Premiering Tonight: "Pushing Daisies"

By Jason Snell – October 3, 2007

Pushing Daisies (8 p.m. PT/ET, ABC):

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. 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.

Pushing Daisies is, simultaneously, the most intriguing and annoying new show of the season. Some people will love it; others will be put off by its aggressive stylization. It’s too clever by half — but it is clever.