"I'd kiss you if it wouldn't kill me." ~ Charlotte (Chuck) Charles
This is TV made for me! I am loving every precious moment of "Pushing Daisies." I have read several critics who have complained about Barry Sonnenfield's crayon-colored direction, but I am a big fan of Sonnenfield, especially his "early, funny" stuff such as "Men In Black" (the first one), "Get Shorty," and "The Addams Family" movies (not so much the later stuff like "RV"). "Pushing Daisies" has way too complicated a set-up and nearly as complicated a set of rules. Ned, the pie guy, can touch dead people, bringing them back to life, BUT if he doesn't touch them again within a minute, killing them again, someone nearby must die instead. If said dead person continues to live past one minute, they will stay alive unless they touch Ned again, in which case they stay dead forever. Wow, those are more conditions than most credit card reward programs have. Okay, Ned as played by Lee Pace, has this quirky Kevin Spacey thing going on and, while Anna Friel (erstwhile childhood friend/untouchable girlfriend, Chuck) is WAY too thin for my taste, she is quite fetching. Chi McBride as Emmerson Cod, P.I., as usual, is great. There are great lines of dialogue: Chuck: You can't just touch somebody and be done with it. Ned: Yes, I can. That's how I roll." Ned: (wonders why Chuck is being buried so soon after her death). Emmerson: She's Jewish. Christians believe in keeping them laying around but Jews got to get them in the ground. Ned: (discovering a dead body):I wonder how long she's been here? Emmerson: Touch the bitch and ask her. I don't know about you, but EYE gotta love that kinda stuff. I don't know if the writers can sustain the dark whimsy of the premiere episode but even if they can, I can't see this series having legs. It is just too precious to live. ~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Anyone watching this new series? It's quirky to say the least. Reminds me in a way of a live, macabre Dr. Seuss tale. For those who don't know the man guy--Ned--has the ability to bring any dead thing back to life. The problem is, if the person is still alive one minute later, the universe requires a balance: in other words, a nearby person will drop dead instead. Ned discovered this as a young boy who revived his mother, only to note that the neighbor across the street dropped dead one minute later. The other problem is, once Ned touches a person to revive him/her, if he *ever* touches that person again, that person dies--permanently. He discovered that the same day he revived his mom, when she dropped dead after kissing him goodnight. > > Now Ned bakes pies, using his powers to make the fruit fresh. he's discovered by a private eye (Chi McBride) who blackmails Ned: he keeps the secret as long as Ned uses his power to revive dead crime victims for one minute. Just long enough for them to tell Ned who killed them, and then let the detective "solve" the case and collect the credit and the reward. another problem: Ned's long lost love was killed, and he revived her, but couldn't bring himself to kill her again. Now the girl of his dreams is alive, but he can never touch her. Sad, quirky, darkly humorous. Has a fast-paced dialog that reminds me at times of "Moonlighting" or "Gilmore Girls". Odd, pastel and old-fashioned sets, that remind me of "Edward Scissorhands" at times. > > Not sure I'll want to see it every week, but I'm enjoying it tonight. Let me know what you think--especially you, Martin. > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >
