TheCancelledCorner: Pushing Daises

Pushing Daises was a comedy-drama written by Bryan Fuller and starred Lee Pace, Anna Friel, and Kristin Chenoweth.  It's about a pie maker named Ned who has the gift to bring the dead back to life with the touch of his finger.  However, if he doesn't  retouch the now animated corpse (in order to re kill them so they can move on to a better place) within 60 seconds, someone or thing in close proximity, who also must be similar in regards to weight, size, or age, will die on the spot instead.

 Ned also helps out a private detective by going to the morgue after a murder occurs to find out how or why they were murdered, but they only have 60 seconds or they could hypothetically kill themselves by accident. They then collect the reward money for finding the murderers, or at least most of the time with the majority of the episodes following a similar pattern of going to a funeral, going to the morgue, bringing a victim back to life, searching for the murderer, etc)

 In the first episode, he brings his child hood sweetheart, Chuck(yes, its a girl) back to life after she is mysteriously murdered.  He doesn't re kill her, leaving the funeral director to die instantaneously.  Ned and Chuck grow as close as they were as children, eventually leading to love.  However, Ned can not touch her skin in any way, because his touch will put her back into her slumber eternally. They eventually work around it, in one case kissing through saran wrap. 

Also in the mix, is Ned's love struck waitress at his restaurant The Pie Hole, Olive Snook, portrayed by the cutest woman in the world I think, Kristin Chenoweth.  She really is something else; Tony and Emmy Award Winner, Sexy even with a huge forehead, and at 42, is one of the most sought after actresses in Hollywood and New York.

I didn't watch the show when it was airing, but I ended up downloading the two seasons of it (it only aired for two seasons from 2007-2009) and from the second I started watching it, I was instantly down with it.  It was genuinely clever, funny without trying to be, and fun to watch.  A lot of that was due to Kristin's portrayal of Olive, which earned her excellent reviews and her first Emmy Award nomination and win.

If you have an upcoming break with no plans, definitely rent or netflix or download or buy the two seasons of the show.  I'm sure it will be cheaper then most other shows and it really is worth it.