The facts were these: on October 3rd, 2007, Bryan Fuller's Pushing Daisies premiered on ABC. The show centered on a piemaker named Ned, who has the ability to wake the dead with just one touch. After the deaths of their respective parents separate him from his childhood sweetheart, Charlotte "Chuck" Charles, Ned thinks he will never see Chuck again -- but her passing brings them back together almost 20 years later.
HBO Max is known for being the streaming home of the tragic teen drama Euphoria and the inclusive hit series Our Flag Means Death. But for viewers looking for something a little more upbeat or with less pirates, Pushing Daisies is a hidden gem on the platform. The series still has yet to get the attention that it deserves and people may not even know that it's available on HBO Max. What exactly makes Pushing Daisies so great and why should viewers stream the complete series immediately?
Ned's Powers are Unique and Clever
When Ned's dog Digby gets hit by a car during his childhood, Ned learns that he can bring a dead animal -- or person -- back to life with just one touch. The caveat is that if he brings something back to life for more than one minute, something else of similar value (a person for a person, flowers for fruit, etc.) has to die in its place. If he touches a dead thing for a second time after reviving it, then it goes back to being dead forever.
Ned and Chuck Have a Fairy Tale Romance
Ned and Chuck grew up together as best friends and next-door neighbors, and they were each other's first love, but they haven't seen each other in years. After Chuck gets killed on a cruise, Ned is working with a private investigator and gets involved in the mystery of her death. He is unable to send her back to being dead after he wakes her up, because he still loves her. Ned and Chuck embark on a romance and re-enter each other's lives, but they can never touch -- or else she'll go back to being dead.
Pushing Daisies' Supporting Cast Is Fantastic
Beyond Ned and Chuck, Pushing Daisies' other main characters include Emerson Cod (played by Chi McBride), a private investigator who discovered Ned's powers and now works with him to investigate suspicious deaths, and Olive Snook (Schmigadoon! star Kristin Chenoweth), the bubbly waitress who works at Ned's pie shop and daydreams in musical numbers. There are also Chuck's eccentric aunts Lily and Vivian Charles (Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene). The show is narrated by Jim Dale, giving it a storybook feel.
Pushing Daisies' Setting Is Magical Itself
The entire world of Pushing Daisies seems to be set in a fairy tale land, where everything is brightly colored and all the people are quirky and mystical. The deaths that Ned and Emerson investigate are elaborate and cartoonish, caused by things like pop-up books and deep fryers. It's the perfect escapism, bouncing back and forth between Ned and Chuck's hometown of Coeur d'Couers and Ned's pie shop, The Pie Hole, which is in a nearby city.
Pushing Daisies' Plot is Fast-Paced
The show contains overarching, season-long storylines related to Ned's powers, as well as to characters' families and backgrounds. Even with these longer storylines, there is not a single filler episode. Each one is packed with a murder mystery that the group has to solve, and viewers soon learn that Ned's powers don't always solve everything. There's also a lot of humor, heart and some delicious-looking pies. Pushing Daisies still hasn't gotten the ending it deserved (a comic book was canceled), but it's the ultimate comfort show that viewers can constantly enjoy -- whether watching it again or for the first time.
Pushing Daisies is now streaming on HBO Max.