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TV Review

Pushing Daisies

Pushing Daisies
  • Directors: Lawrence Trilling, Adam Kane, Peter O’Fallon, Allan Kroeker, Barry Sonnenfeld, Peter Lauer
  • Year of Release: 2007
  • Actors: Lee Pace, Anna Friel, Chi McBride, Jim Dale, Ellen Greene, Swoosie Kurtz, Kristin Chenoweth.
  • Genre: Romance, Mystery, Fantasy,
  • Country of Origin: USA

Pushing daisies is a show created by Bryan Fuller (Of “Dead Like me” fame.) that was first broadcast in September 2007 and got a fan following after it was “leaked” onto bit torrent networks a few months beforehand that was canceled back in December in its second season on ABC.

It is about a pie maker called Ned who has the ability to bring dead things back to life with a simple touch and make them dead again with another. The problem is that if they stay alive for more than 1 minute something else has to die.

At the start of the series private Detective Emerson Cod finds out about Ned’s gift and decides to turn it into a money making opportunity because murders are easier to solve if you can talk to the victim. Unfortunately the first murder we get to see in the series is of Ned’s childhood sweetheart Charlotte “Chuck” Charles. Ned still madly in love with her gives her a second chance at life.

The world it is set in is bright colourful world full of strange and unusual people and places. Chuck’s aunts Lily and Vivian a swimming group “The Darling Mermaids, Mermaid Darlings.”. Emerson Cod knits himself “Gun Cozies”, Ned and Chuck trying to have emotional contact with each other without physically touching each other. the characters are all lovely and have their own quirks, problems and secrets that get revealed through out the series making you care for them. Even the one shot characters are nice from the sewer dwelling olfactician (scientist of smell) to the polygamist Dog Breeder.

The show is done with a Narration that sounds very lighthearted and makes me think of The narration of hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy entries but with him telling you how long someone has been alive down to the minute and explaining Character backgrounds and how they died. The to the minute time is used a bit too much about five times in the first episode and two or three in later episodes.

Pushing Daisies

The Story is where things are interesting but unfortunately this is why the show failed to maintain viewer ship in America causing it to be canceled. There are three main story threads running through the two seasons. The first the “murder-of-the-week” story that would put off some viewers since most of the time you are seeing the murder victim complete with all the injuries caused to him or her.

The second is the love triangle between Ned, Chuck and Olive the waitress who works in Ned’s restaurant “The Pie Hole” Olive has been in love with Ned for years and Ned has never noticed always thinking about his childhood sweetheart Chuck, When chuck comes back into Ned’s life this makes olive jealous. Meanwhile since Ned and Chuck can not touch this makes chuck nervous that Ned will leave her. This story problem is that it is very slow to progress through out the first season.

The third story and the one that I think put the most of the General public off is the one of Ned’s childhood. At the start of the first episode you see Ned’s mother die and his Father abandon him at a boarding school, through out the series there is flashbacks to his time there and his depressing childhood there. This is a great way to show you his back story and why Ned is very emotionally aloof as a character. Unfortunately it is also not something the general public want to watch.

To me this was a great series like Fuller’s “Dead Like Me” that was fun light hearted but not afraid to be dark at times. But also like “Dead Like Me” was cancelled due to the general public not seeing its charm. Good news is that like “Dead Like Me” we will hopefully see a movie to close up the loose ends left off at the end of season 2.

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About The Author

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A 23 year old accountant, that watches too much television and always sees the good in anything he watches. While not watching television he spends his time playing board and roleplaying games in gaming societies in the North East of England.

Article Information

  • Posted: Friday, January 23rd, 2009
  • Author: Shaded Spriter
  • Filed Under: Review,TV
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments

2 Responses to “Pushing Daisies”
  1. avatar Bruce Moyle says:

    I only started watching this show before Christmas and really love the look and feel of it. It’s sort of like Amelie in it’s dream-like story telling.

    I really need to sit down and finish watching it, even thou it is canceled.

    Dead Like Me is also awesome.

    January 23, 2009 at 8:25 am
  2. avatar Q-Dog says:

    loved dead like me, loved wonderfalls, why does canada produce such cool shows that insist on getting really short runs… damn you canada!!!!

    January 23, 2009 at 9:40 am

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