Pushing Daisies: Bringing Primetime Back to Life

October 3rd, 2007

Okay…I admit it. I was wrong. Take note – I admit that once every ten years. When I compiled my list of 5 Fall Shows to Keep You’re Eye On I skipped right over Pushing Daisies. Big mistake… HUGE! I had no intention of even tuning in to watch but it happened to come on right after Gossip Girl last night (don’t get me started…I’ll post on that tomorrow) and in the mere seconds it took me to locate my remote (in between couch cushions, natch), I was hooked.

I’m going to go out on a limb and pronounce this pilot as (quite possibly)the best I’ve ever seen.

What’s it about? Well once upon a time, there was an adorable boy named Ned who realized he could touch dead things and bring them back to life. Sounds like a premise that would be hard to pull off, right? Wrong. Ned (the fantastic Lee Pace) grows up to become a baker of amazing looking pies, but on the side works with an investigator (Chi McBride) to solve murder cases (and collect rewards) by asking the temporarily-alive victims (not “zombies”, Ned thinks that sounds wrong) to name their killer(s). But the tale gets twisted, as might be expected, when Ned brings his childhood sweetheart, Chuck (Anna Friel), back to life to solve her murder but then decides to keep her alive. Again seems simple but isn’t…because if he ever touches her again, she’ll go back to being dead, permanently. Talk about unfortunately awkward.

So why is it so good? Excellent question – let me enlighten you with my opinions:

* The cast is fantastic…all talented actors who have been in a ton of stuff so why none of them are household names yet is beyond me
* The writing is witty, touching and smart without venturing into pretentious Aaron Sorkin-esque territory
* The cinematography is so gorgeous it almost takes your breath away
* The background score is perfect
* The show has a narrator who works with the material perfectly…not a copycat voice-over like every other “edgy” show this season…but an honest-to-god storyteller (done by the same guy who reads the Harry Potter books-on-tape, Jim Dale)
* It has an overall “big movie” feel that makes you feel like your watching something special
* It reminds me a bit of something Tim Burton would make (if he was on Prozac or took to knoshing on a sunbeam) – see Big Fish or his original short animated film, Vincent to get an idea of what I mean

But if all my raving hasn’t enticed you – check it out for yourself! The pilot (called “Pie-lette”…awesome) airs again tonight at 8 p.m. on ABC OR you can watch the full episode online.

Watch and let me know what you think!!

Posted on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 at 5:43 pm by Sabrina Jalees and is filed under We <3 TV.