I wanna watch Pushing Daisies on my computer!

July 31, 2008 6:43 PM

Why is ABC's new show "Pushing Daisies" not on iTunes, or Youtube, or for that matter, anywhere?

I don't want to download them, just watch!
I can't help but not trust the ABC site viewer, especially when it asks to download plug-ins on my computer. Can anyone tell me if they're worth trusting? Or should I wait for the DVD? I'm very paranoid about downloading stuff I can't find anything out about. Help please!

posted by photomusic86 to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

The ABC video whatsit is totally fine. It's a little buggy on firefox still, so I sucked it up and blew the dust off of my internet explorer shortcut.

But I've been using it since...oh, February or so? And nothing bad has happened.
posted by phunniemee at 6:54 PM on July 31, 2008

You can't find anything out about the American Broadcasting Company? I think it's a legit operation. Anecdotally, I've watched a lot of LOST on that site - and (for my computer anyhow) it doesn't work with firefox, but it works beautifully with explorer.
posted by moxiedoll at 6:55 PM on July 31, 2008

I'd trust ABC's flash plugin a whole lot farther than I'd trust iTunes.
posted by sinfony at 7:02 PM on July 31, 2008

It's not on Itunes because ABC would rather put it on ABC.com and earn ad revenue that way.

ABC.COM is completely safe but if you'd rather wait it will be available on DVD / Blu Ray on September 16, 2008.
posted by sharkfu at 7:38 PM on July 31, 2008

I watched the show using the ABC.com viewer. It's totally fine. I didn't have any problems using Firefox either. I haven't had any weird problems with spyware or viruses if that's what you're worried about, and I'm pretty vigilant about that sort of thing. My computer has never crashed because of it (using Windows XP). I hope this helps allay your fears, and if it doesn't, I think the DVDs are on sale on Amazon for $19.
posted by bluefly at 7:47 PM on July 31, 2008

i watch stuff on ABC.com all the time, it's fine....
posted by BlackStrapMolasses at 8:55 PM on July 31, 2008

They definitely have it on the ABC website.
posted by dunkadunc at 9:03 PM on July 31, 2008

Since you didn't say which OS and several people have mentioned Windows, I can vouch that ABC's streaming video works on OSX. It seems to go better in Safari than Firefox.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:26 AM on August 1, 2008

Response by poster: This is all well and good, but it still doesn't tell me why it's not on iTunes when most of ABC's programing is... Youtube I can understand, considering the major corp.s making a big deal out of it. And I can't imagine it being only ad revenue, since all the rest of their shows are there...
posted by photomusic86 at 9:12 PM on August 2, 2008

Best answer: In the TV world there are the networks that air the shows and the studios that develop the shows, which are separate entities. A lot of times you get shows that are produced by a studio and aired on their same network (so NBC Universal the studio makes a show that airs on NBC the network) but studios can also produce shows that air on different networks (example: Scrubs was an ABC Touchstone show that aired on NBC most likely because ABC Network passed on the idea and the creator was free to try to sell it to other networks).

In Pushing Daisies case it airs on ABC but the studio is Warner Brothers TV. Up until now I believe only the ABC Touchstone shows that air on ABC are available in itunes. It seems WB TV has a slightly different digital distribution deal which might involve itunes in the future:

ABC Entertainment has struck an elaborate two-year deal with Warner Bros. TV Group for online distribution of the four Warner-produced shows that the network will air this season. Under it, viewers will be able to watch episodes of Pushing Daisies, Men in Trees, Notes From the Underbelly and Big Shots as streaming video for up to four weeks after each episode is broadcast. ABC will insert commercials in the episodes, none of which can be saved on their computers. The network will also retain all revenue from the webcasts. The following year they will be made available for permanent downloading and also on DVD, with Warner Home Video retaining the revenue from sales. In an interview with Daily Variety, Warner Bros. TV Executive Vice President Craig Hunegs said that the programs could also wind up being offered via Apple's iTunes Music Store. "The nice part of this deal is that it gives us the opportunity to be a part of just about any online platform," he said.
posted by sharkfu at 2:42 AM on August 3, 2008