It's been 6 years and i'm still mad that Pushing Daisies got cancelled way too soon.
The fantasy, comedy, drama was created by Bryan Fuller, who is also the brain behind shows like Wonderfalls and Hannibal.
Pushing Daisies tells the story of Ned the Pie Maker who has an incredible gift (other than being able to bake delicious pies), he can bring the dead back to life with a slight touch of his finger-BUT only for a minute, and if they just so happen to stay alive for over 60 seconds then someone nearby will drop dead in their place. Ned learnt this the hard way when he brought his mother back from the dead as a young boy, which then accidentally killed his childhood sweethearts dad.
As a man, Ned learns to use his power to solve mysteries with his partner in crime Emerson and then collect the rewards afterwards. All is well until the day he runs into his childhood sweetheart Chuck, dead in her casket.
Please read this amazing post as to why Pushing Daisies is an amazing show.
Someone is bound to be getting fired for this, the first FOUR episodes were leaked a few hours ago and we are currently watching episode 1 of the new season because we cannot wait until tomorrow, and so far so good. But before you settle down and watch the season 5 premiere yourself, here's a quick recap of how things ended last year in season 4.
Tyrion lost his trial by combat ( R.I.P Oberyn )': ) but his brother Jaime helped him escape his cell (remember that cute but brief moment of brotherly love?). Before making his escape Tyrion decided he wanted to seek revenge and instead of finding his dad Tywin he found his former love Shae in Tywin's bed, so he murdered her and then found his dad on the toilet and murdered him too. To avoid death, Lord Varys made a plan to leave with Tyrion, and smuggled him out of King's Landing in a crate. Jaime helped Tyrion escape after Cersei declared her love for Jaime, and since Cersei hates Tyrion sh*t is going to go down if she found out the truth. She'll most likely seek revenge for her fathers death, even though she wanted to fight him for forcing her to leave King's Landing to marry Loras Tyrell.
His sister Margaery Tyrell is now engaged to the new king, and Joffrey's little brother, Tommen. Brienne and The Hound crossed paths while she and Podrick were trying to find Arya and they fought to the death, The Hound was left at deaths door as Arya fled to the sea in hopes that a ship would take her north to Castle Black so she could find Jon. She ended up using her iron coin Jaqen H'ghar gave her at the end of season 2 so she could sail to Braavos instead. Jon Snow and the Night's Watch almost lost their battle to defend Castle Black from Mance Rayder and the Wildling army, but luckily they were saved by Stannis Baratheon and Melisandre (she stayed out of the fighting though). During the battle Jon's ex love Ygritte got wounded and died in his arms and it was a little sad.
In the Vale, Sansa and Lord Baelish shared a kiss, her crazy aunt Lysa saw and almost killed Sansa, but Baelish came to her rescue and pushed poor Lysa down her moon door. Sansa ended up defending him in the trial.
In the north (which is now controlled by Roose Bolton after he betrayed Robb Stark )': ) Moat Cailin was claimed by the sadistic Ramsay for House Bolton. His reward was to be de-bastardized by his father. And last but not least, Dany discovered Ser Jorah originally started working for her as a spy for Lord Varys, she was understandably quite mad and banished him. But that wasn't her only problem, the cities she conquered descended back into chaos and her dragons had gone out of control. To stop her 'babies' from roasting and eating children, she made the tough decision to chain them in a dungeon. But one of her dragons is still M.I.A.
We cannot wait to discover Braavos and to see the Sand Snakes in action! Especially Obara who is played by Kiwi actress Keisha Castle-Hughes.
Our Throw Back Thursday this week is Joan Of Arcadia.
How awesome was this show?! It lasted a good 2 seasons before being cancelled in 2005.
The first season of Joan of Arcadia started off with rave reviews, and even won a few awards and an Emmy nomination. Although season 1 was one of the highest rated new shows at the time, season 2 ratings declined and thus, the show was cancelled.
Joan of Arcadia told the story of teenager Joan Girardi who can see and speak to God. God reminds Joan that she promised to do anything if he let her brother survive a car crash, which he did but the crash left him in a wheelchair. In every episode God appears to Joan in the form of different people such as a cute boy, a child, an elderly woman, or the school lunch lady and Joan is asked to perform tasks.
The show was a big favourite of mine and I would've loved to have seen more of it. If you want to rewatch the series you can do so here.
