Pushing Daisies, the screwball comedy that comes in candy-fruit colors, returned for the first of its final three episodes. All was right with its world: there were two murders to be solved, but also a new complexity between the show’s essential romantic triangle of pie-maker Ned, his love Charlotte “Chuck” Charles, and Olive, the Pie Hole restaurant waitress. Plus extensive study of the double-negative as a clue to the true meaning of love. Is this not a recipe for bliss?
Personally, any time a major subplot involves Kristin Chenoweth’s Olive, the happier I am with Daisies, and last night’s was Chenowonderful. We saw a glimpse of Olive’s childhood (unloved, neglected) and met two men who were once accused of kidnapping her. They were played, to my delight, by George Segal and Richard Benjamin (two stalwarts of 1970s cinema and television — look them up on YouTube in Johnny Carson-era Tonight Show videos, and in films such as Blume in Love and Goodbye, Columbus). Both men played these two shady characters (not really kidnappers but petty thieves) as slapstick bumblers.
The plot paired Chuck with detective Emerson Cod to solve a double homicide, with a side order of alliteration. (Chuck called herself the Alive-Again Avenger, and they investigated crimes at Dick Dicker’s department store.)
Meanwhile, back at the Pie Hole, Olive was being courted by David Arquette’s Randy Mann. Olive, of course, spent much of her time mooning over eternally-unattainable Ned, parsing his every remark for signs of affection. (That’s where her study of the double-negative in grammar came in.) When Ned kissed Olive, we got a brief, lovely musical number, with Olive/Chenoweth trilling the Lionel Richie hit “Hello,” a song I thought I never wanted to hear again until that moment.
By the end, the murders were solved (bravo to you, Sex and the City guest-star Willie Garson), and Ned shocked himself by admitting to feeling jealous of the budding romance between Olive and that Randy man, if you catch my drift.
All this, plus Pearway To Heaven pie. Can it all possibly end in a mere two episodes?
Did you watch Pushing Daisies? What were your favorite moments?
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HOW CAN YOU PICK FAVORITE MOMENTS WHEN ALL IS PERFECT AND FLAWLESS,,,IT’S LIKE PICKING A FAVORITE CHILD OR A FAVORITE PET… OF ALL MY FAVORITE SERIES I’VE LOST THIS YEAR….I AM GONNA MISS YOU MOST OF ALL DAISIES…………
an amazing episode please abc is there any hope for this amazing show,i hate it when you get really invested in a great show and then all of a sudden they cancel it.come on abc.
I think ABC should bring back Daisies because the crap they replaced it with got cancelled. Castle is good and ABC needs a good comedy
I sat like a kid on Christmas morning with a grin from ear to ear. I loved every minute of this episode and it made me feel all warm inside. Boooooo to cancellation
I can’t choose a favorite scene, it
was an amazing episode. I can’t believe we have only 2 left, forever! I will miss this show more than any others I have lost over the years.
It’s so rare to find a show where you love all the characters, where the supporting characters are just as strong as the leads. I wish ABC had given it a few more episodes to finish if off right…
IT IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THE BEST THING ON TV, RIGHT UP THERE WITH THE SIMPSONS FOR INTELLIGENT, MUST PAY ATTENTION TO IT TO GET THE HUMOR TV. I WISH ABC WOULD SEE THAT PEOPLE REALLY WANT TO BE ENTERTAINED BY TV, NOT VIEW OTHER PEOPLES LIVES WITH REALITY TV AND BOMBARDED WITH CRIME SCENES-A LITTLE ESCAPISM IS IN ORDER AND THIS SHOWS GIVES IT ALL.
i too, adore ‘pushing daisies’ – the quirkiness, the joy, the wit and the character-envelopment of each episode gave something i looked forward to every week – big sighs and feelings of such loss come with the cancellation of a unique and loved series. shame on the decision-makers for taking away such a sweet hour of fantasy-filled devoted love! *sigh* again…
I LOVE this show. I was so happy to hear the narrator’s voice last night, and see everyone else in action. WHEN WILL ABC WAKE UP? Another network needs to snatch the show up !!
Pushing Daisies was a superb show. To bad Networks only care about ratings and money. The color and quirky imagination of the show will not be forgotten. We should all start a petition or write ABC to bring it back….
Pushing Daisies was a superb show. To bad Networks only care about ratings and money. The color and quirky imagination of the show will not be forgotten. We should all start a petition or write ABC to bring it back….
Last night’s show was fresh as a daisy! So much fun, who needs THAT on network TV? But I’m not gonna be all sour groups. I totally agree that any ep with a Chenoweth subplot is better, although I think that was the major plot and the Dork’s department store one was the other. Love love love that Ned had pangs of jealousy, just as Olive seemed to be moving on. The kiss in front of Charlotte’s family was a little too good to not be true. And beautiful version of Hello. Take that, Mr. Gokey. (But don’t take that, Mr. Cook.)
Sour groups? Don’t know what that is. What I have is sour grapes!
I am a Ned/Chuck shipper to the very end and would gladly use any one of you as their human body shield at even the vaugest sign of relationship threat. But it’s impossible to hate Chenoweth/Olive:)
That throwaway joke by Dick Dicker was my 2nd fave moment, if only because they worded it so brilliantly. My favourite one is a tie between Ned and Chuck holding hands in their winter gloves, the rhino and Ned eating his own pie on his road to getting fat.
I NEVER GOT TO SEE IT!! I’m in Ohio and we had tornado watches. So, the news pre-empted the show to give ongoing coverage of the tornado watch. For the ENTIRE HOUR!! I cancelled my plans for the night because I was so excited about the airing of the last 3 episodes…so excited that I was going to watch it LIVE instead of being able to fast forward through the commercials! Not only did they pre-empt the show, but the spent the next hour (which was actually scheduled to be the news) reviewing the tornado watch info. that they’d just struggled to draw out the entire previous hour! Couldn’t they have just run a bar across the bottom of the screen?? Now I have to wait for the box set!
I didn’t get a chance to watch it live, but it’s eagerly awaiting to be watched on my VHS tape (I know, I know – I don’t have DVR or TiVo – how 20th Century of me!) I was saddened to see this show go – and for what? Cupid? No thank you!
I am eagerly awaiting the release of the second and final (!) season of Pushing Daisies on DVD – I am hoping they will have the complete series DVD set … and I can have a Daisies marathon instead of watching the crap that’s premiering next fall *Sigh*
I’m so pissed that I didn’t even know it was coming on last night. And now I can’t find it online. ABC, you suck for this
Out loud Bwahahaha moment which equals my favorite part of last nights episode was when Olive schooled Ned. “Try On? You try an a sweater at the mall. Try on is something you do with your best friends bra and SMILE BECAUSE YOURS ARE BIGGER AND BETTER!” The “aw” moment went to Ned and Chuck, Ned:(Chuck)Your my hero. Finally, there was the reference to “people who need people”. Gangsta Chuck was great to(if only briefly). I also enjoyed the use of Superman refrences seeing as how Lois and Clark used to be filmed and aired by ABC. I welled up with tears as I ate my Strawberry Pie and drank my coffee silently cursing the network gods for being such nitwits. Save the Daisies, Save the World one big, skittles colored world at a time. Mist. Sob. Weep. Tear induced convulsions will never assuage my hurt when the last episode airs. Travesty ABC, absolute TRAVESTY!!!!!
Storms in Indiana…idiot weather “reporters” hogging the first 10 minutes telling me it was going to storm…rain knocking out satellite for last 15 minutes…so, sadly, I was unable to watch the episode.
I really wish ABC had cancelled PD. I wanted it to be on long enough for the writers to develop Ned & Olive more. I’ve always found the character of Chuck to be really annoying – as well as the repetitive romance of her and Ned – but Ned/Olive are eight different kinds of adorable!
just watched it online at abc.com…fabulous…routing for both Ned/Chuck and Ned/Olive…this can’t possibly end well.
love PD so sorry its going to end… network doesn’t know what a gem their loosing
It’s money ABC cares about NOT ratings, Pushing Daisies, has great ratings here in USA, it’s a MAJOR hit right now in Britain, and other countries. ABC needs to re-think about bringing this show back.
BRING BACK PUSHING DAISIES FOR GOOD! Or at least follow through on the idea to make the rest into a movie, even though it won’t be the same.
I loved Pushing Daisies and I didnt even know that ABC was showing the last three episodes. Imagine my surprise and delight when I stumbled upon it last night!
I agree, the shows with Olive stories are (were) always the best ones – yeah, for Itty Bitty!!
I assume we’ll get to see George Hamiiton in one of the last 2 shows, since he showed up in the final moments a few months ago? I too am totally po’ed at ABC – why go to the bother of okaying a show like PD and then just ignoring it, with no promos, etc?
Of course I watched it! I do agree, the best episodes inmy opinion are Olive-centric. The more Olive i get, the happier I am. Everytime Cheno sings a little ditty, its stuck in my head for days to weeks. Oh how i wish this show weren’t cancelled. I want to know what happens in my favorite triangle. I wished Deadly Nedly would pick my Olive, but alas we will never know the answer to that
I never felt one way or the other about PD. I did watch every week with my wife but I had never really had any feeling either way for it. This week really made me realize how much I enjoyed PD and how sad I am the the world of whimsy created by the PD writers will be gone forever in just two short weeks.
yeah, not a fun evening for us pie-loving hoosiers
I should not complain, as ABC is at least airing the final three episodes, but WHY does it have to be at 10 pm on a Saturday???
Of course I watched it, as I don’t have a dvr, but I wish there had been a bit of a recap. After six months(?), I could not remember the David Arquette character role much.
Oh well, it was a terrific episode (and I did not even mind that much the singing; the only part of the show I have not ever liked).