adventure Comics. A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about how much I loved the first issue. I haven't even received the second issue yet, but yesterday, I learned that the creators were leaving to work on a new Flash series. Now, I loved Geoff Johns' work on Flash in the past, but I was disappointed to read that he wouldn't be staying on this new book that had already grown so dear to my heart.

Today, it was revealed that the new writer on Adventure will be Paul Levitz. So now I feel much better.

Paul Levitz is the writer who got me to fall in love with the Legion of Super-Heroes in the first place. Back when he was writing it, it was one of my favorite comics. (One of? Probably my favorite comic.) He did a great job of creating a believable, vivid, consistent future, and managed to balance a huge cast of characters. Each one felt unique and distinct, with their own personalities, and their personal lives were every bit as interesting as the adventures they had.

They say you can't go home again, and maybe his return (and Johns' to the Flash) will end up disappointing. But right now, I'm excited. Which is a lot better than being disappointed and depressed.

Here's something for me to look forward to...

Here is a confession that will surprise absolutely nobody who knows me: I love old pulp fiction. Particularly the adventures of the Shadow and Doc Savage, currently being reprinted in very nice editions by Anthony Tollin's Sanctum Press. Obviously, I only know the books from reprints, and I haven't read too many of those.

A lot of what passes for "new pulp fiction" comes across to me as poorly-written fan fiction. Particularly with the print-on-demand options available through places like Lulu.com, it just seems too easy for a pulp fan to churn out a dull, overwritten story about characters called "Prof Brass" or "The Silhouette," sell them for $20 a pop, and call themselves pulp writers. Fortunately, there are new stories that pay tribute to the old pulps without sacrificing quality or imagination.

A particular favorite of mine right now is the Gabriel Hunt series, created by Hard Case Crime editor and publisher Charles Ardai. The series, credited to Gabriel Hunt, is being written by multiple authors, with Ardai writing the second volume, Hunt Through the Cradle of Fear. So far, both Hunt books feel like contemporary adventures with their feet planted in the pulp tradition.

In Hunt Through the Cradle of Fear, Hunt finds himself on a quest for a mythical creature. Ardai skillfully blends elements of adventure and the fantastic, balancing them in a style reminiscent of the Indiana Jones movies. It's not an out-and-out fantasy, nor is it a real-world adventure. In this way, it effectively captures the genre-bending spirit of the old pulps, while still feeling fresh and contemporary.

The Hunt books are fun and fast-paced, action-packed without sacrificing character. (Yes, Guillermo Del Toro's Strain, I'm looking at you.) In this installment, we learn more about Hunt's family and background, in addition to his quest. The information is smoothly integrated into the adventure, instead of feeling like a forced break in the action just to insert exposition. The villain is colorful and just a little over-the-top, but it works in the world that Ardai and his fellow authors are building. The action sequences are fairly easy to follow, and the story is pretty unpredictable.

It's not a perfect book; Ardai inserts a cameo appearance by himself and his wife that--to me--stuck out like a sore thumb. On the other hand, he also includes a second, weird-tales adventure story in the book, completely unrelated to Gabriel Hunt. It's fun, and makes the book feel even more worth the money.

I also read Lobster Johnson: The Satan Factory by Tom Sniegoski, featuring the pulp crimefighter from the pages of Mike Mignola's Hellboy comics. It's less twisty and antic than the Gabriel Hunt books. Because it's a spin-off from the comic book series, it's also a bit light on character development. The character of the Lobster is a complete man of mystery in the comics, and the comics are rightfully where the details should be revealed. Having said that, I still had fun reading this book. Sniegoski did a great job fusing the masked hero genre with the sort of weird, Lovecraftian horror that features in Mignola's comics.

Finally, I read Doc Wilde and the Frogs of Doom by Tim Byrd. This is an exception to my earlier comments about writing characters that are classic pulp heroes with the registration numbers filed off. Doc Wilde is absolutely a stand-in for Doc Savage (or, perhaps more accurately, his son). The difference is, he isn't the main hero. Instead the book focuses on the young Wilde siblings, Bryan and Wren. Like the Gabriel Hunt books, it tells the sort of fantastic, over-the-top adventure that the classic pulps specialized in, but in a style completely appropriate for its audience.

Byrd is writing a story designed to excite and inspire young readers, and he understands that he won't do that by writing a story that reads like it was written sixty years ago. The story is as full of gadgets and weird monsters and action as a Doc Savage novel, but feels contemporary and up-to-date. Pulp fans will probably squeal like little girls at the in-jokes--because that's the indication of a quality story, of course--but pre-teen readers will get a kick out of this, too.

Took the cat to the vet this morning. Even with Zhanti (the parakeet) and Lura (the fiancee) in the house, it still feels empty with Penelope gone.

Yesterday, I raved about how Adventure Comics lived up to my lofty expectations. Unfortunately, that's not always the case.

