Greetings,
As much as I hate a really good show only getting one season, sometimes it's almost worse when we get only two. I can only speak for myself, of course, but when I come across an amazing show, I often spend the whole first season worried that it might not get picked up. But once I get a second season, I ease into things, because I have been lured into a sense of security. Sometimes it's a false sense of security, because that second season ends up being the last. Such was the case with the wonderful, and much too short-lived show I want to talk about today, Pushing Daisies.
If someone asked me to describe television these days in one word, I'm pretty sure it would be 'unoriginal'. At least, for the most part. In fact, when I first saw Pushing Daisies, I thought, "Wow, this is a very, very good show. How did this make it to television?" Not only was the concept original, but so was the look and the style of it. I would be hard pressed to think of a television show that was more beautiful looking than this one. We'll get more in to those things later, but, first, let's discuss plot and characters and whatnot, particularly that which revolves around the pilot.
Pushing Daisies is all about a guy named Ned played by Lee Pace. Yeah. Can I just say how much I absolutely love this guy? He was, in a word, perfect for this role. So Ned is a pie-maker, and they won't let you forget that...EVER! Seriously, though, there is actually a voice over narration for the show, done by Jim Dale, and, in that, Ned is always called The Pie Maker. Plus, he owns a pie shop called The Pie Hole, and it's shaped like a giant pie. A dream come true, indeed. Now, whilst I personally believe that any man who can make delicious pies is super special, Ned is special for another reason as well. He can bring people back from the dead. No, really, that's the main plot point of the show.
Let me explain that in more specific detail. Ned has this gift wherein he can bring someone or something dead back to life with a single touch. He learns this as a child when he brings back his dog, Digby, after he's hit by a truck. Later, when his mother dies of an aneurysm, he brings her back to life, too. But, of course, there is a catch to this. A couple of them, actually. First thing, when he touches someone, they do come to life, but if he touches them again, they stay dead forever. Ned figures this out when, after he revives his mother, she kisses him goodnight, and then drops dead. The other thing is that, if someone he brings back to life stays that way for more than a minute, someone else must die in their place. It's a balance of the universe thing, I wager. Ned doesn't know this when he brings back his mother, thus, causing the death of the father of his childhood sweetheart, Charlotte "Chuck" Charles. Oh, the irony. After these tragic events, Ned is sent off to boarding school, Chuck gets sent off to live with her aunts, and that is the last time he sees her alive...traditionally speaking. Some of you can probably see where this is going. Come to think of it, I should tell you to get used to seeing them, especially Ned, as children, since every episode begins with that.
As it happens, decades later, Chuck, now played by Anna Friel, is murdered and Ned revives her, but he can't bring himself to put her back to sleep, despite knowing it will cost someone else their life. Calm down, though, it was a criminal who died. So it's all good. And this is basically the running thing for Ned and Chuck throughout the series. They are very much in love, but they can never touch. It's that aspect that makes it all sweet, yet heartbreaking. Still, even with this slightly morbid theme and almost tragic love story, this show is pretty much a comedy. And that part is greatly helped by the supporting cast.
Let's start with Chi McBride who plays Emerson Cod, a private investigator who discovers Ned's secret and talks him into working with him. Basically, he wants Ned to bring back murdered people so he can solve the cases and collect the reward money. Is it wrong that there's a tiny part of me that finds no problem with this? Actually, their working together on cases like this is what leads Ned to finding Chuck. Anyway, I guess we could call Emerson the downer of the group. He's never in an especially good mood, and he gets easily annoyed at, well, everybody. He really has issues with Chuck in the beginning, even nicknaming her Dead Girl, and to be fair, she was a bit annoying at times. Seriously, Chuck, we're trying to find out who the killer is, not find out if the victim has any last words for his goldfish. But speaking of those Emerson finds annoying, enter Olive Snook played by Kristin Chenowith. Olive plays a waitress at the Pie Hole who is in love with Ned, which causes tension, obviously, when Chuck shows up. And she breaks into song a lot for some reason. All I can say is the character they created was very well suited to a show like this.
And just so we don't forget how eccentric every last molecule in this world is, let's talk about Chuck's aunts, Vivian and Lily, played brilliantly by Ellen Greene and Swoosie Kurtz. Yeah, these two were something else. They are both agoraphobic and understandably very distraught by the death of their niece, which they don't know has been negated. They are also a former synchronized swimming duo. Of course, they are.
Besides the core cast, we also were entertained by a slew of fantastic guests stars. We got Missi Pyle, Wendie Malick, Fred Willard and Joel McHale, just to name a few. And they all dove right in to the craziness of this world, which made for some memorable performances.
So there you have the characters and basic plot, which made this all very appealing. But there was one more thing, as I mentioned, that contributed to the success. That would be the look. I wasn't kidding when I said this show looked beautiful, and if you've seen it, you'll know exactly what I mean. It's very stylized, which can be a not good thing if it's not done well, but it is done extremely well here. The colors are bright and gorgeous, it's lit wonderfully. The best way to put it is that this looks like moving artwork. It's a feast for the eyes. Hey, that goes really well with the pie thing! Clever.
So you may be wondering why, if this show was so overwhelmingly good, was it cancelled? Well, as we all know, the quality of a series often has little to do with its success. Still, it's not as if Pushing Daisies was strictly a fan favorite. It did get a lot of critical acclaim, getting nominated for seventeen Emmys and winning seven. Not that I always trust the judgement of such, but they got it right here. But there were a few specific reasons why this show didn't make it too far. First and foremost, it was the Writer's Strike. A lot of show suffered due to that, and Pushing Daisies happened to be one of them. Also, some people felt as though the premise of the show could, or did, get old after a while. I don't get that mentality. I mean, were they trying to say the show was formulaic? Because it wasn't. Even if it was, so what? A show can be formulaic at the root, but it can still be very good. Look at Law and Order. And the whole "they can't touch" thing was brought up a lot, but that was rarely the center plot of any episode. The episode plots, most of the time, were the group trying to catch criminals and/or killers, and that was different every time. Very creatively different, if I might add. So, yeah, I just don't get it. I'm holding fast to my theory that it was just too wonderful to survive.
Now Pushing Daisies is a series that, to this day, has a very loyal fan base, myself included. And, even over four years after cancellation, there is still hope for some kind of way to revive it. I've heard talk of books, graphic novels, a film, a miniseries or the ever popular Broadway musical. Despite the infuriating way that Broadway will turn ANYTHING into a musical, having a show based on Pushing Daisies would actually make sense, especially when you think about how much music played a major role in the series. Frankly, we hardcore fans will take anything we can get at this point.
Here's the good news, though. Despite the fact that we only got two short seasons of Pushing Daisies, you can get them all on DVD. And more good news for those of who have never seen it but may be interested, the people who made this show were kind enough to give us a decent, 'wrapping things up' ending. We got good closure for the characters, though it was the kind that let you know they were moving on to a new chapter in their lives, but no ridiculous cliffhanger that will never be resolved. This is why something like this could lend itself well to comics or novelizations or something. Whilst they didn't leave any severely loose ends, you can easily see how more stories can be told with these characters. And I welcome that. So I say check it out if you can. I'm not saying it's for everybody, but it's worth everybody at least giving it a chance.
And P.S. If the people who own this whole concept do intend to do a musical, and if they're reading this, may I just say that I am open to getting a job where I can share my lyrical gifts.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
