A sigh of the heavy variety:

ABC has canceled Pushing Daisies, executive producer Bryan Fuller confirms to me exclusively.

...

Bryan Fuller tells me, "[ABC president] Steve McPherson called me, and said 'We gave it the best shot we could.' "

According to Fuller, the facts are these: "It's very likely that Pushing Daisies will end after episode 13, which as you know, is a cliffhanger. But we are talking to DC Comics about doing comic books that will wrap up our storylines, and I already have a pitch for a movie ready to go.

"To be honest, I'm really not feeling very boo hoo about it. I am so proud of the show. We put together 22 really good episodes, and there is a lot to be proud of. I'm sure I'll be working with a lot of these people again, and I would love to do so."

As reported by the Hollywood Reporter and E! News earlier today, the ratings for last night's "Oh, Oh, Oh, It's Magic" episode were the series' worst ever numbers in the key 18-49 demographic.

There's a part of me in denial -- the part that clings to the fact that Fuller only said the show is "very likely" at an end -- that would like to point out that not getting a full season pickup this year doesn't necessarily mean it couldn't return next fall, but it's being shouted down by the weathered-by-many-a-cancellation part that sees those ratings and knows that this show was doomed by its originality from the start anyway. ABC will inevitably blame the interruption caused by the writers' strike for killing three of their sophomore dramas (Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Money are also getting the boot, apparently), and doubtlessly, it did provide them with a unique challenge. But I can't help but think that their promotions department easily could have done better by them than they did.

Anyway, I'm glad that we might get some closure plot-wise, but right now I'm having trouble getting past the suckage of the situation. I miss all of those wonderful characters already. Damn.

If anyone still cares: thoughts about Emmy nominations!

( Blah blah, bitch complain, rinse repeat... )

As the year winds down, here are ten things that made my 2007 a pretty damn good one, in no particular order.

Harry Potter
Enough said (and said, and said), really. No other entertainment provided me with as many hours of pure geeky glee. If we didn't still have two more movies to look forward to, I'd be embarrassingly sad. J.K. Rowling deserves all the praise she's getting on so many year-end roundups.

Pushing Daisies
I was skeptical, I really was. I expected to be killed by an overdose of precious by the end of the pilot. And while I still wince when Kristin Chenoweth opens her mouth to sing, I'm otherwise entirely delighted. The aunts rule. Anna Friel and Lee Pace are adorable. And if Chi McBride -- whose arrival on the screen now makes me laugh before he even says a word -- isn't nominated for an Emmy, I may scream.

Once
Again, I was wary of the hype, particularly since it grew out of the increasingly slick Sundance festival. Cut to me sitting in the theater, eyes streaming with tears as I watched the two characters make music together for the first time, more than sold. It was the most transcendent scene in any movie I saw this year. Deceptively simple, totally swoonworthy.

This American Life
I'd listened to TAR for years, but my interest had waned a bit. But then I saw the show live, the risky TV show ended up being really good, and one of the new episodes even had a segment that somehow managed to make me like both my least favorite correspondent and freakin' Phil Collins. Sorry I doubted you there for a minute, Ira.

Radio Lab
Another reason for the TAR love: it introduced me to this show, possibly the least dry, most addicting science program ever. I downloaded the episode with the borrowed story, got so sucked in by it that I nearly missed my stop on the train, and came home and swiftly acquired the entire run. It's like nothing I've heard on the radio before, and I can't wait for season four.

The Office
They got off to a bit of a shaky start this season, but even the relatively problematic episodes are still a joy. I still can't get through the ends of "Business School" or "The Job" without getting choked up. The strike hasn't gotten too painful for me yet, but I do feel a twinge every time an Office-less Thursday goes by.

Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time
I checked this book out of the library pretty early in the year, and I'd sort of forgot about how much I loved it until I saw the newly-released paperback while Christmas shopping and was seized by the desire to pick it up for myself. I resisted out of thrift, but if you like good, personal music writing, you shouldn't.

Spring Awakening
Broadway has gotten so expensive that I choose my shows wisely these days, using the Tonys as a kind of live shopping guide. Totally impressed, I puchased tickets the night this won Best Musical, and it turned out to be money very well spent. I'm so glad I got to see the recently-departed John Gallagher Jr.'s brilliant, heartbreaking Moritz. Best theatrical experience I've had in ages.

