Pushing Daisies Season 2, Episode 1 “Buzzkill”

So, the second season premier was last night.  I wasn’t disappointed, but I wasn’t really impressed either.  The one thing I absolutely loved about this show is the production quality.  The scripts are very well written, but it seems like this has more of a story of the week feel to it.  Which works fine for the show.

So basically, we return to the scene were Chuck and Ned are still in love, Chuck is still dead, Emerson is still solving crimes, and Olive is still in love with Ned, and keep a world full of secrets.  Olive finally starts feeling the burden of the secrets she is keeping, first that Chuck is still dead (while technically, she thinks that Chuck faked her own death) and second that Lily, one of Chuck’s aunts, is actually her birth mother.  She nearly cracks and lets every secret out, until she resigns and Lily sweeps her off to somewhere that would appreciate her secret-keeping.  A convent.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, Chuck has decided to move into Olive’s apartment to watch it while she’s gone.  She somehow has this romantic notion that living across the hall from Ned rather than in his apartment (and avoiding touching each other) is a fantastic idea, where there could be late night knocking (the literal kind….) and it would be more real.. and easier to live.

And the mystery of the week is…. drumroll please…. A conspiracy in the bee/honey harvesting business.  Someone has murdered the spokesperson for “Betty’s Bees” and sabotaged the hives so the company would crumble.

Okay, this was pretty funny…. but for the most part, it was pretty on par with what was going on last season.  The feel of the show hasn’t changed.  The characters haven’t changed.  The story hasn’t changed.

A few things I think they should start addressing:

• Ned touches things that are dead, and they come back to life.  If he touches them again, they die.  And we pretty much know that be a fact.  So what if Chuck actually dies again… can he bring her back to life again?  And will the same thing happen where he can’t touch her?  Or anyone?
• Ned is a pie maker.  He takes dead, rotten fruit, touches it, it comes alive, and he puts it in his pie.  For example, a strawberry.  It is old and moldy and rotten.  When he touches it, it becomes a beautiful plump, ripe red strawberry… Why doesn’t this happen to people?  If someone ended up being broken or disfigured as they died, why wouldn’t Ned touching them restore them briefly to pefect health or physicality?
• Will Olive ever admit to Ned that she loves him?  Will she ever let go of those heavy secrets?

With all that said, it was a pretty funny episode.  And I will definitely be keeping with this one for awhile.

Vice Presidential Debate Drinking Game

Oh yes, gentle readers.  This is it.  But can someone tell me when Politics became a highly viewed reality TV show?

Anyway, I totally borrowed this from Slander ‘08.  Definitely check out the site.  There’s some pretty interstesting stuff all over it.

And before  you get totally trashed, you may want to DVR the debate and watch it over and over again.  This may make an awesome party game.

Alright, here we go…

For Sarah Palin:

1. Every time Palin mentions one of her kids by name, take the number of drinks corresponding to that child’s number in her brood (e.g. 1 drink for Track, 2 drinks for Bristol, 3 drinks for Willow, 4 drinks for Piper and 5 drinks for Trig).  If she does not give a name, take 1 drink.
2. When Palin mentions 9/11 in a textually-relevant manner (e.g. “We need to prevent another attack like the one on 9/11″), take 1 drink.  When Palin mentions 9/11 in a gratuitous, textually-irrelevant manner (e.g. “When my son Track was sent over to Iraq on 9/11…”), take 2 drinks.
3. If Palin uses the phrase, “hockey mom”, drink until she takes the self-satisfied smirk off her face.

For Joe Biden:

1. Every time Biden chuckles condescendingly at Sarah Palin, take 1 drink.  Every time Biden chuckles condescendingly at moderator Gwen Ifill, take 2 drinks.
2. Every time Biden refers to himself in the third person, take 1 drink.  If he uses his full name (e.g. “When people ask me, ‘Joe Biden, how did you become so good looking?’”), take 2 drinks.
3. If Biden points out that despite being less than 1/100th the size, Delaware has more people than Alaska, drink until you see the bottom of your glass.

If either candidate says:

1. Russia, take 1 drink.  U.S.S.R., take 2 drinks.  Swimming the Bering Straight, take 3 drinks.
2. Hillary Clinton, take 1 drink.  Bill Clinton, take 2 drinks.  Monica Lewinsky, take 3 drinks.
3. Dick Cheney, take 1 drink.  Tricky Dick, take 2 drinks.  Sucking dick, take 3 drinks.

Finally, if at any point Biden uses the phrase “I know Geraldine Ferraro; Geraldine Ferraro is a friend of mine.  Governor, you’re no Geraldine Ferraro,” chug your beer, turn off your TV, and shoot yourself in the head.