Around this time of year some of your favourite TV shows are starting to wrap up for the season, some are about to begin, and announcements are made as to which shows are getting cut and which are getting renewed.
Among these announcements are the brand new TV shows that are hitting our screens this year. Here are a few that LGC are looking forward to!
We love everything to do with space so we're really looking forward to the new upcoming ABC drama 'The Astronaut Wives Club'. The series was originally supposed to air in 2013/2014 but it's now due to premiere this spring (U.S). The series is based on Lily Koppel's book 'The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story', the title of the show speaks for itself.
There may be way too many crime solving shows at the moment, and the plot for 'IZombie' is a tad ridiculous, a zombie solving crime? ok... BUT we have to support this new CW series as the lead role is played by Kiwi gal Rose McIver. The first episode just aired last week, and we're eager to see how this show goes down.
'The Last Man On Earth' is a new post-apocalyptic comedy on FOX. In 2020 Phil finds himself alone after a deadly virus wipes out everyone on earth. He searches every state for survivors and finds none, but just as he is about to commit suicide he meets a woman and of course, they marry and try and repopulate the earth. However, Phil soon learns that his new wife is not the only woman survivor and he is not the last man on earth.
If you're from the southern hemisphere you will most certainly know about the best Kiwi show ever, Outrageous Fortune. We said goodbye to the West's 5 years ago and now the prequel to the show 'West Side Story' is set to air this year. The six part series is set in the 70s and follows the lives of the beloved Ted (Grandpa) West, his wife Rita and their son Wolfgang. As big fans of Outrageous Fortune, we can't wait to see our favourite bogan family again.
Every now and then LGC are gonna do a TBT, that's 'Throw Back Thursday' for those who aren't down with the internet slang, to old TV shows that we think should make a comeback, deserved way more recognition, or were cancelled too soon.
To start off, lets go back to the year 2000
Yep, that is a young Kate Bosworth and Ian Somerhalder. To be honest i don't remember much about Young Americans, I was only 9 when it first aired, but i do remember loving it! and unfortunately at the time the ratings were low, so it was cancelled after 8 episodes.
The show was created as a spin off to Dawson's Creek, focusing on the backstory of one of Pacey's childhood friends Will (who wasn't even on Dawson's Creek for very long, a mere 3 episodes).
Will earns a scholarship to a posh boys boarding school to get away from a complicated relationship with his dad, but he confesses to his roommate Scout that he cheated on the entrance exam. Scout ends up falling for one of Will's friends Bella, but his father disapproves of the relationship because Scout and Bella might actually be siblings...awkward. Meanwhile Jacqueline enrols in the boarding school disguised as Jake to see if her mum will notice her. She ends up falling for Hamilton who starts to wonder if he's gay when he starts developing feelings for her too.
Young American's is your typical teen drama that was cancelled too soon. But who could forget the awesome opening credits?! So 90's.
I'm very picky when it comes to film/tv adaptations of comic books so i was a little skeptical about getting into Gotham. Luckily i've been recording it just in case i ever wanted to check it out, and i'm SO glad i did.
Gotham is of course based on the characters and stories in the Batman franchise, and primarily revolves around a young James Gordon (The O.C's Ben McKenzie) and his early days in the Gotham police force following the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne. The show also takes a look at the origin stories of several well known Batman villains such as Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Electrocutioner, Joker, Scarecrow, Two-Face, Victor Zsasz and an original villain Fish Mooney created specially for the series.
As a new recruit to the Gotham police department James Gordon is teamed with detective Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) to solve the Wayne murders. During the investigation Gordon and Bullock become involved with Gotham's mafia including Mooney, Don Falcone, and Italian mob boss Salvatore Maroni.
Season 1 is nearing the end with 6 episodes left until the finale, and the series has recently been renewed for a second season. I'm a little unsure about the show introducing so many characters already, even if it is briefly (recently Robin's future parents appeared briefly). I feel like having too many characters at once is going to create too many confusing story lines and plot holes. But for now it works and the casting is A+! Penguin, Riddler, and Zsasz steal the show.
Fresh Off the Boat is the brand new ABC comedy based on Eddie Huang's (comedian, chef, and MTV's Snack-Off host) 2013 memoir.
The show is done in a similar style to Everybody Hates Chris, with 11 year old hip hop loving Eddie narrating his life. Fresh Off the Boat follows Eddie's Taiwanese family as they move from the comforts of D.C's s Chinatown to Orlando, Florida to open up a steak restaurant.
The entire family (grandma Huang included) have to try and adapt to the new culture in Florida. As dad Louis embraces the American Dream, mum Jessica struggles with the culture shock in their new home. Meanwhile Eddie and his two little brothers Emery and Evan have to deal with making new friends and trying to fit in at school.
The show is still very new so i'm eager to see how it goes, but right now i'm loving it. Episode 5 just aired so you can easily catch up!
Broadchurch is a British television drama that was created and written by Chris Chibnall. Focusing around the death of an 11-year-old boy Danny Latimer and the impact it had on the small town of Broadchurch.
Leading the case is detectives Alec Hardy (played by David Tennant) and Ellie Miller (played by Olivia Coleman) while they track down the killer. As suspects are bought to life from the recovering alcoholic pastor Rev. Paul Coates to Danny's dad Mark, the town and viewers are left wondering who it could possibly be. News starts to spread bringing attention to the case and the town and secrets start to get unburied.
In this real life murder mystery and being only 8 episodes a season it is very easy to binge watch and catch up... My housemate and I managed to watch the whole first season in one night (mainly because we were hooked and needed to find out what happened next).
Each episode is 50minutes long but we found it only felt like 10!
Season One premiered in 2013 and the second season is just over half way through here in the UK on ITV.
If you loved shows like Midsomer Murders, Silent Witness & Whitechapel then you'll love this!
For our American readers Gracepoint is the American remake of Broadchurch.
Pretty Little Liars is a teen drama, mystery, thriller based on the book series by Sara Shepard. I was originally not a fan of the show and only got through the first half of season 1 before I thought it got too cheesy. However over the summer I thought I'd give it another go and 5 seasons later i'm hooked!
Set in the fictional town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania the focus is around four high school girls, Aria, Hanna, Spencer and Emily who become estranged after their group leader Alison goes missing. A year later the girls start getting bombared with messages from a mysterious figure known only as 'A'.
Each season keeps you guessing as to who 'A' could be to the point where you're not sure who the girls can trust/whether they can trust each other.
Each season ranges from 22-25 episodes running 45 mins each, and like any teen orientated drama it has it's cheesy and highly unlikely moments but that's what adds to the show and keeps the viewers coming back for more.
Season 5 has just come back from it's winter hiatus and all new episodes are available weekly on Netflix (as well as the past seasons). If you love teen drama that isn't your typical run of the mill ordinary show about a group of friends and their lives in high school then this is the show for you.
Pretty Little Liars has been signed on for the another two seasons with the producers saying we should find out who 'A' is in Season 6! If you're already a fan of this show I know you'll be like me and will be ecstatic over the news that the identity of 'A' will be revealed this year.
Usually I'm not a fan of American remakes at all, but Shameless is an exception. The show was originally set in the UK and I've never watched a full episode of the Brit version so I can't compare the two, but the US setting just fits so right with the storyline.
Shameless is a comedy drama that revolves around the Gallagher family from Chicago.
Frank is a deadbeat, alcoholic, drug addict, freeloader who pays little to no attention to his kids.
Fiona is the eldest child left with the responsibility of taking care of her family.
Philip/Lip is a straight A student who enjoys smoking, drinking, and sleeping around in his spare time.
Ian isn't Frank's biological child and not many people know that he's gay and that he suffers from the same mental illness as the kids mother, Monica.
Debbie is very smart and mature for her young age but has trouble fitting in with her peers.
Carl is a troublemaker with psychopathic tendencies.
Liam is the baby of the family and although he is black he is Frank and Monica's biological child.
Veronica and Kevin are the Gallagher's neighbours and good friends. Veronica is a webcam girl and caregiver while Kevin is a bartender. Jimmy also known as Steve and Jack is Fiona's on again off again 'wealthy' boyfriend. Sheila is a caring agoraphobic and a germaphobe with strange sexual fetishes. Karen is Sheila's daughter and although she looks sweet she is definitely not. Mandy and Mickey are brother and sister and although they're sometimes aggressive and violent they both have sweet sides to them and form close relationships with the Gallagher's.
Season 5 has just begun (it was just announced that Season 6 is a go too!) and it's very easy to catch up as there are only 12 episodes each season! Be aware that the show is NSFW!
