TV Reivew | 'Pushing Daisies' certain to resurrect ABC's Wednesday night lineup
Four out of five stars
Cynthia Brunelle
Issue date: 10/5/07 Section: Arts
At 8:00 p.m. last Wednesday night, ABC gave America the best bedtime story in years. "Pushing Daisies" is an original series that places an old-time, Macbeth-like story (asking the dead to figure out who killed them) within a world of beautiful colors, whimsical characters, murder mysteries, morgues and lots and lots of pie.
This storyline operates in a world where the term "rest in peace" does not necessarily apply. Ned (played by the wonderfully awkward Lee Pace) started his career of necromancy around age nine. After running through an endless field of daisies, he watches his childhood pet get run over by a speeding truck.
Ned then discovers that with a single touch, he can restore life; with another tap, the subject is instantly returned to death. This gift, however, has a "gone in 60 seconds" rule: Unless the resurrected person is returned to corpse status within one minute, someone in the near vicinity dies instantaneously.
The vagueness of the last rule has delightfully dire implications for our hero, who has grown up to become a straight-faced pie shop owner. He works at "The Pie Hole" during the day and works his supernatural abilities at night. Only one person knows his secret: a private investigator by the name of Emerson Cod (Chi McBride).
Emerson accompanies Ned to visit the recently deceased in the local morgue. Ned raises those who died under mysterious circumstances, figures out who killed them and collects the reward money, while satisfying the basic human desire for watching justice be served. It's as simple as cake (or in this case, pie).
The bulk of the story, however, comes from the addition of one Charlotte Charles (Anna Friel), a witty, pretty, high-energy victim of strangulation by a plastic bag. Ned, after realizing that she was his childhood neighbor, crush and first kiss (which all darkly alludes to the fact that he accidentally ruined her life), saves her from an early grave in the hope that their love will be able to flourish. But since his touch would be fatal to Charlotte, Ned has to hold his own hand and pretend that it's hers. This might sound too cute to be true - but it isn't.
This storyline operates in a world where the term "rest in peace" does not necessarily apply. Ned (played by the wonderfully awkward Lee Pace) started his career of necromancy around age nine. After running through an endless field of daisies, he watches his childhood pet get run over by a speeding truck.
Ned then discovers that with a single touch, he can restore life; with another tap, the subject is instantly returned to death. This gift, however, has a "gone in 60 seconds" rule: Unless the resurrected person is returned to corpse status within one minute, someone in the near vicinity dies instantaneously.
The vagueness of the last rule has delightfully dire implications for our hero, who has grown up to become a straight-faced pie shop owner. He works at "The Pie Hole" during the day and works his supernatural abilities at night. Only one person knows his secret: a private investigator by the name of Emerson Cod (Chi McBride).
Emerson accompanies Ned to visit the recently deceased in the local morgue. Ned raises those who died under mysterious circumstances, figures out who killed them and collects the reward money, while satisfying the basic human desire for watching justice be served. It's as simple as cake (or in this case, pie).
The bulk of the story, however, comes from the addition of one Charlotte Charles (Anna Friel), a witty, pretty, high-energy victim of strangulation by a plastic bag. Ned, after realizing that she was his childhood neighbor, crush and first kiss (which all darkly alludes to the fact that he accidentally ruined her life), saves her from an early grave in the hope that their love will be able to flourish. But since his touch would be fatal to Charlotte, Ned has to hold his own hand and pretend that it's hers. This might sound too cute to be true - but it isn't.
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