Dead Like Me, Pushing Daises, and The Office: All shows I've started.

[Idle_Thoughts]

The Office I started 2 months ago. I’m flying through it. It’s just so good. I’m currently on season six, episode sixteen. I’ve watched almost six seasons in just two months. It would have been sooner if I didn’t have to sleep so much. Sleep: Dreadfully annoying habit I picked up years ago.

Some minor boring backstory that isn’t really relevant to the topic at hand, so read only if you want and to get some extra details…

[spoiler]Anyway, it’s not the only show I started. I also started watching a few other shows at the time.

With shows I’m weird, though…I will tend to start them, then not watch them for a bit (or take a break between watching them, mostly due to starting other shows that I’ve been always wanting to start watching), and then go back to them eventually (thus, abandoning the new shows I started watching that prompted me to first abandon the original shows)…and then start the whole process over again, switching between shows, watching only two or three for a few weeks/months then switching back to another regular two/three for a few weeks, then back to the first three for a few more weeks, etc…going in week-long spurts on all the shows before constantly rotating them. Some have been in the rotation line for quite a long time, though…making it so I don’t get back to them (at times) for many months.

Over the last six months I’ve started: The 100, Burn Notice, Arrow, Nurse Jackie, My Name is Earl, Californication, 30 Rock, Continuum, Bates Motel, Six Feet Under, The Walking Dead, Grey’s Anatomy, Pushing Daises, Once Upon A Time, and Dead Like Me. I like and am enjoying them all…when I watch them, that is…

…but as I said, I have a very unreliable watching process with shows and am currently only watching five of them regularly at the moment: How I Met Your Mother (currently on season 8), The Office (season 6), Grey’s Anatomy (season 4), Pushing Daises (season 1), and Dead Like Me (season 1)[/spoiler]
And of those new shows I started, the three I’m really enjoying the most of all of them are The Office (US version), Pushing Daises, and Dead Like Me.

Now, I know that two of those (The Office and Pushing Daises) are usually talked about and lauded on here quite often for being spectacular shows. Not sure what most posters think of Dead Like Me, but I’m assuming that it’s also good things.

Still, just to be sure, what say you? And what did you think of the other two mentioned in the last paragraph, as well, if you’ve seen them?

Regarding The Office: I’ve heard it gets a bit worse as time goes on…or at least, not as good, but I haven’t noticed a change yet, at all.
And Pushing Daises/Dead Like Me (two shows that both only went for two seasons) both don’t seem to be jumping the shark or becoming more boring any time soon. Makes me wonder why these shows only had two seasons each. I mean, I know that Pushing Daises–at least–is a show I’ve seen people say that they wish went on for longer…so I’m assuming it never really loses the charm and wonderful wit and humor it has.

[GuanoLad]

I don’t like cringe comedy, so The Office is not my thing, but I have great love for Pushing Daisies, which was just delightful, creative, funny, and beautiful to look at. It should have run forever, but the stupid writer’s strike messed it around.

Dead Like Me went through a few bumps as it was produced, so it gets a bit weak as it goes. Many of the promising things that occur in the pilot don’t recur. But it’s still decent and deserved better.

[mikecurtis]

i loved the writing of pushing daisies its like macabre bedtime stories for adults!
if youre liking* daisies* and dead like me there is another bryan fuller production that you should add to the list: wonderfalls.

The show centers on Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas), a recent Brown University graduate with a philosophy degree, who holds a dead-end job as a sales clerk at a Niagara Falls gift shop. Jaye is the reluctant participant in conversations with various animal figurines — a wax lion, brass monkey, stuffed bear, and mounted fish, among others — which direct her via oblique instructions to help people in need.

i loved it as well!

mc

[Dewey_Finn]

I recommend the original UK The Office. One nice thing is that it’s very limited. I don’t think there are more than twenty episodes in total, including the Christmas special.

I also liked Extras, which also starred and was created by Ricky Gervais.

[GargoyleWB]

I loved Dead Like Me. There was a follow-up movie special though that wasn’t nearly as good though, so skip that.

[MaxTheVool]

I highly recommend that after The Office, you give Parks and Rec a try (consider skipping the first season).

[DrDeth]

@GargoyleWB

I loved Dead Like Me. There was a follow-up movie special though that wasn’t nearly as good though, so skip that.

Not quite as good, but it brought closure, so I do recommend it.

[kenobi_65]

@Idle_Thoughts

Makes me wonder why these shows only had two seasons each. I mean, I know that Pushing Daises–at least–is a show I’ve seen people say that they wish went on for longer…so I’m assuming it never really loses the charm and wonderful wit and humor it has.

Pushing Daisies is still one of my all-time favorite TV series (and not only because of my massive crush on Kristin Chenoweth ). In the case of this show, it was the 2007 writers’ strike that did it in.

In its first season, the show got pretty good ratings, and, IIRC, ABC had already picked it up for a full season by the time of the writers’ strike.

When the strike was settled, early in 2008, some shows went back into production for a few more episodes for the 2007/2008 season. However, with ABC announcing that they were renewing the show for the fall of 2008, the producers of Pushing Daisies elected to not try to rush a few more episodes for the spring of 2008, and instead focused on the second season.

As a result, by the time that the show re-premiered in October 2008, they’d gone nearly a year without a new episode (I can’t remember if ABC aired any repeats of the Season 1 episodes during that time), and they were never able to recapture their audience or ratings – in their first season, the show averaged 9.46 million viewers, but in Season 2, they were down to 6.1 million viewers.

