Following ABC's annoucement that "Roseanne" would be canceled, producer and writer Bryan Fuller pitched a revival of his old show "Pushing Daisies" to fill the time slot. (Reuters)
Having exited his fair share of shows over the years, Bryan Fuller today has a suggestion for ABC to replace the now-canceled "Roseanne" on its fall schedule.
The former "American Gods" co-showrunner took to social media on Tuesday to advocate — tongue partially in cheek — for the return of "Pushing Daisies," the dramedy starring Lee Pace, Ana Friel and Kristin Chenoweth that aired on Disney-owned network aired from 2007-09.
In this era of revivals and reboots, "Pushing Daisies" has been off the air almost long enough to be in consideration for another kick at the Big 4 can. Created by "Star Trek: Discovery" co-creator Fuller, the multiple Emmy winner was plucked off the air by ABC in December 2008 with its final trio of episodes broadcast late the following spring.
Whether "Pushing Daises "lives to air another day, ABC now has a big hole in its 2018-19 season Tuesday schedule with the second season of the rebooted "Roseanne" a toxic and dead letter office. The sitcom’s past and present star took to Twitter this morning with a series of blatantly racist remarks against President Barack Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett as well as Chelsea Clinton. While Barr took some of the sickening salvos down and apologized, ABC bit the bottom-line bullet and cut the show loose.
After a delay of a few hours after Barr ranted online, the network’s Entertainment president Channing Dungey announced that the comedian’s statements were “abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”
At the end of the day, ABC knew who they were getting when they got back into business with the volatile but clearly talented Barr after nearly 20 years. Yet, network execs held their noses as the ratings gave them the top show in TV for the first time in more than two decades. As the blast radius of today settles, the net now has a probable hemorrhaging of ad dollars from the loss of the show that it hailed to rafters at its upfronts presentation on May 15.
On the contrarian front, this is the second time in recent weeks that Fuller has tweaked the industry. Back in early March, the former "Hannibal" EP chastised 20th Century Fox and others involved with the Freddie Mercury biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody" for turning a blind eye to the complexities of the late Queen singer’s sexuality in its first trailer.
This story originally appeared in Deadline.
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