How long before you let me go...
Well, it's official, Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, and Dirty Sexy Money have been nixed by ABC. And not even Ned the pie maker can do anything to revive them. While DSM's cancellation has no effect on me having never watched it before, I am saddened by the death sentences dished out to Daisies and Eli. I love both those shows immensely.
However, unlike most cancellations, Daisies and Eli will be allowed to play out through the 13 episodes that are currently in the can or, at the very least, scripted for production. No new episodes will be ordered.
My question to all of you is whether you will, if you watch any of these shows, continue to watch them through to the end. Before you curse me as nutso or not a real fan, hear me out.
There are two sides to this debate.
On the one side, there are those that will want to watch the shows through to the end. Give them their due. Celebrate their very existence while we still can.
But on the flip side of the coin, there is a very strong probability that there is no way in the name of all that is holy that we, as fans, can ever be happy with how the shows end. That, given the knowledge that the shows are ending and that, at least in the case of Daisies creator Bryan Fuller, there are new projects to worry about (he's moving on to, *ack*, Heroes) and writers may not care about putting their all into the swansong episodes of these dying series. A lot may be left unresolved and I'm scared about how disappointed I may feel by the wrap up and finale episodes.
So what's your take on it all?
Totally Unrelated Aside (TUA): Yes, we did see Twilight last night. We did not chicken out. We were not crowded out of seats. And we did not sell our tickets to overzealous tweeners.
Before you continue, there is a potential that some of what I write may constitute a spoiler. Read on at your own risk.
The movie wasn't bad, but was far from great. It was very compressed for sake of time and many scenes were either axed or combined with other scenes as a result. And they made some interesting decisions regarding some key moments in the book such as leaving out the blood testing scene and keeping Bella conscious during the final fight scene.
But our biggest concern was with the characters. Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen was better than either of us expected him to be; we really had our doubts early on. But Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan didn't sell us. And so many of the other characters were so peripheral that they almost didn't need to be there at all and that's sad because they were such strong characters in the book. I think this happened because the filmmakers wanted to focus too much on building the roles of the enemy vampires James (Cam Gigandet), Victoria (Rachelle Lefevre), and Laurent (Edi Gathegi) who never made an appearance in the book until the thunderball scene. In the movie, we got a lot more of them and, consequently it would seem, a lot less of everyone else.
There were a few characters whose casting I thought was pretty spot on considering my vision of them as I read the book. This includes Billy Burke as Bella's father Charlie, Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black, and Gil Birmingham as Billy Black. All were very good, but also very criminally underused.
The camera work was actually pretty decent and I like the soundtrack music that was used. And, thankfully, the tween girls, while numerous, were not as bad as I was expecting. Sure, they all turned into a bunch of slack-jawed Woo Girls (see the most recent episode of How I Met Your Mother for that reference) when Edward was on screen and the girl sitting in front of Katie began hyperventilating and had to leave the theater during the "shimmering."
In all, though, I'd give it three out of five stars and a willingness to watch it again. With fewer girls around.
I am so terribly upset about Daisies. God I love that show....
and yes, I will watch it until the end.
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Posted by: Nat | Saturday, 22 November 2008 at 05:30 PM
I'm going to see Twilight tomorrow with my daughter, sister and nieces. It will be my daughter's FOURTH time. I hope I like it more than I expect to ...
At the risk of sounding like a total freak, I've never seen a single episode of any of those three canceled shows.
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Posted by: SJ | Saturday, 22 November 2008 at 05:50 PM
I love Eli Stone. I am so sad that it's being canceled! Plus, then my cousin is out of a job (he works on that show).
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Posted by: sizzle | Saturday, 22 November 2008 at 06:19 PM
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! ABC is stupid!! I love Pushing Daises and Eli Stone. And for sure I'll be watching them to the very end. I wish a HBO or someone else could pick it up. At least this way either or both would continue.
Oh how sad.
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Posted by: Marie | Saturday, 22 November 2008 at 09:25 PM
Nat, that's cool. I just hope they don't let us down.
SJ, your daughter has an illness. Bad one. ;-)
sizzle, what does your cousin do on the show again?
Marie, it won't likely happen. Not with Fuller going to Heroes anyway. But he's talking about a Pushing Daisies comic book of all things. Weird.
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Posted by: kapgar | Saturday, 22 November 2008 at 10:21 PM
I'm in television mourning right now. Seriously, I can't even begin to tell you how disappointing I am. I've even gone so far as to wonder if I should just stop watching teevee...cause yanno, they take all the good stuff away and leave us with hours and hours and hours of Dancing with the Stars.
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Posted by: Hilly | Saturday, 22 November 2008 at 11:29 PM
I'm sad about Daisies.. it's rare to find something witty, yet naive looking like that on tv right now.. =(
Posted by: pocket queen | Saturday, 22 November 2008 at 11:39 PM
I will watch through the end though (that is, if I remember.. I usually just catch the weekend recap)
Posted by: pocket queen | Saturday, 22 November 2008 at 11:41 PM
See? What a backward TV country Dutchyland is? Shows are getting cancelled over there with you when they barely even started over here. Pushing Daisies only aired early this season and first episode of Eli Stone only aired y.e.s.t.e.r.d.a.y.!!!
