The pilot for Pushing Daisies was a stunning accomplishment.  For those who enjoyed it, anyways.  Much to my surprise, the reviews for Pushing Daisies have been mixed.  Not from critics (who mostly love it), but from my friends, some of whom are clearly cynical, cynical people.  However, love it or hate it, one of the biggest issues to arise after watching the ABC pilot is this: how can Pushing Daisies keep it up?  That is, how can the lush visual style, the constant wit, the overwhelming whimsical feel of Pushing Daisies remain in tact from the second episode on?  I have no idea what to expect come Wednesday, but it's not going to be as good as the pilot, nor will it be structurally similar. 

The pilot was what you would call an origin pilot, in that it set the stage for what Pushing Daisies will be about: Ned, Emerson and Chuck solving crimes by waking up murder victims and asking them who their assailant was.  Now that the stakes are set and we know each character's involvement, Pushing Daisies can take any direction it wants.  The path Bryan Fuller and company have chosen, it appears, is that of a procedural.  The most bizarre procedural TV has probably yet seen, but a procedural nonetheless.  There will likely still be some mythological elements sprinkled throughout this first season, but Pushing Daisies is no serial.

This worries me.  Not because I don't have faith in Bryan Fuller and the writing staff he's put together (I do), but because all subsequent episodes of Pushing Daisies will be juxtaposed against the spectacular pilot, which is unfair for two reasons: 1) the pilot is not structurally a procedural and has thus given audiences a false sense of what to expect going forward and, 2) the pilot was really, really good.  Directed by film veteran Barry Sonnenfeld (Men In Black), the pilot was the most visually stunning hour of television in recent memory.  It's going to be impossible to keep that up, with shorter shooting schedules, lower budgets and less experienced directors at the helm for the rest of the season.

I suppose it's not much use speculating on how well further episodes will stack up against the pilot.  We'll find out on Wednesday if Pushing Daisies can keep up the momentum of its pilot and if the episode structure going forward is a satisfying one.  As long as one keeps their expectations in check and realize that the show's pilot was something special, it should all be OK.  I hope.


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of ThePieMaker.com)