Box Set Binge: Pushing Daisies

I love DVD and film boxsets. I have this thing where if I buy a series on DVD, every subsequent series must have the same cover art or they won't look right on my shelf (pause to shakes fists at the Buffy the Vampire Slayer distributors!) and is also extends to books.

This introduces a new feature: Box Set Binge. Herein, I watch a box set and comment. It's pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. Up first, Pushing Daisies, Series One.

The facts are these: Ned the Pie Maker has the power to bring back the dead by touching them. If he doesn't touch them again within a minute someone else dies. if he does touch them, no matter how long after, they go back to being dead and can't be woken up. Originally described as a "forensic fairytale", Daisies comes from the mind of Bryan Fuller who wrote and created Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me (and the new Hannibal Lecter TV series?!?) and while the tone is similar, the visuals in Daisies are much brighter than the previous shows.

Pushing Daisies was probably the most high profile victim of the writers' strike and this first series only has 9 episodes which does feel a little odd for a US TV series. The pacing here doesn't feel rushed and there is a fairly even episode quality across the board. The things that's really appealing about the show though is its overall "sunnyness" and the wonderfully lyrical dialogue coupled with genuinely barmy plot lines that shouldn't work in a million years but do.

Finally, today brought the sad news that Nora Ephron has passed away.