'Pushing Daisies,' 'Eli Stone,' 'Dirty Sexy Money' down for the count; 'Ghost Whisperer' plans ahead

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that ABC has declined to order new episodes of "Pushing Daisies," "Eli Stone" and "Dirty Sexy Money," which pretty much means they won't be back. The "Daisies" death was expected but "Eli" and "DSM" are a little more surprising. ABC does have a large roster of midseason shows, so they're probably banking on some success with those.

EW also says ABC picked up additional episodes of "Life on Mars," which moves to 10 p.m. Wednesday, following "Lost" in January. "Private Practice" moves to 10 p.m. Thursday. "Scrubs" will join the schedule at 9 p.m. Tuesday on Jan. 6.

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Fans of CBS's "Ghost Whisperer" (8 tonight, KDKA) may be concerned about what's going to happen to Jim (David Conrad) on the series now that Jim is dead but his amnesiac soul is residing in another guy.Jennifer Love Hewitt and David Conrad on "Ghost Whisperer." (CBS) 

Executive producer P.K. Simonds offers some reassurances.

"We love David Conrad and he's going to be around for a long, long time," Simonds said on a call with TV reporters yesterday. "Jim's body is gone but there is a resolution we're heading toward. There's a very satisfactory resolution. This is a happy ending to this story."

Simonds acknowledged that the situation that's presented tonight -- Jim in Sam's body spending time with Jim's widow, Melinda (Jennifer Love Hewitt) -- can't last forever.

"We're interested in the journey," he said. "It was always our plan to do an emotional prequel. Now we get to see what may have played out in the very beginning of their relationship."

And viewers will start to see bits of the old Jim getting through his amnesia.

"Jim is still in there somewhere even though he doesn't have access to all his life memories, those things will come back," Simonds said. "Here's a guy who has a lot of knowledge of his life on paper but none of it resides in his memories or mind. It's fun to play and creates a real dilemma for all our characters."

Conrad called the new plot an "exciting development."

"It's not the same trope we normally do, which is nice but somewhat predictable," Conrad said. "It's like a prequel. We get to date, flirt and fall back in love with one another. That's thrilling and it's at the heart of what makes them exciting, it's the chemistry."

Is this reassuring to you "Ghost Whisperer" fans or are you still ticked off at the plot developments? Post your feelings below by signing in (or register to sign in here).

Posted Nov 21 2008, 03:24 AM by Rob Owen
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Comments

PghAmers wrote re: 'Pushing Daisies,' 'Eli Stone,' 'Dirty Sexy Money' down for the count; 'Ghost Whisperer' plans ahead
on Fri, Nov 21 2008 9:09 AM

:-(  How many episodes of Daisies do we have left until it's gone forever?  Knowing that it was probably coming doesn't make it any easier...  

Joey Cupcakes wrote re: 'Pushing Daisies,' 'Eli Stone,' 'Dirty Sexy Money' down for the count; 'Ghost Whisperer' plans ahead
on Fri, Nov 21 2008 9:22 AM

this sucks. pushing daisies in won of the most fun and innovative shows currently on tv. i think it's brilliant. what's not to like?

is there any chance of it getting picked up by another channel? i think pushing daisies could do quite well on a network like hbo or showtime or even sci-fi, especially since the show's producers would be able to make the series more edgy.

Rob Owen wrote re: 'Pushing Daisies,' 'Eli Stone,' 'Dirty Sexy Money' down for the count; 'Ghost Whisperer' plans ahead
on Fri, Nov 21 2008 9:33 AM

I know there are a total of 13 episodes in season two of "Daisies." We're probably at about episode 6 or 7 now. The question is, will ABC air all the episodes or pull the show from the schedule?

I don't think anyone will pick up "Daisies." It's far too expensive for Sci Fi Channel or another basic cable net and HBO and Showtime don't generally buy a show that, fair or not, would be considered sloppy seconds. A bummer, I know.