Part of #JohnWithTheWind — a week-long editorial event.
It is a fact that John Maher, as a college freshman, took pleasure in informing me that Lost was probably all about “yetis made of ice cream” and utterly without artistic merit. In the end, he may have been, let’s say, “less wrong,” than I gave him credit for. But he can’t blame me for not trying to sell him, back then, on the other show I was watching: the late, great Pushing Daisies.
Let’s just say that yetis made of ice cream wouldn’t be out of place in the world of Daisies. The show centers on a pie-making, mystery-solving, supernatural abilityhaving Lee Pace, who wakes his childhood sweetheart from the dead by touching her, only to be unable to ever touch her again without killing her.
The premise, though outlandish, holds none of the self-serious pomp of the much-maligned (by John, anyway) Lost. It’s both unapologetically saccharine and eager to poke fun at itself. When the lovebirds Ned and Charlotte “Chuck” Charles (Anna Friel) get to be too much, most of the fun-poking comes from the outstanding — and brilliantly named — Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) and Olive Snook (Kristin Chenoweth), who add a bitter, world-weary snark that’s like a good cup of coffee with that slice of pie. (And yes, I am intentionally pandering to your Twin Peaks fandom, John.)
What’s extra-miraculous about Pushing Daisies, though, is that amid the sweetness and the snark, the show has some surprisingly profound things to say about death. I mean, come on. It’s as close as a live-action series is going to get to one of his silly-yet-somehow-also-clever-and-profound cartoons.
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