Pushing Daisies is an American comedy-drama television series created by Bryan Fuller that aired on ABC. It premiered in the United States on ABC on October 3, 2007; in Canada on October 2, 2007, on CTV; and aired in the UK on ITV.
Series overview
editEpisodes
editSeason 1 (2007)
editDue to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, this season consisted of only nine episodes. The episodes aired a day earlier in Canada on CTV before their air dates in the United States.[1]
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code | US viewers (millions) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | "Pie-lette" | Barry Sonnenfeld | Bryan Fuller | October 3, 2007 | 276027 | 12.83[2] |
Ned owns and operates a pie bakery and seems to lead a perfectly normal life. This, however, is far from the truth. Ned can, with the touch of his hand, wake people from the dead. But another touch will kill them again, for good, and if he keeps them alive for more than a minute, someone else in close proximity dies. He decides to use this ability of his to solve crimes, but it grows complicated when he gives life to his childhood crush, Charlotte "Chuck" Charles, and decides to let her keep living. | |||||||
2 | 2 | "Dummy" | Barry Sonnenfeld | Peter Ocko | October 10, 2007 | 3T6501 | 10.07[3] |
Emerson gets annoyed with Chuck tailing him and Ned on their cases, while Ned refuses to share secrets with Chuck. For this instance, Ned revives Bernard Slaybeck, an auto safety specialist who was murdered in a hit-and-run. Before he can explain his death, Chuck breaks in with romantic questions. With the minute almost up, Bernard asks the team to give his last wishes to Jeanine (Riki Lindhome), a young woman who worked with him at Dandy Lion Industries. Soon, a mysterious murder plot involving a crash dummy costume, bodies in the testing room, and a car that runs on dandelion fuel comes to light. | |||||||
3 | 3 | "The Fun in Funeral" | Paul A. Edwards | Bryan Fuller | October 17, 2007 | 3T6502 | 9.75[4] |
Ned and Chuck speak to Lawrence Schatz, who they find out died one minute after Ned brought Chuck back to life. Meanwhile, Chuck decides to stay true to her original threat of baking anti-depressants into her aunts' food, in the form of Ned's pies. Olive unwillingly becomes the messenger in Chuck's plan and accidentally stumbles onto a secret about her unrequited lover's love. | |||||||
4 | 4 | "Pigeon" | Adam Kane | Rina Mimoun | October 24, 2007 | 3T6503 | 9.45[5] |
A plane crash into an apartment building leaves the trio with a case—did the pilot commit suicide?—while Chuck finds herself drawn to the man who appears to be the sole survivor (Dash Mihok), much to Ned's distress. Meanwhile, Olive takes a wounded messenger pigeon to the aunts for help. | |||||||
5 | 5 | "Girth" | Peter O'Fallon | Katherine Lingenfelter | October 31, 2007 | 3T6504 | 8.58[6] |
In this Halloween episode, Emerson and Olive track down "the ghost" who's been killing the jockeys at the old race arena where Olive used to race as a former jockey herself. With help from Ned and Chuck, they try to solve the big mystery. | |||||||
6 | 6 | "Bitches" | Allan Kroeker | Chad Gomez Creasey & Dara Resnik Creasey | November 14, 2007 | 3T6505 | 8.88[7] |
When a deceased man (Joel McHale) tells Ned that his wife killed him after giving him a cup of coffee, he fails to mention that he is a polygamist, making the case harder than it sounds, with matters only becoming more complicated when Emerson falls for the prime suspect (Christine Adams) and Ned is left contemplating starting a physical relationship with Olive to complement the emotional one he has with Chuck. | |||||||
7 | 7 | "Smell of Success" | Lawrence Trilling | Scott Nimerfro | November 21, 2007 | 3T6506 | 7.52[8] |
