Pushing Daisies - General Discussion

[Turtle Wexler]

If only....

[The Crazed Spruce]

I thought he came out a while ago.

[Rinaldo]

14 hours ago, The Crazed Spruce said:

I thought he came out a while ago.

Depends what "a while ago" means (and also, I suppose, "out"). In March he was surprised by a direct interview question, and after fumbling the answer on the phone, later clarified in a tweet that he was "part of the queer community." In the past week he seems to have been more willingly comprehensive in interviews.

On another level, he was outed by Ian McKellen during the filming of the Hobbit movies, when Sir Ian mentioned how great it was to see so many excellent out gay actors in the movie, and included Pace in the list. And that's where different meanings of "out" come into play: one can be open with one's friends and colleagues, and still not feel like making a statement to the world press.

[Ailianna]

On 6/4/2018 at 5:53 AM, scrb said:

Lee Pace came out of the closet -- not that there's anything wrong with it.

He's doing some play in NY.  NY Times article says he starred in cult favorites like Pushing Daisies and Halt and Catch Fire.

By "some play" you mean Angels in America, which is a critically lauded Tony-nominated revival of an amazing show that recently finished an award winning run in London's East End.  And he has one of the top billings.  I saw it last week, and he was truly phenomenal in it, which other such luminaries as Nathan Lane and Andrew Garfield.  I'm sure he will be at the Tony's tomorrow night because the show has several noms.

[The Crazed Spruce]

Posting here 'cause I'm too lazy to set up a media thread....

[takalotti]

Yeah, when McKellen outed Lee Pace, I remember there being comments about Pace being in a glass closet. Basically, he wasn’t out but somehow we all knew.

[Lyinfait]

I am very confused. Perhaps I only recall the speculation from the forums but I thought there was a resolution to the masked rescuer storyline but there wasn't? I thought there were scenes after Chuck told her aunts she was alive? It seems I created an ending in my imagination to fill out the ending we got. The whimsy keeps this show as one of my favorites. Series of Unfortunate Events gave me a similar feeling. 

[readster]

8 hours ago, Lyinfait said:

I am very confused. Perhaps I only recall the speculation from the forums but I thought there was a resolution to the masked rescuer storyline but there wasn't? I thought there were scenes after Chuck told her aunts she was alive? It seems I created an ending in my imagination to fill out the ending we got. The whimsy keeps this show as one of my favorites. Series of Unfortunate Events gave me a similar feeling. 

Pushing Daisies was a victim of both network interference and the creative team's previous history of pushing story lines out or dropping subplots. I enjoyed the show from beginning to end, but I saw things that befallen the creative team's previous works from Daweson's Creek and Everwood. Where they focused on a certain actor because they were a favorite of the team and they pushed out story lines because they didn't know how to end them. Originally the aunt's learning that their niece was still alive was planned for the ending of season 1 and her father bringing brought back and Chuck's father magically returning after being gone for 20 years was going to be the focus of season 2. As we saw they pushed things out to deal with the one's aunt's asshole boyfriend, who were suppose to be happy when he died to bring the father back to life. 

   Season 3 was suppose to deal with the origin of Chuck's powers and was key with his father returning. Thinking it had something to do with him inheriting them, but it was never moved beyond the original idea. The original story bible was that Chuck inherited the powers through the family and it tied into why his father packed up and left and why he was so distant after Chuck was born. However, I don't think they ever had the "true origin" mapped out like a lot of show creators do. They just throw out the plot and hope they get a good story out of it. 

[Ailianna]

I think you mean Ned, not Chuck.

[readster]

4 hours ago, Ailianna said:

I think you mean Ned, not Chuck.

Sorry. 

[Lyinfait]

14 hours ago, readster said:

Pushing Daisies was a victim of both network interference and the creative team's previous history of pushing story lines out or dropping subplots. I enjoyed the show from beginning to end, but I saw things that befallen the creative team's previous works from Daweson's Creek and Everwood. Where they focused on a certain actor because they were a favorite of the team and they pushed out story lines because they didn't know how to end them. Originally the aunt's learning that their niece was still alive was planned for the ending of season 1 and her father bringing brought back and Chuck's father magically returning after being gone for 20 years was going to be the focus of season 2. As we saw they pushed things out to deal with the one's aunt's asshole boyfriend, who were suppose to be happy when he died to bring the father back to life. 

   Season 3 was suppose to deal with the origin of Chuck's powers and was key with his father returning. Thinking it had something to do with him inheriting them, but it was never moved beyond the original idea. The original story bible was that Chuck inherited the powers through the family and it tied into why his father packed up and left and why he was so distant after Chuck was born. However, I don't think they ever had the "true origin" mapped out like a lot of show creators do. They just throw out the plot and hope they get a good story out of it. 

Thank you so much for that information. It really does help explain some details for me. I remember having trouble finding the show during the 2nd season and figured that what I had missed was what I was missing in my understanding of the show. Then I finally watched the series in full and still felt I had missed some episodes. Your post fills in some of the blanks. 

[readster]

17 hours ago, Lyinfait said:

Thank you so much for that information. It really does help explain some details for me. I remember having trouble finding the show during the 2nd season and figured that what I had missed was what I was missing in my understanding of the show. Then I finally watched the series in full and still felt I had missed some episodes. Your post fills in some of the blanks. 

I remember Chi McBride saying he was suppose to have an introduced plot about his life growing up and where he came from. However, it got pushed out and time and time again and he had hoped if season 3 would have happened, it would have gone into more, but he doesn't know as he even admitted: "Some stories seem to take more priority than others and sadly that can hurt or enrich a show." 

