cancelled: pushing daisies, eli stone, and dirty sexy money

What everyone's been anticipating was made official today... Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, and Dirty Sexy Money were cancelled today.

Now, I was an original fan of Pushing Daisies, but the show hit soap-opera status by making Aunt Lily Chuck's mother, and all of the characters annoyed me -- even Lee Pace's pie maker, which is heartbreaking because I absolutely adore Lee Pace. But the show needed to go. Was it fanciful? Yes. Was it imaginative and pretty? Yes. Were the storylines good? No. Was the pacing good? No. (I hate exposition, and no show has ever been so blatant as to summarize an episode with a line like "The facts were these...") And most importantly, did I care about the two leads as romantic interests? No.

And sadly, I understand and slightly agree with the cancellation of Eli Stone. In fact, I wouldn't mind forgetting that Season 2 ever happened. The first season is so close to perfect that I want to ignore the missteps of Season 2. Characters were constantly shifting between believing Eli's divine prophecies and calling him a crackpot, and it ignored continuity in favor of fitting that week's narrative. And then the firm broke up. They should have kept Jordan as a mean old obstacle for Eli -- a la Mr. Potter -- because Jordan never should've taken the place as Eli's absent father. (Plus, Victor Garber is so good at playing ambiguous evil, like on Alias.) Also, making Taylor pregnant was a mistake because her character wasn't developed enough for me to care about her fears and doubts about having a kid. And then Maggie had to go and confess her love for Eli -- again -- to know response. But I enjoyed this show. I enjoy Johnny Lee Miller, and I enjoy the show's balance between logic and faith. It's not a preachy show and they don't take the religious aspects too seriously. And one could very easily watch the show and think that Eli does not receive these visions from God -- and I am one of those. But I like the ambiguity. I like the sincerity and the way they handled the morals. And yet... I understand why it was cancelled.

As for Dirty Sexy Money... never watched it. Didn't care for the premise. Won't even realize it's gone.