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Each fall, new TV shows make their way to the air, trying to lure viewers with the promise of something different—something that no other TV show is doing. But nothing on TV right now can come close to being as different as ABC’s Pushing Daisies.
Pushing Daisies is a colorful fairy tale about a sweet, lonely pie maker named Ned (Lee Pace). As a boy of nine, young Ned (Field Cate) discovered that he had an unusual power to bring the dead back to life with just a touch. Unfortunately, though, his power came with a couple of catches. First, if he touches the same person (or other living thing) again, it’ll go back to being dead—this time, forever. And, second, if he doesn’t touch the previously-living thing again in less than a minute, something else has to die in its place.
Now, grown-up Ned runs The Pie Hole—but he also has a lucrative side job, working with Emerson Cod (Chi McBride), a PI who discovered Ned’s gift and saw its money-making potential. It’s all pretty simple, really. A dead person’s family hires them to investigate a suspicious death. Ned then wakes up the deceased and asks what happened—and, within a minute, he’s got the answers that he and Emerson need to close the case and put the guilty party behind bars.
But things get complicated when Ned’s sent to look into the mysterious death of Charlotte (“Chuck”) Charles (Anna Friel), his childhood friend (and the love of his life). When Chuck’s minute is up, Ned can’t bring himself to make her dead again—so he doesn’t.
Chuck’s return from the dead brings about all kinds of complications—with Emerson, with Chuck’s two reclusive aunts who miss her dearly, and with Olive Snook (Kristin Chenoweth), the Pie Hole waitress who’s madly in love with Ned. And, of course, there’s that whole matter of not being able to touch the woman he still loves.
Pushing Daisies is a truly original television series. It’s offbeat and highly stylized, with a bright and colorful retro feel that almost looks like something taken straight from the pages of an old comic book. The characters are all wonderfully quirky, too. And though Pace and Friel are adorable as the main characters, McBride and Chenoweth have plenty of screen time as well—and they’re both absolutely brilliant (and hilarious) in their supporting roles. Swoosie Kurtz (sporting a bejeweled eye patch) and Ellen Greene also stand out as Chuck’s synchronized-swimming aunts—whose spirits Chuck tries to raise by secretly sending them pies laced with homeopathic anti-depressants.
Though the subject matter may seem a bit morbid, there’s nothing especially dark and depressing about this unique series. Each episode (most of which can, for the most part, stand on their own) is certainly morbidly funny, but there’s also something sweet and weirdly romantic about it all—especially as Ned and Chuck try to work through the obstacles in their unusual relationship.
With its stunning cinematography and vibrant color, its snappy pacing and clever dialogue, and its cast of lovably odd characters, Pushing Daisies is unlike anything else on TV today. Pick up a copy of the nine-episode first season on DVD (and be sure to check out the plate full of bite-sized extras), and you’ll be eager to pick up where the show left off when it begins its second season this fall.
