Yes, I watched another episode of Pushing Daisies.

So here I am again about to watch AGAIN the show which is beloved by so many people that it got kicked off the schedule because whilst ‘loved’ it remained very much ‘unwatched’ by those faceless masses who apparently have varying degrees of ‘shit for taste’.

As one of those “total retards” who was “completely wrong” about my initial impressions of Pushing Daisies I decided to give it another shot. I’ve picked up where I left off at Episode 4 of Season 1... I know, I only watched THREE episodes of show and thought that might have been enough to form a real opinion off it. How stupid am I??

Way back in 2007 I never really thought that Pushing Daisies was bad just that it was so pretentious that its figurative head was shoved quite a fair distance up its figurative ass. Has that opinion change on a rewatch?

Sort of, but not really.

Yes it’s clever. Yes there are some clever lines in amongst all that overwritten dialogue like after the pie maker brings a guy back from the dead and informs his wife off the truth she asks “How did you come by that?” he says “DNA... ish.”

But the show is so overly cutesy and pretentious that even though there’s a part of me that enjoys morsels here and there I find myself not enjoying the overall product.

The entire show feels like somebody is sitting there writing the dialogue and pausing for a moment to think about how clever they are. Somebody is writing the exact age of somebody right down to the year, the week, the day and the hour and then leaning back on their chair before giving themselves a pat on the back.

Why do I feel like I have to apologize for my opinion of this program? Why of all the shows I’ve trashed over my lifetime do I feel like I have to preface everything about Pushing Daisies with “I’m sorry, but...”

There are parts of it I like and parts which drive up the wall. For example does the Pie Maker have a third expression after ‘pathetic’ and ‘oh dear’? I’m not a big fan of Chuck, who I find to be a bit of an overwritten dunce, and I don’t care much for the Pie Maker and his plight to be a drip in every scene he’s in.

I like Chi McBride, I mean come on, he’s Chi McBride how can you not?

I can’t stand the constant narration. It never stops. I get that they’re using it as a device just to enhance the ‘fairy tale’ aspects of the storytelling but when you’re watching a scene where Chuck asks to hold the hand of a guy she’s on a date with while she closes her eyes and then once she does close her eyes she imagines she’s holding the Pie Maker’s hand I DO NOT need the narrator to add “In that moment Chuck was holding the Pie Maker’s hand. If only by proxy.” NO SHIT. Doesn’t that break the biggest rule of narration? Show don’t tell and especially don’t SHOW AND TELL all in the same second.

Coming back to a show that you’ve already given a bad review and expecting to come out with a different opinion of it is virtually impossible. That’d be like me attempting to sit through an episode of American Dad or Family Guy without rolling my eyes and cursing the Lord for letting Seth MacFarlane go on living. The thing is though I DON’T hate Pushing Daisies. I think it’s a fine show, I don’t think it’s the greatest show in the world, and I don’t think people should be crying over it getting cancelled after TWO COMPLETE seasons.

(Fun ‘Shut Up Pushing Daisies Fans’ Fact: There are twice as many PD episodes as there are Spaced episodes... and Spaced never got cancelled...)

A lot has been made of the fact that this is ‘too smart for television’ or ‘audiences didn’t get it’ or that ‘clever shows like this don’t come along every day’. Please, I prefer my clever shows when they don’t spend their entire running time reminding me just how clever they are. Especially when they’re really NOT that clever at all; when you break it down Pushing Daisies is just a procedural. They solve a mystery every week but manage to make it feel like an episode of CSI after dipping it in gooseberry juice, covering it in fairy bread and sprinkling it with six trucks worth of sugar.

Good, Average, Bad Or Ugly?
It’s Average, and if you think otherwise somebody should show you some Good shows.

I promise to watch the first season and eventually get back to you on how much I was ‘totally definitely wrong and that I love it so much it makes me cry’.