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« Roush Dispatch
Daisies Growing On Me Even More!
Anna Friel and Lee Pace in Pushing Daisies by Ron Tom/ABC
Nearly five months passed between the time I got my first look at the miraculous Pushing Daisies pilot and the second episode. It was worth the wait. I am officially in love.
Flashback (I wish I could count back the days, hours, minutes and seconds as precisely as Jim Dale does in his spot-on narration): It’s the week before the network upfronts in May, and I’m in Los Angeles working on the TV Guide Network’s America’s Next Producer show when a studio exec not even associated with Pushing Daisies leaks me a copy of the pilot, which I’d heard was good but had no idea was THIS good. From the moment I saw it, I was enchanted and could only hope that fellow critics and viewers with open minds and open hearts would share my enthusiasm. I was also so satisfied by what I’d seen that I couldn’t help wondering if they’d be able to pull it off on a weekly basis.
Flash to the second week of October, and in brilliant high definition, I watch the second episode of Pushing Daisies unspool in all of its colorfully wacky glory. Not just daisies this week, but dandelions. Dandy indeed. And frogs brought back to life to escape dissection. And refrigerators stuffed with cheese. And a private eye (the hilarious Chi McBride) who knits handgun holders. This show is so fanciful and fun, so exuberantly sweet in spirit even when it completely embraces the macabre (like the room of hanging corpses lying in wait to be disguised as crash-test dummies). And it’s also blissfully romantic.
How great was it to see Kristin Chenoweth exercise her substantial singing chops, lamenting her love for the adorably awkward Ned (Lee Pace) by crooning an after-hours version of “Hopelessly Devoted to You” while twirling around best-undead-dog-ever Digby on the pie-shop floor. And then there’s the rapturous climax of Chuck (the marvelous Anna Friel) and Ned finally sharing a kiss as the Danny Elfman-like score swells. The fact that both are encased in transparent body bags, so no flesh actually touches (because that would send Chuck back to the afterlife), is both beside the point and very much the point.
ABC likes to bill the show as a "forensic fairy tale," emphasizing the procedural as well as fantastical elements of the show. Watching this episode, as our heroes faced a garish (if easy-to-spot) villain who was more funny than frightful, what came to mind was the classic The Avengers. Oh, if only Diana Rigg would do a cameo!
The only thing missing: Chuck's crazy aunts played by Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene. Thankfully, the trailer revealed they’ll return next week. I’ll be there. And like this week, I'll be hoping to be surprised and enchanted all over again. There is nothing else like this show, and I can’t think of a single other new network series that hit it out of the park in its second week the way Pushing Daisies did. There is hope for this fall yet.
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Oct 11, 2007 10:41 AM
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Matt, I had the exact same reaction. I fell in love! I liked and enjoyed the first episode, but I wasn't in love yet. This episode did it to me. You said it all for me. I can't wait for Raul Esparza to show up. I hope he sings with Kristen!
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Oct 11, 2007 11:29 AM
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I completely agree Matt. I love everything about this show and definitely couldn't say it better than you just did.
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Oct 11, 2007 11:48 AM
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I am in 100% agreement. This show is more than a breath of fresh air. It's like, oh I don't know, but it's wonderful.
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Oct 11, 2007 12:01 PM
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I agree totally. I love Pushing Daisies. My only complaint is that I wish they hadn't named her CHUCK. Everytime they say her name I'm looking for CHUCK from CHUCK which I also love. Both shows are so good. It's about time Bryan Fuller was recognized for his shows. I was upset when Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me were cancelled. May these shows be on the air for a good long time.
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Oct 11, 2007 12:13 PM
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On your last “Daisies” Dispatch I had said this show didn’t stand a chance because people wouldn’t get it and they’d be off to find a show with fart jokes. I’m man enough to admit when I’ve been wrong, they didn’t go out and find fart jokes…they went out and found a game show with pretty girls instead.
