PUSHING DAISIES: Funny, Entertaining, and Pure Delight

Before Bryan Fuller got involved with Hannibal and American Gods, he created several other series. Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls have now faded somewhat into obscurity, especially considering that years have passed since their premieres, but besides those four shows just mentioned, Bryan Fuller was also responsible for Pushing Daisies from 2007.

Pushing Daisies owes its existence to Dead Like Me, which told the story of Grim Reapers who were informed in advance that someone was going to die and sent to retrieve that person’s soul and safely escort it to the afterlife. Since failing to collect a soul could result in unpleasant consequences (such as the soul experiencing, among other things, an autopsy, and the Reaper being punished for dereliction of duty), Bryan Fuller wanted to complicate the protagonist’s job. She wouldn’t be able to collect some souls because someone else had already brought them back to life with a touch. He never realized this idea, however, because the show was cancelled under the pretense of low ratings (a claim that was questionable, as the actual ratings were never released).

He did, however, use that concept a few years later when creating Pushing Daisies. The main character is Ned (Lee Pace), who, even as a child, could bring people and animals back to life with his touch. For sixty seconds, there are no consequences – but after that, someone else must die. Ned bakes pies and sells them at his own shop, and in his spare time helps Emerson Cod (Chi McBride), a private detective – it’s easier to solve a murder if you can ask the victim who killed them.

When we meet Ned, Chuck Charles (Anna Friel), a childhood sweetheart, reappears in his life. The adventures of the trio – or rather quartet, since they’re often joined by Olive Snook (Kristin Chenoweth), a waitress at Ned’s shop – are narrated by the mysterious Narrator (Jim Dale).

The plot sounds rather grim and dark, but the show is colorful, the dialogues are funny, the situations are comedic, and the murder cases solved by Ned, Emerson, and later Chuck and Olive – absurd and exaggerated.

Only Ned wears black clothes; the rest of the characters dress quite flamboyantly. Bright colors dominate – yellow, green, red. The cinematographer wanted the show to look like a cross between Amélie and Tim Burton’s films – and that’s exactly how it looks. Most television productions, especially those aired on network TV, look pretty much the same, but Pushing Daisies is one of the most vibrant and visually captivating series out there. Twenty years have now passed since its premiere, and artistic projects on the small screen have become more common, but in 2007 Bryan Fuller’s series stood out for its form.

To be precise, the content was also intriguing. The murder mysteries in Pushing Daisies may not have offered massive suspense, but they were highly entertaining, thanks also to the writers who enjoyed playing with cinematic conventions. At times they mimicked Alfred Hitchcock’s style – in one episode, for instance, they faithfully recreated the scene from The Birds in which Melanie sails across the bay with a pair of lovebirds – which, incidentally, is also called Bodega Bay in the series. There are more such homages and parodies to be found. Pushing Daisies also featured many guest appearances by various actors – for example Joel McHale (Community), Willie Garson (White Collar), Orlando Jones (Sleepy Hollow, American Gods), Gina Torres (Firefly, Suits).

Although the series was met with critical acclaim – and was nominated for seventeen Emmys, winning seven – it lasted only two seasons.

ABC initially agreed to thirteen episodes for the first season, then another nine, but during the production of those previously ordered episodes, a five-month writers’ strike began. As a result, the first season of Pushing Daisies ended up with just nine episodes, and Bryan Fuller made minor changes to the script of the last one to end the season with a twist that would hopefully bring viewers back. However, ABC decided to air the remaining thirteen unaired episodes as the second season, but ratings dropped significantly, and that was, unfortunately, the end.

Although Bryan Fuller’s previous series were also quite good, Pushing Daisies was the first production that, in addition to having an interesting concept, also looked beautiful.

Today, people mostly talk about American Gods and Hannibal, but both of those shows, despite some humorous elements, are heavy and grim, and the quality of Hannibal in particular is up for debate. Pushing Daisies, on the other hand, is – unusually for Fuller – an optimistic, colorful production, one that you can return to with pleasure even after many years.