Tuesday, January 06, 2009

And Yet Pushing Daisies Has Been Canceled

nytimes.com: “Homeland Security USA,” an ABC reality series about the men and women who police our borders, has the look and sound of a documentary without the pesky burden of responsibility — it’s homage, not reportage. And that’s not a surprise, given that the executive producer, Arnold Shapiro, the creator of “Rescue 911” and “Big Brother,” is also the mastermind behind “Blow Out,” a reality series about Beverly Hills hairdressing.

Viewers long ago became inured to the blurring of news and entertainment. Shows like “Cops,” on Fox, which follows real-life deputies and police officers as they raid crack dens, break up domestic disputes and chase speeding cars, have proven appeal. Yet there is something more than usually troubling about a network series that purports to cover the full canvas of homeland security and that is made with the assistance — and censorship (they call it “prescreening”) — of the Department of Homeland Security. The result is an exclusive, inside look at a recruitment video.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

2 comments:

Joan Reeves said...

I didn't like Pushing Daisies, but the Homeland Security program is so unpalatable that I won't even tune in.

Todd Mason said...

I saw a scrap of it while settling in to review the new season of SCRUBS on ABC, and the promo for the next week's episode was remarkably smarmy. ABC wrapped two piece of excremental "reality" around the SCRUBS hour (the last hour is another More-Obnoxious CANDID CAMERA ripoff), which is Not Great Flow, if you get what I mean. PUSHING DAISIES would be a very compatible lead-in.

I didn't love PD, but it was pretty clever, if perhaps a bit too cute for me.