Weir Pulls Through And Daisies Push Back

Some have taken exception to my recent take on and subsequent comments about Pushing Daisies.



First, let me just say that I am generally not one to judge or criticize the opinions of others. If anything, I think I should be criticized for writing ineffective sarcasm and 'all-in-fun' digs. That's really what I was doing - taking some good natured jabs at some of my favourite readers and fellow bloggers. So...apologies and bygones?

But I will continue to 'dig my grave'.


Excessively repetitive narration aside, Daisies is a charmingly delightful premise...for a movie. And so it was with some pleasure I read this recent TV Guide article that revealed the premise of the show came from an unrealized storyline for creator Bryan Fuller's earlier series Dead Like Me.

Because that's exactly how it feels, like an episode (or movie)....one with it's own set of particular rules and regulations that can play out and get resolved over an hour or two. Kind of like Amélie (a film Daisies is oft compared to, and a film I liked a lot...but not sure I'd like to see it as a series). And my fear is Daisies the series is ultimately a convoluted one-trick pony that will continue to feel more and more circular and repetitive until it strangles on its own roots.

See..I'm not criticizing your taste...I'm simply trying to help you see some of the problems now so when you start to become bored and annoyed you won't be so surprised. I'm a helper, not a hater!

More examples you say? Well, one of the overriding arc questions of Pushing Daisies is: "What if you find the person of your dreams, the love of your life, and you can't touch them?" Well, Ned and Girl Chuck seem to be managing just fine if you ask me, even if they can't touch. Perhaps if Girl Chuck hadn't seemed so open to jump into Ned's life, the series might have the potential for legs. Like if she found him kind of annoying but they were forced to work as a team (kinda like Moonlighting) instead of being just so darn pleased to be together and holding hands with plastic wrap or hazmat gloves.

Furthermore, last week Girl Chuck finds out someone has to die if Ned doesn't put them back in Coffinville after one minute. Big dilemma and conflict, right? Um...no, because it's a fantasy show where dead people come to life and pie makers make pies in the Pie Hole. So Girl Chuck accepts it, and everything's okay. Next up plot-wise, we just know Girl Chuck will find out that her father was 'taken' when Ned didn't send his mother back to the Reaper in time....you know, back when Ned was ten...and didn't understand how the rules worked...and all of the rest of it --- how can they play this for any sort of drama?

Ned had no idea what he was doing way back when...and if Girl Chuck's going to hold that against him and leave him, well, she'd be a b*tch and then there's no show anymore. So that won't happen. And if he ever should accidentally finger her (which already should've happened), Girl Chuck dies and the show is more or less over. Thus that's also not going to happen either. So say the rules of long running TV series.

And speaking of the rules, I'm still wrapping my head around them for Daisies. Ned touches someone/anyone? and they are toast? Or is it just if he touches dead people, they come back to life? Okay, let's say it's just dead people that are affected. So if he touches dead people, they come back to life for a minute. And then he can touch them again and life/death rights itself. But if he doesn't kill them again with his finger of death, someone else's life in close proximity gets taken, right? But then Ned can't touch them again or they die (and the taken person from before comes back to life again? I guess not, since Girl Chuck's dad didn't come back to life, but then there isn't balance again is there).

Confused yet? Well, you should be...this show just has way too many 'Hmmm, now wait a second...' moments. Like how flowers seem to die when Ned brings dead, rotten fruit back to life to make his wonderful pies...but how does he know it will be flowers? Why couldn't it be, say...customers? And didn't this 'gift' all start when young Ned's dog died and young Ned touched the dog and it came back to life...and we're supposed to believe young Ned never touched the dog again until the incident with his mother?

Bottom line...I'm having a hard time suspending disbelief, and I'm hard pressed to get invested in what might happen to the characters since I feel the show has already painted itself into a corner and really has nowhere to go.



So in answer to the haters...I get why you like this show and believe me, I do understand what's there to like (charm, whimsy, feelgoodiness) --- it's just I have a little bitty problem with Pushing Daisies being sold as a TV 'series'.

My other point was that this fall season has really been pretty underwhelming overall. And I feel that a lot of 'fans of TV', myself included, perhaps have been giving some shows more praise and kudo's than the shows actually deserve in an effort to find something they can swoon for.

But to each their own, that's how we roll. Hell, I'm not afraid to admit I like watching golf (Canada's Mike Weir won his first tourney in over 3 years today...yay!). Yes, I find enjoyment in viewing one of the most sleep-inducing pro sports ever to be televised.

Mileage, as we all know...does vary.