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"Pushing Daisies" pushes on with a full season orderWho here is watching Pushing Daisies? Raise your hands. OK, keep them up. So who here would be excited to hear that Pushing Daisies got a full season order? Feel free to wave those arms around with joy. Here, I’ll join you.
The quirky little show is one of the season’s most unexpected successes. And when I say quirky, I mean really quirky. Like women-in-giant-dandelion-outfits quirky.
The show’s touched-by-a-piemaker premise is a grown-up fairy tale. It’s like Dr. Seuss, dipped in Tim Burton, then sprinkled with Disney. In other words, it’s weirdly sweet. Or sweetly weird. The sweet part mainly has to do with the piemaker Ned (Lee Pace) and his back-from-the-dead childhood love Chuck (Anna Friel). They’re so cute, it’s almost annoying.
But the weird part is where things get really interesting. The show’s supporting cast of oddballs and misfits pushes Pushing Daisies into the full-blown appointment television category in my book. And the biggest (though clearly not in stature) oddball of the bunch is little Kristin Chenoweth. She has taken the cutsie Olive and, in a few short episodes, has made her more nuanced than anyone that perky has a right to be. I think I’m even secretly rooting for her to win over the piemaker. I mean, how can you not love a gal who has a habit of breaking into song?
Did anyone else do a happy dance when Olive and Chuck’s aunts started singing They Might Be Giants in yesterday’s episode? Talk about making a little birdhouse in your soul. Speaking of Chuck’s aunts, the formerly famous synchronized swimming stars turned cheese-loving recluses are a hoot in their own right. Though I hope the writers give Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene (who I totally did not recognize as Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors until a co-worker pointed it out) more to do as the season wears on. As is, they’re a great sight gag, but I know they’re both capable of so much more.
So now, with a full season to play around with, I’d like to see the series push more into its slightly darker corners. The sweet stuff is all fine and good. But it’s the weird that makes me really want another slice. Submitted by on October 25, 2007 - 1:01pm. |
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am in total agreement
quirky doesn't begin to describe it
Love Pushing Daisies
Yay, more Pie!
This is great news! More Pie Hole!
I totally LOVED the duet btwn Kristin Chenoweth & Ellen Greene too! A quirky song, "Birdhouse in Your Soul" for a quirky show.
I love how Ned & Chuck are finding ways to kiss and 'touch' each other without Ned killing her! The beehive suits....ahhh lovely.
Now I'm craving rhubarb pie....
"It’s like Dr. Seuss,
"It’s like Dr. Seuss, dipped in Tim Burton, then sprinkled with Disney."
I am in awe. That is the most concise, spot on description of this show I have ever seen.
From the first moments of the pilot, with that gorgeous field and the wonderful narration, I knew this wasn't going to be like any television show I had ever seen before. There isn't one thing I don't totally adore about it.
I TOTALLY DID!
I LOVED when Olive and the Aunt broke out into "Birdhouse in your Soul!" I joined them! Not only is that the best They Might Be Giants song ever, but it was SOOO oddly appropriate. it made my heart happy.
This show is my new favorite of the year. Forget Women's Murder Club. Forget the Grey's Anatomy spin-off. This show is where it's at - the writing, the larger-than-life production values, the acting, the story lines... I haven't watched a show with such detailed and specific story lines (that isn't 24) ... Heroes is definitely up there. But I don't have to hide my head in nervous anxiety when Pushing Daisies is on.
So now, with a full season to play around with, I’d like to see the series push more into its slightly darker corners. The sweet stuff is all fine and good. But it’s the weird that makes me really want another slice.
I think it's the combination there-of that makes it work so well. Like you said, it's Tim Burton dipped with Disney with a Dr. Seuss filling. Dr. Seuss can't be too dark, or kids won't read it. Tim Burton can't get too light, otherwise Helena Bonham Carter can't be in anymore of his movies. it's a fine-tuned equilibrium balancing death, love, and the human condition. I think it will be around for a little while longer. :)
Does anyone else take nerdish delight in this show's propensity for narration and the doubling up of words? Like the Darling Mermaid Darlings?
Woot!
this show gives me
this show gives me like...spasms of joy. when they started dancing in the bee costume, i was sooo happy!
and of course cheno only makes it that much better. there is so much good about this show!
My favorite show of the new season
Yes. I said it. I love it the most, so there.
I love everyone in it (especially Lee Pace, who was fan-f*cking-tastic as a m2f transsexual in "A Soldier's Girl").The writing is funny and fast-paced. The stories are original. I even love the set design and set decoration. I'm going to marry it if I can.
In order, the best so far this season:
1. Pushing Daisies
2. Life
3. Reaper
4. Journeyman
5. Bionic Woman
Does anyone else take
Does anyone else take nerdish delight in this show's propensity for narration and the doubling up of words? Like the Darling Mermaid Darlings?
Me! Me! It might be the fact that it's Jim Dale doing the narration but I love the use of language on this show. The use of everything, really. It's a complete delight. I think darker and weirder bits would be good as well, but it would be nice if they can keep everything balanced the way the seem to have so far. I might have unreasonably high expectations for the show, but I've just really loved it so far. Hopelessly Devoted To You was certainly a high point.
I doubt it, but did anyone else keep thinking "My heart beats for Rusty!" every time Conrad/Lemuel was onscreen? If not, this is the scene that made me want to see the movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqtjQohQbYE
I did, I did!
My heart always beats for Rusty! He's got those damn puppy dog eyes ... not in the sexy, sexy way, but in the I want to take you inside and feed you and give you a blanket to curl up on way.
I have seen him in many things, but he will ALWAYS be my favorite gay fireman. :)
Cutest gay firemen ever!
hee! yay!
Rusty and his little firebug are just so cute. They were a sweet added touch to that movie.
As cute as he is, I'm glad he's not stealing Chuck away from Ned. The're the cutest-ever pie-making couple who can't touch each other.
Fantastic...
imthey, Anna Friel is
imthey, Anna Friel is British. She was teriffic in the BBC's Dickens' classic 'Our Mutual Friend' (co-starring the glorious Keely Hawes), and was quite the naughty down-to-earth working-class vamp in 'Lands Girls' - a film about the Women's Land Army working on the farms in England during WW2.
Alice. x
Anna Friel, Teenage Lesbian...
Great to see Anna Friel back on our screens!
She was also one of British Soap's first lesbian characters in the early nineties, playing Beth Jordache, who was in love with her best friend, Margaret, the nanny from across the street.
Clip:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEDqTBr0Yls
(first kiss, about one minute in).
I have a secret to tell...
"Did anyone else do a happy dance when Olive and Chuck’s aunts started singing They Might Be Giants in yesterday’s episode?"
hayyyell. yes..when she said "Make a little birdhouse in your soul"..i smiled and couldn't wait any longer for what was coming..after her "Hopelessly Devoted" performance I knew she would sing it!..and i loooove Kristen Chenoweth so much..her voice makes me melt!..she should always be singing on the show..and her character is so cute!!..
i love this show..the quirkiness..randomness..the originallity..its just so funny to me!..i hope it stays around for a while..