First Impressions: Pushing Daisies

Rarely does anything live up to the hype. This is one of the many reasons I don’t watch Battlestar Galactica besides if I did watch it I’d have to start kicking my own butt. And every time I hear someone tell me I must watch it makes it want to watch it even less. Plus how am I supposed to take television recommendation from people who also list The Hills as part of about twenty other shows as must see television at any given time. This is why I don’t try to overhype thing here at the 9th Green. In fact in over a year and a half years writing there are only four albums that have gotten the coveted Severe rating on my Terror Alert Scale.

With all that said, you must watch Pushing Daisies. For those that missed the premiere, do yourself a favor and tune in this Friday at 8:00 on ABC when they re-air the first episode (or stream it anytime over at ABC.com). Then of course switch over to NBC at 9:00 to check out the season premiere of Friday Night Lights which would be enough to keep anyone in on Friday nights it were the case every week. And for those of us that have lives, this is the reason why God gave us the VCR (or Tivo for you pretentious type). Back to Pushing Daisies, one of the reasons why I hate when people tell me I have to watch something is because it is rarely ever followed up with a why. So here are the top five reasons why you should watch Pushing Daisies:

1. Brian Fuller: The guy behind the show who also created Wonderfalls (which also stared Lee Pace, the lead of Pushing Daisies), which just so happened to be the number one reason why I no longer watch Fox. Here is a guy that is great at creating a fantasy worlds and the one he did for Pushing Daisies is no exception where he mixes the macabre and the whimsical perfectly. And I don’t think it is a coincidence that he wrote the best episode of Heroes so far, Company Man.

2. Chi McBride: Loved him in Boston Public (the number five reason why I no longer watch Fox) and he is even better as Emerson, the shady detective that abuses Ned’s ability for profit. He also gets some of the best lines of the Pilot especially the one when he learns that when Ned tells him that someone else in proximity drops dead if he doesn’t retouch the dead in under a minute.

3. Kristen Chenoweth: Seriously, is there anything she isn’t great in? I’m not talking just good but great. And her overly sunshiny disposition will no doubt fit well in this world. Hopefully she gets more of a spotlight as Ned’s obsessed employee. Start getting your pie jokes and innuendos ready now.

4. The Look: Even after watching the promos, YouTube videos and had an expectation of the look of the show, I was still in shock on just amazing everything looked. As long as this show is on the air, the Emmys might as well not even bother nominating any other show for Best Art Direction.

5. Anna Friel: An amazing mix of naïveté and sexiness that the roll of Chuck really needs. I first (and only) remember her from the short-lived The Jury (reason number nine of why I don’t watch Fox). My only complaint about her was the bad hair. Yeah you should give a girl a break on account that she was dead and all, but it seems like chicks’ hair across the board have been bad this television season. Was there a hairdresser strike that I don’t know about? The only female that doesn’t seem affected is the Token Hot Chick and her pigtails on Chuck (more on her Sunday).

With that said, as good as the first episode was, it will only get better as it suffered a little from Pilotitis where they have to spend too much time explaining the show before they can get into an interesting plot as well as seeing a few of the scene thanks to seeing the promos one too many times all summer long (at least there were no, “Mom you smell different” moments). With those out of the way the next episode should prove much more enjoyable thanks to the reasons above.

Verdict: Pushing Daisies not only has the potential of being the best new show of the year (it already is by a very long shot) but could possibly end up being in the discussion of the best of the decade. Thank God it isn’t on Fox or they may have already canceled it by their reputation. Now ABC, you jerked me around last year by poorly treating Let’s Rob Mick Jagger, don’t let the same thing happen to this show. Pushing Daisies airs Wednesdays at 8:00 on ABC. You can also stream the episodes over at ABC.com.