Pushing Daisies is a strange one in many ways, how it masks its dark themes of death and murder in a bright technicolor dreamlike state, a comedy that seems sickly sweet on the surface but actually touches on themes on love, loss and unrequited feelings. The show has the potential to be divisive and seemed destined for cult-like status, which in its final touch of strangeness is scheduled on the most mainstream channel at its most mainstream time.
Watching the show on ITV1 something doesn't quite sit right and its hard to imagine many of those tuning in for Britain's Got Talent sticking around to watch this - but that's not to say it isn't good stuff, which it is and features excellent performances from all the cast (especially Chi McBride as comedy black man Emerson Cod) combined with excellent score and narration atop the shows unique visual look.
Episode 7 sees Ned, Chuck and Emerson investigate the death of an author in an explosion. Was the scientist who wrote the book the target of the explosion, or was this part of an intentional publicity stunt gone horribly wrong? Seems pretty straightforward so far but throw in murder by scratch-n-sniff, a mermaid outfit, a yellow hose and the song 'Morning Has Broken' and you get the idea that treads far from the usual murder mystery track.
In its commercial setting the show loses something as the viewer is dragged out of the magical Burton-esque world created and lumped back into a landscape of Claims Direct, Tesco and Howard from the Halifax every 15 minutes. to me this would be best enjoyed on DVD where the viewer can immerse themselves fully in the episodes without commercial disrupting the flow of the show.
At 9 episodes long, the show's short series means that it doesn't outstay its welcome, which is a challenge the show will have to face when it returns for a full 22 episode run in season 2 and producers will have to carefully manage the unique premise over a full run so it doesn't come over quirky for the sake of quirky.
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