Six Degrees of “Pushing Daisies”
Forget about Kevin Bacon and play Six Degrees of “Pushing Daisies” instead.
I can’t be the only one who does this - get hooked on something then start exploring everything that has a connection with it. It’s kinda a game with me. (Although my husband calls it obsessive, he loves me for it. At least, I think he does.) It started when a college librarian saw me checking out a biography of legendary actor and suggested I read the books by two of the actor’s wives to get different perspectives. I’ll never forget that amazing, eye-opening experience and how making connections became a new hobby.
Recently, I started making connections with my latest obsession, “Pushing Daisies.” Where it led me- well, follow along and see.
First up in my game, connections with series creator Bryan Fuller. Through Netfix, I ordered the series “Wonderfalls,” which Fuller created. OK, it’s pretty easy to see why the series was cancelled after only four aired episodes. The main character, Jaye, is caustic and unsympathetic. Who wants to spend time with her?
But wait -things really change with episode five, “Crime Dog.” The family becomes a larger presence in the action and when we see how much they care about Jaye, we can’t help feeling the same way. Plus, now there’s an infusion of comedy in the mix, making it considerably more watchable. If only Fox had given it more air time to hook viewers…
Of course as a devoted Daisy Pusher, I must note that “Crime Dog” is the first episode where Lee Pace, who plays Jaye’s older brother Aaron, has a major role. His sharp comic timing is a nice contrast to Caroline Dhavernas’ (Jaye Taylor) over-the-top seriousness. And later, when Jaye’s best friend starts a romance with Aaron, well who could blame the girl?
As the series continues, we really start caring about the character s and their world. Unfortunately, only 14 episodes were filmed, but thanks to the DVD we get to see the final unaired 10 episodes. It’s probably a good thing that Fuller had a sense that things were coming to a close as the last episode wraps up the characters nicely, with Jaye finally opening up those who love her and everyone seeming to find their true love. Sigh.
After watching all the episodes, I found some fun “Pushing Daisies” trivia: Fuller later reused several bits from “Wonderfalls” in “Daisies.” One example is the “compatible saliva” line. Hmmm… wonder if other “Wonderfalls” bits will show up in later “Daisies” episodes?
One of my favorite parts of the “Wonderfalls” DVD was listening to the commentary track. Fuller and director Todd Holland did most of the talking and their exposition is an incomparable insight into TV production. For instance:
∑ The hardest scene for an actor to do on film is the one they auditioned with because they’ve done it so many times. But it’s often the most important scene for establishing that character (which was why it was chosen as an audition scene to begin with).
∑ One location can be used for a variety of places (ie. the Taylor house is also the therapist’s office) or several locations become one (ie. one character is shot in one place the other in another and the editor makes it look like they are standing next to each other, a technique that brought together locations in Toronto and Niagara Falls, which are many miles apart).
The next roll of the dice landed me on one Fuller’s other TV series, “Dead Like Me,” which he did for Showtime (although I heard that he left after four episodes to do “Wonderfalls”). As a side note, he dreamed up the premise of “Pushing Daisies” as a possible episode for “Dead Like Me.” How’s that for making your day job pay again and again?
Right away I noticed huge similarities between the main character of “Dead Like Me” and “Wonderfalls.” Both have a boy’s name - Jaye and George (short for Georgia). Both are very skinny (ie. hipless, almost boy-like) young women. Both don’t seem to care about anyone, including themselves. So again, it took several episodes to really care about yet another stand-offish woman. But I liked the dark sense of humor that’s there from the beginning, which is extra spicy because Showtime’s open-door policy on risqué jokes. The series finally hooked me around episode seven.
Last stop on the Fuller train -I had already watched all the “Heroes” episodes he’d written in the series’ first season, including the best of the year, “Company Man” - the French movie “Amelie,” which he claims as a major influence when creating “Pushing Daisies.” Two main commonalities are evident right away-the lush, overly saturated colors and the all-knowing, sly narration. (Yet I sooo missed Jim Dale. Does anyone do narration better? I don’t think so and millions of Harry Potter fans agree.)
