Pushing Daisies: The Complete First Season
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Actor: Anna Friel, Chi McBride, Ellen Greene, Jim Dale, Lee PaceBrand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Portuguese (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 379 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-09-16
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- Every not-so-often, along comes a show that?s different. Wonderfully different. Pushing Daisies, TV Guide?s Matt Roush writes, ?restores my faith in TV?s ability to amuse, enchant and entertain.? It?s the story of Ned, a lonely pie maker whose touch can reanimate the dead. Cool, but there?s a hitch. If Ned touches the person again, the miracle is reversed. If he doesn?t, a bystander goes toes up.
DVD Reviews of Pushing Daisies: The Complete First Season
DVD Review: The most promising new show of the strike-shortened season
Summary: 5 Stars
Season One of PUSHING DAISIES has ended. Sadly, the show, which was supposed to run through 22 episodes, has ended at 9. Many shows have been adversely affected by the WGA strike, but except for FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (which not only is going to be cancelled, but did not even get to wrap up its final season, so that it will end with the narrative dangling, an unfitting end to one of the most brilliant shows on TV) none as much for my money as PUSHING DAISIES. This is simply one of the most original, extraordinary shows in the history of television. I awaited the arrival of each of the nine episodes comprising Season One like many await the release of highly anticipated films. That we got only the fraction of a season is heartbreaking.
In case anyone questions whether the season is indeed over, creator and producer Bryan Fuller has stated bluntly that the show will not resume production until next summer, when they will start work on Season Two. And to make it all even more definite, this past week it was announced that Anna Friel, who plays Chuck on the show, will very shortly start filming LAND OF THE LOST with Will Ferrell. You can't shoot new episodes if your female lead is unavailable.
What makes this so heartbreaking is how incredibly fresh and original this show was from the very first episode. I was enthralled from the very first seconds. As the camera moves up from underneath the earth, through the roots of the plants and grass just under the surface, and then up to reveal a vividly yellow field of flowers through which young Ned is running, I was completely entranced. Everything about the show affected me in similar fashion from the music, to the extraordinary use of color (the color is what causes many people to compare it to AMELIE), to the relentless number of wonderful sets. I've never seen a show that I have found so visually exciting.
And luckily the writing and the acting is every bit as good as the art design. It is almost impossible to over praise the writing on the show for two reasons. First, when you watch the first episode, it is so stunningly good that your immediate reaction is: they can't possibly keep this level of excellence up. Yet, they do. In fact, the show doesn't merely stay as good as the pilot (or "Pie-lette," as it is titled), it gets better. The show doesn't merely have a brilliant premise, but has a plan. Although we've had only 9 episodes, any viewer will definitely get the sense that this show is going someplace very specific. Second, the show features some of the wittiest dialogue ever found on television. Many compare the dialogue to that on THE GILMORE GIRLS, both for its immense cleverness and wonderful wordplay, but for its sheer quantity. Without doubt those two shows probably have more words per minute than any shows ever previously seen. (Interestingly, some of PUSHING DAISIES is filmed on the part of the back lot upon which THE GILMORE GIRLS was filmed.) Part of the reason for this is that any spots that on other shows would result in silence on PUSHING DAISIES provides an opportunity for the Narrator, who embellishes the story in marvelous fashion. Other shows have featured narrators, but in my opinion only ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT does so quite so well.
PUSHING DAISIES features a wonderful if somewhat compact ensemble cast. Lee Pace, whom many may know from an earlier Bryan Fuller series WONDERFALLS (on which he played the main character's brother), plays Ned aka The Pie Maker, who "isn't like the other boys," in that whenever he touches a dead thing he brings it back to life, with two caveats. First, if he touches that dead thing (or person) a second time, they will be dead forever. Second, if he doesn't touch it or them again within 60 seconds, something else must die in its place. Anna Friel plays Ned's great childhood love Chuck aka Dead Girl, who is brought back to life by Ned after she was murdered. Of course, this means that Ned and Chuck can never touch directly, which is, as Olive Snook points out, tragic ("notwithstanding big ticket items like genocide and death"). The outrageously talented Kristin Chenoweth plays Olive. Although one of the great Broadway musical talents of her time, neither TV nor the movies have found a way to take advantage of her. Until now. At first I was perplexed why they would cast such a huge talent in what was clearly the second female lead, but as the series goes along Olive quickly became one of my favorite characters. And Kristin even sang a song, performing "Hopelessly Devoted to You" in one of the season's highlights. Ned's partner in solving crime, the delightfully named Emerson Cod, is played by Chi McBride. Emerson is hands down the funniest, most delightful character on the show and perhaps a majority of the funniest lines on the show are uttered by McBride. Chuck's aunts are played by two more Broadway stars, Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene. The Narrator is performed by Jim Dale, who is perhaps best known as the reader of the Harry Potter books on CD. For me he is one of the most wonderful things about the show, providing precisely the right texture and background to every scene. But one other performer has to be mentioned, or rather a pair of performers. I can't tell them apart and I don't know the name of the second "actor," but Orbit and another Golden Retriever play Ned's dog Digby. Orbit played JD (short for Just Dog) on an earlier Bryan Fuller series, DEAD LIKE ME. I have no idea how they get the reactions on film that "Digby" makes to things that happen around him, but to watch him you'd swear he really is acting. My favorite Digby scene might be his interaction with Olive during her singing of "Hopelessly Devoted."
As much as I love this show I have to add that I've been amazed and perplexed that not everyone I know who has seen it has liked it. Some don't like the Narrator. Some don't like the fast-paced dialogue. I simply can't account for this. PUSHING DAISIES does have a very definite style. I suppose that if the style rubs you the wrong way, you might not like it. But for me and several of my closest friends, this is one of the most magical shows I've ever seen. My two all time favorite shows are BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. How much do I love PUSHING DAISIES? Although there have been only 9 episodes, right now I am inclined to say that I love it as much as those two, making it one of my three all time favorite shows. Which is just another reason why I have been so upset by its truncated debut season. But with the writers strike finally about to end (as I write this it has been indicated that the union will vote two days from now on the new contract), I am eagerly looking forward to Season Two. What accidentally turned out to be the final episode of Season One did end on a bit of a cliffhanger and works fairly well as a transition to Season Two. Be sure to watch this to get ready for it.
Description of Pushing Daisies: The Complete First Season
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/16/2008 Rating: NrBestsellers in DVD
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