In other news: kittens on parade

Pushing Daisies - Girth
When horse jockeys start turning up dead, Olive must face her past and admit a dark secret. Meanwhile, Chuck and Olive take their first steps toward a tentative friendship, and Ned goes to the aunts for hints about his own past. Photos © ABC/Justin Stephens.

Does the narrator of Pushing Daisies always rhyme? I'd never noticed before, and last night I found it profoundly irritating. But! This is the first episode since the pilot that I have really enjoyed. Kristen Chenoweth and Chi McBride are amazing, and it was a delight to see an episode that used -- nay, revolved around -- the fact that KC is about 4 feet tall.

Perhaps I am too angst-ridden, but when I first heard about PD I expected the show to be a hell of a lot darker than it is. Admittedly, this expectation came from nowhere. I imagined that the romance between Chuck & Ned would be more ... unrequited. Actually, that's a poor choice of words. I guess I mean ... veiled. (This is becoming a theme, dear reader. Obviously I am a fan of the "we like each other but keep it a secret" plot). I thought there would be an even mixture of cuteness and awkwardness and sadness, and this would be compounded by the fact that they can't ever touch. I didn't think they would instantly be in love. I mean honestly, they haven't spoken since they were children, so they don't even know each other. I didn't think they'd be all cutesy, kissing through plastic wrap and hand-holding with gloves on and whatnot. I thought they'd be "moodier than a pumpkin full of PMS," to steal a phrase from last night's episode. I cannot suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy this relationship.

That being said, I am interested in the nicely-developing triangle consisting of Olive, Chuck, and Ned. When Ned rescued Olive, literally sweeping her off her feet, I felt a little thrill. And then when he dropped her -- again, quite literally -- to rush to Chuck's side, I thought "ah yes, this is the show I wanted." More character development, more moodiness, more angst -- now that's a PD I can get behind. As for the scenes from the next episode, I don't hold high hopes for Olive and Ned ending up naked (nice bit of cropping there, ABC) and I can only hope that their kiss does not take place in a dream.

Top bits:
-- "And he's going to kill agem."
-- Chuck trying to convince herself that she's the scary dead person.
-- And then throwing oyster crackers at Emerson's head when he startles her.
-- Digby's matching ghost outfit.

Where do I recognize Barbara Barrie (Mrs. Jacobs) from? A quick look at IMDB leads me to believe it's from Dead Like Me, though that doesn't seem right. Anyone know what it might be? Comment us!




Supernatural - Bad Day At Black Rock
After the Winchester brothers discover their father's secret storage facility -- and that it's been broken into -- they find a cursed rabbit's foot that gives anyone who touches it good luck ... until you lose it, and then you die. In a race to save their own lives, the pair runs up against a mysterious thief who steals cursed items in order to line her own pockets. Photo © The CW.

I am now caught up with Season 3 of Supernatural. Without commercials, the episodes fit perfectly into my lunch breaks at work -- pop open the iBook, pop on the headphones, and ignore the weird looks people give me when they pass my cubicle, because obviously it looks like I'm wasting time while on the clock.

It is a disappointment that nobody I know watches this show, because it is SO GOOD. Hot boys, check. Perfect mix of creepy and silly, check. Hot boys, check. Hot father, even! What's not to love?!?

Sure, it blatantly steals from about 100 other sources (The Ring, 28 Days Later, Children of the Corn, Final Destination, to name a few) but it doesn't care. And neither do I. So far Season 3 is a lot bloodier than the previous seasons; yesterday I found myself making little "eek" noises out loud (thus provoking even more weird looks from co-workers), especially when that dude fell onto a barbeque fork and it stabbed him through the throat. Gross!

I love the new baddie, who is hopefully sticking around, cause Michael Massee is awesome. Side note thanks to Wikipedia: Massee has the unfortunate distinction of firing the gun that killed Brandon Lee during the filming of The Crow, though it was found to be an accident. Huh. Anyway, the man is perfect as a crazy hunter who believes he's doing God's work and is hell-bent on killing Sam Winchester. Poor Sam just can't catch a break, can he? Damn!

This episode also introduced Bela, a British chick who steals artifacts in order to sell them. She does not appear to have a conscience. The writers should stick with that. I was doubtful when I heard that Supernatural was going to introduce two female leads -- Ruby (a.k.a. "Blondie Demon") and Bela. Fortunately Ruby is a demon, and Bela is a bitch. But, I do foresee some type of romantic involvement between Dean and Bela (even if it's just flirting), so we'll see how that goes. I'm sure she has some sob story about why she became a thief. Blech. The angle that there is little difference between Dean and Bela is nice, though. I loved her back-talkin' speech after Dean bad-mouthed her:

"[Hunters are] a bunch of obsessed, revenge-driven sociopaths trying to save a world that can't be saved. We're all going to hell ... might as well enjoy the ride."

However, hands down the best line in the entire episode came earlier, when crazy-hunter's friend was trying to convince him to eat at a particular restaurant by showing him the menu online and crazy-hunter replied, "Looks good. I like that when they dip a whole onion in the fryer."

In other news...
* Whatever will we do?!?!
* Felicity is in a new movie. And it looks really terrible.
* ICK!
* Chuck's Zachary Levi enjoys nerding out.
* And what's wrong with The Simpsons, I ask you?
* More Friday Night Lights love.
* Yeah, sure it is.
* Like Project Runway?
* Spoilers from Ausiello.
* HIMYM's Barney lost his virginity to...