Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Pushing Daisies

This is easily the best new show on TV. The premise is a bit strange. A pie-maker solves murders on the side by bringing people back to life with a touch, asking them how they died, then returning them to death with a second touch. Once they have been touched a second time they are dead for good.

Also, if he doesn't touch them the second time within 60 seconds then something else dies.

The twist is that he found his childhood love in the morgue and let her live. (A second twist is that years before he brought his mother back to life and her father died to balance it.)

What really sets the show apart is the presentation. It has the best narration since Arrested Development. Many of the sets are brightly lit with primary colors giving it the same feel as Tim Burton's Big Fish.

Then there are the murders. They are as off-beat as the rest of the show. In the second episode a man was killed by a crash test dummy.

Then there is the sexual tension between the leads. They are strongly attracted to each other but cannot touch directly.

The big question is if they can keep it up. Often shows like this start out string but can't live up to the pilot. By the time they are canceled it is a mercy killing. At three episodes in, they haven't slacked off yet which is pretty promising.

No comments: