Special Exhibit: PUSHING DAISIES

Year: (2007-2009)

Seasons: 2

Episodes: 22

Duration: 42 minutes

Where to watch: Amazon Prime, CW Seed (USA only)

Brian Fuller has the reputation of developing imaginative, even acclaimed TV series which get cancelled way too soon: Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls and Hannibal are all beloved shows that were cut short. Then there’s Pushing Daisies, which only lasted 22 delightful episodes, and which remains unseen by a large portion of the audiences despite its many attractive qualities.

Often described as a cross of the visual and narrative elements of the films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie), Tim Burton and Wes Anderson, Pushing Daisies is a crime investigation series by the way of a fantasy fairytale, complete with a Narrator voiced by Jim Dale, carefully constructed symmetric frames, vibrant colors, and quirky names, dialogues, and plotlines, which will bring Dr. Seuss or Roald Dahl to mind.

The main conceit is this (if you’ve seen the series, you’re no doubt reading this with Dale’s voice): Ned (Lee Pace) is a young Piemaker who can revive dead people by touching them. But there’s a couple of rules to his abilities. One, if he ever touches them again, they’ll die permanently and two, if someone is revived for over a minute, another nearby person will die in their place.

Besides working at his Pie bakery with Olive (Kristin Chenoweth), he has also associated himself with private detective Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) in order to investigate unsolved murders: they have under a minute to interrogate the deceased, who’re often suffering from incredibly funny injuries, then Ned touches them dead again.

The problem is that one of the victims turns out to be Chuck (Anna Friel), Ned’s childhood love. Of course, he can’t bring himself to make her dead again after a minute, which means  she's alive for good and he’s finally free to be with her... if he never touches her again.

The sweet love story is accompanied by a procedural, case of the week format which is always guaranteed to make you smile. Even if the storybook quirkiness isn’t your cup of tea, you can’t help but admire the outstanding visual design and the stylistic harmony of absolutely every element.

I’m usually not one to recommend unfinished series (and this one sadly never gets around to solving its main conflicts), but Pushing Daisies is essential viewing for anyone who’s interested in the nuances of achieving a consistent tone and remains one of the most interesting TV efforts of the late 2000s. If you’re unconvinced, just search the web for any frame of the show and you’ll immediately understand what I mean.