Oct 30 2008
Save PUSHING DAISIES…Let’s Do This!!
PUSHING DAISIES ratings were up last night. About a million more people watched this week than in previous weeks. That’s good. Hopefully every single new person who watched last night will watch again next week. But it’s time to face the hard truth - the numbers weren’t good enough considering the other three major networks were all airing the same Barack Obama campaign’omercial.It’s time to do more.
KDS posted a rather ass kicking column on what we, PUSHING DAISIES fans, need to do to help save the show. I hope that she won’t mind us reprinting it here to share with all of you. (Just remember to visit her site too…like you need a reminder)
The facts are these:
Pushing Daisies needs your help.
Production on episode 13 of season two begins Monday, and that is the last episode currently ordered by ABC for this series. So far the Alphabet network has given no indication to producers that a full-season pickup is coming.
Yes, the Emmy-winning fairy tale could very well end in just a few weeks, and if that were the case, no one who loves good TV would live happily ever after.
Is the situation really as dire as it seems? And can anything be done to save Ned the Pie Maker and friends?
TV fans of the world, in this time of ongoing international turmoil, economic collapse and environmental wackiness, it is important that we come together to save the last best hope of miraculous broadcast television: Pushing Daisies.
TV was once a vast wasteland, but through ingenuity and small-screen spirit it has been turned into a flourishing paradise of awesome. However, if we begin to let go of revelations like Pushing Daisies on ABC, there is a very real threat to quality television as we know it. The wasteland may creep back and overtake all that is gracious and good in our living rooms every night. Join the fight against the scourge of bad TV, won’t you?
THE SITUATION
ABC has only picked up 13 episodes for the current second season, and show runner Bryan Fuller confirms to me that so far, his team has not received word of a pickup by ABC for a full season.
Despite widespread critical acclaim and fan adoration, ratings for season two are down, and Daisies is deep into the “Cancel” zone of TVbytheNumbers’ Renew-Cancel Index (which predicts the TV futures market based on a show’s 18-49 ratings as a proportion of its network’s 18-49 average). If you wanted to freak out now, that would be OK.
THE PLAN
So what can we, the fans, do to show our support and convince the powers that be at ABC to keep Daisies on the air?
- SIGN UP: Sign the Save Daises online petition.
- TUNE IN: Tonight, watch the show. Live. In your house. Look for the glowing box that receives pictures via bunny ears, a satellite or a coaxial cable coming out of the wall. (Everything else on TV at that time? Obama, Obama and then more Obama. So there’s no downside for you—you won’t miss any other show—and the upside is that the show’s prospects might perk up!) For that matter, email five of your friends right now and tell them to watch, especially if you happen to know anyone who has one of those magical Nielsen boxes.
- TURN ON: Go to ABC.com and play old episodes. If you have some spare change, download a few from iTunes. If Daisies brings in enough digital dime, that revenue might offset the on-air losses.
- REACH OUT: Contact ABC online or use the quaint ol’ post office to send a letter explaining, in your own passionate but polite words, why and how Daisies is the birdhouse in your soul. The address for ABC is 500 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521-4551.
- PUSH THOSE DAISIES: There are 23,000 species in the daisy family of flowers, including marigolds, coneflowers, sunflowers, chamomile, chrysanthemums, dahlias and zinnias. Send a bunch of your faves to ABC, or better yet, send flower seeds. They’re light and therefore cheap to ship. Seeds last for years and won’t go bad or go to waste, and they could be planted to grow into something beautiful in the spring. Don’t forget to include a note explaining that this is for the love of Daisies!
THE CHANCES
What are the chances of saving Daisies? I don’t know what ABC programming execs are thinking right now, but I do know that I wouldn’t be much of a Bryan Fuller fan if I didn’t believe in miracles and magic.
Yes, this is show business and not show friends.
Yes, multinational corporations tend to favor fat profits over creative indulgences.
And yes, the economy is the tank, so if this world ran on logic alone, ABC would surely chop up Daisies and sell the parts for scrap.
But there is more to life than filthy lucre. I have to believe that the people at Disney-ABC understand the power of enchantment, and that if magic were easy, everyone would do it. The cast and creators of Daisies are making magic and shutting them down would be a travesty at a time when we need all the hope and happiness we can get. Something as unique, beautiful and truly special as Pushing Daisies deserves a second chance.
