No more 'Pushing Daisies'

Lee Pace plays a pie maker who can bring people back to life, if only for a moment, in the wonderful show Pushing Daisies. Photo from pushing-daisies.com

One of the most offbeat and interesting shows on television has been cancelled and I am steamed over it. On Entertainmentweekly.com yesterday I read that ABC decided to give the boot to Pushing Daisies. If you are not a watcher of this show I suggest you add Season 1 to your Netflix list, because it is worth a watch (even knowing that it won't go any further than Season 2).

This show is unlike any other show out there. It's quirky, has imaginative sets and costumes, well designed characters, fascinating plot lines and of course, the adorable Lee Pace. While I thought Season 2 came back a little off the mark of last season, this past week's episode was right back on track. I laughed so much at the perfectly inserted one-liners and found myself completely enthralled with the story once again.

So thanks a lot ABC for taking this Wednesday night highlight away.

Blah.

Blah is the sentiment I exude when it comes to describing the finale of America’s Next Top Model, Cycle 11. I have this feeling not because of the winner, but because of the actual final show. It was downright boring.

This is the first time I’ve watched the finale with other people and I was excited for the chance to talk about whom our favorite was and laugh at the bad commercials and runway walks. While we did all of this, I still felt like even our most sarcastic of comments still didn’t make the show exciting. In fact, I think the most entertaining aspects of the finale were the outfits and hairstyles of Tyra, Mr. J and the rest of the panel – and none of them are supposed to be the stars of the show (ok, well maybe Tyra, but none of the others). Her final panel outfit (including her hair) looked like she was auditioning for Coneheads 2: Connie Conehead makes America’s Next Top Model. But I guess the whole alien thing ties back to the first episode.

I do think that my biggest highlight on the episode was the fact that Mr. J designed a runway that looked more like you were walking 18 holes at the mini-golf funland. There were hills and stairs and barriers. The only thing missing was the windmill (and they were in Amsterdam, so it would have been appropriate). But as for the runway show itself, it was so rushed and choppy on the cuts that we really didn’t get a chance to see just how horrible Sam and McKey walked (and from what we did see, we knew both were pretty bad).

I was also saddened by the fact that Analeigh didn’t even make it to the final cut. My Sactown gal got the axe after her Cover Girl commercial fell flat, oh so very flat. The girl choked after having arguably the best Cover Girl commercial in ANTM’s history earlier in the season. I thought McKey’s face in her Cover Girl still was pretty, but her hair looked like she was wearing a helmet. Ick. Plus, that girl has some obnoxiously large ears that I cannot move past. During panels she tends to look a bit like a monkey to me. But as Tyra says, “pretty-pretty isn’t necessarily model-pretty.”

But I guess it goes without saying, congrats to McKey. We look forward to your horrible Cover Girl commercials when we tune into Cycle 12. And one last note, I am a slightly disappointed that someone who wears chain-mail vests was able to win ANTM.

Oh, and this just in, check out the FugGirls over at NY Mag. They were just as disappointed as I was.

According to the NYT, I should be unhappy

November 20, 2008
What Happy People Don’t Do
By RONI CARYN RABIN
Happy people spend a lot of time socializing, going to church and reading newspapers — but they don’t spend a lot of time watching television, a new study finds.

That’s what unhappy people do.

Although people who describe themselves as happy enjoy watching television, it turns out to be the single activity they engage in less often than unhappy people, said John Robinson, a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland and the author of the study, which appeared in the journal Social Indicators Research.

While most large studies on happiness have focused on the demographic characteristics of happy people — factors like age and marital status — Dr. Robinson and his colleagues tried to identify what activities happy people engage in. The study relied primarily on the responses of 45,000 Americans collected over 35 years by the University of Chicago’s General Social Survey, and on published “time diary” studies recording the daily activities of participants.

“We looked at 8 to 10 activities that happy people engage in, and for each one, the people who did the activities more — visiting others, going to church, all those things — were more happy,” Dr. Robinson said. “TV was the one activity that showed a negative relationship. Unhappy people did it more, and happy people did it less.”

But the researchers could not tell whether unhappy people watch more television or whether being glued to the set is what makes people unhappy. “I don’t know that turning off the TV will make you more happy,” Dr. Robinson said.

Still, he said, the data show that people who spend the most time watching television are least happy in the long run.

Since the major predictor of how much time is spent watching television is whether someone works or not, Dr. Robinson added, it’s possible that rising unemployment will lead to more TV time.

Ellen's Game Week, Take 2

After winning $2,000 worth of electronics from Ellen, my friend Michelle was invited back to the show to participate for a grand prize package of an 8-day private African safari. Since I was already going to be up in L.A., Michelle invited me to be her guest on the show. I don't know who was more excited -- Michelle playing for the safari or me getting to go to Ellen, finally! Here's how the afternoon went.

Michelle and I arrived at the show and were VIP guests. We're ballers.

During Ellen's monologue she called down four contestants to play "Grab My Banana," which would narrow the playing field down to two for the final game.

Each of the girls was given a puzzle to put together, the first two to put it together properly and grab a banana from the podium were in the final.

Michelle's puzzle was a baboon, and while she had a little trouble putting it together, she managed to finish (even though the poor baboon was sideways) and grabbed the second banana.

After "Grab My Banana" Ellen did her usual dance through the crowd. I got caught dancing my tall white girl moves. Eeek. They sat me next to the shortest people in the whole audience!

After Ellen danced around the crowd Michelle and I (plus our neighbor in front of us) got close-ups. My 1.5 seconds of fame. I wonder what kind of Hollywood role I can land with this clip.

For the rest of the show, Cole Hamels (World Series MVP) came and dunked a producer to earn money for Sara Lee's "Feeding America;" Marcia Cross (who is SUPER skinny BTW) was embarrassed by an old clip Ellen dug up for naughty November; Kym Douglas brought beauty tricks for cheap (although putting your feet in Jell-O to take away the stink doesn't seem very cheap or practical); and the sexy John Legend serenaded the audience (and gave everyone in the audience his new CD).

But most importantly, Michelle got to play the grand-prize game, "Safari So Goodie." Want to know if she won? Check out this link to see my girl in action. It gets crazy!

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/2008/11/game_week_concludes_with_safar.php