No Way To Start A Weekend

Well the sad and yes inevitable news it here. My heart sunk when I saw the ratings for this week's episode of Pushing Daisies were its lowest ever... and now the other shoe drops (via):

"No pickups for 'Daisies,' 'Money' and 'Stone'

ABC has decided against picking up "Pushing Daisies," "Dirty Sexy Money" and "Eli Stone" for full-season orders.

Producers of the shows are being told that ABC has elected not to order additional hours beyond the original 13-episode commitments.

Actively avoiding the c-word, the network left the door open for ordering more episodes at a future date, though that is considered improbable. The trio are still on the schedule for next week. Going into the holidays, their ratings are unlikely to dramatically improve enough to reverse the decision, though competitors going into repeats could be helpful.

"Money" and "Stone" are still in production (on their 12th and 13th episodes, respectively) and will finish shooting their current order.

Bryan Fuller, creator of the critically acclaimed "Daisies," said he hasn't yet been directly informed of ABC's verdict, but has been been playing phone tag with the network's entertainment president.

"I assumed that's what [the call] was about," he wrote. "I can't help but feel immense pride when it comes to 'Pushing Daisies.' I'm grateful TO everyone and FOR everyone who brought the show to life and for the very loyal audience that embraced us. If we are indeed dead on ABC, we now have to convince DC Comics to let us tell the rest of the season's story lines out in comic book form and convince Warner Bros. features to let 'Pushing Daisies' live again as a movie."

All the shows were in their second season, with "Daisies" and "Money" having been disrupted by the writers strike last year and "Stone" having launched in midseason earlier this year. "Daisies" averaged 6.4 million viewers and a 2.3 adult demo rating. "Money" averaged 6.6 million and a 2.3. "Stone" averaged 7.9 million and a 2.1. On Wednesday night, "Daisies" and "Money" hit series-low ratings, and "Stone" sank to match its series low on Tuesday."

So yes, they're not using the "c-word"... apparently they want to drag this torture out as long as possible and make us think they're not the assholes that they are. Nevermind that Daisies was off the air for two weeks and I didn't see any ads anywhere in that time-span to let me know when it was coming back... that's how you draw an audience in! Sigh. Must not rage out, haven't reached that stage of grief yet. Right now just sadness. At least I'll always have two half-seasons to cherish forever on my DVD shelf.

ETA here's a quote from show creator Bryan Fuller (via) on how he's feeling that gave me a little boost:

"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."

He is right of course... and it's that sorta upbeat attitude that made the show such a treat to begin with... and now I'm brought around to sad again. Sigh. Sad day.
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