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Pushing Daisies Fans: Would You Want a Movie?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:30:21 PST

The latest in TV-to-movie rumors is that Pushing Daisies might make it to the big screen - after, of course, the last episode finally airs this Summer. That last episode apparently won't resolve every plotline on the show, but according to Kristin Chenoweth, Bryan Fuller has an idea for a movie that would. Here's more:

"It would wrap up a lot of the unanswered questions that people will have once they finally air our final episodes," the singer-actress told TVGuide.com. . . If the movie goes ahead, Chenoweth says she's in - and she believes her Daisies castmates would be as well. "I'm sure that Bryan Fuller wouldn't do it without the six main characters," she said. "Paul Reubens was a big part of it - we have certain guest stars that are standouts that we'd want back. But he has such a great idea for it. . . We all want to."

Intriguing! What do you think of this? Could the vibrant, whimsical world of Pushing Daisies work on the big screen? Or should everyone just leave it to go off the air gracefully?

Heroes News: Bryan Fuller Talks "Fugitives," Sylar Gets a Dad

BuzzSugar — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 06:30:45 PST

Meet Sylar's daddy!
The latest rumblings about Heroes to come from Michael Ausiello's files have to do with a certain evildoer's father. Sylar's daddy will be played by John Glover, a.k.a. Lex Luthor's dad, Lionel, from Smallville. Ausiello's report includes this quote from an "insider:" "When Sylar meets his father, he's going to see a path ahead of him that he doesn't want to take. He has a lot more in common with his father than he realized."

Meanwhile, Bryan Fuller pipes up about his return to Heroes.
Having parted ways with Pushing Daisies, Bryan Fuller is coming back to work on Heroes. He recently opened up to Entertainment Weekly about this next "volume," "Fugitives," which starts February 2. He acknowledges that the series has gone a bit off-course and says the key to righting everything is to "put a face back on the drama. You have to save something with a face; otherwise you don’t understand what you’re caring about. . . We need to get back into a character place, because that's where this story started: Very clean, superhero metaphors to everyday life."

Frankly, that's. . . awesome.
Fuller's ideas and plans for the future are so comforting to see after the slightly rocky time the show has had recently. He gives a few more hints at what we can expect next year: "It really is a fresh start. All of the characters are back in their real lives. You see Peter as a paramedic. Claire is looking for colleges. We get away from the world of formulas and quasi-magic. . . People will die. And some will return. Matt's wife [Janice] comes back. We'll find out what happens when you have a superbaby. We're also going to tell fewer stories per episode."

Well I say, woo-hoo! Everything's coming up Heroes. Fans of the show, what do you think?

Source and Sylar photo courtesy of NBC

The Fate of Pushing Daisies Still Undetermined

BuzzSugar — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:30:09 PST

The facts are these: Pushing Daisies has not been canceled. But it hasn't been renewed, either.

Rumors are flying like mad, but as of right now, nobody knows the ultimate fate of the whimsical show - not even the people working on it. "Every day we're hearing that we're canceled and then we hear that we're not," executive producer Bryan Fuller told The LA Times. "It's all rumors. Nothing official at all. We are in radio-silence land."

The show wrapped up production on its original 13-episode order on Thursday, and it's not on a tentative but unconfirmed ABC Winter schedule that's making the rounds. No new episodes have been ordered, but ABC also hasn't said it won't order more. There's even one rumor going around that the show could stay off the air for the rest of the year but return to ABC's schedule next Fall.

So, for the moment, we Daisies fans are in limbo. But there are a couple of campaigns organizing to save the show. To find out about them, just

EW's Television Visionaries Talk Sci-Fi and Pies

BuzzSugar — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:30:36 PDT

Yesterday, I told you about the rowdy panel of filmmaking greats I attended at Comic-Con. Today, I've got some notes from the television "Visionaries" event, which brought together showrunners Josh Schwartz (Chuck and Gossip Girl), Josh Friedman (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (Lost), and Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies). Here are just a few of the highlights:

A running joke throughout the panel was teasing Josh Schwartz about Gossip Girl in any way possible. At one point, when the show came up in a question, he said he thought that mentioning it was "a little verboten at Comic-Con," which led the - considerable! - GG fans in the audience to make their presence known. Later, in response to a question about so-called "genre" shows getting lots of buzz over the past few years, Schwartz quipped: "Serena is now a cyborg."
On a related note, plenty of people (rightly) saw the Q&A portion of this panel as their best chance to ask questions of the Lost producers before the mad crush of the Lost-specific event the next day, prompting one panelist (I unfortunately couldn't see which one, as I was on the other side of the huge line) to point at the questioners and count them down, saying, "Lost, Lost, Lost, Piemaker, Piemaker, Lost . . . [mooney voice] Gossip Girl!"
Bryan Fuller is just a big bundle of cotton candy and flowers and goodness. Some various quotes summing up the sweetness: "I am a very sensitive soul. I couldn't do a series like CSI or Criminal Minds where you have to be in a negative headspace all the time. I just wanted to cram a show with as many things that make me smile as possible, like puppies and pie." And, later, "I think we need more awe."
Also, why is the piemaker not, say, a cake baker? "Cake is dry," Fuller said.

To find out which of these guys likes Project Runway, just

Pushing Daisies Delightfully Teases Season Two at Comic-Con

BuzzSugar — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:00:00 PDT

Daddy issues, daughter issues, mommy issues, half-brother issues - there's going to be a lot of family drama when Pushing Daisies returns in October, the show's cast and crew revealed over the weekend at Comic-Con. But fans of the whimsical series need not despair: If anything, the Daisies folks promised, the show is overall lighter and even more delightful this year.

Creator Bryan Fuller and executive producer Barry Sonnenfeld also revealed the first footage from season two - after a brief snafu in which the video for the pilot started playing instead, prompting the two to run out to the podium early to apologize - and teased what's going on in the land of Coeur d’Coeurs when we return Oct. 1. To hear about what's coming up (plus some other highlights and a ton of pictures from the panel), just

read more. First, some hints about season two:

There have been a few changes in the living arrangements: Chuck is moving out of Ned's place and into Olive's. Olive, meanwhile, will spend a few episodes at a nunnery for an as-yet-undisclosed reason. (I saw the nunnery set on my Pushing Daisies set tour at TCA, and it's truly spectacular! As soon as Warner Bros. posts its photos, I'll be writing more about that.)
The aunts will be getting out more this season, including a trip to the Pie Hole (which understandably creates a lot of problems for Ned) and to visit Olive nunnery. The season two footage showed some hilarious shots of Aunt Vivian with a new color-coordinated eye patch in the nunnery's official blue.
In case the very thought of Olive at a nunnery raises some Sound of Music thoughts in your mind, you're not alone: Olive does, in fact, sing in the first episode - and from the footage, it looks to be a classic "the hills are alive" moment.
Emerson's quest for his daughter will be a major plot point: Fuller said Emerson wants to publish a pop-up book called Lil' Gumshoe that would essentially deliver the directions for his daughter to find her way back to him.
Among the many new characters we'll be meeting: Emerson's mother, Ned's half-brothers, and Olive's new pet, a potbellied pig named Pigby. The show will also introduce Dwight Dixon, a man who has history with both Chuck's father and Ned's father. While they wouldn't name names, the producers said they're expecting some more stage actors and singers - Broadway friends of Kristin Chenoweth and Ellen Greene - to make an appearance.
Also, we'll get to meet Young Olive and Young Emerson! In general, Fuller said, the second season will really embrace the ensemble nature of the show.
There will be many new contraptions to enable Ned and Chuck to show some affection, including a device that will allow them to spoon! (Aww!)
A special note for Wonderfalls fans: Fuller wants to put some kind of Wonderfalls tie-in in the new season.