The enchanting main character of Amelie has difficulty reaching out to the person she loves. Sound familiar Daisy Pushers? Interestingly enough, I liked the movie, but I didn’t love it. Perhaps it’s because there’s no real sense of a main story arch. Perhaps because there’s no Bryan Fuller to ground it in some reality.
OK, back to original square on the connections game board, where this time I rolled the dice and landed on Lee Pace. (Oh, get your mind out of the gutter!)
I started with his TV debut, the Showtime film “Soldier’s Girl,” where Pace plays a thoroughly convincing women. I’d seen a clip of it on YouTube and had already been impressed with his total transformation, especially when considering he was just out of college when he did this. Watching the entire film persuades you even more how talented Pace is.
The DVD is gut wrenching to watch due to its tragic ending, but makes a good argument that we fall in love with the person first and, like in this case, gender isn’t always the most important factor. Listening to the commentary track furthered this argument, pointing out that we may never really know what really happened between transsexual Calpernia Addams and soldier Barry Winchell. It ultimately doesn’t really matter, because these are characters - not the real people - in the film. And in the film, their love is something that lingers in the viewer’s mind for a long time after.
Still on the Pace train, I watched “The White Countess” and “Infamous” as well, as I had already included “Wonderfalls” in previous viewing (and I’m still waiting for “The Good Shepherd” on my Netflix que). I couldn’t help being impressed by Pace’s range - and how he always seems to attract the viewer’s eye, less because of his looks and more because of his strong screen presence. I went to college with Jimmy Smits and he had the same thing - you couldn’t take your eyes off him on the stage and again, not just because of his handsome face. It’s something much more indefinable.
One way Pace does this is bring a different physicality to each role. Calpernia moves with a flirty, almost butterfly-like gracefulness, while Aaron seems large and lanky, draping himself over anything he sits on, which fits the privileged and adored only son role well. Ned is gawky and awkward, often leaning against door, inverting his foot as he stands and folding his arms, all poses that say “don’t notice me.” Playing Dick Hickock in “Infamous,” the second film about Truman Capote’s trip to Kansas to write “In Cold Blood,” Pace adopted a confident, almost preening stance, best exemplified when the character has sex with a prostitute in front of his fellow murderer-without a trace of self-consciousness.
If I had played the game right, this is where I’d go back to square one, but heck, I couldn’t help following the tantalizing tangent of “In Cold Blood.” I had never read the book, so I dived in and wow - I can see why it made such a huge splash. Even today, after many, many copycats, it’s a riveting read and an outstanding example of micro-detailed journalism (as a fellow journalist, I am in awe). The reader really gets inside the heads of two murderers and the opportunity to experience others’ lives is often why we enjoy slipping into the world of books and movies.
Interestingly, while I read I kept seeing Pace as Hickock my head, even though he doesn’t have the facial deformity that Hickock did. Even though I had first seen Mark Pellegrino in the same role in “Capote.” Along those lines, “Capote” may be the superior film, but I thought Sandra Bullock as Nelle Harper Lee and Jeff Daniels as Alvin Dewy were considerably better than their “Capote” counterparts. As with Pace, they stamped their character s far more indelibility on my consciousness.
It seems odd that two movies came out at the same time about Capote’s trip to Kansas and its ramifications on his writing when the same can be said of another major character in the film - Harper Lee. That lead me to the biography “Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee,” which does an excellent job in explaining why she never wrote another book after the Pulitzer Prize-winning “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Now there’s another film…
Next up for me are the two biographies of Capote that the films were based on. After that, I’ll probably go back to square one of “Pushing Daisies”and this time start with Anna Friel, AKA Chuck (another girl with a boys’ name!). I already have one of her movies ready to go. Or perhaps I’ll begin a Kristin Chenoweth chain or a Barry Sonnenfeld chain instead. And who knows where those next six degrees will lead me...