When ABC announced the cancellation of the show, they had already shot what would wind up being the final episode (“Kerplunk”), which had not been intended to be a series finale. The production team decided to go back to re-shoot the final few minutes of the episode, to provide a little closure, and wrap up some of the storylines.

There was a comic book series planned to act as a “Season 3,” but it was never published. There’s been talk of a revival of the show as a TV movie or miniseries (similar to how a Veronica Mars movie was crowdfunded), and / or a Broadway musical, but neither of those have made it past the discussion stage.

[Tom_Tildrum]

The best use of your time will be to quit the Office after Michael’s departure. I’m not saying it was never funny after that, but it became a much rarer occurrence.

[NAF1138]

@mikecurtis

i loved the writing of pushing daisies its like macabre bedtime stories for adults!
if youre liking* daisies* and dead like me there is another bryan fuller production that you should add to the list: wonderfalls.

i loved it as well!

mc

This was going to be my suggestion. It’s sort of a trilogy of shows he had that were canceled too soon. Hannibal was his too, but it’s… Different. Also good though.

I recommend skipping the movie. It wasn’t the same.

[NAF1138]

Another show that is similar in tone and was also canceled too soon was Terriers on FX. This had Tim Minear working on it who also had Bryan Fullers curse of having his good shows get canceled. They doubled up with Wonder falls which managed to get canceled almost as soon as it aired.

Terriers has the same sensibilities as Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies but not quite the same level of fantasy. It’s good.

[Dewey_Finn]

I don’t think that there was any level of fantasy in Terriers, but I haven’t seen the show since it originally aired.

[NAF1138]

@Dewey_Finn

I don’t think that there was any level of fantasy in Terriers, but I haven’t seen the show since it originally aired.

Well, no. It’s totally realistic. But similar tone otherwise.

[filmore]

@Tom_Tildrum

The best use of your time will be to quit the Office after Michael’s departure. I’m not saying it was never funny after that, but it became a much rarer occurrence.

I agree. It’s not all that entertaining after Michael leaves. It became a muddled mess of characters and plots. They just never figured out the direction of the show after that. You can continue watching if you feel you need to close out the series, but you’d be better off switching to “Parks and Rec”.

[Stranger_On_A_Train]

@MaxTheVool

I highly recommend that after The Office, you give Parks and Rec a try (consider skipping the first season).

And the last. In between those, though, it was quite good, and gave Nick Offerman full opportunity to show his deadpan comedic chops.

@DrDeth

Not quite as good, but it brought closure, so I do recommend it.

I’d have to disagree. Dead Like Me: Life After Death did nothing to address the several running plot threads (like what was special about George and her ability to ward or destroy gravelings), dropped several characters entirely, and totally lacked in the characteristic morbid humor. Ignore it entirely.

On the other hand, if you’re a fan of Bryan Fuller’s work, Wonderfalls has much of the same gallows humor, exaggerated characterization, and cinematographic styling. And it’s fuckin’ hilarious. It is an absolute tragedy it didn’t get even a full run, much less picked up for a second season.

Stranger

[mikecurtis]

@Stranger_On_A_Train

And the last. In between those, though, it was quite good, and gave Nick Offerman full opportunity to show his deadpan comedic chops.

I’d have to disagree. Dead Like Me: Life After Death did nothing to address the several running plot threads (like what was special about George and her ability to ward or destroy gravelings), dropped several characters entirely, and totally lacked in the characteristic morbid humor. Ignore it entirely.

On the other hand, if you’re a fan of Bryan Fuller’s work, Wonderfalls has much of the same gallows humor, exaggerated characterization, and cinematographic styling. And it’s fuckin’ hilarious. It is an absolute tragedy it didn’t get even a full run, much less picked up for a second season.

Stranger

stranger there are times when what you write makes me so angry i have trouble imagining the continuation of the human race knowing that there are people like you out there :rolleyes:. . . and then you go and write something so perfectly true (like above) and the sun comes back in the sky! thank you!

mc

[Dewey_Finn]

@Stranger_On_A_Train

@MaxTheVool

I highly recommend that after The Office, you give Parks and Rec a try (consider skipping the first season).

And the last. In between those, though, it was quite good, and gave Nick Offerman full opportunity to show his deadpan comedic chops.

I liked the last season of Parks and Rec, particularly the finale. We learned the fates of all of the principal characters.

[DrDeth]

@Stranger_On_A_Train

I’d have to disagree. Dead Like Me: Life After Death did nothing to address the several running plot threads (like what was special about George and her ability to ward or destroy gravelings), dropped several characters entirely, and totally lacked in the characteristic morbid humor. Ignore it entirely.

On the other hand, if you’re a fan of Bryan Fuller’s work, Wonderfalls has much of the same gallows humor, exaggerated characterization, and cinematographic styling. And it’s fuckin’ hilarious. It is an absolute tragedy it didn’t get even a full run, much less picked up for a second season.

r

Loved Wonderfalls.

Let us just say I disagree about the film. If the Op watches all of DLM and wants more- there is the film… or nothing. Up to him.

[Tom_Tildrum]

@filmore

I agree. It’s not all that entertaining after Michael leaves. It became a muddled mess of characters and plots. They just never figured out the direction of the show after that. You can continue watching if you feel you need to close out the series, but you’d be better off switching to “Parks and Rec”.

I just thought of one exception: Watch the finale of the Office to see the actual movie-within-the-show put together by the documentary crew. I remember it being a lot of fun.

[Go_Arachnid_Laser_1]

@NAF1138

Well, no. It’s totally realistic. But similar tone otherwise.

The interesting thing about Terriers is that it’s a neo-noir. Very much inspired by classics like Raymond Chandler only in the XXI century and with a sense of humor.