None the less, Deal or No Deal is now beating Pushing Daisies and I suspect it will only get worse. Why can’t all good shows just go to cable and save us all the stress?
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Oct 11, 2007 12:51 PM
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I most enthusiastically agree. I do see Pushing Daisies as a descendant of the marvelous French film "Amelie" with Audrey Tatou. Same whimsical nature and narrative. There are bits of Six Feet Under, Broadway bright sets and even Dr. Seuss - (Dandelion Car???). An absolute delight in blending these many elements and yet presenting something quite fresh and entertaining. The characters are wonderful and casting Kristin Chenoweth was a masterstroke.
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Oct 11, 2007 12:57 PM
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I agree with you, Matt. This is one of those shows that makes you say "Aw" and sigh after every episode. It's like watching a charming, romantic comedy - complete with a happy ending - every week.
Bravo, ABC!
(Now if they would only make the doctors at Seattle Grace more mature as each season progresses instead of less and make Big Shots, Cavemen, Carpoolers and Private Practice go away...)
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Oct 11, 2007 1:37 PM
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Matt I compelety agree as well. This show is utterly brilliant on all levels. I love it so much and I cant wait to see what's next for this charming magical "Forensic fairytale"! ... also, could I have been happier with Kristin singing "Hopelessly Devoted to You" with the puppy? Priceless!!!
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Oct 11, 2007 2:09 PM
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ThomasC22--I wouldn't write off the ratings just yet. Pushing Daisies still handily beat Deal or No Deal and all other shows in its time slot in the key demos, which is a very good thing.
Matt--I couldn't agree with you more. The hour just flew by last night, and when it was over I realized that (1) I had a smile plastered on my face the entire time, and (2) that I didn't want it to end. I can't believe I'm actually looking forward to Wednesdays now.
Pushing Daisies is a little piece of heaven stuck in the middle of the work week.
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Oct 11, 2007 2:42 PM
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I almost agree. While I love the show, I found that the whimsy factor went up in the second episode, and threatens to overwhelm the characters. What made Bryan Fuller's wonderful Wonderfalls work was that the whimsical elements drove the characters' development. Daisies shows signs of using whimsy for whimsy's sake alone.
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Oct 11, 2007 2:42 PM
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I disagrees. I tried to like it but I find the concept silly. I do like some of the actor/actress in this show.
If ABC wants to promote it as forensic fairy tales, it would probably lost on me.
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Oct 11, 2007 2:55 PM
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Amelie!! That is exactly the feeling I get with this show (and that gives me hope for it because I recently watched Amelie again, for the sole purpose of trying to ignore the subtitles and see if I understood it, I didn't, but didn't have to look at the subtitles as much, but I loved it more the second time around that I was welling up for the last twenty minutes of the movie), I got close to the happy sweet tears last night with the kiss and the hand holding. And I love Kristen Chenoweth and the fact that her song was so natural in the story line, I kept dreading every time she stop that she wouldn't start up again. And I have a strange feeling, just listening to their speaking voices, that the rest of the cast has some singing chops as well and there will those times when the story line almost calls for a song to move it along quickly. And I think was is best about her character is that there is such saddness about her, she might be a bit obsessive, but as we grow to love Ned and that he can't have the human comfort of Chuck's touch and that Olive really does love Ned...I am going to cry here...
Anyway, Chi McBride is amazing and I love everyone else, but here is a weird question...how on earth has Digby never tried to touch Ned? Any dog in my life, including my cousin's dog and my aunt's dog who I don't see much, touch me, so how does that happen?
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Oct 11, 2007 3:04 PM
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I still think this show is closest to Burton's Big Fish - and that's why I love it. Favorite parts of last night for me where Kristin Chenoweth - whatever she did was golden - from the song to hanging from the window to spy. I really loved the dandelion hats too. Know where I can get one?
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Oct 11, 2007 3:24 PM
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Week #2 was even better than the premiere. Its wacky and wonderful and I just love all these characters!
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Oct 11, 2007 3:26 PM
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