So apparently ABC has decided to pass on renewing it's delightfully funny Monday night comedy "Pushing Daisies." It's too bad, too.

The show, which stars Lee Pace, is about Ned, a quiet piemaker with an uncanny ability to bring back the dead. Kristin Chenoweth as Olive Snook is one of the funniest primetime characters I've seen in a long time. Episodes consistently feature a wide range of cameos, too, including Missy Pyle, Paul Reubens, Fred Willard and Stephen Root (Milton in Office Space).

I can only hope some other network becomes the 'Ned' for this show...and brings it back to life!

It's been a year and a half since we last saw Jack Bauer standing alone on a pier looking sadly into the sea. Or to space. Or The Land Where Television Actors Stare Aimlessly Pondering the Lameness We Will Call Season 6. Writer's strike be darned, I now think the break was the best thing to happen to 24 - my favorite show that is not really my type of show.

With Redemption comes a kinder, softer side of Jack, aiding adorable kids in the fictional Sangala, where African troops seek to turn the tikes into monstrous killers. So much for niceties. It doesn't take long for Jack to commence opening that trusty can of Whuppin' and put it on the baddies, all while helping the kids flee to America. In the process Jack is taken into custody for the "illegal detention and torture" of prisoners over the last 5 seasons while under his tender loving care.

In the land of 24, Jack won't be jailed for long. There is a world to save, after all!

With the induction of the first female president (whose son is sure to be an unwitting target for the approaching "day"), imminent threat from the soldiers of Sangala and a super charged extended trailer of Season 7, it looks like Jack is back in full swing.

And he couldn't have arrived at a better time.

I leave you with this: what is your favorite show that is not your type of show?

January 11, 2009: The Premiere of 24. Set your clocks.

Well soft shoe angels, Cody Linley's bid for the elusive disco ball has come to a bittersweet yet hard fought end on Dancing With the Stars.

The local teenager matured before our eyes as he executed technically competent dance compositions with surprising chivalry & grace. Never quite rebounding from partner Julianne's surgery induced hiatus from the ballroom action, the Hannah Montana Star exited the competition with the utmost grace only he could deliver.

In a season bogged down with elderly antics, "dancers" who could not dance and questionable filler flubs, it was nice to have our hometown cutie as a breath of fresh air. Now as Tom Bergeron lamented, we are left to judge three remaining couples "not by the sparkle of their sequence, but the dazzle of their dance."

I couldn't put it any better.

Yep. Mmm-huh. Yup. Mmm-huh.

I realize this is old news, but I've been unable to gather myself lately. It all came about when I learned that "King of the Hill" was being dropped from the Fox lineup.

That means we'll hear nothing new from Strickland Propane (which has a wide assortment of propane accessories), Tom Landry Middle School (where Bobby Hill has spent the past 13 years), Luly's (where I take the family for buffet dining) and Mega-Lo Mart (where I plan on working as a greeter in my retirement years).

Hi there, Paso Dobles! 

What can I say? This season of Dancing With the Stars has not been as shiny as our pro dancers sequined garnished ensembles. After two weeks without his dance muse, Julianne, our Cody Linley barely escaped last night's elimination in a show packed with fluff & filler - much of which didn't make sense. (I'm talking to you Dr. Drew: he who should have counseled himself out of doinga guest spot as appetizing as drinking tepid cauliflower soup).

Cody is getting better with each week;here's hoping he'll get some of his dance machine moves under house arrest before he's shown the door.