Warner Home Video
Release date: September 16, 2008
MSRP: DVD: $29.98, Blu-ray: $39.99
Stars: Lee Pace, Anna Friel, Chi McBride, Jim Dale, Ellen Greene
Pushing Daisies should be right up my street. It’s different, quirky, snappy dialogue with appealing characters. In a nutshell, or a pie crust, their big on those type references, Ned, the Pieman (he’s a baker) discovers he can bring back the dead with a touch when his dog is hit by a truck. Like all such things there is a catch. If he leaves them alive for more than a minute someone in proximity dies or if he ever touches them again they die, Forever. This proves inconvienient when his childhood sweetheart is murdered and he can’t bring himself to send her back.
Private eye Emerson Cod (Jim Dale) knows his secret and thinks how much easier it would be to solve murders if you could ask the victem who killed them. They partner and split the rewar! ds. Everybodies happy until the aforementioned childhood sweetheart come on the scene.
There is a strong supporting cast including Swoosie Kurtz as a crazy Aunt and Kristin Chenoweth as the waitress in love with the Pieman.
On paper I should love this show but in fact I am indifferent and I can’t say why. It’s the first time I’ve felt that the problem may be with the reviewer rather than the creation. I am usually more self righteous than that.
The Specials are discussions of the episodes with cast and crew.
Order Pushing Daisies from Amazon on DVD or Blu-ray.
Lee Crawford
For more reviews from Lee, and the rest of the Crimespree crew, check out the index of reviews.
I've had a rocky relationship with Pushing Daisies. I started watching it because the creator is the same guy who gave us Dead Like Me (even if he did leave early on in the show's run) and I also adore Kristen Chenoweth and always have done since I saw her on Fraiser.
But I stopped watching halfway through the second episode, then it came out on terrestrial UK TV but it was so badly edited that some scenes didn't make any sense (the pilot episode for example cut out everything involving the plastic bag killings). So I stopped watching.
Finally I decided to buy it on DVD and sat down to watch it in full, pretending that I'd never seen it before.
And I really enjoyed it. It's a very fun show with great leads, but it's Kristen and Chi McBridge that really make the show.