Fairy Tale Murder Mystery

I should be going to bed (or at least doing homework), but I want to write about the TV show I watched last night. I don't watch a lot of TV and typically if it's a good show, I just catch it on DVD. Last night, though, I sat down to watch one of the new fall shows that appeared very intriguing, Pushing Daisies.

In a nutshell: impressive. It was a great blend of fairy tale romance, macabre murder mystery, and quirky characters. Ned discovers when he is a young boy that with a touch he can bring dead things (people, animals, plants, insects) back to life. It sounds great, except there is a catch. If he touches the person or thing again, they die. However, if he does not touch them again within a minute, someone close by dies in their place.

This leads to a very traumatic experience for Ned. When he is 8, his mother has an aneurysm in front of him. He doesn't yet know that a second touch will kill her or that if he doesn't touch her in a minute, someone else will die. Ned is in love with Chuck, the girl next door. When his mother is alive for more than a minute, Chuck's father keels over and dies in the yard. Then when Ned's mother tucks him in for bed that night, she gives him a kiss and promptly falls over dead.

Chuck goes away to live with her neurotic aunts and Ned develops a neurosis about touching or getting attached to people. He makes a quiet living making pies until a private detective learns about his ability. Together they make money by solving murders. Ned reanimates the corpse, asks them "who did it?" and kills them again before a minute is up.

This works out well for them until Chuck turns up dead. The private investigator, Emerson, does not know of the history between Ned and Chuck who have not seen each other since they were 8. He tells Ned their is a big reward for this case, but Ned cannot bring himself to kill Chuck again once he has resurrected her. Of course, he cannot touch her again and their are many sweet (and funny) moments in the episode as they grapple with this.

It's nice to see a show that's different. Shows about lawyers, doctors, and cops are a dime a dozen and most of them are all too similar. There is nothing like Pushing Daisies on TV and I can't wait to see more episodes. I'm hoping that it catches enough of an audience to stay on. Too many good shows don't seem to get an audience and are cancelled (Arrested Development, Boomtown). So, check it out. Let the suits know we don't want more of the same junk they're always trying to peddle on us.