Weren’t able to trek out to Hollywood for this year’s Paley Fest? No worries, I’ve got you covered. For the next eight days, I’ll be bringing you all the highlights from the annual festival via (almost-)daily dispatches here in the Ausiello Report. Our camera crew will also be joining me on select days (Buffy! Friday Night Lights! Gossip Girl!), so keep close tabs on the TVGuide.com video player this week for red carpet interviews with the likes of Spike, Coach Taylor, S, B, N and D.
Officially speaking, Paley ‘08 kicked off Friday evening at the Cinerama Dome with what I’m sure was a very educational Elvis retrospective. But as far as this TV junkie is concerned, the tubeapalooza really got started Saturday night with the Pushing Daisies panel. Herewith are the highlights:
Participants: Bryan Fuller (creator), Lee Pace (Ned), Anna Friel (Chuck), Kristin Chenoweth (Olive), Chi McBride (Emerson), Ellen Greene (Vivian), Peter Ocko (coexecutive producer), Dan Jinks (executive producer), Bruce Cohen (executive producer)and Frenemy Kristin Dos Santos (moderator).
MIA: Swoosie Kurtz couldn’t attend because she was with her ailing mother.
Popularity contest: During the introductions, Chenoweth garnered the most applause from the 800-plus crowd. McBride came in a close second, followed by Pace and Friel.
Funny guy: McBride kept the audience in stitches with one zinger after another. Among his more memorable cracks:
• “I try to make my choices based on material — except for that one show I did, Killer Instinct. Or as I called it, ‘Kill It, It Stinks.’”
• “The Nine was the first show in TV history named after its audience.”
• Speaking of The Nine, McBride confirmed that his character, Malcolm, was behind the bank robbery: “He had too many bills…. It’s a long story.”
Kristin’s Choice: Chenoweth chose Daisies over a starring role in Broadway’s Young Frankenstein. “You have these decisions that come along in your career and sometimes they’re not easy,” she said. “But I definitely feel like I made the right one.”
FYI: Ellen Greene is fluent in two languages — English and Crazy — and we love her for it. She also laughs like a donkey.
Pushing Back: On rumored backstage tensions with Warner Bros. over the show’s budget, Fuller said the studio eventually “came around and got behind us and gave us a budget that” we could live with.
Wish List: Fuller wants Carol Burnett on the show.
Child’s Play: Asked whether Ned and Chuck are capable of having a child together, Fuller responded, “I think her egg would die when his sperm hit it.”
Best Buys: Daisies‘ first season DVD streets in early September. A soundtrack is also being discussed.
For PETA’s Sake: Although it’s never been addressed on the show, Fuller confirmed that Ned is, in fact, a vegetarian. Why? Because once the meat made contact with his insides, it would come back to life “and crawl out of him.”
Strike Fallout: “I think in the long-run, [the break] was a really good thing for the show,” Fuller admitted. “It gave us a chance to look back at the nine episodes and [figure out] what was working and what was not working. The arc of the first nine was a soft, romantic arc. In the second season, we want to do something a little harder and a little more aggressive in the style of storytelling. We learned a lot of lessons.”
Spoiler Alert: Chuck will definitely find out who her real mother is in Season 2. “It’s going to be interesting to see how she reacts to that information,” said Fuller, “and how the Pie Maker tries to control her trajectory and how that will complicate their relationship. There are going to be some nice surprises.”
