The cast and crew of Pushing Daisies made an appearance at this year’s Paley Festival in Hollywood. Good friend Michael Ausiello of TV Guide has the full report, but here are a few fun tidbits from the panel:

Participants: Bryan Fuller (creator), Lee Pace (Ned), Anna Friel (Chuck), Kristin Chenoweth (Olive), Chi McBride (Emerson), Ellen Greene (Vivian), Peter Ocko (coexecutive producer), Dan Jinks (executive producer), Bruce Cohen (executive producer) and frenemy Kristin Dos Santos (moderator).

Kristin’s Choice: Chenoweth chose Daisies over a starring role in Broadway’s Young Frankenstein. “You have these decisions that come along in your career and sometimes they’re not easy,” she said. “But I definitely feel like I made the right one.”

Wish List: Fuller wants Carol Burnett on the show.

Strike Fallout: “I think in the long run, [the break] was a really good thing for the show,” Fuller admitted. “It gave us a chance to look back at the nine episodes and [figure out] what was working and what was not working. The arc of the first nine was a soft, romantic arc. In the second season, we want to do something a little harder and a little more aggressive in the style of storytelling. We learned a lot of lessons.”

Spoiler Alert: Chuck will definitely find out who her real mother is in Season 2. “It’s going to be interesting to see how she reacts to that information,” said Fuller, “and how the Pie Maker tries to control her trajectory and how that will complicate their relationship. There are going to be some nice surprises.”

Kristin of E! Online is reporting that even if the writers’ strike is resolved in the next week, it’s too late to get Pushing Daisies in production for more episodes this season.

Here’s the quote from Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller:

“Lots of talk has been going down this past week,” Fuller said. ”Essentially, even if the strike is resolved in the next week or two, we wouldn’t be back until next season. There was a preliminary conversation that involved a plan to hit the ground running and try to get episodes on the air as soon as possible, but it no longer seems like that’s going to happen.

It seems most likely that we will have a very short first season and then come back in the fall for a proper season two.”

In the meantime - and there will be plenty of it - visit our forum and talk about the show until it comes back! 

TV Guide recently asked readers to name their favorite television couples. Not surprisingly, Ned (Lee Pace) and Chuck (Anna Friel) made the cut:

It’s nice to see the Golden Globe Awards recognize Pushing Daisies, along with its two stars, for their work this season.

While we’d love to have seen Chi McBride and Kristin Chenoweth also honored, it’s hard to complain about the following nominations:

MUSICAL OR COMEDY
“30 Rock”
“Californication”
“Entourage”
“Extras”
“Pushing Daisies”

ACTOR (MUSICAL OR COMEDY)
Alec Baldwin - “30 Rock”
Steve Carell - “The Office”
David Duchovny — “Californication”
Ricky Gervais - “The Office”
Lee Pace - “Pushing Daisies”

ACTRESS (MUSICAL OR COMEDY)
Christina Applegate
America Ferrara
Tina Fey
Anna Friel
Mary Louise Parker

Pushing Daisies nicely rebounded from its series low 4.7 household rating last week.

Wednesday’s great episode earned a 6.2 rating/9 share, according to Fast National ratings from Nielsen Media Research. Those figures were enough to give the show a second place finish in the 9 p.m. hour.

A major topic of debate in our forum has been the floundering Pushing Daisies ratings. Has the show’s uniqueness worn off? Or is this just a sign of general television malaise?

Consider this week’s figures and statements from Mediaweek:

“There was nothing overly positive of note in the Wednesday 8 p.m. hour, with ABC’s critically acclaimed Pushing Daisies leading at a below-average 8.88 million viewers and a 3.1 rating/9 share among adults 18-49.”

Not a terrible showing. But what do you think: Does Pushing Daisies have staying power?

The good news, as far as Pushing Daisies ratings went last night, is that the show won its time slot.

The bad news? It did so with a series-low of 8.88 million viewers.

The 3.1 rating/9 share was first among adults 18-49, the most important advertising demographic. But it doesn’t make us happy to see overall viewers go down.

Do you think the novelty has worn off? How did you feel about last night’s episode? Let us know in our Pushing Daisies forum.

As the reality of the current writers’ strike begins to hit home to various TV shows, here’s the latest update on Pushing Daises:

Its season may be coming to an end a lot sooner than we had hoped.

TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello is reporting that creator Bryan Fuller informed him that “the show’s ninth episode — the last one for which a script is written — can function as a season finale in the event the strike extends into the new year and beyond.”

“As we were scrambling to rewrite [Episode 9],” Fuller said, “we added several elements that will put many balls into the air and hopefully encourage the audience to come back and see how they land.”

Sounds intriguing… but sad. We hope the writers and networks can work out a solution and end this strike quickly.

Pushing Daisies has been nominated for Best New TV Drama at this year’s People’s Choice Awards, which airs January 8 on CBS.

The show is up against: Big Shots; Bionic Woman; Cane; Dirty Sexy Money; Gossip Girl; Journeyman; K-Ville; Life; Life Is Wild; Moonlight; Private Practice; and Women’s Murder Club.

You can vote now.

Pushing Daisies won the 8 p.m. hour last night, but its 8.58 million viewers and a 2.6 rating/8 share among adults 18-49 was a series-low for the critically acclaimed drama.

Expect DVR numbers to be higher than ever, however, considering it was Halloween night.

For comparison’s sake, this was a decrease of 1.09 million viewers and 19 percent among adults 18-49 from one week earlier.