Monday Odds & Ends: Pushing Daisies, V, Neil Patrick Harris, Halloween and build a critter

+ I have no idea how I missed this before, but did you know that "Pushing Daisies" is living on in a 12-part series of comic books for DC Comics?

+ The other night I saw Neil Patrick Harris in a very old, very bad episode of "The Outer Limits" where he got to shoot an evil alien worm out of his nose. Barney would have been appalled. In other news, NPH will be doing a musical turn as a Gotham City villain in an upcoming episode of "Batman: The Brave and the Bold."

+ If you see a giant "V" in the skies next Friday, don't freak out -- it's just ABC's way of promoting the new "V" miniseries. The network has hired skywriters to write "V"s in the skies over some of the country's most popular national monuments. Cooler than a billboard, I guess.

+ Want to plan your Halloween-themed TV viewing? TV Tango has a list of upcoming Halloween programming including TWO showings of "The Great Pumpkin." Woo!

+ Early reviews are coming in for "Amelia," which opens this Friday, and they're pretty good for the most part. Really looking forward to seeing this...right after I see "Where the Wild Things Are."

+ So, io9 had this fake post about a genetically-engineered cat with radar dishes for ears. And it got me thinking, if you could play Frankenstein and use, say, five characteristics from any other creature -- living, dead or fictional -- out there, what would you build? I've been thinking about this...a lot...and I've decided I'd create the following:

A capybara with Ultraman's flying abilities, Henry Kissinger's speaking voice, roller skates on its paws and Sherlock Holme's powers of deduction. He would be the world's most lovable detective, and that would be my contribution to science.

What would you build?

Odds and Ends

+ Looks like "Pushing Daisies" is a goner. When it worked, this was one of the most wonderfully original and sweet shows ever to air, but recently, it just seemed to be trying too hard. Still, though, I'm sorry to see it go.

+ Good news! "Battlestar Galactica" webisodes are set to start airing in the middle of December. Something to hold onto until the January 16 premiere finally, finally rolls around. ETA: I just found out Sci-Fi is going to air the preview for season 4.5 during their day-long Bond marathon on Thanksgiving. Thanks, Sci-Fi, that's hugely convenient for everyone, I'm sure.

+ $10 million seems like a fair price to pay to regenerate a mastodon, don't you think? I can't wait until they start selling these things at the Petco. I'm totally going to dress mine up as a Bantha.

+ Speaking of bones, the remains of Nicolaus "Sunshine" Copernicus were found orbiting the Earth! Hahaha, just kidding. They were in a box.

+ People Magazine announced their Sexiest Man Alive this week, and the winner is Hugh Jackman. And there's pictures of at least 15 of the runners-up. Pretty, pretty!

+ And, um, this is the blogging equivalent of asking someone if they can come out and play but is anyone interested in chit-chatting with me about "Doctor Who"? I set up a page here for anyone who has some time and might be willing to indulge me in conversation on my new mania. (This is what happens when BSG is off the air for 9 months.) Thank you!

"Pushing Daisies," you have won my heart.

I'm no TV floozy. I don't just give my heart to any old TV show, flashing its big stars and high-cost production values at me. No, I need to be wooed. I need to feel a connection. And I need to be taken out to dinner by it at least three times.

"Pushing Daisies" has earned me love. It took me a few weeks. I was unsure at first, but now smitten-ness is now most definitely confirmed. (Just in time for the writer's strike!) I've been catching up recently via the old DVR, and I've decided the whole show is just plain charming. It's sweet and charming and so persistently unusual that I can't help but giggle with glee. I'm a sucker for anything and everything Barry Sonnenfeld does. I love the way his films look. I love the way they take creepiness and make it slightly adorable (see: all Addams Family movies). His work just tickles me.

The cast is wonderful, too. As Ned the Piemaker, who can bring the dead back to life for a minute at a time, Lee Pace is perfect. Tall and slim nerdily handsome(!), Pace plays his character with a mixture of aloofness, moral confusion, wide-eyed innocence and just a hint of meanness -- all the ingredients necessary for a character who can both give and take life with a single touch. British actress Anna Friel is charming, too, as "Chuck," Ned's childhood sweetheart whom he brought back to life but can never touch again without returning her to corpse-dom. (FYI, Anna Friel dates David Thewlis, Lupin in the "Harry Potter" movies. I did not know this!) Kristin Chenowith, who I loved as Annabeth on "The West Wing," makes me smile as Olive Snook, an employee of Ned's pie shop, whose unrequited love for him drives her crazy -- and into spontaneous song on one or two occasions.

Most of all, though, I love Chi McBride as Emerson Cod (boy, do I wish I'd thought of these wonderful names)! Cod is Ned's informal business partner -- a private eye who uses Ned to bring the deceased back to life to reveal who killed them so that Cod can collect reward money. McBride is deadpan awesomeness. Funny and disdainful. I want to hug him. And the episode where he got caught half-in and half-out of a window "just like Winnie the Pooh" cracked me up. I heart him deeply.

If you haven't already checked out "Pushing Daisies," or if, like me, you were a bit unsure at the beginning, please give it a try. It'll make you feel warm and happy and transport you to another world where sweetness always prevails.