Last week, I read The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. I'm a fan of Del Toro's films, and Chuck Hogan has apparently won awards for his mystery writing. (I thought I had read good reviews of his novels, as well as comics by him, but I was confusing him with Charlie Houston, I only just realized.) Unfortunately, this book, the first of a trilogy, wasn't particularly good.

To me, it reads like the treatment for the first act of a movie. It's 401 pages long, and not only does nothing really happen, but the characters are almost nonexistent. Only one is really fleshed out to two dimensions, and he's still not that interesting. I can see that if the characters were played by charismatic actors, and the action was unfolding visually on the screen instead of being described--sometimes in excruciating detail--on the page, this could be the first third of a cool movie. Instead, it's a fairly uninvolving opening installment to a prose trilogy, and there's not really enough there to make me want to read part two, a whole year from now.

Also a bit disappointing--though nowhere near as much--was the first issue of Doom Patrol from DC Comics. I've been a Doom Patrol fan since the 80s, through all its various permutations. I was particularly looking forward to this one, because it features the original characters, and it's written and drawn by creators who I like. And it is very pretty, and the characters are fleshed out more than those in The Strain.

Unfortunately, it's not a particularly good first issue. It opens at the tail end of an adventure that doesn't seem very well set up, and the rest is follow-up on the consequences of that adventure. I didn't feel as if it really established the current status quo for the team so much as it expected me to already know it.

I get that I'm not always going to be completely up to speed on every comic book character, because I don't read every comic. But if any issue of a series should help the reader get caught up on background and current events for a character, it should be the first one. I felt as if this would be an effective second or third issue, but as a "welcome back" for the Doom Patrol, something felt missing.

I now have a Twitter account. Feel free to follow me; my user name is penelopecat.

I have a confession: Several years after lambasting Geoff Johns for his comic, Green Lantern: Rebirth, Green Lantern has become one of my favorite superhero comics. It's got just the right mixture of Hill Street Blues, Star Wars, and superheroics. Instead of an endless string of battles against supervillains, one after another, Johns' Green Lantern is pretty much just one big story, which has gotten even bigger as it currently embraces the rest of DC Comics' superhero universe in the pages of Blackest Night.

I'll probably write more about Green Lantern and Blackest Night at a later date. But today I want to rave about Geoff Johns' newest comic, Adventure Comics #1. Certainly my favorite comic of the week. If it keeps up, probably my new favorite superhero comic.

While I try not to be too much of an old man, bitching about why can't comics be just like the ones I used to read, truth is, there are comics I used to read and love and can't find anything like any more. One of them was The New Adventures of Superboy. I liked the small-town setting, and the fact that, unlike Superman stories, the Superboy tales were less about him fighting supervillains and more about his life on the farm and his relationships with his friends and family.

(Of course, it's possible that the actual comics were nothing like that. But that's the thing about nostalgia, isn't it? You don't want to reexperience something just like you did before; you want to reexperience it the way you remember experiencing it the first time.)

I'm not a huge fan of the current Superboy. Nothing wrong with him; in fact, I really liked his earlier adventures by Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett, with their neo-Jack Kirby vibe. But that's because I was a fan of those creators, not of the character specifically. I was planning on buying this new Adventure Comics series, because I like Geoff Johns and the artist, Francis Manapul, not because it was about Superboy. (Oh, and because it has a Legion of Super-Heroes backup.) It was a comic I was anticipating enough to order, but not one I was necessarily more excited about than the other superhero comics I get.

Then I was listening to the podcast of the Superman panel from this year's San Diego ComiCon, and James Robinson (one of my all-time favorite comics writers, and the man responsible for my reading Superman comics again) described Adventure as having a Ray Bradbury or Norman Rockwell feel to it. And I realized that's how I remember those older Superboy comics feeling. And while I love the comics I am currently reading--otherwise I wouldn't be buying them--I'm not getting anything that feels quite like that. So I started getting excited.

The comic totally lived up to my anticipation. We see Superboy on the farm, going to school, rescuing a girl who falls in a river, and talking to his friend/father Superman. (He's not a son; he's a clone. Not sure what the right term for his relationship to Superman would be.) No supervillains, no fights. And while there are hits of trouble down the road, they seem more rooted in character than plot contrivance. It's exactly the comic I was hoping for.

And the art is nice, too.

Plus, it's got the Legion of Super-Heroes as a backup feature. I first discovered the Legion when it was being written and drawn by Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen, pretty much universally recognized as one of the team's golden ages. I kept reading it even after Levitz left, but gradually drifted away. It just wasn't the same for me, and apparently I wasn't the only one. DC has tried numerous revamps and reboots for the series, none of which have restored it to its former glory (by which I mean sales).

