I made the trek uptown this weekend for the third annual New York Television Festival, and while I was happy to catch critics Matt Rouse, Alan Sepinwall and Tara Ariano speak at a panel on TV Criticism in the blogosphere, my primary impetus was Pushing Daisies. Having already watched the pilot too many times to admit without shame, I was there for the Q&A and a little time basking in the glory of super-brain Bryan Fuller. PD has already garnered so much coverage that the Q&A didn’t offer much in the way of news. What we did learn though is that Fuller & co are hard at work at writing other, non-Lee Pace, Wonderfalls veterans into the new series. This is exciting on so many levels - almost as exciting as the fact that the audience collectively creamed their pants for the show. You would have thought they’d just seen the perfect summer blockbuster from all of the applause. Worries that PD might not find an audience are dissolving quicker each day. Ever the intrepid journalist… I forgot my digi-recorder, and my camera batteries died en route, so I have no fun content to offer; others were thankfully vigilant.

NYTVF isn’t about big premieres though, so network presence was at a minimum. I only got a chance to see a few of the independent pilots - one of which, Redeeming Rainbow, was the funniest thing I can recall seeing in a long time. The story of two friends in Jersey City who sublet their apartment’s third bedroom to a rainbow, the show is filmed mockumentary style and features a CGI rainbow that loves rice cakes and reproduces asexually. If that doesn’t sound awesome to you, I don’t know what you’re doing here.

Rainbow’s life is hard. He doesn’t get along with one of his roommates, the mayor of Jersey City wants him deported and his babies keep dying. He sounds a lot like the talking towel from South Park, but the humor is much fresher. The busiest woman alive, Kirsten Schaal (seen above watching videos of “baby faces” with Rainbow), even makes a cameo as his creepy, nameless friend. There is no show Schaal can’t make funnier, no day she can’t brighten. The entire pilot is online, and all four parts are embedded on the series’ official blog. I suggest you head that way right now.

Redeeming Rainbow screened with Mild Mannered - a fun geek-comedy that could probably make a go of it if it wasn’t on the heels of similar, slicker and, well, much better network offerings like Reaper and Chuck. I also had time to see two dramas. Dear Harvard (the festival’s big winner) is an earnest high school drama (with a ridiculously young cast) that could easily make its way to The N or ABC Family. The Band, however, probably should never see the light of day again. A college drama about a Christian punk band balancing love, “volunteer work” and rocking out sounds like it would be ripe with parody, but it was painfully sincere. Pardon the blasphemy, but it was also poorly written, acted and executed.