—————————————-
Well said, Kristin…well said.
So get up off your pie holes and start writing ABC, sign a petition, skip work and school and watch PUSHING DAISIES 24/7 on ABC.com, and send some damn flower seeds. It’s not a lot to ask to help save the show.
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Can anyone help. I HAVE A QUESTION. If i dont have that nielsen meter thingy installed on my tv set (at home), i wont contribute to the nielsen ratings? if thats true, nielsen ratings is not accurate at all. Its sad that networks base their decisions about canceling or picking up a show with ratings $$$ instead of the quality of a show.
does anybody know if abc is considering moving PD to a different timeslot?
i know PD is costly to produce. maybe ill ask my friend bill gates to help..
I think everyone who watches PD should get at least one friend to watch it.That would help, Watching the show when it airs is the only thing that will save it!
HI, i’ve been a lurker for a while (love the website by the way!) and i just had to say how fustrated i am with all this. I’m from england and therefore am having to watch online and i can’t bear the thought of PD getting cancelled!! i have been trying to get people over here interested but because it’s broadcast on a rubbish channel at a bad time as well as episode 2 not being shown (football is more important apparently) it’s a shame that i can’t contribute to the US ratings
SAVE PD!!!
Is anyone else getting a 404 when they click the petition? I am and it kind of worries me.
Also, I FINALLY reined in some friends into watching it last week, and one of them said he’d watch it again (though he didn’t like the colorfulness xD)
Also, to answer your question Robes, yes you do need a Neilsen meter thing to contribute to their ratings system. And the worst part is, you can’t just call up and get one, because “it’s all very scientific” where they put the things…so I’m told (my dad used to work in TV and I asked him xD).
Nielsen is ridiculous. It doesn’t seem accurate at all, because absolutely nobody I know has one. And from all the PD stuff I’ve read online, fans don’t know anybody or have one themselves either.
Has anybody heard of the daisy-sending campaign? There’s a Save Pushing Daisies website somewhere, and this guy is accepting donations to send bunches of daisies of ABC. Hope it’s legit. Is anybody doing that?
Hi everyone - I have loved this show from day one and I am incredibly sadden by the news that it is on the bubble. My favorite show last year was CBS’ “Moonlight” (which incidentally, was a WB show and they shared sets with PD), and I’m not sure if any of you are familiar with the efforts of ML fans in fighting to save their show this past summer, but it was to no avail. I’m sorry for being such a Debbie Downer, but ML was the first show that I felt compelled to do anything to save it. Fans were writing letters, buying trade ads, and downloading all the eps on Amazon and iTunes, but CBS didn’t care. It was emotionally exhausting. At the end of the day, it’s a business for TPTB.
The ratings system is completely out of date and needs to be changed. How many of you know an actual Nielsen family? And, with the rising use of Tivo (and other like systems) and downloading, the networks really need to reconsider their reliance of Nielsen.
I think what PD has going for it is that it is a critical favorite. The writing is just incredibly strong and snappy. I love all the double-entendres, and find that I’m always discovering something new in re-watching the episodes.
I find many of the shows currently on ABC currently excruciatingly bad. I used to watch Grey’s, Ugly Betty, Lost, and Private Practice, but find that these shows have gone downhill over the years. PD is a refreshing change, and something that is totally unlike anything else on network TV right now.
In any case, I’ve purchased the DVDs and plan on giving them to friends and family for the holidays. I’ve also downloaded the episodes off of iTunes, and rewatch each episode constantly. I was told that in order for your Tivo rating to count, you must watch the entire episode, commercials included. If you fast-forward through them, it does not count. I would also recommend that we watch the show on ABC.com.
I really hope that TPTB over at ABC realize what a wonderful, heartfelt show that they have on hand. I hope that they give this quirky show a fighting chance.
The problem with the Moonlight campaign was that it happened after the axe had fallen–that, and CBS was burned when it gave in to fan pressure to resurrect Jericho and the returning episodes tanked in the ratings. Fool me once, you know. Moonlight didn’t stand a chance because of those two things.