Pffffffffffffffffffffffffttttttttttt!
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Posted by: DutchBitch | Sunday, 23 November 2008 at 03:33 AM
Hilly, don't give up entirely. My goal is to limit my big four network viewing as much as possible and commit to original cable programming. Lord knows there's enough of it!
pocket queen, and they always nix the quirky and well-done programs in favor of tripe. Sickens me.
DutchBitch, well, enjoy them while you can.
Posted by: kapgar | Sunday, 23 November 2008 at 03:30 PM
Bryan Fuller said that he has enough stories to tell with Ned that he's personally committed to doing something else to tell more stories, whether it's a movie, a comic, or something.
Regarding Twilight, I loved Kristen Stewart as Bella - I thought she was serious enough without being stupid klutzy. I also liked that her friends actually felt like people, not caricatures. And I loved the actresses who played Victoria and Alice. Rawr.
I was disappointed in the sunlight sparkly scene - I expected more, especially the way the book laid it out. I also wanted to see the scene where Bella cuts herself at the Cullen house and Jasper (Jasper? Jacob? Forgot his name) goes crazy.
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Posted by: Avitable | Sunday, 23 November 2008 at 04:43 PM
i loved the book, but the movie fell so far short for me. unlike you, i actually kind of liked the actress who played bella. she did brooding and klutzy and strong and confused. worked for me. problem was i didn't feel the chemistry between bella and edward the way i thought i would. the fact that they cut out her saying i love you for the first time made no sense. i don't know, it just didn't do it for me the way i wanted it to. my imagination is just too good, i suppose. when we first saw him sparkle in the sunlight, i was disappointed. didn't look like what it did in my head. regardless, i am already looking forward to seeing how the make new moon into a movie. :)
adam -
i thought the scene you refer to happened at the beginning of the second book?
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Posted by: hello haha narf | Sunday, 23 November 2008 at 07:02 PM
woops, sorry for the rambling comment
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Posted by: hello haha narf | Sunday, 23 November 2008 at 07:02 PM
Avitable, yeah, I heard he had more to tell and might take it elsewhere, as in another media. But I don't see it working. There's not enough demand, as proven by the ratings, for a movie to be greenlighted. And a comic book? I gave those up years ago and there are a lot of fans of the show that don't read comics. Sure, they'll be the ones missing out, but still. As for the Jasper scene, that was actually the very beginning of the second novel in the series and was the impetus for everything else that happens in that book.
hello haha narf, not that she was a bad actress in any way and I think she did brooding and klutzy very well. But she just wasn't what I envisioned. It's hard to describe what I imagined, though. And you are right about that scene of Adam's being in the second book. But he could also be remembering reading it at the end of the first book in the teaser chapters.
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Posted by: kapgar | Sunday, 23 November 2008 at 09:09 PM
I've never heard of any of those shows...which kind of makes me sad because it seems like I've missed my chance...but on the other hand somewhat explains why they're being canceled, not because I'm god or something, but rather because others may not have heard of them as well. (and consequently missed out as well?)
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Posted by: Jason | Monday, 24 November 2008 at 06:06 AM
I'll be honest, every show I watched that got canceled ended right away and didn't ever go on to finish out the season. I'm not sure how I'd feel about that. If I loved the show sure I'd love to see more episodes but they wouldn't feel the same. And I don't think they'd be able to wrap up the show to my satisfaction. Hmm, quite the dilemma you've posed there sir.
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Posted by: Kevin Spencer | Monday, 24 November 2008 at 11:17 AM
Jason, they received some pretty good hype, but if you're not paying attention to that sort of thing, then you'd miss it. And DVRs make it that much easier to miss it.
Kevin, I was hoping somebody would see it that way. It's a weird little conundrum, isn't it?
Posted by: kapgar | Monday, 24 November 2008 at 12:22 PM
I never got into those shows, but sad to see well-written TV shows being cancelled. My Own Worst Enemy also got the axe, only 9 original episodes created.
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Posted by: martymankins | Monday, 24 November 2008 at 01:19 PM
marty, yeah, I read that about Enemy. Sorry. I know you liked it.
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Posted by: kapgar | Tuesday, 25 November 2008 at 06:07 AM
I'm sad about Daisies and Eli and will watch to the end out of ... solidarity? hopes they get "uncancelled"? stick-to-it-ness? I'm watching the last season of ER even though it's painfully bad because I used to love that show and some part of me will be sad it's gone.
Posted by: Janer | Tuesday, 25 November 2008 at 11:28 AM
Janer, I like "stick-to-it-ness," that's a keeper. As for ER, I actually watched the Anthony Edwards episode a couple weeks ago. It was painful and slow, but it was good to see Mark Greene again.
Posted by: kapgar | Tuesday, 25 November 2008 at 11:37 AM
Sounds like we'll have two more hours a week of stupid reality shows! Hooray... Gross. I'm going to miss my Eli Stone and Pushing Daisies. Best show's they've got!
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Posted by: Justin Scott | Saturday, 29 November 2008 at 07:37 PM
Amen, Justin!
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Posted by: kapgar | Sunday, 30 November 2008 at 01:16 PM