March isn’t just for basketball, it’s also time for the Academy Awards! After many years of five “Best Picture” nominees, ten films have been shortlisted for this year’s award. Although this category has included only five nominees for many years, there have been as many as twelve films nominated. If you want to geek out on the Oscars, visit the Academy Awards Database. Listed here are films that were nominated from 1931 to 1940, when the “Best Picture” category was called “Outstanding Production,” and the number of films nominated topped out at twelve.
- Crystal
Pushing Daisies
Series created by Bryan Fuller
The 2000 – 2010 decade in American Network Television was full of crime scene investigations, court dramas, and way too much reality TV. There were a handful of shows who dared to eschew those tired formulas. Pushing Daisies was one of those shows. Alas, it was canceled after just two short seasons, but you can treasure every episode on DVD.
Created by Bryan Fuller (who first cut his writing teeth on Star Trek Voyager), Pushing Daisies is a charming fantastical mystery series with timeless appeal. Watch this show with your kids or your grandparents and everyone will find entertainment value. The cast is amazing, especially the lovely and talented Kristen Chenoweth, who often steals the show! The writing is clever, and full of biting wit. Perhaps best of all, the show is narrated by Jim Dale, voice of the Harry Potter audio books. The story behind the show is this: owner of the Pie Hole dessert restaurant Ned possesses the unique talent of being able to bring the dead back to life merely by touching them. However, the person or other living thing may remain alive only for one minute, or someone else dies in their place. A second touch will render the person dead again, unable to be revived. Through his connections with private investigator Emerson Cod, Ned revives his childhood sweetheart Charlotte (nicknamed “Chuck”) who was strangled while on a vacation cruise. Now that Chuck is alive again, Ned must never touch her, or she will be gone forever. Emerson, Ned, and Chuck, aided by Pie-Hole waitress Olive Snook, solve a quirky and unique murder mystery during each episode, by briefly bringing back to life the murder victim to ask for clues. As the series progresses, the characters own pasts are slowly revealed, adding more layers to the intrigue and drama. So grab a slice of your favorite pie (Pecan or Derby pie for me!) and enter the world of Pushing Daisies.
The IT Crowd
Series created and directed by Graham Linehan
If you don’t enjoy the British or American version of mockumentary sitcom The Office, read no further. Stop reading! I’m not talking to you! If you are a fan of one or both versions of The Office, you should definitely check out the BBC sitcom The IT Crowd.
Computer nerds and social outcasts Roy and Moss work for Denholm Industries, as the IT department. They work from the basement (why are most IT departments located in the basement?), and their office consists of the stereotypical décor one might expect from computer nerds – collectibles, action figures, books, computer parts, and unhealthy snack foods. Roy’s stock answer when the phone rings is “Hello, IT, have you tried turning it off and on again?” Roy’s and Moss’s comfortable work life is turned upside down when an attractive woman is hired to run the department. Roy and Moss quickly find out new boss Jen knows absolutely nothing about computers!
The actors who make up the IT Crowd have great comedic chemistry, and company president Denholm is disturbingly hilarious. Why are workplace comedies like this so funny? If you’ve ever worked in a corporate setting, or office of any kind, you can identify with the characters and situations they find themselves in. Misery loves company, as the saying goes. Or at the very least misery loves a good satire now and again.
- Crystal
Comments (0) 