ABC is not trigger-happy CBS. We are talking about the network that is giving Scrubs a chance to finish properly after NBC kicked it to the curb.
Another MAJOR difference from the Moonlight campaign is that ABC has not cancelled the show yet. This is a proactive, not a reactive campaign, and as such, I think it has more chance of succeeding.
We didn’t just wait and watch and assume everything was going to be OK. I hope ABC sees that for what it’s worth.
So true! ABC, whatever its share of crappy shows (Dancing with the Stars, etc.) IS giving Scrubs a last season–I forgot about that! You would think that kind of network would appreciate “quirky”, offbeat, original shows with loyal fanbases.
I’m trying to be optimistic. For myself, I think I’ve done pretty much everything TO do: I’ve written letters to ABC both online and in paper, signed a couple of petitions, even written letters to EW asking them to feature PD in the magazine sometime. What more is there to do? I feel pretty restless about it…
Glad to see the ratings were up 14%. That is a good start. I just think that ABC needs to have realistic expectations about this kind of show. It is brilliant and smart , so therefore it will not have a mass market(insert ALL reality garbage and the like) , so If they take this into account and let the show gain a strong cult following(high dvd sales and itune sales) , then I think the show can go on.
Also what would help is if they used there sister network ABC family , to air some back episodes or rerun the previous episode from that week a few times. The more people are exposed to the show the better. It would have a snow ball effect.
My main gripe with ABC is that it seems as if they are not really giving the show the best chance possible to succeed. ABC should be promoting the show HEAVILY and considering every option to allow the show to succeed. I honestly hope that ABC is seriously considering moving the show to Sundays at 8 pm. I don’t know if they will, but I’d like to see it done.
It would help if this show could win some awards (like for best actor/actress or show). Unfortunately, I don’t know how PD could a best comedy or best drama award since it is a blend of those two categories. It is probably not enough of a “drama” or a “comedy” to win in those categories. PD truly is a unique show that can’t be “pinned” down by the two dominant genres.
IF ABC is going to cancel PD, I hope that they at least give Fuller a full season to complete the storyline.
If PD is cancelled, I will cry so hard it won’t even be funny. Can someone please tell me why Private Practice has already been ordered for a full season, but not Pushing Daisies?! Not that PP is really a bad show, but PD is so much better! So many other shows have similar plots, characters, and storylines, but PD is so completely different than anything TV has seen before. If its cancelled now, we’ll probably never see anything like it again. Please don’t let it get cancelled!
I’ve signed a petition, have asked for Season 1 for my birthday (just a few days from now!) and have watched some episodes online, although their episode player can be irritating to use. I’ll try to write a letter to ABC if I can.
We can complain about the rating system or advertising or whatever, but when it comes down to it, complaining won’t help save Pushing Daisies. After it’s been saved, we can focus our efforts on that, so that PD and other underdog shows have a chance, but for now, we have to worry about PD first, and fairness later.
So far in my search online, I have come across a Save Pushing Daisies Facebook group that currently has 3,500 members and lots of other fan sites that are doing similar things as The Pie Maker. Hopefully these efforts will be enough to save our show.
I signed the petition!!!!
Who should we address our letters to ABC to? Just ABC studios, or is there a particular office we should direct them to?
I just wrote to ABC’s main address. Hope it’ll get into the right hands from there.
http://sites.google.com/site/helpbeeshelpdaisies/Home
I think this is a really great idea. And possibly worthy of a mention on thepiemaker?
From what I’ve read from the Nielsen site, if you are a Nielsen family, you’re not allowed to say you are.
“Why haven’t I ever met a “Nielsen family”?
Actually, you may have. Over the years, we’ve had hundreds of thousands of “Nielsen families,” including diary and metered households. We ask our households not to reveal they are in the Nielsen Media Research panel. This protects their privacy and helps ensure the integrity of the sample. In the few cases where homes have revealed their status as a Nielsen home, we removed them from the metered panels or disregarded their diaries.”
http://is.gd/5woW
What I’m worried about is Wednesday, when DWTS is on (why ABC thinks C-list celebrities are more important than PD I will never, ever understand). Viewership for DWTS this season has pretty high I think (well then again it always has), but I’m doubting that we can get DWTS viewership for Wed. lower than what it normally is for PD on Wednesdays. I’m still hoping something can be done to save PD before it gets the boot!
