Archive

“Pushing Daisies” pushes on with a full season order

Who 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.

Lesbian Apparel and Accessories Gay All Day sweatshirt -- AE exclusive

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button