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.
The "no touching" rule and deliberate distance between Ned and his childhood crush lead the lovers into many clever expressions of their budding romance. It's a refreshing change to watch two attractive adults show affection without seeing a slow-motion sex scene and rumpled covers the morning after.
Eventually, they may get to touching, but it will definitely require some thinking (oven mitts, maybe). That's at least one incentive to keep watching.
The supporting cast also contributes to the show's fun. Charlotte's agoraphobic aunts Lily (Swoosie Kurtz) and Vivian (Ellen Greene) once starred in a synchronized swimming show known as the "Darling Mermaid Darlings," and the flirty waitress at Ned's shop, Olive Snook (Kristin Chenoweth), alternates between almost touching him and, well, almost touching him.
The writers have made some interesting choices with this show. If you are a fan of the "Gilmore Girls"-type of conversation (which is so terribly clogged with jibes and one-liners that the show is a mental exercise in understanding what the characters are actually trying to say), then you will instantly fall in love with "Pushing Daisies."
If you can't stand that type of banter, don't be discouraged: During a particularly difficult bout of wordplay between the hesitant lovers, Ned suddenly massaged his forehead to declare, "Let's just drop the puns."
In the future, the writers will have to work hard to make a show that relies on actual intelligent comedy and not just another hour of full pun-on-pun action.
One can also hope that the show eventually dares to ask a few of the difficult questions: Why do the good die young? Should Ned choose to use his power as he sees fit? How does a pie shop make any money in today's economy?
ABC is trying hard to bring the Wednesday night lineup back to life. "Pushing Daisies" has a delightful fantasy appeal: It's a world full of eye-patched, reclusive aunts, creaky iron gates that lead to gingerbread houses, mysterious packages and endless fields of (you guessed it) daises.
It's also a big risk, as this show comes from the intensely eccentric mind of Bryan Fuller ("Wonderfalls," "Dead Like Me," "Heroes") and as expected, every character is a complicated mess of quirky attributes, which both complicates and endears them to the audience.
And the fact that the stereotypical British baritone Jim Dale (yes, he is famous for reading the "Harry Potter" books-on-tape) narrates increases the feeling that this is a bedtime story for adults.
