Pushing Daisies

The current hype surrounding Pushing Daisies is not unfounded. Most critics are taken by the series’ first episode and I’m rounding up what they have to say, exactly:

• Newsday considers Pushing Daisies as one of the 10 Most Buzzed About Shows this fall.

One of the great over-the-top pilots of the new season, “Daisies” is so visually distinct, so curiously bizarre, so intermittently morbid that this could be the most talked-about show of the new season. Ned (Lee Pace) touches dead things and brings them back to life, and - one can imagine - the practical applications for this talent are enormous. Big stars also abound (Chi McBride, Swoosie Kurtz, Anna Friel).

• Matt Roush Of TV Guide is already a big, big fan.

There’s nothing on TV or elsewhere (perhaps in the Tim Burton canon) that remotely looks, sounds or magically enthralls the way Pushing Daisies does. Holding court to the press at a Wednesday TCA session, Fuller and Sonnenfeld and their sparkling cast convinced me all over again just how special this show is. And not merely special, but fun.

• James Hibberd of TV Week took an early look and liked what he saw.

Naturally some will question whether the premise can sustain itself, and others will wonder if viewers will embrace the series in sufficient numbers. Don’t care. It’s great TV and takes a risk.

• USA Today thinks it’s the best blooming show of the year

More than with most shows, though, it isn’t enough to just read about Daisies. You have to see it — to revel in the witty, candy-colored glow of Sonnenfeld’s visuals, in the warmth of Fuller’s vision, and in the endearingly eccentric characters so winningly played by this great cast. Indeed, if you’ve ever expressed a desire for something different on TV, you owe it to yourself to check Daisies out.

• AOL says Pushing Daisies is this season’s #1 new show.

This cuckoo, slightly macabre fairy tale is like nothing else on television. The whimsical concept is as fresh as, well, a daisy. And it’s just gorgeous to look at it. The whole package feels more big screen than small, like something you might expect from Tim Burton (although ‘Men in Black’ director Barry Sonnenfeld helmed the pilot). The chemistry between the leads is sweet, the supporting characters are adorably quirky and the storytelling is offbeat enough to put a completely new twist on a procedural. Here’s hoping this show lives happily ever.

Pushing Daisies, TV Guide, AOL, USA Today, News Day, TV Week