ABC Cancels 'PUSHING DAISIES'

ABC made several midseason programming announcements, including the decision to not pick up "Pushing Daisies," for another full season. ABC also announced the end of "Dirty Sexy Money" and "Eli Stone".

The network has let the show producers know that no additional filming or hours will be needed at this time.

The network has left open the possibility that more episodes may be ordered in the future, but that is considered unlikely.

"Daisies" will remain on the schedule for next week, although shooting has finished.

"Pushing Daisies" is created by Bryan Fuller (Heroes, Wonderfalls) and Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black.) It is a critically acclaimed series with an unprecedented blend of romance, fantasy and mystery, Pushing Daisies, a forensic fairytale about Ned, a young man with a very special gift.

As a young boy Ned discovers that he can return the dead briefly to life with just one touch. But his random gift isn't without deadly consequences& as he soon finds out. He discovers the rules of his gift early: First touch - alive; second touch - dead again, forever; Keep something alive for more than a minute and something else has to die in its place.

Grown up Ned (Lee Pace) puts his talent to good use by touching dead fruit and making it ripe with everlasting flavor. He opens a pie shop. But his life as a pie maker gets more complicated when private investigator Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) discovers Ned's secret. Emerson convinces the cash-strapped Ned to help him solve murder cases (and collect a hefty reward fee) by raising the dead and getting them to name their killers.

Then Ned is handed the case that changes his life forever. His childhood sweetheart, Charlotte "Chuck" Charles (Anna Friel), is murdered on a cruise ship under strange circumstances. Her death brings him back to his hometown of Coeur d' Coeur to bring Chuck back to life, albeit briefly, and to solve the crime. But once reunited with Chuck, Ned can't bring himself to touch her again.

Chuck becomes the third partner in Ned and Emerson's PI enterprise, but she encourages them to use their skills for good, not just for profit. Ned is overjoyed to be reunited with Chuck, the only girl he's ever loved. Life would be perfect, except for one cruel twist: If Ned ever touches her again, she'll go back to being dead, this time for good.

This season Ned and Chuck's relationship begins to change as Chuck yearns for more independence and moves out of Ned's apartment - without Ned's support. Lovelorn waitress Olive Snook (Kristin Chenoweth) cracks under the pressure of keeping Aunt Lily's (Swoosie Kurtz) deep dark secret -- that Lily is Chuck's mother -- and runs off to a nunnery. Digby gets a new friend when Pigby, a hog with special talents, moves in. And the sudden appearance of mysterious Dwight Dixon (recurring guest star Stephen Root), supposedly an old friend of both Ned's and Chuck's father's, spells trouble for everyone.

Pushing Daisies was nominated for 12 Emmy Awards in its first season. Lee Pace, Anna Friel, Chi McBride, Ellen Greene, Swoosie Kurtz and Kristin Chenoweth star in the visually stunning series from Living Dead Guy Productions, The Jinks/Cohen Company, in association with Warner Bros. Television. Tony winner Jim Dale, reader of the Harry Potter series of audio books, is the narrator. In addition to Fuller and Sonnenfeld, Dan Jinks & Bruce Cohen (Academy Award winning producers of American Beauty) and Peter Ocko (Boston Legal) serve as executive producers.

Bryan Fuller, creator/executive producer

Writer and producer Bryan Fuller, who received a 2008 Emmy Award nomination for writing on Pushing Daisies, began his career as a writer for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and later went on to write and produce the series Star Trek: Voyager. In addition to Pushing Daisies, he created the critically acclaimed series Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls (with Todd Holland). He also served as writer and co-executive producer on the ratings hit Heroes. His other work includes The Amazing Screw-On Head, and he wrote (the teleplay) and was executive producer for the television film Carrie.

Barry Sonnenfeld, director/executive producer

Noted film director Barry Sonnenfeld had found commercial and artistic success with such films as The Addams Family, Addams Family Values, both Men in Black films, Get Shorty, Wild Wild West, Big Trouble and RV. He has produced or executive-produced the Coen Brothers' Lady Killers, Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events and Out of Sight. He won a 2008 DGA Award and was nominated for a 2008 Emmy Award for directing for his work on Pushing Daisies.

Sonnenfeld began his career as a cinematographer, collaborating with the Coen Brothers on their first feature film, Blood Simple, and continuing with Raising Arizona and Miller's Crossing. In addition he served as director of photography on Penny Marshall's Big, Danny DeVito's Throw Momma from the Train and two films for Rob Reiner, When Harry Met Sally and Misery. He has also directed Clio Award-winning commercials for Nike, Reebok and Isuzu. In television he has executive-produced Karen Sisco and 1998's Fantasy Island. He executive-produced and directed Maximum Bob, The Tick, as well as the ABC series Notes from the Underbelly.

For the last five years, Sonnenfeld has been a contributing editor for Esquire Magazine, where he writes his monthly column, The Digital Man. He lives in East Hampton, NY and Telluride, CO with his wife, Susan, and daughter Chloe.

Dan Jinks & Bruce Cohen, executive producers

Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen just produced Milk, directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Sean Penn as Harvey Milk. Milk will be released this fall by Focus Features.

The pair won the Best Picture Academy Award in 2000 for producing American Beauty, which won a total of five Oscars and was the first film produced through The Jinks/Cohen Company. Their second film was the sex comedy Down with Love, starring Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor. Next up was Big Fish, which was nominated as Best Picture for both the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs. Other films include The Forgotten, starring Julianne Moore, and John August's directing debut, The Nines, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hope Davis. On television, along with Pushing Daisies, they also served as executive producers on the series Traveler(ABC) and Side Order of Life (Lifetime).

Previously, Jinks produced Nothing to Lose, starring Martin Lawrence and Tim Robbins, and executive-produced The Bone Collector, starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie.

Cohen produced The Flintstones and the prequel, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, as well as Mousehunt. He executive-produced To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everthing, Julie Newmar! and co-produced Alive.

Peter Ocko, executive producer

Peter Ocko served as co-executive producer and writer on Boston Legal and as a consulting producer and writer on Dead Like Me. He also served as creator and executive producer of the CBS series 3LBS.

Other television writing credits include Dinosaurs, Parker Lewis Can't Lose and the TV version of Weird Science. In 1989 Ocko received the Writers Guild Award for the farcical news show, Not Necessarily the News.

A film student at Harvard University, he got his start in Hollywood as a production assistant at Gracie Films, James L. Brooks' production company. Ocko grew up in Boston, the son of a toy inventor, and currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Elizabeth, and their three sons.

 

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