Watch Pushing Daisies!

 

 

There aren't enough words to describe how much I love the aesthetic and storyline of this sadly cancelled TV gem.  Pushing Daisies aired from October 2007 to June 2009, for a total of 22 episodes over two seasons.  

What a cool concept for a show, though: Ned has the ability to bring things back to life with his touch.  There's a catch, though.  If the dead thing he touched stays alive for more than a minute, something else dies in its place, and, if he touches that thing again, it stays dead forever.  Kind of weird, but it's well-explained in the first episode.  He uses this ability to solve forensic crimes with a partner, Emerson Cod, a P.I.  Ned brings the dead people back to life, questions them about their deaths, and he and Emerson collect the reward money.  When he's not solving crimes, he bakes pies at his shop, The Pie Hole.

Olive Snook is in love with Ned.  Ned is in love with Chuck, the childhood sweetheart he brought back to life after her unfortunate murder.  Because he's touched her once, he can't touch her again without killing her.  Chuck loves Ned, too, but sometimes feels uncomfortable with their situation.  Lily and Vivian are Chuck's agoraphobic aunts that Ned and Olive stay in touch with.  

The look of the show is bright, mostly to juxtapose the macabre plot.  Everyone wears lots of summery colors and florals, the Pie Hole roof looks like a pie crust (see above photo), and the dialogue is quirky and fun to hear.  

I bring this up because I recently purchased both seasons of Pushing Daisies, and can't stop watching the series.  It's just such a pick-me-up during the dreary month of January in DC!  Maybe your local library has the series on DVD, or you can watch a few episodes online.  However you choose to check out the show, I highly recommend sitting through the pilot.  You'll be hooked after that.