The trio is called on to investigate the case of Anita Gray, loyal assistant to the olfactory scientist and aspiring novelist Napoleon LeNez. Sitting at her desk, Anita was leaning over to use her heightened sense of smell on a scratch-and-sniff book when suddenly, an explosion erupted from the book, completely engulfing her. Additional attempts on Lenez's life and incriminating evidence leads to the suspicion of Oscar Vibenius (Paul Reubens), former lab partner and bitter rival of Lenez. This rivalry leads to the belief that Vibenius is trying to prevent Lenez's book from being published. Elsewhere, Olive attempts to get Lily and Vivian back in the water. And, Vibenius begins an obsession with Chuck. | |||||||
8 | 8 | "Bitter Sweets" | Allan Kroeker | Abby Gewanter | November 28, 2007 | 3T6507 | 10.18[9] |
Emerson, Ned and Chuck investigate the death of Tony DiNapoli, who appears to have been strangled by a woman. However, when Ned brings Tony back to life to find out who killed him, Tony claims it was Burly Bruce Carter, via the hands of his "girlfriend" who is a RealDoll. Meanwhile, business at the Pie Hole plummets when a new candy store run by Dilly (Molly Shannon) and Billy Balsam (Mike White) opens in town with the situation becoming more complicated when Ned discovers one of the owners dead in a large vat of candy. And Alfredo (Raúl Esparza) continues to pursue an oblivious Olive who, herself, continues to pine after the Pie Maker. | |||||||
9 | 9 | "Corpsicle" | Brian Dannelly | Lisa Joy | December 12, 2007 | 3T6508 | 6.84[10] |
When Chuck disappears after discovering Ned’s connection to her father’s death, Ned finds her with Olive, but she refuses to go back home with him. Meanwhile, Oscar Vibenius continues his attempt to figure out why Chuck smells so different. It’s New Year’s, and Emerson and Ned investigate the death of an adjuster from the Über-Life Life Insurance Agency who was found in a snow bank. Lily suffers from hallucinations after Olive inadvertently overdoses a pie with Chuck's homeopathic mood enhancer. |
Season 2 (2008–09)
editPushing Daisies was renewed for a second season in February 2008 by ABC for the 2008–09 television season.[11] On November 20, 2008, after six episodes were broadcast, ABC canceled the show. A total of thirteen episodes were produced for the season, with four of them broadcast in November and December. The final three episodes premiered world wide on German free-to-air television network ProSieben and were later broadcast in the U.S. on Saturdays starting May 30 and ending on June 13, 2009, to promote the release of the Season 2 DVD.[12] Several of the first 10 episodes aired a day earlier in Canada on A before their air dates in the United States.[13] The final three episodes were first broadcast in the UK in April 2009 prior to airing in the U.S.[14]
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code | US viewers (millions) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
10 | 1 | "Bzzzzzzzzz!" | Adam Kane | Bryan Fuller | October 1, 2008 | 3T7053 | 6.32[15] |
Chuck goes undercover as a "Bee Girl" at a honey-based cosmetics company after their new spokesmodel is stung to death. She soon discovers that office politics are killer (literally) between the founder (Missi Pyle) and the new owner. Meanwhile, Ned can't stand her growing independence or the fact that she wants to move out of his apartment. In other developments, Lily spirits Olive off to a nunnery so she won't spill Lily's deep, dark secret. | |||||||
11 | 2 | "Circus, Circus" | Lawrence Trilling | Peter Ocko | October 8, 2008 | 3T7051 | 5.55[16] |
Georgeann Heaps (Rachael Harris) hires Emerson to find her missing daughter who has apparently run away, and the trail leads to a circus surrounded by murder in the form of several dead clowns. Meanwhile, Ned and Chuck try to deal with the change in their relationship, and Olive considers staying longer at the nunnery. | |||||||
12 | 3 | "Bad Habits" | Peter O'Fallon | Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts | October 15, 2008 | 3T7052 | 6.29[17] |
Olive calls on the Pie Maker and Emerson to solve a suspicious suicide of a fellow nun, Sister Larue (Mo Collins) that she believes was murdered. Meanwhile, Chuck tries to fill in her family tree and considers what to do in the present with her new lease on life. | |||||||
13 | 4 | "Frescorts" | Peter Lauer | Story by : Lisa Joy Teleplay by : Lisa Joy and Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts | October 22, 2008 | 3T7054 | 5.67[18] |