[Trini]

[Cowgirl]

Oh show, how I miss you!  You were my favorite television show ever.  It's time to break out the DVD's...

Edited May 15, 2019 by Cowgirl

[krankydoodle]

12 minutes ago, Cowgirl said:

It's time to break out the DVD's...

I was so happy to find out that the show's available to stream on CW Seed. I rewatched the pilot the other day and remembered how much I loved it. I still laugh whenever I think about Chi McBride getting angry at Ned for keeping Chuck alive past the 1-minute mark.

Emerson: Well, who died instead?

Ned: It's a random proximity thing.

Emerson: Bitch, I was in proximity!

[Turtle Wexler]

I am so glad that Pushing Daisies is on CW Seed.  I watched "Girth" the day of the Kentucky Derby. 😆  All of my DVDs are currently in storage as I'm job hunting, so being able to watch is still great.  I still remember getting snowed in During Snowpocalypse in DC in 2010 and curling up on the couch with the DVDs and the bags of NECCO conversation hearts that we'd managed to track down as they were the "old" flavors.  

[eat]

It’s also on Amazon Prime!

[Turtle Wexler]

1 hour ago, eat said:

It’s also on Amazon Prime!

Thanks, eat!  Just added it to my watchlist. 

[Kohola3]

Watching my DVD's to pass the time and this was such a great series, so different from anything else back then.  Wonderful dialog and costuming.  What a fun way to get through our sheltering hours.

[Ailianna]

For some reason, I started thinking about this show, and I broke it out too.  It's so cheerful and bright; it's a great anodyne for the times.

[readster]

7 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

Watching my DVD's to pass the time and this was such a great series, so different from anything else back then.  Wonderful dialog and costuming.  What a fun way to get through our sheltering hours.

I agree it was a great series. I really wish it would have gotten another season.

[cherrypj]

I was [censored] years, [censored] weeks, [censored] days and [censored] minutes old when I rediscovered this series. I love it. I just finished episode 3 (it's on HBO Max), and I'm hoping hoping it remains delightful. 

[Ailianna]

I love Pushing Daisies so much. I watched it live. I recorded it then and rewatched it. I bought the dvds on their release dates. I have the all too short seasons in Amazon Prime. And I was still tickled pink to see that it's on HBO Max. So, possibly needless to say, I think it holds up well. Enjoy!!

[DkNNy79]

Such a shame it was cancelled so early.  So many questions left unanswered.  I think the biggest question for me was what was Ned's father's deal.  He gets the biggest AHOLE of the year award for abandoning Ned at the boarding school after his mother died.  Why did he abandon his half-brothers as well?

[cherrypj]

Two articles (one about the other, but with additional info):

• https://www.vulture.com/article/lee-pace-pushing-daisies-ned-role-call.html
• https://www.tor.com/2022/03/08/lee-pace-vulture-role-call-pushing-daisies/

Oh, and Peter Jackson cast Pace as King Thanduil, the Elven king, because of seeing him in Pushing Daisies. Awesome!

[Trini]

7 hours ago, cherrypj said:

Two articles (one about the other, but with additional info):

• https://www.vulture.com/article/lee-pace-pushing-daisies-ned-role-call.html
• https://www.tor.com/2022/03/08/lee-pace-vulture-role-call-pushing-daisies/

Oh, and Peter Jackson cast Pace as King Thanduil, the Elven king, because of seeing him in Pushing Daisies. Awesome!

That's a great interview; thanks for posting!

[raeb23]

PD recently became available on HBO Max in my region, so I just watched it for the first time since its original run. Still as whimsical & charming as I remember. I'd forgotten how funny Emerson was. And Olive t

On 5/15/2019 at 6:47 PM, krankydoodle said:

Emerson: Well, who died instead?

Ned: It's a random proximity thing.

Emerson: Bitch, I was in proximity!

This is one of my favourite scenes!

I also realised this time around how depressed Ned was; he could have benefitted from therapy. Also, it's a good thing Ned worked with Emerson because there's no way he could support himself with just the Pie Hole - too few customers, random closures & so many health code violations.

I feel ambivalent about Chuck. She adjusted as well as anyone could to coming back from the dead. Initially, she was excited to have a second chance after missing out on so much the first time around. But then she seemed to have no ambitions, other than being with Ned. What were her dreams before she died? Also, drugging Lily & Vivian & bringing back her long-dead Dad were hard to overlook.

I found Olive endearing but wish she'd switched to working with Emerson full time. Their rapport was great & she needed some distance from Ned.

Overall, the show remains enjoyable after 15 years but it really deserved a better ending. 

[Ailianna]

My favorite Emerson quote, as he pats himself down, "Now, where's that rat's ass I could give?"

[Turtle Wexler]

On 8/11/2022 at 4:57 PM, Ailianna said:

My favorite Emerson quote, as he pats himself down, "Now, where's that rat's ass I could give?"

🤣
Emerson had the best lines, I think. I really love his command to Ned re: Charles Charles: "Trip over the ottoman!
Dick Van Dyke that ass!" (Of course, that's only funny if one understands the reference to the DVD Show credits.)

[arc]

On 3/11/2019 at 7:06 AM, readster said:

Pushing Daisies was a victim of both network interference and the creative team's previous history of pushing story lines out or dropping subplots.

Well also, they ran into the writers' strike, which is probably partly why an expensive show with good ratings became an expensive show with bad ratings.

It's almost weird in 2024 to think about a show like Pushing Daisies, a prestige broadcast show, originally planning to do 22 episodes (twenty two!) in their first season.