THMGHTD ETJ - Are you still having trouble with QLColorCode? If you gave up on it maybe it's worth giving another shot with the update (or two) since then. I have it installed and cringe at the idea of going without...
If the latest version still doesn't work, I wonder if it's a permissions thing? I'm pretty sure the problem you described means the qlmanager is registering QLColorCode just fine (so QLCC is now in charge of .txt and .py previews, among others), but the plugin itself isn't "firing" or returning any usable results.
Or maybe you've long-since solved the problem. If so, moving on...
(Version 2.0.2)