I think switching to the backup format may be the best idea yet to rebuild interest in the feature. It keeps the Legion in the public eye without the burden of carrying their own book. Perhaps more importantly, the short page count forces Johns and his fellow creators to focus on one or two characters at a time. One of the Legion's selling points--at least for me--has always been its big cast. However, I can see why trying to learn all those characters can seem off-putting to new readers. Giving the Legion a format that allows more of a focus on the individuals will help ease readers into the series, instead of dumping them in the deep end.

Will the series continue to hold my interest and excite me? Only time will tell. But for now, I'm hooked.

So I haven't seen Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince yet (but I want to), nor have I seen GI Joe yet (although that's not necessarily a must-see). However, we did go to see Julie & Julia yesterday. Not a particularly explodey movie, but probably more relevant to our lives than the other two.

It's based on a book by Julie Powell, detailing a year she spent cooking every recipe out of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and blogging about it. It's also based on Julia Child's autobiography of the years she spent writing the book, and her relationship with her husband. It stars Amy Adams (Amy McAdams? Rachel Adams? Can't keep them straight) as Julie Powell, and Meryl Streep as Julia, with Stanley Tucci (one of my favorite actors) as Julia's husband, Paul Child, and some Hollywood pretty boy as Julie's husband.

I had read Julie Powell's book, and enjoyed it. I liked the movie, too, but I think I liked the "real" Julie better. The movie just didn't really give a strong sense of the reasons why she decided to take on the project of cooking her way through the book. I get that a book is always going to be deeper and more introspective by its nature, but considering that the movie is about the Julie/Julia Project, explaining its origins is pretty much a necessity. Following on from that weakness, the movie Julie and her husband come across as fairly shallow, and a little too cute. When they do have problems, they seem to come out of nowhere, and get resolved just as easily.

The Julia Child segments, on the other hand, are a lot of fun. Perhaps there is nothing particularly earth-shattering about writing a cookbook, but that doesn't make the story any less interesting. Even more interesting is her relationship with her husband, Paul. Meryl Streep's portrayal of Julia Child is perhaps a bit broad (in the way that Las Vegas in the summer is a big hot) but Stanley Tucci--as Paul--is so grounded and down to earth and believable, he helps bring Meryl Streep down with him. He makes you believe that these are two people completely in love. And when we see them together like that, we understand that she isn't just some easily-parodied crazy chef. While perhaps best known for her passion about food, she was clearly passionate about all things in life, as this movie illustrates.

So, while perhaps not a completely successful movie, it's certainly one that I enjoyed.

Okay, it's snowing outside. Well, maybe it's stopped snowing, but it's cold and icy and there's snow all over the place and it's 35 freaking degrees out. I know it's mid December and all, but it's the desert. What's up with this shizzle?

Sources: Daisies, Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Canceled - E! Online

Sources: Daisies, Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Canceled - E! Online: "ABC has canceled Pushing Daisies, executive producer Bryan Fuller confirms to me exclusively.
According to our inside sources, Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Money have also been canceled. Reps for both shows have declined to comment.
Is the pie-maker dead? Will we ever see him again? Read on for the exclusive inside dish straight from the top...
Bryan Fuller tells me, '[ABC president] Steve McPherson called me, and said 'We gave it the best shot we could.' '"

Production Art from Boorman's 'Oz' - ComicMix news

Production Art from Boorman's 'Oz' - ComicMix news

Love the original Wizard of Oz books, so I'm looking forward to this movie. Hope it actually gets made.

MTV Movies Blog � EXCLUSIVE: Emma Thompson Chooses ‘Nanny McPhee’ Sequel Over Harry Potter

MTV Movies Blog � EXCLUSIVE: Emma Thompson Chooses ‘Nanny McPhee’ Sequel Over Harry Potter: "“The working title is ‘Nanny McPhee and The Big Bang’,” she revealed to us. “It’s not a sequel, actually, it’s a new story.”

The original film had Thompson’s wart-heavy governess employing magic to help a father tame his wild kids. “[The second film] is set one hundred years later; the only thing that is the same is Nanny McPhee,” she explained. “It’s about two families: A family of country children, and a family of town children, [both] during the war. So it’s about evacuees, and the father is away at war. So this time, the lone parent is the mother. That’s what it’s about: The big war, and a war between these two sets of extremely different children.”"

Is Pushing Daisies Really Dead? - E! Online

Is Pushing Daisies Really Dead? - E! Online: "Although yesterday was the final day of production on Daisies' episode 13 (I'm told it was an emotional day on set), ABC insiders tell me that the network is waiting on one crucial determining factor: how Daisies does when it returns this coming Wednesday after being preempted for two weeks (for Dancing With the Stars and the Country Music Awards).
'We do want to see how Daisies does in the postelection viewing environment, which we have not been able to see yet,' one ABC source tells me. 'The next week or two will be critical.'"

So if you've been thinking of checking out Pushing Daisies, it looks like now is the time to do it. There may not be too many more chances.

How excited am I?