Premiere Date and Time: Wednesday, October 3, 8pm
Network: ABC
Time Slot Competition: Deal or No Deal,
Kid Nation,
Back to You and
Til Death,
America's Next Top Model
Cast:
Lee Pace,
Anna Friel,
Chi McBride,
Kristin Chenoweth,
Swoosie Kurtz,
Ellen Greene
Beginning Wednesday, October 3, ABC's night of three new hour-long shows will be anchored by the romantic fairy tale
Pushing Daisies at 8pm. The new series was created by Bryan Fuller, whose previous work includes the equally surreal
Wonderfalls and
Dead Like Me, as well as working on the first season of NBC's smash hit,
Heroes.
The show centers on a pie maker named Ned (Lee Pace) who possesses the ability to bring things and people back to life simply by touching them. However, if he ever touches them again, they die for good, and if he touches someone without touching them a second time, someone else in close proximity must die to balance out the universe.
If that sounds weird, it's because
Pushing Daisies is definitely not your standard drama or dramedy. The pilot episode was directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, director of
Men in Black and
The Addams Family, a man with a unique creative vision. Stylistically, it's a cross between the French film
Amelie and a cheery, less dark Tim Burton movie. Bright colors pop out of the screen, and the actors are all comically exaggerated without losing their heart.
Ned's friend Emerson (Chi McBride from
Boston Public and
The Nine) is an ex-cop who uses Ned's gift to briefly reanimate murder victims to discover who killed them so they can receive the reward. Ned's neighbor Olive (Kristin Chenowith) is hopelessly in love with him, though the feeling is not mutual. It is, however, with his childhood sweetheart Chuck (Anna Friel), who he meets again when attending her funeral. After bringing her back to life, the two are doomed never to touch again, lest she die forever. The poetic and thematic beauty of that primary conceit is what makes the show a true original.
Adding just the right dash of comic absurdity are Chuck's shut-in aunts, Lily and Vivian (Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene). The two great actresses both recently played memorable mothers of two famous sci-fi TV show men: Kurtz as John Locke's mother on
Lost, Greene as Sylar's mother on
Heroes.
Pushing Daisies is already being lauded by the critics as the best of the fall season, and it's difficult to disagree. The concept is so original, the style so fresh and the story so magical that it will transport all viewers to a brand new world where, if they're willing, they will be taken on an extraordinary journey of wonderment and awe.
Get all the scoop and features on the Fall 2007 new and returning shows at BuddyTV's Fall TV Guide >>
-John Kubicek, BuddyTV
(Photo courtesy of ABC)