Last night ABC screened a preview of the pilot for Pushing Daisies at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Three things drew me in: Bryan Fuller, creator of Wonderfalls who also did some great work on Heroes, Lee Pace, the super hot and charismatic brother from Wonderfalls, and Barry Sonnenfeld who I guess is playing in TV now but I didn't realize, I'll have to look up his work on Notes From The Underbelly too.

The screening was at 8, but I should have realized that meant 9 (the sun doesn't set any faster for ABC on Thursdays than it does for the Cemetery screenings on Saturdays).

I really liked the show. It's got some pilot pains, and it didn't knock me out like Wonderfalls did, but by the end of the episode I was excited to see what happens next. I'm going to be spoilery.

Things start of both brilliantly and clunkily as an idilic moment of Ned and his dog running through a super saturated field of flowers is interrupted when a truck splats the dog. On paper, this is all stuff I love, the cartoony colors, the morbid hilarity, the dying pet saddness, but the puzzle pieces don't quite fit exactly. I'm not sure if it's the actual editing, or the decision to not let the young Ned actor speak (using faux-stonefacism as a ZachBraff-esque dramatic cheat?), or the overbearing narration, but the entire first act felt like everything was a beat off. Which is a shame, because the same scenarios could have been brilliant.

The premise of the show is that Ned can bring dead people/animal/plants back to life by touching them. But there's catches. If he touches the person/animal/plant a second time, they die again, this time permanently. If he lets them live permanently though, fate will take the life of someone near by. This little eternal life or death exchange happens one minute after the initial touch.

The narrator is easily the biggest problem in the episode. I guess they decided the premise was too complicated to explain gradually or visually, or through a few simple dialogue exchanges. Instead the narrator attacks us with all the information at once. It almost sounded like they edited out his breaths so they could keep the words coming.

In Wonderfalls, Jaye's ability is vague and the source of her powers is even more vague, but it was organic, it was in the world of the show. Here the narrator says right off the bat something like "it's not known what entity gave him these powers, or why." If this show reaches any of the heights of Wonderfalls they were probably already planning on exploring the social/moral/religious implications of a man who can bring things back to life, so why bring it up in a such an odd way?

Once the show gets moving with the main cast the narrator mostly disappears, randomly interjecting way too much information that could have easily been explained otherwise and sometimes ruining tender moments. Hopefully he's just the product of a complicated pilot pitch and not a heavy presence in the show. Though I will say there was one line that got a chuckle out of me, with the one eyed aunt, "it appeared the jig was up, and if she'd had two good eyes, it would have been."

The show picks up in a big way when when we're introduced to the present day Ned, "The Pie Maker," have I mentioned how much I love job titles being used for names? Lee Pace conveys brilliantly what didn't quite come across with young Ned. The Pie Maker is twitchy, neurotic, and Pace's lanky physicality expresses so much emotion and vulnerability. He also strikes a great balance between morbid detachment and awkward sincerity.

The only present day character who didn't click with me was Kristin Chenoweth as Olive Snook, an employee, neighbor, dog watcher and not-secret admirer of Ned. Her acting style didn't quite mesh with the rest of the cast, and I'd sort of wished she was more than one character. Why not have an employee, a neighbor, a dog watcher AND a rejected admirer? I guess you could say having them all be the same person adds more complexity, but the Olive character isn't that complex and the show already has such a small cast that I was sort of looking for more regulars.

Chi McBride plays the PI Emerson Cod, who discovers Ned's power and strikes a deal with him to touch the corpses of unsolved murder victims to collect the reward money when they solve the case. He's got almost all the best lines in the pilot and he nails every one.

Rounding out the main cast we have Anna Friel as Chuck, have I mentioned how much I love guys names for girls? This one might be my favorite ever. Chuck is Ned's childhood first kiss who he's reunited with years later when she's murdered. Of course the minute time limit passes and he lets her live. Now they're in the perfect will-they-won't-they tv show scenario of being in love but being unable to touch. Anna's Chuck is adorable and quirky, Amelie with the spunk of Zooey Deschanel.

The look of the show is over the top, but in sort of a classic way. Ned's storefront, "The Pie Hole" looks straight out of a cartoon, like when a cat would dress up it's mouth and roll out it's red carpet tongue for the mice. Barry Sonnenfeld's direction was surprisingly hit and miss. One thing I always associate with Sonnenfeld is his fluidity of movement. His camera is always moving but it always leads you into the next shot. When it works (Adams Family/Men In Black/Get Shorty/Raising Arizona), you get this great rollercoaster sensation in your stomach. I got that feeling a few times in the pilot. But more often shots cut to one another in an abrupt, clunky way. Kinks like this will probably work their way out as the show goes on.

There's a surprising amount of effects in the show. Similar to Wonderfalls I guess except without the reason necessarily. Like the rich set design there's also a lot of Amelie-style effects of things coming to life in a childlike way. While I love it stylistically, it's not really motivated by the characters or the story which makes it sometimes seem unnecessary?

Overall I left the episode excited for the next and that's the important part. The chemistry of the main trio is great and the premise is ripe for all sorts of adventures and genres and guest stars. My only reservations is the narrator, the friend/employee who doesn't seem to have an apparent purpose or story arc and a small cast that might limit the show the longer it plays. For instance, Wonderfalls had 9 some recurring characters introduced in the pilot that went on to play major roles through the season, Daisies has 4, 5 if you count the dog, 7 if you count the Aunts who seemed more like this week's guest stars.

After the screening they passed out cute little pies from Joan's, oh how I love gimmicks. The only downside now is that the show doesn't start until October 3rd! What's up with that?

If you're interested in obsessing, maybe get lost in Lee Pace's dreamy eyes, check out The Pie Maker, that's right, a show that hasn't even aired yet has a fansite. I take that as a sign the show will be cancelled immediately.

Labels: critiqua