As a producer and director, Barry Sonnenfeld is no stranger to quirky, off the wall and humorous storylines, which are often staples to his projects.  However, most of his body of work containing such elements has been for the big screen.  In his new television offering, Pushing Daisies, Sonnenfeld once again delivers the same combination of dark subject matter handled with whimsy and fantasy.

Pushing Daisies is set to premiere on Wednesday, October 3 at 8pm over ABC.  Sonnenfeld, who serves as series executive producer, spoke to CanMag about his new pet project.

“I just love how many of you have written that this show looks very Burtonesque, which makes me feel really thrilled since me name is Sonnenfeld,” Sonnenfeld said in jest about Pushing Daisies being described as something that could have sprouted from the imagination of fellow director, Tim Burton.

“A lot of people have commented on how colorful and rich this show is and the secret is that at Laser Pacific, there's a dial that if you turn to 11 instead of just 10, just makes it that much more colorful,” he added about the vibrant hues that are as much a signature of the program as its premise and characters.  “I think Bryan [Fuller] and Dan [Jinks] and Bruce [Cohen] and I have always sort of embraced a sort of saturated palette for a lot of our work.  Truly, I just turn the dial a little more on the machine.”

While Sonnenfeld is still best known for his work on movies like The Addams Family series, the Men in Black saga, Wild Wild West and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, he isn't exactly a neophyte when it comes to creating shows for television.  Among his credits for the small screen are The Tick, Karen Sisco and Maximum Blob.  Unfortunately, none of those lasted on air and in hindsight, Sonnenfeld now seems to have a modified battle plan for preventing Pushing Daisies from suffering the same fate.

“I had produced and directed other television pilots like The Tick, like Maximum Bob and I didn't stick around,” Sonnenfeld admitted.  “I moved on.  I decided when I got back into television that I needed to stay involved with the show.  So for instance, on Pushing Daisies, I'm directing three of the first 13 episodes.  If we get picked up for the back nine, I'll probably come back and do some more.  I'm much more involved in the continuing of the show than I used to [be].”


-Rosario Santiago, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: CanMag
(Image Courtesy of MSN)