One last note: Don’t try playing this game without imdb.com and Netflix. Thank goodness for the internet!!
I can’t be the only one who does this - get hooked on something then start exploring everything that has a connection with it. It’s kinda a game with me. (Although my husband calls it obsessive, he loves me for it. At least, I think he does.) It started when a college librarian saw me checking out a biography of legendary actor and suggested I read the books by two of the actor’s wives to get different perspectives. I’ll never forget that amazing, eye-opening experience and how making connections became a new hobby.
Recently, I started making connections with my latest obsession, “Pushing Daisies.” Where it led me- well, follow along and see.
First up in my game, connections with series creator Bryan Fuller. Through Netfix, I ordered the series “Wonderfalls,” which Fuller created. OK, it’s pretty easy to see why the series was cancelled after only four aired episodes. The main character, Jaye, is caustic and unsympathetic. Who wants to spend time with her?
But wait -things really change with episode five, “Crime Dog.” The family becomes a larger presence in the action and when we see how much they care about Jaye, we can’t help feeling the same way. Plus, now there’s an infusion of comedy in the mix, making it considerably more watchable. If only Fox had given it more air time to hook viewers…
Of course as a devoted Daisy Pusher, I must note that “Crime Dog” is the first episode where Lee Pace, who plays Jaye’s older brother Aaron, has a major role. His sharp comic timing is a nice contrast to Caroline Dhavernas’ (Jaye Taylor) over-the-top seriousness. And later, when Jaye’s best friend starts a romance with Aaron, well who could blame the girl?
As the series continues, we really start caring about the character s and their world. Unfortunately, only 14 episodes were filmed, but thanks to the DVD we get to see the final unaired 10 episodes. It’s probably a good thing that Fuller had a sense that things were coming to a close as the last episode wraps up the characters nicely, with Jaye finally opening up those who love her and everyone seeming to find their true love. Sigh.
After watching all the episodes, I found some fun “Pushing Daisies” trivia: Fuller later reused several bits from “Wonderfalls” in “Daisies.” One example is the “compatible saliva” line. Hmmm… wonder if other “Wonderfalls” bits will show up in later “Daisies” episodes?
One of my favorite parts of the “Wonderfalls” DVD was listening to the commentary track. Fuller and director Todd Holland did most of the talking and their exposition is an incomparable insight into TV production. For instance:
∑ The hardest scene for an actor to do on film is the one they auditioned with because they’ve done it so many times. But it’s often the most important scene for establishing that character (which was why it was chosen as an audition scene to begin with).
∑ One location can be used for a variety of places (ie. the Taylor house is also the therapist’s office) or several locations become one (ie. one character is shot in one place the other in another and the editor makes it look like they are standing next to each other, a technique that brought together locations in Toronto and Niagara Falls, which are many miles apart).
The next roll of the dice landed me on one Fuller’s other TV series, “Dead Like Me,” which he did for Showtime (although I heard that he left after four episodes to do “Wonderfalls”). As a side note, he dreamed up the premise of “Pushing Daisies” as a possible episode for “Dead Like Me.” How’s that for making your day job pay again and again?
Right away I noticed huge similarities between the main character of “Dead Like Me” and “Wonderfalls.” Both have a boy’s name - Jaye and George (short for Georgia). Both are very skinny (ie. hipless, almost boy-like) young women. Both don’t seem to care about anyone, including themselves. So again, it took several episodes to really care about yet another stand-offish woman. But I liked the dark sense of humor that’s there from the beginning, which is extra spicy because Showtime’s open-door policy on risqué jokes. The series finally hooked me around episode seven.
Last stop on the Fuller train -I had already watched all the “Heroes” episodes he’d written in the series’ first season, including the best of the year, “Company Man” - the French movie “Amelie,” which he claims as a major influence when creating “Pushing Daisies.” Two main commonalities are evident right away-the lush, overly saturated colors and the all-knowing, sly narration. (Yet I sooo missed Jim Dale. Does anyone do narration better? I don’t think so and millions of Harry Potter fans agree.)
