ABC Delays End of Daisies, Eli and Dirty Sexy Money

Final episodes won't air until June at the earliest.

Dying to know where the Piemaker and his beloved Charlotte Charles will end up when Pushing Daisies comes to a close?

Join the club! But apparently ABC is in no hurry to give the fans closure.

Sources close to the Alphabet network tell me exclusively that the remaining episodes for Daisies will not air until—wait for it, ‘cause you're gonna have to—this summer.

And that's not all. It's the same case for those two other much-loved but recently canceled ABC series: Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Money.

Yes, word is Daisies' final three episodes and Eli and DSM's final four won't air until June at the earliest.

According to insiders, the original plan was for the final three episodes of Daisies to begin airing last Wednesday, but ABC decided to air reruns of Scrubs instead.

And what you really won't want to hear is...

There's actually a pretty solid reason—from a business standpoint, at least—for ABC to delay the airing of these final episodes.

Though we all know Daisies, Eli and DSM are three of the best-produced series currently on television, the sad truth is that the programming ABC has plugged into those three timeslots (Wednesdays at 8, Tuesdays at 10 and Wednesdays at 10, respectively) have fared as well or better in the ratings. Even lame specials and reruns.

While Eli's last-aired epside on Dec. 30 pulled in about 3.8 million viewers, a candid-camera special called "What Would You Do?" got an audience of about 7 million in the same time slot on Jan. 6 and Scrubs got  6.7 million on Tuesday...up against American Idol.

On Dec. 17, Daisies' and DSM's final airings pulled in 4.6 million and 5.1 million respectively. Last Wednesday, a Barbara Walters special scored an audience of more than 12 million. And last night, reruns of Lost got similar numbers with an average of 4.5 million.

So while it's outrageous and (heartbreaking!) to have to wait six months to see the conclusion to these fan favorites, the question remains: Who is at fault? ABC or the American viewing public for not giving these shows a real shot in the first place? Personally, I'm just disappointed all the way around. Sound off below...