Pushing Daisies

Take a television show, add bright colours, magic, and pie, and you have a recipe for success. Yes, television shows like this do exist, but wait, there's more! Throw in charming actors, an unexpectedly sweet plot line that is sure to have you hugging the nearest pillow, and the voice of Jim Dale as narrator, and you'll have ABC's newest addition to prime time, Pushing Daisies.

This creative comedy follows the plot line of a pie maker named Ned, who is played by Lee Pace from Fox series Wonderfalls. Ned possesses the talent to bring dead things back to life with one touch; however, there are rules that come with this ability. The second time they receive Ned's touch, they are irreversibly dead, once again. While this may seem a morbid or depressing subject, the show manages to attain an incredibly optimistic atmosphere through the quirky characters and the endearing love story.

British actress Anna Friel plays Ned's murdered childhood sweet heart, who has been brought back to life by Ned and is therefore untouchable. The obvious results of this predicament are played out cleverly, and so far the show's "drama" has been toned down to a minimum. Unlike most shows on television, Pushing Daisies takes you to another world. Without cat fighting reality stars or confusing medical jargon, the whimsical world of Pushing Daisies is being called "a breath of fresh air" by critics across the country.

To get a feel for Pushing Daisies without watching clips on YouTube, your best bet is to learn more about the show's creator, Bryan Fuller. Before Pushing Daisies, Fuller produced and wrote for popular shows such as Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Heroes and Star Trek: Voyager. All of these shows have fantasy aspects, which seems to be Fuller's specialty. He is also well known and respected for his comedic writing. Dead like Me and Wonderfalls, while both short lived, received much critical acclaim. Hopefully Pushing Daisies, also receiving positive feedback, will manage to last longer.

There is so much to love about Pushing Daisies, that one cannot state it all with out being accused of "gushing". Yet that is exactly what this show deserves, gushing and more gushing. We all thought that the day when we could see musical outbursts, carrier pigeons and synchronized swimming in one television show would never arrive, yet it has and the years of watching substandard television was worth it.

The show offers the singing talent of Kristen Chenoweth from the award winning musical Wicked for those who believe television without singing is a waste of time, and the fashion obsessed will surely be drooling over the unique and adorable outfits Anna Friel sports.

The only possible complaint seems to be: can this last? How long will it be until the plot line goes sour and the story becomes as strained and bizarre as most of the other shows on television? However, fans have been happy to see that so far, every episode has been as original as the last. Perhaps this show will pass the test of time that so many shows fail. This may be the beginning of an epic series that will be remembered for decades. Pushing Daisies receives five stars out of five.