[IMG:L]At a time when the majority of prime time TV series fall into either the crime procedural, romantic comedy or sci fi fantasy category, ABC offers a show that quite cleverly blends elements of all three. One of the most highly anticipated debuts of the fall season, Pushing Daisies, from Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me creator Bryan Fuller, premieres Oct. 3 at 8/7c on ABC. The series is about a young pie baker (Lee Pace) with a special ability he puts to use in helping a private eye (Chi McBride) solve crimes.
“I play Ned, who can touch dead people and bring them back to life,” outlines Pace, whose character uses that talent to ask murder victims who killed them. But he has to act fast. “If they live for more than a minute, someone else will die. If I touch them a second time, they die for good. High comedy happens when he brings back his childhood sweetheart.”
Ned discovered his gift at age 9 when he resurrected his run-over dog, Digby, and has since had to refrain from petting the now 22-year-old canine. He’s in the same tricky position with Charlotte ‘Chuck’ Charles (Anna Friel), the woman he’s loved since childhood. When she is murdered, he revives her knowing the consequences.
[IMG:R]So how do you have a relationship that’s intimate but not physical? “We’re going to have a lot of fun with prophylactics. Saran Wrap kisses. We’ll see them dancing in beekeeper suits. We’ll do everything we can to get them to touch in a way that’s not flesh to flesh,” says Bryan Fuller. “I think it makes it more exciting not to be able to touch,” opines Friel. “It’s the longest foreplay ever in existence!”
In addition to McBride, the supporting cast includes Ellen Greene and Swoosie Kurtz as Chuck’s aunts, and Kristin Chenoweth as the waitress at Ned’s Pie Hole who has a yen for him. The three women don’t know Ned’s secret. Complications, of course, ensue.
“It’s whimsical, but there’s pathos to it,” Pace describes the premise, which has prompted him to think about morality in a new way. “Ned’s got a huge appreciation for the value of life and how good it can be because of it.” Surprisingly, it wasn’t the procedural elements that attracted Pace to the show. “Every episode takes you into this cool, splashy world, and there’s a neat adventure to it.”
With fairytale-type narration by Jim Dale (the Harry Potter movies), “There is something a little bit theatrical about our show,” says executive producer Dan Jinks. “It takes place in the real world, but a very special version of the real world.” Its brightly colored look “is part of the tone of the show,” says executive producer and pilot director Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black), who is directing three of the first 13 episodes.
[IMG:R]According to Fuller, the tone “is a tricky balance between the sweetness and a little bit of darkness, but not in any way that is too morbid or depressing. We all set out to try to do a show that was fun. There’s always going to be a magical quality to the case that gives it some levity, so when we do have murders, they skew a little bit more Beetlejuice than CSI.”
Fuller originally envisioned Pushing Daisies as a spinoff of his Showtime series Dead Like Me. “It was built around this impossible romance which kind of infects all of the stories around it, so everything has a little bit of sweetness to it,” he says, admitting to “ripping off Amélie” for its tone.
The script intrigued Pace, who hadn’t been looking for a series but had enjoyed working with Fuller on Wonderfalls, and was interested in re-teaming with him. “Then I heard Barry was directing it, and I thought it was better than a lot of the moves that I’ve read the past couple years. I loved the idea of developing a character this rich over, potentially, a few years. Movie actors treat TV as kind of this last chance stop. I actually love TV. I’m excited about working every day.”
[IMG:R]Friel, a British stage veteran who is used to “lots of crying and very serious stuff,” deems her new gig “very new to me, and really refreshing.” It requires some concentration. “From the minute I land on the set I speak in the American accent. I’ve got enough to think about without having to think about my accent,” she explains. Last seen on U.S. TV in The Jury, “Most of my work has been in Europe and England,” she adds. “But it’s good to work on both sides of the pond.”
Oklahoma-born Pace, who grew up in Houston and attended Juilliard, had a different skill to master for the show: baking. “Have you ever made a pie? It’s hard,” he confides, though he reveals that a bakery supplies the edible props. “They’re so good,” he says, putting cherry and berry pies at the top of his list. Many of the just-for-show prop pies aren’t meant for consumption, however. “A lot of them are plastic,” Pace explains. “I’m not really tempted by those.”
[IMG:R]Pushing Daisies Photo Gallery
View images from the set of ABC’s new series Pushing Daisies, starring Lee Pace, Chi McBride, Anna Friel, Ellen Greene, Swoosie Kurtz and Kristin Chenoweth.
Pushing Daisies airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on ABC.
