This is just too brilliant. Just when you think that ITV has done something interesting and innovative – showing US series Pushing Daisies in a primetime slot (albeit Saturday night at 9pm) – they do something so boneheaded, you just can’t believe it.
ITV has spent a fortune promoting this series – I’ve seen copious trailers on all the ITV television channels. There were posters and press ads for it, and I even saw it advertised in the cinema. And they sent out a lovely tray of grass with some daisies growing to my place of work.
Starring Anna Friel, and directed by Barry Sonnenfield, this had everything going for it. In the event, it’s got some very respectable numbers (5.7m which is an awful lot better than Media Guardian would have you believe), and some reasonably good critical response.
Personally, I saw the first episode, er, some time ago, and while I enjoyed it, I wasn’t interested enough to continue to, er, “catch” future episodes. But it’s reasonably popular stateside and has been renewed for a second season.
So what has ITV decided to do? Well like many US series, the writers’ strike meant a much shortened first series resulted in just nine episodes. Yet ITV has scheduled Pushing Daisies for a slot where there’s only room for eight episodes to run.
Honestly. It’s true!
After episode one on Saturday just gone, next Saturday sees episode 3.
Euro 2008, a little known football tournament that had dates set in stone, oooh, years ago is shortly upon us. And seemingly there’s no other way that ITV could squeeze an extra hour into its schedule between now and then. They apparently can’t run episode 2 in another slot (surely nobody would miss Rock Rivals – last week gaining just 2.2m viewers). They apparently can’t run it on ITV2, or ITV3, or ITV4. They don’t seem to be able to run it online either.
Nope – viewers just aren’t going to see it.
That’d all be fine if Pushing Daisies was a procedural with a fresh story each week. But this has a continuing storyline!
This, coming from the channel that’s only now having second thoughts about the sense in cancelling popular drama Foyle’s War, because they just have so many popular dramas at the moment – like The Palace!
Really dismal.
[UPDATE] An ITV spokesman has said it will be shown “at a later date.”
You really couldn’t make this up.
[UPDATE 2] This is currently the top story in the entertainment section of the BBC News website!
But it’s OK, because ITV will show the second episode will “be shown at some point because the series will be repeated”.
Oh well – the hits keep rolling for ITV don’t they? This comes the morning after The Fixer bowed out with half the ratings of Waking the Dead over on BBC1. (Although I will say that I rather liked The Fixer even if it was a little dark and bleak. You’d never have expected ITV to make such a series. It’s still probably not the Spooks-like entertainment ITV were hoping Kudos would give them.)