Amy Winehouse
It's been a long time since I heard a voice that made me go out and buy a record without knowing anything much about the artist, but that's what I decided to do about three seconds into her introductory clip on an old episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Back to Black is the rare record that's good all the way through. Let's just hope she sticks around to make more music.

Movie comedies
This was the year I laughed my ass off at the movies. I saw four really outstanding, smart comedies: Hot Fuzz, Knocked Up, Superbad, and Juno. That 50% of those starred Michael Cera is not a coincidence, I think. He's got that blend of hilarity and sweetness that typifies what makes all of those titles feel so new and exciting.

So! New fall prime time schedule! Which, for me, looks like this:

Monday:

8:00-8:30, The CW -- Everybody Hates Chris (premieres 10/1)

9:00-10:00, NBC -- Heroes (9/24)

All the good buzz about Chuck made me seriously consider giving up Chris. But then I watched the pilot. I mean, I suppose it was amusing enough, but now I know for sure that I'm worn out on the underachieving geeky guy and successful hot girl thing. After the second series of shots of her in her underwear, I was pretty much done. Tichina Arnold alone is funnier than that entire hour, and she gets to leave her clothes on.

I might stay tuned to check out Aliens in America at 8:30, which has going for it both surprisingly good word of mouth and Scott Patterson. I think I miss you most of all, Luke.

I never got on the Heroes train last season; all of the hype had me sick of it before it ever even started. I regretted that as soon as they added Christopher Eccleston to the cast, and even moreso after the squee began to rise, nearly universally, from my flist. But by then, I was already too far behind, so I just waited for the DVD set to come out. ( Yeah, we devoured the whole thing over like, three days. )


Tuesday:

For the first time since I started watching first run Buffy back in 2001, I'm watching absolutely nothing. That's going to be weird. I guess I could give Reaper a try, but...eh.


Wednesday:

8:00-9:00, ABC -- Pushing Daisies (10/3)

9:00-10:00, NBC -- Bionic Woman (9/26)

Pushing Daisies is a maybe. I'm one of the few people who never really liked Wonderfalls -- the other Bryan Fuller show it keeps getting compared to -- and not for lack of trying. Hearing the word "twee" used over and over again to describe it isn't inspiring confidence, either. But I also keep hearing that it's the best new show of the fall, and, well, as I was just saying, ignoring that in the past has led me to miss out.

I admit I had high expectations for Bionic Woman, given that so much of the creative talent of Battlestar Galactica is behind it. ( Were they just too high, or does the pilot really suck as much as I think it does? )


Thursday:

9:00-9:30, NBC -- The Office (9/27)

10:00-11:00, Bravo -- Tim Gunn's Guide to Style

I was doing okay waiting for The Office to come back until I rewatched season three. Come oooooon next week!

30 Rock is a possible here. I watched a handful of episodes last year and just didn't connect with it like I was hoping to, but I'm about to give the first season another try on DVD. We'll see if it sticks this time.

I'm not nuts about this new Tim Gunn show, but it's helping to tide me over until Project Runway returns in November, which is all I ask of it.


Friday:

9:00-10:00, NBC -- Friday Night Lights (10/5)

It doesn't make me as flaily as it does others, but it's a darn good drama that made for quite the enjoyable DVD marathon. Hell, I'd watch this show even if it were just about the ironically-named Landry, but we get Tami and Coach and Matt and Matt's grandma and Tyra and Smash and Smash's mom and like twelve other people I like, too! I love that it's photographed better than most movies. I love the little stuff that gives me a twist in the gut, like ( these teensy spoilers ). Plus, it's just plain nice to see characters drink and have sex and just generally act like real live people minus the punitive "moralistic" plot twists straight out of after school specials, you know? Let's just hope it beats the odds and makes it all the way through its second season.


Sunday:

9:00-9:30, Fox -- Family Guy (9/23)

Hey, it makes me laugh out loud at least once an episode. Don't you judge me!

Additionally, providing my two teams don't go down the drain like they seem to be trying to, I'll also be squeezing in post-season baseball. And me and my computer, we have some happy Friday nights ahead of us that I hope will soon expand to Fridays and Wednesdays, too. Plus, there's The War, because nothing says fun like fifteen hours of death and destruction. But I think Ken Burns could make a riveting documentary series about anything, so I'll be there.