US series aiming for kooky charm comes across as cloying instead
Pushing Daisies
ITV1
So, of all the fabulous US imports that an ailing ITV could have put its sticky mitts on, it goes and chooses Pushing Daisies for Saturday's 9pm slot. I wonder why. Could it, perhaps, have anything to do with the fact that the series stars Anna Friel who, older readers will recall, played Brookside's Beth Jordache with such flat-vowelled aplomb? I can't think that it did so for any other reason, because the series is absolutely dire, whatever the loony US critics say (they love it; but then, quite a lot of them loved Lost, too).
Its creator, Bryan Fuller, clearly wants us to look at it and think: "I can't believe it's not [Tim] Burton!" I, however, looked at its desperate attempts to be all fantastical and cartoonish and thought only of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! - an ad it closely resembles in terms of depth, poise and colour scheme. And at least you can spread a leading "butter impersonator" on toast. What can you do with a leading "Burton impersonator"? Not a lot that's useful, though I guess he could make a real ad for a "butter impersonator" rather than a television "dramedy" that merely looks like one.
But enough of this crazy wordplay. I must try not to let the egregious style of the Pushing Daisies scriptwriters rub off on me (to sum up: it's like they never got over the excitement of reading Roald Dahl). What is the series about, exactly?
Jeez, it's complicated. It's narrated by Jim Dale, and you fear for the old guy's vocal cords as he strains to make his conceit sound both clear and enticing. Ned (Lee Pace) can bring the dead back to life at the touch of his hands, a gift he has had since childhood. The only trouble - and do write in if I am wrong about any of this - is that once he's pulled off this trick, he must never touch them again if they are to go on living. Plus, his spooky Jesus-style talent has one serious side effect: for every Lazarus, someone else must die.
When, as a boy, he saved his mum's life, the father of his childhood sweetheart Chuck (Anna Friel) duly pegged it - only then, his mother went and touched him, so she pegged it, too (this was before he learned The Rules). Oh, well. The upside was that a double funeral was held, at which he and Chuck kissed. Every cloud has a silver lining, doesn't it?
As adults, Chuck has been murdered and Ned has brought her back to life - the funeral home director snuffed it as a consequence - because he has the major hots for her. I can't possibly go into detail about how he came to discover her body, lying so prettily in its chunky white coffin, because if I did, the arts editor would have to scrap the radio column, and the literary editor most of the books pages, to give me even close to enough space; suffice to say that - ha! - Ned is now in possession of a girlfriend whom he cannot touch. Ever.
In the right hands, this could be hilarious. Or mildly amusing. In I Can't Believe It's Not Burton's hands, however, it's just sickly. The couple use surrogates - like a couple of plaster monkey statues - to kiss, and they squeeze their own hands, pretending that they're actually holding the paw of their love object. Eeeww!
Lee Pace is as bland an actor as I've ever seen. The pies that he is so obsessed with baking are more interesting than him. Honest, I couldn't pick him out in a police identity parade if I'd had a whole week and unlimited use of eight back copies of People magazine to swot up.
As for Friel, how come she has suddenly struck so lucky - she's famous . . . in America - after a career that had encompassed such delights as the films Goal! and Goal! 2, ITV1's Watermelon, and some ads for Pantene Pro-V Ice Shine? I'm damned if I know. She, too, is a good deal less captivating than a pie. "I didn't know if I could do comedy," she said in one recent interview. Well, now she does know: she can't. But her hair looks nice. That shampoo. It really does seem to do the trick.
Pick of the week
Waking the Dead
21 April, 9pm, BBC1
Mysteriously compulsive drama starring Trevor Eve as a grumpy cop.
The Doctor Who Hears Voices
21 April, 10pm, Channel 4
Medic with psychological problems gets the radical treatment.
How To Look Good Naked
22 April, 8pm, Channel 4
Can Gok ever fail? This week's volunteer clings to her clothes.
Post this article to
We want to encourage people to comment on our content and to exchange views with other readers and hope this will be done on a courteous basis. However, if you encounter posts which are offensive please let us know by emailing comments@newstatesman.co.uk and we will take swift action where necessary.
