Love Your Television

I swore that I wasn't going to get hooked on any new shows this season, and I was also going to drop "Lost" from my tv line up. So I was down to "Heroes" on Monday and "Gray's Anatomy" (with "Ugly Betty" as lead in if I didn't have anything else to do) on Thursday with "Masterpiece Theater/Mystery!" on Sunday nights as my "must sees". Fortunately for me, I checked out "Pushing Daisies" last week, and, after viewing last night's episode, I am utterly hooked.

This is my new "Veronica Mars". The premise of the story, for those of you who haven't seen the show yet, is that mild mannered pie shop owner Ned has a special gift. With one touch, he can bring something dead back to life. However, the next time he touches the thing, it is dead for good. (The gift has another hitch. If Ned returns something to life for longer than one minute, something else has to die in its place.) Using his special power, Ned teams up with private investigator Emerson (Chi McBride from "Boston Public") to solve murder cases for the reward. In the first episode, Ned brings back his childhood sweetheart, "Chuck" (Anna Friel!!), who has been killed while on a cruise* so that they can solve her murder and claim the $50,000 reward. Ned decides to keep Chuck alive, much to Emerson's disapproval, and Chuck joins the two in their crime solving. Add to that, Ned and Chuck are falling in love and never can touch again without Chuck dying for good.

Okay, so the plot is a little bit out there. It really is all about these wonderful characters, who really are "characters". They are quirky and sweet and funny, and the writing is really clever. PI Emerson knits when he is stressed! Chuck's maiden aunts (Swoozie Kurtz and Ellen Greene) have a refrigerator filled with all sorts of gourmet cheese! Olive (Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth,) who works with Ned and harbors a big crush on the pie maker, bursts into song when her heart is full! As a child, Ned accidentally killed Chuck's dad! And Jim Dale is the narrator!

The style of the show, especially the colors of the costumes and the sets, is very "Amelie meets Edward Scissorhands." The show is just alive with color (something that won me over right off the bat.) The cast is really talented and does a great job preventing the material from being too over the top. Despite the show's premise, the way the story is played, everything is completely believable. The comparison that I keep reading is a "fairytale," and I actually don't think that comparison is too far off. There is something "Princess Bride" or "Stardust"y about the feel of the story, the way that it is told. But like those two films, "Pushing Daisies" is a smart fairy tale, which is another part of its appeal.

Of course, now that I love this show, it will be canceled.** But before it is, I really recommend that people check it out. It is incredibly good and makes me fill all warm and happy inside.


* ANOTHER reason not to take a cruise.
** Seriously, I love a show; it gets canceled. RIP "Veronica Mars"