"Pushing Daisies"

Beth and I used our DVR this weekend to catch up on our Pushing Daisies.

The show, which was nominated for 12 Emmys after its first season run, is completely unique. The storyline revolves around

• Ned (Lee Pace) - a pie maker who can bring people back from the dead with a touch, but who then must touch them again to send them back to death before sixty seconds elapse or someone else will then die.
• Charlotte, aka "Chuck" (Anna Friel) - Ned's childhood sweetheart and girlfriend who Ned can't touch because he brought her back to life and kept her there,
• Emerson Code, played by the delightful Chi McBride - a private investigator who has discovered Ned's usefulness in solving murder cases and who insists on continually referring to Chuck as "dead girl," and
  
• Olive Snook, played by the wonderful Kristen Chenoweth, who works at Ned's pie shop and has a crush on Ned.
  

The cast is rounded out by Chuck's "aunts," Lilly and Vivian Charles, played respectively by Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene, who raised Chuck after her mom (supposedly) and her dad died.

I'm blogging about Pushing Daisies simply because the show is so very excellent. The writing is amazing - Beth and I often rewind just to hear such scintillating lines as Emerson Cod's "The mimes just pulled up in a trailer, and they ain't talkin,'" when the team was at a circus attempting to solve a series of murders. The sets and backgrounds are consistently whimsical and beautiful. The acting is top drawer. And the stories and subplot lines are sometimes profound.

I grew sad after the first few episodes of the first season because I did not believe the writers could keep the quality up. But so far this season is even better than last season. I am a longtime fan of Kristen Chenowith (the West Wing, Wicked), but felt that last year she was shoehorned in because of her enormous talent. But this season they are integrating her into the mix of ongoing plot arcs and the separate week-to-week story lines very nicely.

In short, Beth and I are very much enjoying this delightfully produced show and I recommend it.