Pushing Daisies: He who smelt it, dealt it

Okay, so I know I said I was taking Thanksgiving off, but my daughter woke me up earlier than expected and last night's "Pushing Daisies" was so ridiculous and wonderful that I feel compelled to say something about it sooner rather than later, so some very brief thoughts coming up just as soon as I jump in a pool...

The silliness. My word, the silliness. I just want to list some of the many marvelously silly things in this episode:

• "Follow the yellow thick hose"
• "Jews for cheeses"
• An odor expert named "Le Nez" (French for "The Nose")
• The pop-up bookstore as parody of ultra-serious comic book stores ("Pop-ups aren't just for kids anymore")
• Emerson reading Knit Wit magazine and then obsessing over pop-up books
• Ned's bearskin rug story
• Olive, when she wasn't busy falling out of her dress even more than usual, threatening to cut a bitch
• The perfectly befuddled look on Lee Pace's face during the first decontamination scene
• Did I mention the "Jews for Cheeses" t-shirt? From the Hebrew Feta Fest?
• All the retro touches, like Emerson offering up a Klondike-5 phone number, or the aunts' wooden "slide" viewers

And yet, the moment when Aunt Vivan began singing "Morning Has Broken" was so sincere and beautiful without taking away from all the goofiness of the rest of the episode.

Pure, stupid pleasure that hour was. Again, happy Thanksgiving everybody.

As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly

An early happy Thanksgiving, everybody! I'm taking the holiday off, which means no reviews of tonight's shows. Maybe I'll hit "Pushing Daisies" over the weekend -- and I'll definitely have a preview of Saturday night's "Battlestar Galactica: Razor" movie on Friday morning -- but in the meantime, here's a link to one of the great Thanksgiving-related bits of TV comedy ever: a very special "WKRP In Cincinnati." (I would have posted a link to the "Cheers" food fight, but it seems to be in violation of the "Everything is on YouTube" theory.

House: Now you see him, now you don't

Spoilers for "House" coming up just as soon as I figure out who won our "When does someone finally have lupus?" pool...

A good episode for the most part, with the Cuddy's thong subplot providing Hugh Laurie the opportunity for many, many hilarious moments. (My favorite being the back-to-back scenes where he realizes that Big Love did, in fact, get Cuddy's thong.) I'll miss Big Love, as I thought the actor and character bounced better off of Laurie/House than some of the remaining people, but then, I still wish Scooter was here.

Now that the contest has only one episode/firing to go, though, I want to focus more on that than the episode itself. (Though feel free to discuss it in the comments if you want. The Wilson/House foosball game was another nice moment.)

I'm still annoyed that the representatives of the final three actors leaked the news to the tabloids, as it's sucked some suspense from the last batch of episodes. But for a thought exercise, let's pretend none of us knows who's staying and who's going, and let's look at these final four to decide who should stay and who should go.

(Note: while we knew Taub's specialty, the other ones -- not to mention some of the first names -- come from a Fox press release.)

Thirteen (Olivia Wilde)
Specialty: Internal medicine
Pros: More willing to stand up to House and less vulnerable to his mindgames than anyone, including the Cottages 1.0. House's frustration with his inability to manipulate her gives Hugh Laurie some amusing notes to play. Medically-speaking, has been right more often than anybody who's left. And I don't object to having Olivia Wilde on my television screen.
Cons: Finding out about her possible Huntington's diagnosis takes away a lot of the character's mystery, both for us and for House. While she inspires funny moments from House, she herself isn't that funny.

Amber/Cutthroat Bitch (Anne Dudek)
Specialty: Interventional radiology
Pros: The writers love her; without having put a stopwatch on it, I would guess she's had the most screen time/dialogue of any of the remaining candidates. Her ruthlessness provides lots of possibilities to toy with the series' standard formula. She and Taub have nice chemistry together. Brilliant (if completely inappropriate) nickname. I don't object to having Anne Dudek on my television screen.
Cons: Once she has the job, what is there for her to be cutthroat about? While Foreman was arguably first among equals in the original configuration, there's no real room for advancement within the team. How amusing is she if she doesn't have a goal to achieve? She and Taub may be redundant. Kind of cartoonish.

Chris Taub/Mini-Stud (Peter Jacobson)
Specialty: Plastic surgery
Pros: Jacobson's a strong, funny actor who plays well off everybody. As a near-contemporary of House and someone who was very accomplished in his own field (albeit a less-respected one), not to mention someone of independent means, he can stand up to House in ways the others can't or won't. Has nice chemistry with Amber, but also has a moral complexity she lacks, making him more unpredictable.
Cons: "Chris" Taub? Huh? There may be Jews out there named Chris, but I've never met any. Again, do you need both him and Amber?

Lawrence Kutner (Kal Penn)
Specialty: Rehabilitative and sports medicine
Pros: He's played by Kal Penn. Kal Penn is awesome and needs to be in my viewing life more often. his enthusiasm and recklessness provide colors that nobody else on the show provides, whether the original Cottages or these newbies. Funny.
Cons: By far the biggest screw-up left; even though he was right several times in this episode, the others have seemed much more on the ball, and none of them have lit patients on fire. I feel like we know far less about him than any of the other remaining candidates (not to mention past firees like Scooter, Grumpy and Big Love). He doesn't even have a nickname, for gosh sakes.

If I got to choose, I'd probably pick Amber, Taub and Kutner. What say you?