For those who keep getting an error with the petition link in the post, try this:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/daisies/petition.html
I’ve signed it!
And, I forgot to say this in my other post:
I was looking at the ratings for PD on Wikipedia (okay, maybe not the best source), and I noticed that the episode “Bitter Sweets” jumped to 10.18 million when it aired in the 9 PM timeslot after “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, as compared to the previous week’s episode, which had only 7.52 million when it aired in the 8 PM timeslot. I’m probably no TV exec and maybe I’m forgetting something, but couldn’t ABC just switch Private Practice to 8pm (though I’m not sure if PP is the most family friendly programming that hour) and PD to 9pm?
(LINK: http://is.gd/5wuA)
I can’t believe that ABC hasn’t considered this a “no-brainer!” I mean, after all, Pushing Daisies is the most innovative and creative shows to hit tv since…well, I don’t know when!!! Maybe they need to try a new marketing campaign? Most people I know watch the show, however, the few that don’t currently watch were immediately intrigued when I explained the storyline.
PLUS!
I am a professional actor (musical theatre) and most of my friends TiVO or DVR this show. Not to mention the countless others that catch missed episodes on ABC.com. Is Nielsen catching these numbers…!?! No. So why potentially axe a show like Pushing Daisies when you don’t have the concrete numbers to support it?
…and axe a critical AND CULT FAN FAVORITE!? I swear to God, being an actor, I’m more supportive of the industry big-wigs than I should be, but come on now - cancel this and it will be a complete travesty! Private Practice was renewed but NO PUSHING DAISIES!? Are you kidding me!?
I’m writing a letter tomorrow.
More bad news. I got my Sunday paper and checked the TV guide in it and they’re not airing PD this week. In fact, according to TV.com the next episode won’t air until 11/19. Isn’t November traditionally sweeps time? I really wish this show would get picked up by a non-network channel like USA or whatever where shows are given more opportunity to grow. Hell, Battlestar Galactica has never gotten decent ratings but has tons of critical acclaim and has lived for 4 seasons.
I signed the petition. I wish I could do more for the show. But I do not reside in U.S. I cant open the ABC videos…
How will the show not airing until 11/19 affect it?? Crap. We need to save this show!!!! I’m starting my letters today!!!
According to TVguide.com, Samantha Who? has been picked up for the rest of the season (which is fine with me, I like that show) along with a few other ABC shows. They mention Kim & Kath (or whatever) and Knight Rider (UGH!). But there’s no mention of Pushing Daisies!
There was some talk over the weekend of Fuller being asked by ABC to rewrite some of episode 13 so that it could serve as a series finale “if needed.” Generally, when that happens, the “if needed” comes to pass (pretty much 100% of the time). It’s also been said that it is very possible that the rest of the episodes may not air and that ABC may pull the two November episodes and push things into December/January if they do decide to air the rest of the episodes.
Should we be a bit realistic and change our focus to asking ABC to air the remaining episodes in prominent places–or even to make sure they air them at all–before we pester them about the back 9, which are looking more and more unlikely?
Right now, my heart can’t take any more and the most I can hope for is that the remaining episodes will air–hopefully not as “burn-offs,” but in the two weeks of November sweeps and in “regular” places.
You have to work gradually, and right now, since it seems that the remaining produced episodes may not even air, our focus should shift to at least making sure that happens, and then think about loftier goals.
Some websites are ridiculing Kristin for her article as well as her spin on the “season finale” rumors. Matt Roush at TV Guide said today that right now the most he hopes for is for the remaining eight episodes to air.
I don’t know, but I’m getting a bit weary and jaded and I don’t want to become like the Moonlight fans. Sorry to be a downer, but if ABC is bothered too much with back-9 clamoring, they may not even air what’s been made. I suggest that we show ABC a little deference and set a goal that–right now–is realistic. Ask them to air the remaining episodes in a normal, non-burn-off fashion. And nothing else for now. The future is not set in stone, but our hopes must be within reason…
How can anyone not love this show? Really, I don’t understand how such a sweet, funny, beautiful show can get cancelled.
