ABC's "Pushing Daisies": An Endangered Flower That Must Be Protected

The latest episode of ABC's Pushing Daisies airs tonight at 8 ET, and its fate may be determined by the number of viewers who tune in. So please, please watch -- but shame on ABC for not supporting and nurturing this excellent series more lovingly.

If I were holding a daisy and pulling its petals one by one, this is the chant I'd use regarding Pushing Daisies and ABC: "I love it. ABC loves it not..."

When Pushing Daisies was unveiled at the network upfronts last year, and again when the networks delivered their fall series pilots, I championed the show as the best new fall series of 2007. But because of the writers' strike, only nine episodes of Bryan Fuller's inventively different TV confection were shown last season. Their average audience was 9.4 million -- very solid, but not great -- and ABC decided to hold back on additional episodes until this fall, when it would, in effect, relaunch the series.

That approach, it's now obvious, was wrong. CBS, which put shows back into production last spring, fared better than the networks that held back on inventory. So far this season, Pushing Daisies has seen its audience drop to 6.6 million.

ABC, not the series itself, is to blame. This season's episodes of Daisies have been just as enjoyable and inventive as last year's, and ABC appears to have all but given up on promoting the show.

Tonight's episode features, as guest star, Fred Willard, playing a magician. But you might not know that, because ABC's on-air promos for Pushing Daisies have pulled their own vanishing act.

I checked this week's three series most likely to appeal to a Daisies viewer -- Desperate Housewives, Boston Legal and Eli Stone -- representing one show each from ABC's Sunday, Monday and Tuesday lineups. All three of those series promoted Private Practice and other ABC shows heavily, but not one presented a promo for Daisies, except for one tossaway mention by an announcer at the end of Eli Stone.

How can a show build an audience if its own network won't support it?

What's worse, Pushing Daisies is so much better than so much of what's on broadcast TV right now, it should be nurtured carefully and stubbornly by ABC. Yes, the network deserves lots of credit for developing and scheduling the show in the first place. But now is the time for ABC executives to step up and embrace Pushing Daisies, even if it takes viewers a little longer.

ABC, You've planted, and grown, a beautiful flower in Pushing Daisies. Now's not the time to nip it in the bud.