Pushing Daisies

The Fall television season is in full bloom and I'm getting carpal tunnel trying to record all the shows. I have my regular shows that never fall off the list...Heroes, The Office. But each season, I like to see if there is that one new show that might grab my fancy. Last year, I stumbled upon Heroes merely by hearing an interview of Ali Larter, one of the Heroes characters, on the Today Show. The plot sounded interesting and I decided to give it a spin. A year later it is by far my favorite drama.

This year I started out by watching Chuck and Journeyman. Two NBC pilots that were predicted to do pretty well. I'm enjoying Chuck, but Journeyman is wearing thin after only three episodes. It's a show I wouldn't mind watching if I had nothing else to watch, but it's not worthy of videotaping. Last week I read a review about a new show I hadn't heard about previously - Pushing Daisies. The premise of the show sounded intriguing so I decided to catch it's premiere. I missed the actual airing, but thankfully was able to watch it online via abc.com.

The story starts out with Ned as a young boy discovering this strange talent of resurrecting the dead. If someone dies, he touches them and they come back to life. But, the catch is, if he touches them again, they die, not to be revived. He has a childhood crush on Chuck, a little girl next door to him. (Not to be confused with the Nerd Herder, Chuck Bartowski from NBC) Alas, aside from a kiss, they grew up and away from each other. Fast forward to the present. Ned is a pie maker who is using his ability secretly with a private investigator to solve murders. He catches a news story about a woman "Charlotte Charles" who was found dead in the ocean off of a cruiseliner. It's Chuck! And so when Ned brings her back to life, she joins the PI and Ned in cracking cases.

I really love this show. There is a narrator that makes me feel like I'm at storytime. And, I'd describe the genre as Lemony Snicket meets a Tim Burton fairy tale. I'm not sure how the creators will evolve this story since Ned and Chuck can never touch or Chuck dies. Yet, the beginnings of their love story is already happening.

The final scene was my favorite. As they worked together on a case, Ned looks over at Chuck adoringly, and holds his hands behind his back imagining he's holding hers. She returns that loving look and does the same. There is something sweet about two people communicating their love without ever physically interacting. Quite refreshing for primetime TV, I think.