When the most popular escort at a rent-a-friend agency turns up dead, the team investigates who killed him, including likely suspect Randy Mann (David Arquette), the guy's antisocial, taxidermy-loving roommate. Meanwhile, Emerson's famed private investigator mom, Calista Cod (Debra Mooney), pays an unexpected visit and does a little snooping of her own. | |||||||
14 | 5 | "Dim Sum Lose Some" | Lawrence Trilling | Davey Holmes | October 29, 2008 | 3T7055 | 6.64[19] |
The wife of a murdered chef, Bao Di, hires Emerson to investigate the death of her husband. So Ned, Emerson, Chuck, and Olive all go undercover at the Chinese restaurant where the murder took place. Meanwhile, Ned encounters a mysterious man who claims to have ties to his past, and Emerson is reunited with polygamist widow Simone Hundin (Christine Adams). | |||||||
15 | 6 | "Oh Oh Oh... It's Magic" | Adam Kane | Katherine Lingenfelter | November 19, 2008 | 3T7056 | 4.86[20] |
Famed magician The Great Herrmann (Fred Willard) hires Emerson Cod to come to the Conjurer's Castle to track down the killer of his animal assistants. Meanwhile, Ned makes a discovery of his own at the Castle involving his newly found half-brothers. | |||||||
16 | 7 | "Robbing Hood" | Paul Shapiro | Jim Danger Gray | November 26, 2008 | 3T7057 | 4.45[21] |
A lawyer for the late Gustav Hoffer (Shelley Berman) suspects his client's death was not part of a robbery gone wrong as was reported, but rather murder. He hires Emerson Cod and Ned to find out who killed Hoffer. Meanwhile, Dwight Dixon (Stephen Root) romances Vivian (much to the disgust of Lily), and discovers that Chuck is still alive. | |||||||
17 | 8 | "Comfort Food" | Peter Lauer | Doug Petrie | December 3, 2008 | 3T7058 | 4.91[22] |
Ned and Olive compete at the Papen County Comfort Food Cook-Off, where Ned brings back to life Colonel Likkin, who was mysteriously deep fried to death. His world-famous original recipe has gone missing and Likkin asks Ned to find who stole it, forcing Ned and Olive to tackle a case without Emerson's detective expertise for the first time. Meanwhile, Chuck saves her father (Josh Randall) by tricking Ned, and is overcome by guilt. Turning to Emerson, the two try to find the person who died while in proximity. | |||||||
18 | 9 | "The Legend of Merle McQuoddy" | Lawrence Trilling | Chad Gomez Creasey & Dara Resnik Creasey | December 10, 2008 | 3T7059 | 4.96[23] |
The Papen County Lighthouse keeper, Nora McQuoddy, is discovered dead, and her son hires Emerson to find the killer. Meanwhile, Charles Charles pays a visit, but his continued demands for Ned to leave Chuck and his rejection of Ned's attempt to impose rules on his second chance of life result in Chuck being forced to choose between the two. | |||||||
19 | 10 | "The Norwegians" | Tricia Brock | Scott Nimerfro | December 17, 2008 | 3T7060 | 4.82[24] |
Ned, Chuck, and Emerson finally meet their match when three rival Norwegian detectives (Orlando Jones, Ivana Miličević, Michael Weaver) start to get in their way after Vivian hires them to investigate the disappearance of Dwight Dixon, with matters becoming increasingly complicated as Ned and Chuck try to find the missing Charles Charles and Olive apparently betrays the team to join the Norwegians. The Norwegians have a van they call "Mother" which the license plate states, but it is technically MILF, a Mobile Investigation Laboratory Facility. | |||||||
20 | 11 | "Window Dressed to Kill" | Julie Anne Robinson | Abby Gewanter | March 4, 2009 April 17, 2009 (UK) May 30, 2009 (USA) | (Germany)3T7062 | 2.35[25] |
Erin Embry, window dresser extraordinaire for Dicker's department store, is killed and Chuck manages to get the Pie Hole gang on the case. Erin's fans think it was her window-dressing partner, Coco Juniper (Constance Zimmer), who did the deed. Apparently the two artistic minds did not always meet. Meanwhile, Ned refuses to use his zapping ability which causes him a small crisis of identity as he tries to establish his old identity, with matters becoming further complicated when the arrival of two old 'friends' (Richard Benjamin, George Segal) of Olive forces Ned to pose as her fiance due to her having referred to him as such in her letters to them. | |||||||
