Dear Bryan Fuller,

Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I'm so immensely sad after finishing the first new Pushing Daisies since December. Everything about this show was so perfect that I'm just distraught all over again at its cancellation.

Kristin Chenoweth singing Lionel Richie's "Hello" was simply heaven. The forthcoming comic book series courtesy of DC Comics will be a great way to finish up the remaining storylines, but they just won't be the same without the brilliant musical numbers.

Chi McBride, Anna Friel, Swoozie Kurtz, Ellen Greene, Lee Pace and the aforementioned Chenoweth will all be sorely missed when this three-episode reprieve is up. Nothing on television has brought such joy into the living room of my home as this little wonder. I will probably have to scoop up the DVDs when they're released in July only so that I can enjoy this show over and over.

Your mind is a wonder, Mr. Fuller. And while I'd ultimately rather this show went on, I'm glad that Heroes will benefit from your personal loss. Rest assured, fans are mourning with the same passion that you are, because you've made Ned, Chuck and the whole gang feel like our strange little family.

When these remaining episodes are gone, the most unique procedural on network television will go with it. Never before have I believed so truly that it was better to have loved and lost and never to have loved at all. And with the DVDs, I can just go on loving, even if ABC broke my heart.

Unable to laugh without crying,

Patrick James

Dear Dragonball: Evolution,

Don't listen to the reviews. I did, and they're pretty rough.

I'm not the kind of fanboy who ever spent any great deal of time digging into the anime classics (the original, Z, or GT). I knew people who loved them, but never really invested the time required to get involved in the stories.

That said, I liked the movie for the most part. It told a pretty straight-forward story that was easily understood, at least as far as Goku was concerned. This is where my personal problem with the movie comes in though. While Goku's story seemed clear enough, Piccolo's was shrouded in mystery that only left me frustrated and, ultimately, with too many questions.

Why was he seeking the dragonballs? My wife told me later that he wanted to be younger, but that doesn't really add up when the prosthetics didn't make him look anywhere near his 2000+ year age. In fact, James's Marsters and the massive plastic chest plate he wore looked quite healthy and invigorated.

Also, how did he escape from the center of the earth, or wherever it was he was being contained by the spell? Surely the magic didn't just wear off. And while the "blood moon" sounds special, it didn't really seem like anything but another eclipse, of which I feel certain there were several during the time he spent trapped. Hell, if you'd watch Heroes, you'd know they come every couple of years and can be seen everywhere on the planet. Duh!

What's that? Solar eclipses aren't quite that common, or globe-encompassing? Well, color me more informed than writers room for Heroes.

But back on task, for all the work that Piccolo actually did in the movie, he wasn't much of a threat. Heck, I may as well have been watching the Fantastic Four get attacked by the Galactus-cloud of doom. His little henchwoman did all the work, while he floated around looking like his lunch wasn't sitting well.

Remember though, I went in basically blind. Then again, maybe that's also why I didn't buy the Bulma/Goofy Asian Dude romance. It kinda came out of nowhere (and that's a problem for a 90 minute runtime). At the very least, I could have used a horrible rom-com montage of clips of them riding tandem bikes and sharing an ice cream cone to the tune of "So Happy Together."

But no. Instead, I got random making out. Making out plus 30% of nothing does not make me want to stick around when the world, and more importantly my life, is being threatened. And I'm not even a generic comedic sidekick...er, I mean thief with a heart of gold. And just saying, but one prototypical character subbed out for another still doesn't make him feel like a unique character that wasn't just conceived during a game of Dungeons and Dragons.

Now, as I said, I enjoyed the movie. I just wished you'd pulled all the elements together a little better. Of course, that's assuming there's more to pull from within the source material. But I just can't believe Dragonball lore would be so popular in the first place if this is all there was.

Harsher than I intended,

Patrick James

Dear Heroes,

When is the last time you've seen a geek? Really, I know that you go to conventions and promote your show in various ways that would require you to meet your audience and perhaps even a comic book shop employee here and there. Let me assure you, in case you are all blind, they do not look like this.



While I can appreciate the need to cast attractive people on TV, I think it's a little absurd that this guy even my wife thinks is hot was cast as a LCS worker (that's "Local Comic Shop for those not in the know). Especially because he was then required to be shot without a shirt on, thereby emphasizing his hotness (something devoid of the average LCS outside of the books themselves).

Also, how about we not use him to tie another love story down to Claire? Does no one remember the West Debacle of season 2? Rest assured in your writers room that we do, and we have not forgiven. The only love story we're interested in seeing between Claire and her uncle (in fact, strike that one too, and teach the actors not to give googly eyes to each other; they're related, for God's sake!).

So, while I hope for the best for Aqualad and his useless power, I'm sure he only serves as cannon fodder to shore up some future doubt Claire might have about being a hero or fighting the good fight, or blah blah blah. It's all basically the same story over and over again with a few recasts each time, but hey, that's one of the things people like about their comics (and comics-related TV) in the first place.

In summation, ditch the love story, fry the fish, and the next time cast someone working at a comic book shop, which I'm sure will be soon, since we've featured them heavily of late, try avoiding someone with a six-pack. It just stretches the imagination too far.

Realistically,

Patrick James