And now, some highlights from the panel itself:

First Chi McBride and then Kristin Chenoweth made their entrances by running past the front of the crowd, slapping hands. I was only a few rows back, but I could still just barely see Kristin's blonde head bobbing as she made her run.
I couldn't believe I hadn't heard this story before this weekend, so maybe it'll be new to some of you, too: Bryan Fuller explained that the origins of Pushing Daisies came from an idea he had for Dead Like Me if the show had gotten a third season. That show's main character, George, took people's souls when she touched them, so Fuller thought about introducing a romantic foil for George who could give people their souls back with a touch of his own.
One fan asked Fuller why, after Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me both had cynical main characters, he decided to have Chuck and Ned embody all that's good with the world instead of sarcasm and wisecracks. "We have Emerson Cod for that," Fuller said.
Another fan asked Kristin Chenoweth if she'd indulge the crowd with a little song - and she obliged with a lovely version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," to wild cheers and applause. I'll try to post the audio of her performance later on, but for now, just trust me: It was gorgeous. (Barry Sonnenfeld even pulled his own mini video camera out of his pocket to capture it.)
Speaking of singing, Fuller also said he'd like to do a full musical episode at some point. He said he figured out the musical element to the show only after ending up with a cast full of talented singers and said he didn't purposefully look for actors who could sing - but, lucky for us, he got them anyway.
Sonnenfeld still holds a joking grudge against Anna Friel for convincing one director that it would be fine to have Ned and Chuck playing a hand-slapping game in the background of some Pie Hole scenes. "It's basically Russian Roulette!" Lee Pace said.
Sonnenfeld was also getting a kick out of teasing Chenoweth about her popularity. "You all love Kristin," he said at one point. "She's like a perfect short person."

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TV Tonight: "Pushing Daisies"

BuzzSugar — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 08:30:00 PDT

Yes, I know this is my second "Pushing Daisies" post of the day - did you read my interview with Lee Pace yet? - but bear with me. After all, it's not every day that my favorite new show of the season makes its debut.

Besides, I've been waiting since July to find out what you guys make of "Pushing Daisies," ABC's "forensic fairytale" about a pie maker who can bring people back to life with a single touch. I adored the show's first episode; I also realize it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea. The show is thoroughly precious - I mean, they're calling the pilot episode a "Pie-lette," for heaven's sake - and I found the whimsy, the saturated landscape and the clever dialogue endearing. Others, though, might call those same things over-the-top and annoying. More than any other show this season, its success or failure could come down to a simple matter of taste.

Even if you're not sure "Pushing Daisies" will be for you, I urge you to check out tonight's first episode. It's gorgeous to look at, if nothing else, and Lee Pace and his co-star Anna Friel just might win your heart. To watch a preview,

Big Gay Controversy for "Heroes"

BuzzSugar — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 15:31:36 PDT

In Claire's story line on "Heroes," her friend Zach has faded into the background along with the rest of her old life in Texas. Zach's absence might have eventually happened regardless, but a tension-filled snafu between actor Thomas Dekker's manager and the writers of "Heroes" certainly sped up his departure from the story.

According to "Heroes" writer Bryan Fuller, Zach was originally supposed to be a gay character, but when Dekker's manager caught wind of this, she believed it would ruin Dekker's chances at an upcoming audition if he played a gay character on TV. To see what else Fuller had to say about the issue,

read more In the interview with Popgurls.com, Fuller continues:

We were definitely going down a route of making [Zach] the gay character and having him have a big role in [Claire's] life and sort of teaching her to come out about her ability and embrace herself and actually using the coming out metaphor and the gay metaphor in that instance as a fun piece of storytelling. I was very upset by it – I was not happy about it at all ... we didn't want to get hung up on the fact that one actor's management felt that it was a career killer for him to play a homosexual which, as a gay man, I found incredibly insulting. We had episodes planned for him to be in, and she pulled him from the show altogether. So that's why he sort of disappeared.

Since characters get killed off or otherwise pushed aside (ahem, Mrs. Bennet) on the show with some frequency, it didn't strike me as particularly weird that Zach had disappeared, but the behind-the-scenes truth proves pretty shocking. It's surprising that this kind of attitude still prevails in Hollywood when it seems like these are the roles managers would jump at to "really stretch" their actors. It's a shame that this one manager's hangups so negatively affected the "Heroes" team, but maybe this just opens up the opportunity to write in a new gay character ... with superpowers. Photo courtesy of NBC