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What’s it called?
“Frescorts.”
Who’s responsible?
Teleplay is credited to Lisa Joy (“Corpsicle”).
What says ABC?
“When the most popular escort at a rent-a-friend agency turns up dead, the team investigates who killed him, including likely suspect Randy Mann (guest star David Arquette), the guy's antisocial, taxidermy-loving roommate. Meanwhile, Emerson's famed private investigator mom, Calista Cod (guest star Debra Mooney), pays an unexpected visit. Guest starring in "Frescorts" are Debra Mooney as Calista Cod, Steven Wash Jr. as Young Emerson, Hayes MacArthur as Buddy, Dana Davis as Barb, David Arquette as Randy Mann, Joshua Lebar as Joe, Alexandra Barreto as Veronica Villanueva and Phil Abrams as Dr. Eugene Halifax.”
Debra Mooney is the old white woman who played motorbike-loving Edna Harper on “Everwood”! Adoptive or biological?
“I gave you breath,” she reminds her spawn at key juncture.
Does Dana Davis, who played K-Ville Krimefighter Monica on “Heroes” last season, play Emerson’s estranged daughter?
The Cod kid is seven. Davis’ character, Barb, works for Frescorts. (And the adorable Davis demonstrates she was wasted on “Heroes” last season.)
Frescorts is a front for prostitution, right?
The truth is far darker.
Do they serve Fresca at Frescorts?
What?
What constitutes the taxidermist’s funnest work?
As befitting the Daisiesverse, Randy Mann’s taxidermy is considerably less conventional than Norman Bates’.
What’s doing with the whiter regulars?
Chuck is adjusting to the news of her parentage. Ned finds himself jealous of Chuck’s growing friendship with Olive. Olive, back in minidresses, cavorts with her new porcine pal Pigby.
What of the aunts? Er, the sisters. Lily and Vivian.
Wholly absent this week.
The big news?
Chuck and Olive: roomies.
What else is ABC not telling us?
Emerson and his mother, unlike Emerson and his daughter, are not estranged. The pair appear so tight one wonders why they split up the partnership.
Does Ned’s dad return?
He does not.
Emerson’s daughter?
Nope.
What’s great?
The Adventures of Cod & Cod. Barb. Olive, Chuck and a surprisingly roomy locker. The mixer. The family-hour nudity. The name Buddy Amicus. The CGI jockstraps. Emerson at the bat. “Oh ho ho, hell no, hell no!!”
What’s not so great?
The ratings. On Showtime “Daisies” would be the channel’s biggest hit ever, but on ABC it’s losing to crap like “Old Christine” and “Knight Rider.” (Maybe with “Bones” taking this week off, the piemaker can garner a little more heat.)
How does it end, spoiler-boy?
With a new window on the Chuck-Ned relationship.
“L-Prime” says:
What is it called?
“Frescorts.”
Who hath wrought it?
Words by Lisa Joy, someone and someone else, from Lisa Joy's story, pretty pictures by Peter Lauer.
What says the TV Guide?
“A popular escort at a friend-for-hire outfit is killed, and the team suspects the murderer may have been his socially awkward roommate (David Arquette). Meanwhile, Emerson gets a surprise visit from his mother (Debra Mooney), who's also a private investigator.”
David Arquette? Really, him?
He's actually quite enjoyable as a mystery cog who could turn into a friend for Ned, someone who shares an awkwardness and an unusual, death-related skill. And someone who shares Ned's fondness for Golden Retrievers who have died.
Any big goings on with Ned or Chuck's parentals?
No sign of Mr. Piemaker this week yet again, nor do we see Auntmother Lily or Just-plain-aunt Vivian this week.
Anything else big and recurring come up?
More of a focus on the familial concerns of one Emerson Cod this week, where we meet his smart-alecky (and quite Caucasian) PI mother. Chip off the old, don't you know. Debra Mooney is especially good.
Does this at all impact Emerson's search for his missing daughter?
It may.
Living arrangements?
Olive and Chuck encounter a bit of friction in their situation.
What's good?
“... a pursuit young emerson found 'badass'”; 'Cod and Cod' in general; “What's her name?” “Piemaker.”; “Giving him the stab-stab make you feel good?”; “I like that...”; Kitty Pimms and Patty Boots; “Most mothers would call that splitting hairs.”; “My heezy ain't none of y'all's beezy.”; “Damn, that's shrewd woman.”; “The only place my relentless positivity and encyclopedic knowledge of hair braiding was appreciated.”; “This ain't Thermopylae High.”; a message on a football; “Goodbye, friend.”; “Selfishly, I want to duvet you right this second.”
What's not so?
I worry that all this parrying back and forth in the dalliance between the Piemaker and Chuck, though of course intrinsic to the tension and whimsy of the show, is getting bogged down in empty logistics (the moves in and out) and is threatening to become cloying and uninteresting, eschewing the actual meat of the relationship. That may have been remedied, however, by...
How it ends?
A duvet is loosed to the floor. The Piemaker gasps.
How good?
Out of five? Fourish, I'd say. As mentioned, some of the matters at the heart of the story were threatening to become a tad stale, but we may have turned a corner. And the mysteries this year, with this one no exception, are finally starting to blend in with the main story a little better, if not getting out of the way entirely.
8 p.m. Wednesday. ABC.
“The Greatest American Hero” for $11/Season?? The new Two-For-One TV-On DVD Sale makes such a thing feasible.
The same sale allows one to pick up both animated Hellboy movies for $5.25/Each!!
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