Review: Pushing Daisies

Pushing Daisies

Where: ABC
When: Wednesday nights at 8:00/7:00c beginning on October 3, 2007

I don't know how much real input Barry Sonnenfeld had in the script development of this new series, but visually he's left his fingerprints all over it. What is most refreshing is the "fairy-tale" visual quality. How the series itself will pan out is hard to tell from the pilot, which is strictly an origin story that merely hints at the episode-to-episode possibilities. In an age where pilots do little more than jump immediately into the action, forgoing any real character building, this one starts at the beginning, like all good fairy-tales should, and brings you up to date with the winning trifecta of story, character building and emotional context; even if the emotion is whimsical and not solely grounded in reality.

Of all of the pilots I've seen so far this is definitely the most original. Its tone is actually reminiscent of WONDEFALLS, which is probably due to the fact that Bryan Fuller, who was one of the creators of WONDERFALLS, created this show as well. It also reminded me of DEAD LIKE ME, one of my other favorite shows, which was also created by Fuller. You can see what I'm getting at. Hopefully it will not suffer those show's fate. but if it does it at least it has a 13 ep initial order, which will make for a nice addition to the DVD collection should it fail to attract enough viewers. I will even place it along side WONDERFALLS should that happen to keep that modest collection from getting lonely.

From the ABC site:

Once upon a time, Director Barry Sonnenfeld (Men In Black, Get Shorty, The Addams Family) and Writer-Producer Bryan Fuller (Heroes, Wonderfalls, Dead Like Me) created an unprecedented blend of romance, crime procedural and high-concept fantasy. It is a love story about a young man with a very special gift…the ability to return someone dead briefly back to life with just a simple touch.

Ned, a mild-mannered baker of fabulous pies, discovered his gift as a child. Now he puts his gift to good use, working with his only friend, a private investigator, to crack murder cases by asking victims to name their killers. But the tale gets complicated, as all tales do, when he saves his childhood sweetheart and she miraculously stays alive. Each week, she encourages him to use his powers to solve mysteries and help others. Life would be perfect, except for one cruel twist: if Ned ever touches her again, she'll lose the life he gave her, for good this time. There's always a catch…