Stay Tuned
Reviews, previews and much more on "The Real Housewives," "How I Met Your Mother," "NCIS" and many more of your favorite shows. This is the place to talk about all of the things that make us "Stay Tuned"…

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

"Pushing Daisies" Review: I Just Don't Know...

If you looked up quirky in the dictionary, you might find a cast picture from “Pushing Daisies.”

Because if this show is not the living definition of quirky, I don’t know what it is…

If you missed it, “Daisies” is about piemaker Ned (Lee Pace), who has the power to raise the dead with one touch. But a second touch kills them permanently.

Ned has teamed up with Emerson (Chi McBride), a private eye, to use his powers to solve murders and collect the rewards. But there’s a hitch. If he doesn’t make them dead again in one minute, someone else dies.

But when Ned discovers that his childhood crush, Chuck (Anna Friel), is one of the victims, he ignores all of that and keeps her alive. Of course, they can’t touch, which makes their attraction difficult.

Much to Emerson’s dismay, Chuck becomes part of the team and the trio work to solve Chuck’s murder, while crossing paths with Chuck’s wacky aunts (Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene).

Adding another wrinkle to the story is Olive (Kristin Chenoweth), a waitress at the Pie Hole, Ned’s bakery, who has a huge crush on Ned.

The cast is rounded out by Jim Dale, the voice of the Harry Potter audiobooks, who provides the narration.

The show fancies itself as a fairy tale and everything reflects that well. The colors, the characters and the narration all lend themselves to that style. The cast, meanwhile, is fantastic. Pace and Friel are a perfect pair. Chenoweth and Kurtz are always solid; and it’s great to see McBride playing for laughs for a change.

But did I like it? I just don’t know…

For every funny moment, there was an equally cringe-inducing, overly sweet moment. And there’s definitely a creepy factor…

As I said, I just don’t know. Do you?

“Pushing Daisies” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC…