Ned the Pie Maker has a unique ability: he can bring dead things back to life.  Touch a dead thing once, and it is alive.  Touch it again, and it is dead again, permanently.  If he brings a dead thing back for more than a minute, something else dies permanently in its place.  Got it? Good.


Pushing Daisies is built around a high-concept plot device with a visual style to match.  The first thing you notice when you turn on the show is how it looks.  Yes, obviously: but I mean you really NOTICE it.  It screams at you with saturated colors, stylization, ridiculous sets and costumes that know how to treat a woman's shape.  (For those wondering, the way to treat a woman's shape is to show as much of the breast as possible.)

From week to week, the show is set up as a murder-mystery.  In addition to making pies, Ned has hooked up with a private investigator named Emerson Cod (as played by the fantastic Chi McBride).  Emerson uses Ned's ability to solve cases by talking directly to the victims of murders.    

Everything about this show just... works.  The narration by Jim Dale.  The engaging lead performance by Lee Pace.  The musical numbers.  Oh, the musical numbers.  Consider the following scene from last season: Olive Snook (yes, all the characters have names like this) is the waitress at the Pie Hole, and is also in love with Ned the Pie Maker.