Driving Blind on TV: Pushing Daisies
So, I watched the pilot for Pushing Daisies.
First, credit where it's due: snidegrrl and meercat totally put this onto our household radar.
Second: Holy crap you must watch this show. This has easily taken my #1 spot, at least based on first-episode strength, for the Fall season. I still loves me some Reaper, but Pushing Daisies has the top spot simply because it has so much joy in its heart.
So, the hollywood pitch: This is a young and sexy Murder She Wrote mashed up with elements of Six Feet Under and The Dead Zone but with the tone of all of those things completely overruled by an Amelie style sense of whimsy and joy.
This dude, the central dude of the show, has a power. Its rules work like this (not a spoiler -- they're explicitly established at the beginning of the show):
- If he touches something that died, it comes back to life.
- If it stays alive for longer than a minute, something else has to die to take its place.
- But regardless, if he touches it again, it dies again.
So now he spends his life not touching people very much, and making the best pies ever because his touched-once ingredients are always very fresh. Also, he helps solve murders with the help of a private eye by conducting one-minute interviews with the murder victims.
Every possible way this can be applied to produce mirth and oddball dramedy -- it absolutely does. But always, thanks to the hypersaturated Amelie style whimsy, it doesn't weigh you down. All the tough choices his power forces him to make touch you in the heart.
I haven't grinned this constantly through a show in a long time.
Please help me make sure that this show doesn't leave my life. That would suck. Watch it and if you like it, blog about it. Let people know something wonderful has come to TV.
I know the following paragraph from the link above will grab some of y'all's attention, too:
The show is created by Bryan Fuller, who has brought us sci-fi series such as Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me. The series is said to share some aspects of Fuller's previous shows, with quick witted comedy mixed with darker emotions and drama. The main plot about life and death is also akin to Dead Like Me.
Watch it.
First, credit where it's due: snidegrrl and meercat totally put this onto our household radar.
Second: Holy crap you must watch this show. This has easily taken my #1 spot, at least based on first-episode strength, for the Fall season. I still loves me some Reaper, but Pushing Daisies has the top spot simply because it has so much joy in its heart.
So, the hollywood pitch: This is a young and sexy Murder She Wrote mashed up with elements of Six Feet Under and The Dead Zone but with the tone of all of those things completely overruled by an Amelie style sense of whimsy and joy.
This dude, the central dude of the show, has a power. Its rules work like this (not a spoiler -- they're explicitly established at the beginning of the show):
- If he touches something that died, it comes back to life.
- If it stays alive for longer than a minute, something else has to die to take its place.
- But regardless, if he touches it again, it dies again.
So now he spends his life not touching people very much, and making the best pies ever because his touched-once ingredients are always very fresh. Also, he helps solve murders with the help of a private eye by conducting one-minute interviews with the murder victims.
Every possible way this can be applied to produce mirth and oddball dramedy -- it absolutely does. But always, thanks to the hypersaturated Amelie style whimsy, it doesn't weigh you down. All the tough choices his power forces him to make touch you in the heart.
I haven't grinned this constantly through a show in a long time.
Please help me make sure that this show doesn't leave my life. That would suck. Watch it and if you like it, blog about it. Let people know something wonderful has come to TV.
I know the following paragraph from the link above will grab some of y'all's attention, too:
The show is created by Bryan Fuller, who has brought us sci-fi series such as Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me. The series is said to share some aspects of Fuller's previous shows, with quick witted comedy mixed with darker emotions and drama. The main plot about life and death is also akin to Dead Like Me.
Watch it.