Generally, I see Fashion Week and events like it as nothing more than overpaid stick-people walking around in clothes I wouldn't want to be buried in. So the likelihood of me paying attention to anything related to the fashion industry is somewhere in the area of slim and none. (Sorry, Project Runway addicts; I've tried.)

However, thanks to Dorothy Snarker, about this time last year I stumbled across a fashion event I could learn to love. For the past five years, New York's Fashion Week has kicked off with the Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection. The event is designed to raise awareness about heart disease among women. And it involves beautiful ladies strutting their stuff in fabulous red dresses by some of the industry's top designers. Last year's celebs included a coy Kelly Ripa.

Kristin Chenoweth was there, with her little dog too.

This year's event, which took place on Feb. 1, included an equally stunning list of beautiful ladies. The group included some talented Latinas, a few singers you might have heard of, one L Word connection, a runway veteran in a skimpy little dress that came in a bag and a First Lady who can't tell red from white.

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Who here is watching Pushing Daisies? Raise your hands. OK, keep them up. So who here would be excited to hear that Pushing Daisies got a full season order? Feel free to wave those arms around with joy. Here, I’ll join you.

The quirky little show is one of the season’s most unexpected successes. And when I say quirky, I mean really quirky. Like women-in-giant-dandelion-outfits quirky.

The show’s touched-by-a-piemaker premise is a grown-up fairy tale. It’s like Dr. Seuss, dipped in Tim Burton, then sprinkled with Disney. In other words, it’s weirdly sweet. Or sweetly weird. The sweet part mainly has to do with the piemaker Ned (Lee Pace) and his back-from-the-dead childhood love Chuck (Anna Friel). They’re so cute, it’s almost annoying. … continue reading

This is a live blog from the bi-annual Television Critics Association conference. See more TCA live blog posts here.

I just arrived for the ABC portion of the summer Television Critics Association conference in L.A, a three week period each summer when the broadcast and cable networks debut their new shows, wine and dine reporters and (now) bloggers, and make show-related announcements.

Although Malinda has been here for several days now, I'm just arriving, and since this is my first time at the TCA, this is all new to me. So I thought I'd share some of my impressions, sort-of like a short, snarky live blog of the event.

This morning's discussion with ABC president Stephen McPherson revealed a few newsy pieces. The first is bad news for Lucy Lawless fans: contrary to the rumors, Steve says there is "no future" for Footballers Wives at ABC. Bummer. The only other news of interest he reveals, after being badgered by reporters pissed off that was reserving a big Lost announcement for Comic-Con in San Diego — is that Harold Perrineau is returning to Lost next season. Um, that was the big announcement? The silence in the room says it all.

Now it's time for a panel on the fantastic show Pushing Daisies, a quirky drama about a man named Ned (Lee Pace) who can bring people back from the dead but can't touch the girl he loves without killing her. The girl is named Chuck (Anna Friel), Kristin Chenoweth plays a sassy waitress, the narrator is the Harry Potter audio book guy, Jim Dale, and each week they use Ned's power to solve murders, while dealing with various romantic entanglements. What's not to love?

Okay I'll admit it, I'm predisposed to like anything Daisies creator Bryan Fuller makes, both because he was one of the first people I interviewed for AfterEllen.com back in the day when it was hard to get anyone to talk to me, and because he wrote a decent lesbian character into Wonderfalls. A gay man who writes a good lesbian character is a thing to be treasured.

But I like Pushing Daisies on its own merits, and I'm not the only one: The tired and jaded reporters actually clapped when they ran the promo trailer just now.

The cast, creator, and director come out on stage now and take their seats to face the crowd of eager journalists. Kristin Chenoweth has a slightly severe haircut, sort of like a longish bob. I can't decide if I like it.

Swoosie Kurtz is wearing a red patterned dress with shaggy red shoulder-length hair. Great to see Swoosie back on TV again, even if her character only has one eye (she wears an eye patch). I'm trying to figure out where I've seen the female lead, Anna Friel, before, so I look her up on IMDb and realize she was the girlfriend in Goal! The Dream Begins, a soccer movie which probably only I've seen. It wasn't bad, as far as soccer movies go, but it was no Bend It Like Beckham. … continue reading

Annette Bening will return to Broadway in 2008, in The Female of the Species. She hasn't graced the boards since 1987, so this is kind of a big deal. And it does sound like a play worth pursuing:

In this new work by Australian playwright [Joanna] Murray-Smith (Honour), Bening plays Margot Mason, a feminist literary giant suffering an extreme case of writer's block as deadline after deadline comes and goes on her next book. When a young fan arrives unexpectedly at her country home, Margot's world slowly and comically begins to unravel as family and friends show up and debate the virtues of her bestsellers, her inconsistent world view and her decidedly unmotherly touch. (Broadway.com)

Bening as a "feminist literary giant"? Sounds perfect. If anyone can play larger-than-life characters, it's the woman who made Michael Douglas tolerable in The American President.

But I haven't always been a Bening fan. Back in the mid-'80s, I — and the rest of the members of my high school drama club — saw her in a production of The Cherry Orchard in Denver. We were given a tour of the theater before the show. (How else do you recruit budding thespians?) Bening was our tour guide, and she was nothing but nasty. Not only that, she was ineffective: I somehow got lost and had to leave by skulking across the stage. … continue reading

Over the past couple of years, ABC has become the most-watched network among women ages 18-49, and the network that brought us Desperate Housewives isn't about to give up its mantle this fall. ABC announced today that it has ordered seven new dramas, four new comedies and one new alternative series (an Oprah Winfrey feel-good philanthropy reality show) for the fall 2007 season, and nearly all of them aim to lure in female viewers. Here are the highlights:

Private Practice: The Grey's Anatomy spinoff about Addison Montgomery's (Kate Walsh) new life in Los Angeles after leaving McDreamy and McSteamy behind. Here's a shot of the entire cast:

Pushing Daisies: This one-hour "blend of romance, crime procedural and high-concept fantasy" is about a man who can bring people to life (or kill them) with a touch. Word is that this is one of the best bets this fall, and it stars Kristin Chenoweth (Running With Scissors). Here she is seducing us all with a pie: … continue reading