Alphabet Soup: "Pushing Daisies" Still Not Canceled But Missing from Midseason

Well, Pushing Daisies fans, there's the good news and then there's the bad news.

The good news is that ABC hasn't quite decided what to do about the fate of Pushing Daisies. Daisies and fellow sophomore drama series Dirty Sexy Money are both said to be in contention for renewal for the 2009-10 season. However, then there's the bad news: Pushing Daisies isn't anywhere on ABC's midseason schedule. (Its Wednesday night timeslot, according to the schedule obtained by Futon Critic from ABCStagePass.com, has been taken over by Scrubs and The Goode Family.)

The decision to take Daisies off the schedule could mean that ABC merely decided to cut costs and truncate the second season and could later decide to magnanimously renew the series for a third season despite low ratings. (Production wrapped on the series' initial thirteen episodes last week so it's now a given that it won't shoot any additional episodes for this season.) I'm hoping that ABC does come to its senses and decide to bring back Daisies, even with another shortened season. (After all, thirteen episodes is more than the series aired in its first season.)

Also missing from the lineup: Life on Mars, which could continue to air new episodes through January and February, should ABC decide to delay the start of its new series until March, the Nathan Fillion-led mystery drama Castle, Cupid, and comedy Better Off Ted. (Could the latter series be delayed until next season? Possibly but it's more likely they'll bow in March.)

And what series gets the plum post-Lost timeslot? Why that would be new series The Unusuals, a police procedural with some intriguing metaphysical and serialized elements. (If you couldn't tell, I quite enjoyed the pilot for that one.)

Meanwhile, the rest of ABC's midseason schedule can be found after the jump.

ABC MIDSEASON SCHEDULE 2009

MONDAY
8-9:30 pm: The Bachelor
9:30-10 pm: Samantha Who?
10-11 pm: True Beauty (New Series)

TUESDAY
8-9 pm: Border Security USA (New Series)
9-9:30 pm: According to Jim
9:30-10 pm: According to Jim
10-11 pm: Eli Stone

WEDNESDAY
8-8:30 pm: Scrubs
8:30-9 pm: The Goode Family
9-10 pm: Lost
10-11 pm: The Unusuals (New Series)

THURSDAY
8-9 pm: Ugly Betty
9-10 pm: Grey's Anatomy
10-11 pm: Private Practice (New Time Slot)

FRIDAY
8-9 pm: Wife Swap
9-10 pm: Supernanny
10-11 pm: 20/20

SATURDAY
8-11 pm: Saturday Night Movie

SUNDAY
7-8 pm: America's Funniest Home Videos
8-9 pm: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
9-10 pm: Desperate Housewives
10-11 pm: Brothers & Sisters

Stay tuned.