The enchanting main character of Amelie has difficulty reaching out to the person she loves. Sound familiar Daisy Pushers? Interestingly enough, I liked the movie, but I didn’t love it. Perhaps it’s because there’s no real sense of a main story arch. Perhaps because there’s no Bryan Fuller to ground it in some reality.
OK, back to original square on the connections game board, where this time I rolled the dice and landed on Lee Pace. (Oh, get your mind out of the gutter!)
I started with his TV debut, the Showtime film “Soldier’s Girl,” where Pace plays a thoroughly convincing women. I’d seen a clip of it on YouTube and had already been impressed with his total transformation, especially when considering he was just out of college when he did this. Watching the entire film persuades you even more how talented Pace is.
The DVD is gut wrenching to watch due to its tragic ending, but makes a good argument that we fall in love with the person first and, like in this case, gender isn’t always the most important factor. Listening to the commentary track furthered this argument, pointing out that we may never really know what really happened between transsexual Calpernia Addams and soldier Barry Winchell. It ultimately doesn’t really matter, because these are characters - not the real people - in the film. And in the film, their love is something that lingers in the viewer’s mind for a long time after.
Still on the Pace train, I watched “The White Countess” and “Infamous” as well, as I had already included “Wonderfalls” in previous viewing (and I’m still waiting for “The Good Shepherd” on my Netflix que). I couldn’t help being impressed by Pace’s range - and how he always seems to attract the viewer’s eye, less because of his looks and more because of his strong screen presence. I went to college with Jimmy Smits and he had the same thing - you couldn’t take your eyes off him on the stage and again, not just because of his handsome face. It’s something much more indefinable.
One way Pace does this is bring a different physicality to each role. Calpernia moves with a flirty, almost butterfly-like gracefulness, while Aaron seems large and lanky, draping himself over anything he sits on, which fits the privileged and adored only son role well. Ned is gawky and awkward, often leaning against door, inverting his foot as he stands and folding his arms, all poses that say “don’t notice me.” Playing Dick Hickock in “Infamous,” the second film about Truman Capote’s trip to Kansas to write “In Cold Blood,” Pace adopted a confident, almost preening stance, best exemplified when the character has sex with a prostitute in front of his fellow murderer-without a trace of self-consciousness.
If I had played the game right, this is where I’d go back to square one, but heck, I couldn’t help following the tantalizing tangent of “In Cold Blood.” I had never read the book, so I dived in and wow - I can see why it made such a huge splash. Even today, after many, many copycats, it’s a riveting read and an outstanding example of micro-detailed journalism (as a fellow journalist, I am in awe). The reader really gets inside the heads of two murderers and the opportunity to experience others’ lives is often why we enjoy slipping into the world of books and movies.
Interestingly, while I read I kept seeing Pace as Hickock my head, even though he doesn’t have the facial deformity that Hickock did. Even though I had first seen Mark Pellegrino in the same role in “Capote.” Along those lines, “Capote” may be the superior film, but I thought Sandra Bullock as Nelle Harper Lee and Jeff Daniels as Alvin Dewy were considerably better than their “Capote” counterparts. As with Pace, they stamped their character s far more indelibility on my consciousness.
It seems odd that two movies came out at the same time about Capote’s trip to Kansas and its ramifications on his writing when the same can be said of another major character in the film - Harper Lee. That lead me to the biography “Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee,” which does an excellent job in explaining why she never wrote another book after the Pulitzer Prize-winning “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Now there’s another film…
Next up for me are the two biographies of Capote that the films were based on. After that, I’ll probably go back to square one of “Pushing Daisies”and this time start with Anna Friel, AKA Chuck (another girl with a boys’ name!). I already have one of her movies ready to go. Or perhaps I’ll begin a Kristin Chenoweth chain or a Barry Sonnenfeld chain instead. And who knows where those next six degrees will lead me...
One last note: Don’t try playing this game without imdb.com and Netflix. Thank goodness for the internet!!