Staying In

Fair warning: There are slight spoilers in this post for Chuck, Pushing Daisies, Private Practice and Eli Stone. Nothing big though.

Last week, I had the pleasure of seeing the season premieres of Chuck, Pushing Daisies, Private Practice and a new episode of Eli Stone at the Paley Center for Media/TV Guide‘s Fall Preview Parties. It’s been quite some time since these series last aired (nine months, in the case of Pushing Daisies!), so it was like welcoming back really good friends who had been away on extended vacation. I was pleasantly satisfied by all the premieres and what turned out to be Eli Stone‘s second episode.

Adam Baldwin, Joshua Gomez and Zachary Levi of "Chuck."

The season premiere of Chuck was thoroughly entertaining. This is not a show I expect to win awards  — although Zachary Levi’s deft balance of comedy, dramatic yearning and physical hijinks definitely deserves recognition — and it’s not a series that’s going to change TV, but Chuck is pure, unabashed fun. The show really seems to have found great confidence, and NBC must agree since they already gave it a full season order before a single episode has even aired. Plus, any show that plays “Foux Da Fa Fa” by Flight of the Conchords, whom I love, is a winner in my book.

I must admit, with Pushing Daisies off the air for so long, the show sort of faded to the back of my mind. I even chose the Chuck panel over Pushing Daisies at Comic-Con. But as soon as the season premiere started, it was like a reminder of all the things I absolutely adored about the show: Chuck’s to-die-for outfits, Ned and Chuck’s shy, aw-shucks romance, the fantastical, candy-colored world, Jim Dooley’s terrific score, the quirky wit, Olive singing and so much more. There were also some pleasantly familiar guest stars, including Autumn Reeser, French Stewart, Missi Pyle and Wonderfalls‘ very own Diana Scarwid! Keep an ear out for a Dead Like Me reference too.

(Creator Bryan Fuller told Blast Magazine, “There are going to be some small crossovers between ‘Dead Like Me’ and ‘Wonderfalls’ and ‘Pushing Daisies’ planned throughout the season, but just letting an audience know that those three series exist in the same universe.”)

My favorite part of the episode though had to be Ned and Chuck’s choreographed “dance.” I imagine sales of bell slippers will be going up this fall.

All in all, Pushing Daisies is back in fine form like one of Ned’s pies: warm, beautiful and absolutely delightful.

Paul Adelstein ("Private Practice"), Swoosie Kurtz ("Pushing Daisies") and Victor Garber ("Eli Stone").

The season premiere of Eli Stone was not yet finished, so they showed us the second episode, which features guest star Katie Holmes. (The first and second episodes were filmed out of order to accommodate her schedule.)

I think people forget that Katie Holmes can act when she wants to. She doesn’t always pick good roles (or husbands, but that’s another story) and she doesn’t always seem to be giving it her all, but she has shown glimpses of her talent. We fell for Joey Potter and her unrequited longing in the first season of Dawson’s Creek. She’s also done good film work in Wonder Boys, The Gift, Pieces of April and Thank You for Smoking.

Katie makes her debut in the episode very early on with a song and dance number. Given that the show’s producers and network execs have made no secret of the fact that she would be singing and dancing and knowing that Katie has some background in musical theater, I wasn’t surprised by the number, which I thought she pulled off nicely.

I was, however, surprised by how sizable her role in the episode was. Her character is someone who really connects with Eli, and the door is definitely left open for a possible return. I found her to be charmingly unstable, but I think the biggest compliment I can give her performance is that I didn’t feel like I was watching Mrs. Tom Cruise. I do wish she would eat a little more though.

The only returning series out of the four that I had major problems with last season is Private Practice. I found the characters’ hormonal, 15-year-old-like antics to be off-putting. Addison, who went from The Other Woman to The Woman on Grey’s Anatomy, suddenly turned into a flinty, emotional wreck of a woman. The show had assembled some of the finest talents in TV and completely wasted them on teenage soap opera storylines.

Well, I’m happy to report that the producers of Private Practice seem to have recognized the same problems in the show that I did and have taken very good steps to improve them. The writers have added some real dramatic stakes to the show that challenge the character’s personal and professional relationships. There’s more focus on medicine and ethical dilemmas (look for the fantastic Amy Acker as a patient) rather than on the romantic relationships. That’s not to say that there isn’t romance and sex — Cooper and Charlotte’s secret love/hate relationship continues to entertain — but it’s not quite as frothy as it used to be.

I was thisclose to giving up on the show last season, but now I feel like I have the Addison that I knew and fell in love with back.