After weeks of speculation, the whimsical drama “Pushing Daisies”–along with “Eli Stone” and “Dirty Sexy Money”–was officially cancelled last week. In spite of numerous Emmy nominations and critical praise, the series about a pie maker who can bring people back to life couldn’t survive an unpredictable broadcast schedule and an expensive shooting budget to stay on the air a full season this year. To help soften the loss for die- hard fans like fellow blogger Donna, the series has a few new episodes left to air in the spring.

I have also been a fan of the show– mainly because I am a fan of finding anything on TV these days that has a fresh premise, smart writing, and doesn’t vote anyone off. However, I have to admit I was not a loyal follower–only tuning in sporadically. You see, I have finally discovered what so many others have: it is so much easier to watch episodes from my computer at my convenience instead of watching them when ABC airs them.
So I don’t believe “Daisies” was really cancelled because of expensive sets and high priced actors. I believe the fate of “Daisies” is the fate of many other TV shows–technology has changed and the networks haven’t figured out how to stop the exiting of viewers, some of whom left during last season’s Writers’ Guild strike and never returned.
Oh, and there’s one more reason I believe ABC cancelled all three series in one swift announcement last Thursday: The Screen Actors Guild is about to take a page out of the WGA play book and go on strike, interrupting production and shutting down shows yet again. That leaves the score in the viewership culture wars at corporate greed: 2, loyal viewing audience: 0.