A Post-Mortem: Pushing Daisies

I've never lost a show before... never before have I found a show I really liked, watched every week and had it canceled on me. Sure, I enjoyed Futurama when it was on, but I didn't watch it every week. I didn't have the patience or the inclination to plan my life so rigidly back then. I was a kid, and while it was a great show, I never felt the sting of its cancellation until much later. But, that is just what is happening to Pushing Daisies, or is what is most likely to happen unless there is some excessive surge in viewership. I'm not holding my breath. It's sad, because before this year I never really took the time to look at so many TV shows, read reviews and decide what ones were good enough to watch every week. It's part DVR and part patience, but I've found that there are a lot of good shows, maybe not compared to how many are actually on, but they are out there. Yet, despite all the complaining I hear about the horrible sludge that fills our little glowing boxes, no one is watching this show... This magical, wonderful show that succeeds so much at creating simple and pure happiness. The love story is amazing and pure, heart wrenching and joyous at the same time. It is the most original show I have seen in years, perhaps ever and yet it's being canceled. I wrote the following before the show got the ax:

Pushing Daisies, Wednesday 8:00 (ABC)

A strange amalgam of Tim Burton, Douglas Adams and... uh... Arthur Conan Doyle? Pushing Daisies is one of the most original shows on television. The acting is great, the characters are quirky, interesting and deep, the dialogue is funny and witty, the plots clever.

Pushing Daisies follows Ned the Piemaker, who happens to have the power to bring dead things back to life. There are only two catches, that if anyone he brings back sticks around for more than a minute, someone or something else dies and that he cannot touch anyone he anyone he brought back to life again or they will die permanently. He does just that to his childhood sweetheart Charlotte (Chuck), but now he can never touch her. Their romance is amazing, as they try to discover ways to show affection without touch. This sort of quirky weirdness permeates the show.

Ned and Chuck, along with Emerson Cod, a Private Investigator and Olive (the waitress at Ned's restaurant) romp about the city solving murders. While, the subject matter is at times dark, the show is painted in bright colors and light dialogue that provides an odd contrast. I suppose most of the mysteries are just too quirky to be scary.

It's without a doubt one of the best shows on TV, and one that is in danger of getting canceled, so I urge you to check it out. Here are some clips to wet your appetite.