Pushing Daises is the over the top story of the Pie Maker and his bizarre gift to reanimate the dead. This Tim Burtonesque show is filled with odd characters and bold colors that are very reminiscence of the great French film Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain. There are a lot of reds and greens in Pushing Daisies-and there is a brilliant voice over filling in the many gaps in the story.
The basic plotline of Pushing Daises is that The Pie Maker has teamed up with Emerson Cod, P.I. and together they solve crimes. This is made somewhere easier by the fact that The Pie Maker can bring the victims briefly back to life to tell what happened to them.
Among the countless plot complications in Pushing Daises is the fact that The Pie Maker’s one true love has died and he has brought her back to life-which means he can never touch her again. Pushing Daises is also the master of the red herring. The fun of any Who Done It is figuring out Who Done It-and Pushing Daises is brilliant at letting you leap to the wrong conclusion about the murderer.
Season 2 of Pushing Daisies has been fun, as we have met Emerson Cod’s cranky mother, spent some time in a very odd Convent, discovered yet more secrets about The Pie Maker’s one true love, and learned a bit more about The Pie Makers powers. There are rules about the Pie Makers gift of reanimation. One touch brings a dead thing back to life, if that dead thing is not touch again in two minutes-something else dies, and a second touch kills it permanently.
With this odd time limits in place, I kind of assumed that there was a time limit on bringing the dead back to life as well. Not so. The Pie Maker brought back a football player who had been dead for twenty or so years. During the same episode The Pie Maker announces that he is a Vegetarian-as a sick look crosses his face. So now I have to wonder-did the Pie Maker bring a Big Mac or a Bucket of KFC back to life when he was a child? The Wife wonders if he wears leather shoes or belts. What happens if he touches a fur coat or a solid oak desk? Bringing dead things back to life is an interesting plot device, but turning The Pie Maker into a King Midas of the Undead leads to a world of reanimated horrors of all types.
Pushing Daises, like most fantastic shows, doesn’t offer a lot of logical reasons for why The Pie Maker is the way he is. But once established, it is perfectly reasonable to suppose that being a private investigator would be a good use of his skills. The fact that there is not a time limit on his reanimation brings forth all kinds of other possibilities. Raise Mozart and get more great music, raise Van Gogh and get more great paintings, raise Groucho and get more great jokes.
In addition to Pushing Daisies, Bryan Fuller made two of my all time favorite off the wall shows, Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me. In a recent episode the Pie Maker pretended to be a Temp from Happy Time Temporary Services-where George, the hero of Dead Like Me worked.
I love Pushing Daisies. It so refreshing to see something that isn't a crime drama, sex romp, or CSI or Law & Order spinoff. Also, it s hows that everything doesn't have to be dark and brooding. Belivev it or not, everyone doesn
t want to see dark shows.
It makes me sad to ehar that it's not doing so well in the raitngs, but the season is still young.
Not real sure why ABC didn't show reruns over the summer, though. Guess they felt that crappy reality shows were more important.
It is a fun and silly show. I also agree that is seems there are a few too many CSIs and Law&Orders out there.
I think Pushing Daisies may be suffering from the usual second season identity crisis. The first season had people wondering what was going on. Now people know what is going on and have to decide if they want to see it any more.
I think it was in part due to the Writers Strike, you don't have to pay writers for shows that aren't written.