Menu
Wesley Cheng Home
  • Home
    • Environment
    • Literature
    • Movie Review
    • Philosophy
    • Politics
    • Racism
    • Sports
    • Technology
    • Television
    • Theater
  • About Me
  • Resume
  • Contact
Wesley Cheng Home

Pushing Daisies: Feel-good Fantasy-noir

Posted on November 6, 2007 by Wesley

Ned sees dead people. Well, that’s only half the story of Pushing Daisies, ABC’s rookie fall drama that airs on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m., that has garnered more than its share of praise and viewers. The other half of the story is that Ned sees dead people, because he can bring them back to life.

The basic storyline is as follows: Ned (Lee Pace) is a pie maker who can revive the dead simply by touching them, but if he touches them a second time, they go back to being dead. If he doesn’t touch the dead within a minute of reviving them, then someone else will die. Ned’s unique gift makes him a perfect partner for private investigator Emerson Cod (Chi McBride). The two have developed a partnership, where they ask the dead for clues in solving murders, and Ned has had no problem with putting the dead back into place until he comes across the case of his childhood sweetheart (and first kiss) Charlotte “Chuck” Charles (Anna Friel). All of this is explained by an omniscient and ever-present narrator in the opening moments of the pilot, in which Chuck’s murder is solved.

The dialogue and setting is typical of series creator Bryan Fuller’s (creator of Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls) work. His characters inhabit a world that is saturated in bright hues and lights reminiscent of Big Fish or Lemony Snicket, while they speak in an iambic pentameter-like rhythm: “You haven’t been hugged properly,” Chuck says to Ned, who naturally avoids physical contact with her. “It’s an emotional Heimlich. Someone puts their arms around you, gives a squeeze. All your fear and anxiety comes shooting out of your mouth in a big, wet wad and you can breath again.”


Or take this line from Ned: “I was being selfish. I’d love to tell myself that I was being unselfish but I know deep down in my primal sweet spot I was being unselfish for selfish reasons.”Written out, it may look like the dialogue is forced or contrived, but the characters have been perfectly cast. Friel fits her role perfectly. She’s cute and quirky with an undeniable love for life, and someone certainly worthy of Ned’s affection. Meanwhile, Pace is no stranger to Fuller-speak. He was on Fuller’s short-lived-but-equally-quirky Wonderfalls, which aired on Fox for four episodes before gaining cult status as a DVD. While Pace played the under-utilized brother of the main character, he nonetheless has acquired an affinity to be able to handle the complex nature of Fuller’s rapid-paced ping-pong dialogue.

Besides Pace being the title character, the two shows have other similarities. Wonderfalls is more entrenched in reality in that it takes place in an actual place (Niagara Falls, New York), but still has the feeling of the surreal due to the touristy nature of the area. The concept behind Wonderfalls also gives the main character a special power. In this case, it’s Jaye, who is at the mercy of inanimate objects who spring to life only in her mind and make her do the bidding of fate, although the message is rarely clear and leaves the door open for interpretation, and therefore more trouble. Still, if Fuller has one unifying theme throughout his work, it’s that everything happens for a reason, and the future tends to unfold as it should through the magical power of fate.

So, it should come as no surprise that in Fuller uses an inanimate object in Pushing Daisies (this time, it is two ceramic monkeys) as a vehicle to get Chuck’s two shut-in sisters out of their house for the first time in years. In a later episode, Ned and Chuck help take down a corrupt car-maker while simultaneously helping a bulimic model. Fuller just has a knack for producing feel-good fantasy-noir, and this is no different. Meanwhile, the monkeys also serve as a conduit for Chuck and Ned to share their second kiss, even though, as we all know, they can’t actually kiss again in the present.
There are plenty of romances on television, and many seemed forced upon the viewer. The romantic tension isn’t written into the script so much as it appears natural the more you get to know the characters. And it isn’t the focus of the storyline, anyway. Each episode begins with a segment of Ned’s past exploring an annoying habit or a character trait at present. In some ways, the show on its face may be a comedy, but it is really just a ruse to explore the routes we take in life, and why we are the way we are.

  • Bryan Fuller
  • Lee Pace
  • Pushing Daisies
  • Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    • December 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • August 2022
    • February 2022
    • November 2021
    • July 2021
    • May 2021
    • November 2020
    • September 2020
    • December 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • April 2019
    • November 2015
    • July 2015
    • September 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • October 2013
    • May 2013
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • February 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • February 2011
    • August 2010
    • May 2010
    • March 2010
    • January 2010
    • December 2009
    • November 2009
    • October 2009
    • March 2009
    • January 2009
    • November 2008
    • October 2008
    • August 2008
    • July 2008
    • June 2008
    • April 2008
    • February 2008
    • December 2007
    • November 2007
    • October 2007
    • August 2007
    • July 2007
    • June 2007
    • May 2007
    • April 2007
    • March 2007
    • December 2006
    • November 2006
    • September 2006
    • July 2006
    • June 2006
    • May 2005
    • April 2005
    • March 2005
    • February 2005
    • January 2005
    • December 2004
    • September 2004
    • August 2004
    • May 2004
    • April 2004
    • December 2003
    • November 2003
    • October 2003
    • September 2003
    • August 2003
    • April 2003
    • March 2003
    • February 2003
    • January 2003
    • December 2002
    • November 2002
    • October 2002
    • September 2002
    • July 2002
    • May 2002
    • April 2002
    ©2023 Wesley Cheng Home | Powered by WordPress & Superb Themes