You all probably know about this, but just in case:
All this week (Nov 3-7 & longer if you like) PD fans are encouraged to send letters & daisies & seeds & whatnot- it’s kinda fun…I made some pen & ink stationary with daisies and bees all over it. =D
I didn’t know about the Neilson thing…that’s not fair. But if everyone does what they can & remains optimistic, hopefully ABC and more viewers will realize what a trully awesome show this is!
Kelly, I think they’ll air the rest of the episodes. If they’re already made, ABC would only be losing money. They’ve already paid for the episodes to be produced.
Also, if they see how many people want the back 9, even if they don’t intend to order them, they’ll still see the people who want the rest of the season. It’s sort of self-explanitory if you ask me.
Hey, why doesnt my TV say Pushing Daisies for wednesday??? It better be on!
you know something? I love pushing daisies and if it ends I think I would go crazy and, son then, my family as well, I NEED this show!!! but I’m not from the U.S. so… please, make the singing page to be able all around the world, beacause, like me, people in other countries would die if PD goes to nowhere!!! please we also want to save this show!!! and if abc’s page opened the online viewers to be world wide it’ll help a lot too this can’t and won’t be it!!! I refuse!!!
i’ve alredy sing and Ive told many, many of my friends to do it to, hope it’ll help :S
I agree that the more we pester the more we are hurting ourselves thing…but honestly I don’t know what to do at this point.
Too bad that Maurice and Ralston can’t work their magic on the ratings huh? But jokes aside, I think we have to deal with reality. Just like you guys I don’t want to give up hope, but it looks like hope’s given up on us.
With the way things are now, I wouldn’t bet a nickle on the back nine. Then again in every gamble there’s always an outcome you can’t see coming….
Number twenty-three thousand-something…! That’s me! It’s all too sweet to let go. *U_U*
According to Kristin’s latest Daisies article, ABC may not make any decisions about the series until after the election, because they want to see how viewing habits change once the election is over. Hopefully, that is what caused the drops in the ratings (and I think that is fairly likely), and we’ll get many viewers back, and they’ll save our show.
In the meantime, we should all keep writing to ABC and what not. They need to see how much this show means to us!
there’s no episode until Nov 19th
http://www.youtube.com/ThePushingDaisiesTV
im from asia and i love this show…season 1 is still on air here and i made this channel on youtube and people are sending me mails that they want to watch PD season 2 coz of my channel they missed the season 1 first few ep.
well hope you guys can help me out promoting my channel…
it gives urge to the people to watch it..so yeah lets save pushing daisies alright!!!
tot he owner of this site mail me if you want to collaborate on my youtubechannel…it’ll be my pleasure
thepushingdasiestv@yahoo.com
http://www.youtube.com/ThePushingDaisiesTV
IF YOU LOVE THE SHOW ADD/SUPPORT MY CHANNEL
thanks….tell all your friends to add my
new channel and let your friends tell all
their friends to add my channel….
you know the drill…
xo’s
k.
Hey fellow Daisies fans!
It’s great to see you all so passionate about this show! Unfortunately, passion will only save it if we are proactive about doing something! EVERYONE should sign the online petition numerous times (same email address, different names) AND send as many letters as they can to ABC this week. Paper letters are best, but you can also write to ABC through the contact us section on the website.
Letters can be sent to:
ABC, Inc.
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA
91521
Send as many letter as you can, and keep positive in them!
Since there isn’t an episode airing tonight, I think it would be great if people went to ABC.com and watched a full-episode. Maybe we should coordinate an effort to do that for the next two weeks to show them that people want ABC to keep the show!
I just wrote my letter. I’m going to take it to the mail box in a few minutes. This is the coolest, most clever and lovely show to air in a LOOONG time. Send those letters, folks! Let’s keep those daisies pushing!
I SIGNED!
I love Pushing Daisies, it’s the only show that I actually have been watching since day one so they are not about to take it away, especially if they are leaving Knight Rider. I have a plan I think it’s pretty good. Kristin said to send as many daisies as we can to ABC right? Well if your like me I’m sure that you don’t have the money to so. But what we do is we send them a strong message that we ALL love Pushing Daisies. We can all
decide on a day that we will ALL send daisies to the ABC office. And we can come up with a cute but smart slogan for them to read. How great would it be for ABC to get millions of daisies from across the country and perhaps world in one day, rather than sporadically.
