Weekly Update: Pushing Daisies Still Clinging to Life; Ratings Update; New Thor Animated Series

Still Hope for Pushing Daisies: As we mentioned previously, the axe has fallen on Valentine and My Own Worst Enemy, NBC has ordered a retooling of Knight Righter, Life on Mars has received a full season pickup and Sanctuary has received a renewal for a second season. ABC’s Pushing Daisies still remains on the bubble with the next two weeks critical to its fate. Kristin Dos Santos from EOnline.com is reporting that ABC will closely watch the show’s ratings after its return from its two week hiatus to make the final determination on its fate. The fan campaigns are currently mobilizing to get the word out and to let ABC know that they want Pushing Daisies to live on.

Ratings Update: This past week produced no major ratings surprises for the network Science Fiction and Fantasy oriented shows. Chuck, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Knight Rider all continue to languish in their timeslots. All three have received full season pickups, but likely will not see life beyond the current season unless they have a major turnaround. The Sarah Connor Chronicles will make a mid-season move to Friday nights to pair with Joss Whedon’s new Dollhouse and this move could improve its fortunes or sink it. As mentioned above, NBC has ordered a retooling of Knight Rider which will involve trimming down the cast and reverting to the tone of the original 80’s series. Chuck will continue with business as usual, which has not served it too well so far this season. CBS’s The Eleventh Hour is considered a bubble show by other sites such as Sci Fi Wire and TVGuide.com, but it has pulled the second highest numbers among genre shows for the season (behind another CBS show, The Mentalist), and I would be surprised if this one did not receive a full season pickup. Yet another CBS show, The Ghost Whisperer, has seen a surge in its ratings these past weeks after a pivotal episode has shaken things up for the series. Keep up with the weekly ratings with our Network Ratings Tracker as well as the likelihood of cancellation with the Renew/Cancel Index at TV by Numbers.

New Thor: 4TheGeekNU.com is reporting that Marvel Animation is developing an animated series based on the Thor character to coincide with the 2010 planned release of the live-action movie starring the Norse God. 26 episodes will be self-produced by the animation company which is also working on a Mighty Avengers series.