Pushing Daisies

Ned the pie man had no life plan; his lot wasn't fair.
Said Ned the pie man to his dead friend, "Let me touch your hair."
Said the dead friend to the pie man, "I was dead before."
Said Ned the pie man to his girlfriend, "If I touch you you'll live no more."

Ned (Lee Pace) bakes pies, but his magic power is to bring people back to life with just a touch, but only for a moment. When his childhood sweetheart dies, though, he breaks the rules and brings her back to life to stay. Now he and his accomplice (Chi McBride) use Ned's power to fight crime. And all the while their story is narrated by Jim Dale, the man who narrated all of the Harry Potter audiobooks.

The Pitch:	Take your basic whodunnit, add the charm of "Ed", the spooky visuals of "Death Becomes Her", and dial up the quirkiness to 11 and you've pretty much got the vibe for this show.
When It’s On	Wednesday at 8 p.m. PT/ET, ABC
When It Starts	Wed 10/3
What It’s Up Against	Kid Nation (CBS), Deal or No Deal (NBC), Back to You/'Til Death (Fox), America's Next Top Model (CW)
Starring...	Lee Pace, Chi McBride, Kristin Chenoweth, Swoosie Kurtz
Cliche-o-Meter	Sci-Fi Geeks Guys named Chuck Annoying Narrator
Fandom Factor	Hot
Do Not Adjust Your Set:	Actually, this show is so weird, you probably should adjust your set early and often.
Why It Will Be First To Go:	Pick your poison -- the Too-Quirky-For-Its-Own-Good ethos, the annoying British narrator, the fact that the show looks so costly to produce, ABC's going to lose its shirt unless every man, woman, and child in America watches every minute, every episode.
Why It Won't:	If this show could actually put down the Plucking Strings of Whimsy for a second and get out of its own way, it could actually be entertaining.
Odds of Failure:	7-2
Show's official web site

(A TeeVee/TV Barn top 10 notable show.)

Full Review

There's a terrific new series starting Sept. 8 called "Torchwood." Airing that night on BBC America and nine days later in high definition (and uncut) on HDNet, it's a "Doctor Who" spinoff ("Torchwood" is an anagram) that opens with the fresh-faced supernatural spy team trying out a new device they've been given -- a knight's glove that can touch corpses and bring them back for two minutes, enough time to potentially solve a crime by learning from the victim himself who did the deed. I mention this because that is pretty much the premise for "Pushing Daisies," a fanciful hour dramedy on ABC from the creator of "Dead Like Me" and director Barry Sonnenfeld, best known for "Men In Black" and not so well known for ABC's attempt at a "Fantasy Island" remake a while back. "Pushing Daisies" is about a young boy who learns that his touch can raise the dead -- and can, with a second touch, put them right back in rigor mortis, never again to be revived. Soon the boy is a man, played by Lee Pace, and has found work with a private detective (Chi McBride) raising murder victims, learning just enough information to solve the crime, putting them back to sleep, and collecting and dividing the rewards. Reality TV it's not.

Filmed with a gorgeous palette, whimsical music and copious voice-over narration that might be described as a cross between "Desperate Housewives" and the Brothers Grimm, "Pushing Daisies" may be too precious for its own good. (The apartment scenes struck many critics this summer as a direct knockoff of the film "Amelie.") But say this about the show -- it's got people's attention. ABC has chosen to launch "Pushing Daisies" at 8 p.m. Wednesday, the initial time period "Lost" once occupied. The show has good early buzz and Kristin Chenoweth is in the cast. And it's definitely not the same-old same-old, for which ABC is to be congratulated. If this show isn't pushing daisies come Thanksgiving, then it means this show had more going for it than just a pretty pilot. -- A.B.

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