The magic touch

I got a new fave television show!
ABC's "Pushing Daisies."


It's about a guy, Ned, played by actor Lee Pace, who can bring dead people back to life simply by touching them. Big surprise that I like it, eh??

Ned can't just touch anyone or anything and bring them back all "willy-nilly." There are rules:

Once he touches them, the dead become alive again. Not zombies. Actually alive. But they can only stay alive for one minute -- or someone or something else has to die in their place. That being said, once he's brought a dead person/animal/etc. back to life, he can never touch them again. First touch alive, second touch -- dead, again, forever.

So Ned and a private investigator who learns his secret, Emerson Cod (some of you may know him as "Bishop" in "Waiting"), go around touching dead people, asking them how they died/who killed them, touching them again and then collecting the reward.

One day, things get a little more complicated when one of the dead people Ned is asked to bring back is his childhood sweetheart, Charlotte "Chuck" Charles. He touches her but can't bear to kill her again, so he lets her stay -- the price being the life of the funeral director, who was notorious for stealing heirlooms off dead people anyway (so what's the harm?).

Anyway, there's only been three episodes, all of which can be viewed online at ABC.com, and all of which have been amazing so far.

What I can tell from those first episodes is this:

*Each episode opens with a little story about Ned when he was young, when he was just finding out all the specifics about his "gift." Now a piemaker who runs a little shop called the Pie Hole and chooses to keep many of his secrets to himself, this is the best way we have to learn a little more about our lead character (pretty sexy lead character) each week.

*Each episode involves a murder, or a dead person whose case the piemaker, investigator and dead girl are out to solve, each for different reasons (Emerson to get the reward and Chuck to make the world a better place).

*The piemaker and the dead girl are falling in love with each other, which becomes increasingly more adorable with each episode, and also more interesting because he cannot touch her skin to skin, or she'll be dead again, forever. Some news and entertainment stories I've read about the show say this scenario is, in a way, making a statement about abstinence or at least the dangers of intimacy. I think that's an interesting concept. What I do know about it is this: You know how abstinence pushers and those with "high moral standards" are always saying -- that sexy is mysterious and not slutty, that revealing too much is the wrong idea of sexy? They're right. Something about the electricity between the two characters (shown above) is sexy -- even though they can't so much as kiss on the show. See for yourself if you don't believe me.

Overall, the colors and scenes in the show are so bright, they remind me very much of Tim Burton's creative style, or even Dr. Seuss sometimes (i.e. Chuck's aunts are performers who do water ballet and call themselves "the Darling Mermaid Darlings," and one has an eyepatch).

Every detail has a reason. There is a REASON the writers only gave Chuck's aunt one eye, which you will notice if you watch the pilot episode. 

The characters speak a lot like the Gilmore Girls, only far less annoying, in that they are quick witted and everything they say is perfect like they've rehearsed it a million times (not at all like reality, in that they never really stumble over anything they say). However, it works well in this show, unlike on "Gilmore Girls," because the topic of the show and the bright themes are so overpowering and daydream-like, it just fits in. It may sound like it, but it's not over the top, trust me.

One extra plus, if you like singing, is that one of the characters, a Pie Hole employee named Olive Snook (played by one Kristin Chenoweth) sometimes likes to break out in a musical number. This may not sound wierd to those of you who know Chenoweth from "Wicked," the musical.

That's all I have to say about it for now, but I'd strongly encourage everyone to watch the first three episodes and get caught up before next week!! It airs on ABC at 7 p.m. Wednesdays.