One of the fall season’s most anticipated shows – – Pushing Up Daisies – – premiered Wednesday, October 3, 2007. The series is basically a fantasy with a kind of modern fairytale feel. Although I’m not normally happy with continuous narration as I watch TV, it actually works for this particular show.
The lead character, Ned, is an introverted guy with a heart of gold and a very intriguing power. He has the ability to touch the dead and bring them back to life. However, if he touches them a second time, the victim dies once and for all.
Ned, as played by actor Lee Pace, is thoroughly charming and absolutely delightful to watch. He is the perfect choice for this peculiar role. He has the warmth, sincerity, and unusual presence to make it work.
Anna Friel plays Charlotte “Chuck” Charles, his childhood sweetheart. Friel plays this character like a breath of fresh air on a spring day. She is sweet, loving, and loyal; the kind of person that would give up her life to take care of others. As we find out, she in fact did just that, taking care of her eccentric aunts after the death of her father.
Ned owns and operates a business called The Pie Hole. His friends include his dog Digby, an untouchable part of his life (since he already brought him back to life), and waitress/neighbor Olive Snook, who is played by the adorable Kristin Chenoweth. We find out quickly that Olive worships her boss from afar, offering Digby the personal “touches” she is unable to give the man of her dreams.
Veteran actor, Chi McBride plays Emerson Cord, a private investigator who figures out how to turn Ned’s special gift into a moneymaking enterprise. Rounding out the cast are Chuck’s aunts Lily and Vivian played by Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Green. Once known as the “Darling Mermaid Darlings,” the two are an odd pair who retreated from public life as underwater swim darlings after Lily lost an eye in a cat litter accident.
After the death of Chuck’s father, the duo moved into Chuck’s house obsentibly to take care of their niece. In reality, Chuck ends up taking care of them. Although the aunts seem intent on making her share their depressing point of view about life, Chuck is a dreamer. She eventually figures out a way to experience some of the adventure that she has been longing for all her life. It involves a cruise to exotic places and a not-so-happy ending.
As the show begins, we meet a nine-year-old Ned just as he learns about his special power, including its very bad down side. We also see how Ned and Chuck first meet and share their first and only kiss.
Then everything fast-forwards to a grown-up Ned, who has been using his unusual gift to sustain the pie business that he started to honor his dead mother. He has discovered that by touching fruit, he assures that it remains alive with flavor, as long as he doesn’t touch it a second time.
When investigator Cod discovers Ned’s secret, quite by accident, he comes up with a plan for Ned to help him solve murder cases. By touching people who have been murdered, Ned can find out who killed them. There is a rather large fee charged for their services, of course.
Everything changes, however, when Ned’s childhood sweetheart (Chuck) is mysteriously murdered under strange circumstances on her cruise. Ned decides to bring her back to life to help solve her murder. However, once finished, he can’t bear to return her to death. So instead, he helps her to begin life anew. As a consequence of his action, however, another individual has to die and take Chuck’s place in the grand circle that is life and death.
Chuck decides to help Ned solve murders, starting with her own. They discover that she was tricked into smuggling some rather expensive artifacts into the country via her cruise. Of course everything works out well in the end, including a rather large windfall profit that finally jars Chuck’s aunts out of the house once and for all. With his lady love’s encouragement Ned decides to use his skill for the good of humanity rather than just for profit and the threesome – – Ned, Chuck, and Emerson – – begin what should be a very interesting partnership.
I really wasn’t excited about the concept of this show in the beginning. I wasn’t familiar with the work of either Pace of Friel, although I knew that Chenoweth and McBride were steallar performers. However, I decided to watch the show anyway because of all the buzz. I’m glad that I did. It is a delightful “feel good” comedy with surprising warmth, heart, and a lot of fun. I give it five out of five stars. I think ABC has a hit on its hands!
