Wow - Pushing Daisies is amazing...

Wednesdays at 8, Pushing Daisies is something totally new on TV - let's hope it survives. It felt to me like Roald Dahl rewriting the movie Big Fish. It's the story of a kid who has the gift of life and death - he can bring back the dead with a touch, but only for a minute, or death will take someone else in their place. AND after bringing someone back, our hero, Ned, can never touch them again or they'll die. Jim Dale (the voice of the Harry Potter audiobooks) narrates and makes the story so much more familiar and exciting than the story would be on its own (not a common touch for narration which is usually distracting). Our hero Ned has grown up to be a pie-maker (he can make even rotten fruit perfectly ripe - how cool would that be?) and his childhood crush Charlotte "Chuck", has been mysteriously killed. She totally reminds me of all the characters Zooey Deschanel has ever played, but not quite crazy. Anyway, Ned brings her back to ask who killed her, but can't bring himself to kill her again (so no one else would die), and they embark on the journey, with Ned's PI partner, to find out who killed "chuck". We meet her recluse, synchronized swimming aunts (played brilliantly by Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen "Suddenly Seymour" Greene) because they've been sent Chuck's luggage after her death. The show is just cheerfully colored with pure heart at its heart, but with the dark edge of having power over life and death. It's really funny with Kristin Chenowith playing Ned's neighbor and waitress who is in love with Ned, and can't understand why he never touches her. I think this might have made a better 2-hour movie, but I'm intereseted to see how they keep it going!