The off-beat Barry Sonnenfield series Pushing Daisies is the dark horse of the new season’s rating race. At a time when you can’t open YouTube without seeing a Reaper trailer, take three clicks without seeing a Heroes ad, open a paper without seeing a Caveman feature or flick on the tube without coming across an Aliens in American commercial, Pushing Daisies is a rarity - it has appeared almost only at theater advertisements.

ABC has announced it won’t post full episodes of Pushing Daisies online for fear it would cannibalize ratings. “I have the same approach that Coca-Cola might have when they’re launching a product,” ABC Marketing chief Michael Benson said. “The idea is to get people to sample a product, then come in and buy more. You don’t give a six-pack; you give a sample and hope they’ll buy a six-pack if they like it.”

If this was ANY OTHER station, I might agree with him, but its A Lost B Grey’s Anatomy C Desperate Housewives. That’s right - while the network enjoys hit ratings from top tier shows, it has lagged behind NBC and other networks in terms of online development. Especially considering how little press Pushing Daises is already getting already, it seems more likely the show will sink into obscurity rather than enjoy word-of-mouth stemming from online buzz.

To make matters worse, Pushing Daises is from the mind of Barry Sonnenfield (Men in Black, Get Shorty, The Tick), and follows the adventures of a man who solves mysteries by bringing the dead back to life. It looks absolutely brilliant and surreal, and has exactly the kind of surreal brilliance we’d expect to be ingloriously canceled before sweeps.  Hopefully this isn’t the case, but ABC still needs to get its act together - as well as get their heads out of their top three shows’ asses long enough to wisely market for the fall season.

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