A Plug for Pushing Daisies

I tend to watch a lot of television shows. I've at least heard of almost every show that's been on the air in the last five years. If I haven't at least tried to watch it, it's because I already know it's garbage or that I wouldn't like it. Still, I'll try almost anything. Heck, I tried to watch True Blood(and, in case you didn't know already, it's garbage).

Here's a list of shows I've watched a lot of.

Firefly
Rome
Journeyman
Mad Men
Breaking Bad
Eureka
Warehouse 13
Stargate Universe
Star Trek DS9 and TNG
Big Bang Theory
Two and a Half Men
Friends
Covert Affairs
Psych
White Collar
Burn Notice
CSI
Law and Order SVU and CI
Californication
Hung
The Wire
Band of Brothers
The Pacific
Rubicon
Treme
The Legend of the Seeker
Flash Gordon
Tin Man
The Lost Room
The Good Wife
How I Met Your Mother
John From Cincinnatti
Carnivale
Being Human
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
X Files
South Park
Family Guy
Simpsons
American Dad
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Futurama
3rd Rock From the Sun
The 4400
7th Heaven
Andromeda
Andy Richter Controls the Universe
Arrested Development
Dark Angel
24
Babylon 5
Battlestar Gallactica
Better Off Ted
The Big C
Bones
Birds of Prey
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Bonanza
I Love Lucy
Little House on the Prairie
Matlock
One Tree Hill
The O.C.
10 Things I Hate About You
Everwood
Caprica
Castle
Charmed
Cold Case
Criminal Minds
Without a Trace
Damages
Dead Like Me
The Dead Zone
Desperate Housewives
Dharma and Greg
Will and Grace
The Nanny
Doctor Who
The Dollhouse
The Drew Carey Show
Whose Line is it Anyway?
Wonderfalls
Pushing Daisies
Kings
Early Edition
Entourage
ER
Everybody Loves Raymond
Extras
Farscape
Felicity
Roswell
Flashforward
Frasier
Friday Night Lights
Fringe
Home Improvement
George Lopez
Get Smart
Gilmore Girls
Glee
Grey's Anatomy
Harper's Island
Haven
Sanctuary
Heroes
House
The West Wing
Human Target
In Plain Sight
V
Flight of the Concords
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Jake 2.0
Joey
John Doe
Just Shoot Me
Justified
King of Queens
King of the Hill
Kyle XY
Leverage
Life on Mars
Life
Life Unexpected
Lois and Clark
Lost
Mash
Malcolm in the Middle
Medium
Men of a Certain Age
Merlin
Modern Family
Mutant X
My Name is Earl
No Ordinary Family
Northern Exposure
Numbers
The Office
Parks and Recreation
Quantum Leap
Painkiller Jane
Pillars of Earth
The Practice
The Pretender
Robin Hood
Roseanne
Royal Pains
Samantha Who?
Secret Diary of a Call Girl
Seinfeld
Sit Down, Shut Up
Dexter
Smallville
Southland
Spin City
Supernatural
That 70's Show
The Tick
Touching Evil
The Tudours
Twin Peaks
The Unusuals
V
Veronica Mars
What I Like About You
Yes Dear
Day Break
The Dresden Files
Scrubs

Those are all the ones I can think of. I'm not proud of a lot of those, and most of them I didn't/haven't watched all the way through. However, I've at least seen a season of all of them, or five episodes and LOTS of pieces of other episodes. I left all the other ones that I barely tried off this list. I also included shows that are new that I intend to keep watching for a bit(No Ordinary Family, The Big C, etc.)

Why is this interesting at all to any of you who might be reading this? Well, because this blog is going to be dealing pretty intrinsically with whatever shows I'm watching, and what I think of what's happening, or what I think of the shows in general. In short, this will be a sort of tv "reviewing" blog, although not all that rigid. I'll probably also talk about things I'm writing, whether it be nonfiction, poetry, or a spec script. I'll most definitely make recommendations, as well as warn people off of shows and books. I can't wait to give you guys a review of some of the newer stuff, such as The Big C, No Ordinary Family, and Covert Affairs. I'm also looking forward to getting a look at Boardwalk Empire, Running Wilde, and Game of Thrones when they make their debut. Gonna be awesome. Maybe I'll let you know what I thought about the pilots of other new shows like The Hard Times of RJ Berger or Sons of Tucson.(This is a video of my reaction to those shows.)



But today, my absolute first, no-qualms-about-it recommendation is for Pushing Daisies. This show is not an acquired taste. It isn't something that only some people will love. If you have a heart, you will love this show. It's quirky, colorful, heartfelt, and hilarious. It is probably the best show in the world to make you feel better if you're ever feeling depressed. The premise is that a man has a strange power to raise people from the dead by touching them, but it comes with consequences. If that person stays alive for longer than a minute, someone else in proximity must die. Also, if the man touches that person EVER again, that person will die again. Forever. So, obviously, he starts a pie shop, and in his free time solves cases with his friend Emerson. The show's humor can be pretty black, seeing as it's dealing with death every episode, but somehow, it just doesn't matter. While the main character, Ned, isn't very well fleshed out, that's probably for the best, as he's the least interesting character in the cast. Olive is sweet, flirty, and left out. Her best friend is the dog, who is possibly my favorite character. Charlotte is talky, thoughtful, and romantic. Her aunts always make for a wonderful B story. Emerson Cod is also brilliant as the incredibly grumpy but lovable partner/knitter/pop-up book connoisseur. Tragically, the writer's strike screwed over the show, leaving us with only 18 episodes of wonderfulness.

Watch it. NOW.

Good Lord, I already feel warm and fuzzy inside just looking at this picture