I know it has some kinks that need to be worked out but hey, work with me here. We need to show that we are all united.
http://sites.google.com/site/helpbeeshelpdaisies/Home
This looks amazing and looks like it would work so well it just needs to be put out there. With only 3 participants so far it’s looking a little pathetic. Even $1 donations would help so much!
The facts are these.
Reputable sources are buzzing all over the internet. It appears that the following are true, and even Ausiello is about to admit the inevitable. It may take Kristin a little longer:
1. ABC came to a final decision not to renew Daisies after Private Practice got a huge post-DWTS bump.
2. Bryan Fuller has already reached a deal to return to Heroes and attempt to rescue that show (a laudable, noble goal for him). He is simply waiting to see if ABC will release him from his contract once production of episode 13 is complete.
3. Barry Sonnenfeld is in negotiations with ABC about airing the remaining eight episodes. Both he and Fuller have accepted the fact that no back 9 order is coming.
4. Lost will apparently take over PD’s timeslot in late January.
I don’t think annoying ABC about saving the show is going to do any good. We don’t want to gain the reputations that fans of other shows (read: Moonlight) have. Let’s let the show go with dignity and class.
I suggest switching the focus of the campaign to respectfully requeting for ABC to air the remaining eight episodes. Without flooding them with Daisy seeds, pies, or other “stuff.”
I don’t want to wait for the DVD to see the last episodes. We need to very kindly ask ABC to air them all.
Ausiello denied today that any of this is true, but he didn’t hold out much hope. Source at tvbythenumbers who seem to have inside sources at ABC are giving out this information, and the return of Fuller to “Heroes” has been widely leaked already.
I mean no political commentary here, but Barack Obama caused the death in two ways: 1. the show did not perform up to expectations–not a big enough bump–against his infomecial. 2. Election night caused DWTS results to move to Wednesday, thus sealing PD’s fate.
Just found this post at the abc.com pushing daisies forums i hope its good news but its not official news
but still i can hope
“Check this out from http://savedaisies.com/!!!!
Their inside source has wonderful news:
Season 2 Done, work on Season 3 to start in May!
Just got word from my source on PD and it’s some pretty good news:
“So, we got some news this AM. Keep in mind, this could very well change. At any moment. But as of now, we are ‘going down for the season’. Which means that they are planning on starting us back in May for Season 3.
If you can, please let the fans know that they SHOULDN’T stop sending things to ABC. The more that people speak out, the better the chances of us returning. If it gets too quiet, they will pull the plug b/f we get a chance to start season 3. ABC is listening to everyone. And EVERYONE knows of your site.”
What that means is that Season 2 will only be 13 episodes. When Pushing Daisies ends production on the 13th episode of the season 2, they will be done until May, when they will start production on Season 3. While this is great news, we still need to let ABC know, now more than ever, that we can’t live without this show!”
This is one of the most impressive and interesting plot lines of any show I’ve seen and I am an avid tv watcher. How can this possibly be in danger of being cancelled. ALL pushing daisies fans need to try to save this show. Excellent writing. . phenomenal chemistry with ALL of the cast. This show is a gem and it’s not getting enough credit for it.
Pushing Daisies is fun show. The pie maker and Chuck are great couple. I think Pushing Daisies is better than Heroes.
I´m from Germany and I´m currently watching the first season of Pushing Daisies.
I think it´s great and something totally different from all those other series, and it would be really sad if they produced only two seasons…
I have already signed the petition and would like to do more to save PD, but I have no idea what to do from Germany…
The problem really was the fact that no one really knew when it was going to be on or not!! That “Dancing With The Stars” is the real reason that Pushing Daisies was cancelled. Pushing Daisies was not aired for three weeks in a row because of that…show!
Да уж Достаточно спорно, поспорил бы с автором…
Интересный пост, спасибо вам. Интересует только вопрос - будет ли продолжение?
Премного благодарен вам. Ваш блог это отличная возможность найти приятных и образованных людей, способных к конструктивным обсуждениям и критике.
Уважаемые, а можно оставлять комментарии непосредственно по теме, а не разную глупость типа Спасибо за статью и т.д.