21 | 12 | "Water & Power" | Dean White | Story by : Lisa Joy & Jim Danger Gray Teleplay by : Peter Ocko | March 11, 2009 April 29, 2009 (UK) June 6, 2009 (USA) | (Germany)3T7061 | 2.29[26] |
Lila Robinson (Gina Torres), a beautiful grifter from Emerson's past resurfaces, revealing a painful secret that Emerson has kept hidden all these years. Now on the lam for murder, Lila promises Emerson a quid pro quo if he clears her name. | |||||||
22 | 13 | "Kerplunk" | Lawrence Trilling | Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts | March 11, 2009 May 1, 2009 (UK) June 13, 2009 (USA) | (Germany)3T7063 | 2.23[27] |
In the series finale, the past becomes the present when one half of the Darling Mermaid Darlings' arch rivals, the Aquadolls (Wendie Malick, Nora Dunn), is killed. In order to find the murderer, the Darling Mermaid Darlings must come out of retirement with Ned as their manager and Olive as their stylist. Chuck, of course, cannot participate. Olive gets close to Sid, with whom she shares her experiences in gender discrimination, what with him being a male synchronized swimmer and her attending Vassar on a jockey scholarship. But was Sid jealous enough of the headliners to commit murder? |
References
edit- ^ "'Pushing Daisies' gets strange promo push". CTV News. August 30, 2007. Retrieved April 6, 2015.
- ^ Robert Seidman (October 4, 2007). "Overnight TV Ratings, Wednesday October 3". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Robert Seidman (October 11, 2007). "Overnight Results Wednesday Oct 10: ABC Wins Demo". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Robert Seidman (October 18, 2007). "Overnight Results Weds 10/17: Addison Crushes Jamie". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Robert Seidman (October 25, 2007). "Overnight Results 10/24: World Series Hits for Fox". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Robert Seidman (November 1, 2007). "Overnight Results 10/31: Criminal Minds". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Robert Seidman (November 15, 2007). "Overnight Results 11/14: CBS Wins". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Rosario T. Calabria (November 23, 2007). "Broadcast TV Ratings for Wednesday, November 21, 2007". Your Entertainment Now. Retrieved January 24, 2011.
- ^ Robert Seidman (November 29, 2007). "Overnight Results 11/28: Shrek The Halls". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Rosario T. Calabria (December 14, 2007). "Broadcast TV Ratings for Wednesday, December 12, 2007". Your Entertainment Now. Retrieved January 24, 2011.
- ^ John Consoli (February 11, 2008). "ABC Announces Scripted Show Renewals". MediaWeek. Archived from the original on February 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
- ^ Matt Mitovich, Mickey O'Connor & Tim Molloy (February 10, 2009). "Mega Buzz on Lost, CSI: NY, True Blood, NCIS and More!". TV Guide. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
- ^ "Home of the Hits: CTV and "A" Fall 2008 Night by Night" (PDF). CTV. 2008. Retrieved April 6, 2015.[dead link]
- ^ Kate McMahon (March 31, 2009). "UK to show Pushing Daisies finale before US". Broadcast.co.uk. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
- ^ Robert Seidman (October 2, 2008). "Wednesday Ratings: ABC Wednesday Night Pushes Daisies?". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Bill Gorman (October 9, 2008). "Ratings Wednesday: Criminal Minds, CSI:NY Power CBS Sweep, ABC Fades". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Robert Seidman (October 16, 2008). "Wednesday Night: Pushing Daisies up 740,000 Viewers; Debate Viewing Down". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Robert Seidman (October 23, 2008). "Wednesday Ratings: Criminal Minds, CSI: NY and World Series Lead Night". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Robert Seidman (October 30, 2008). "Wednesday Ratings: Phillies Beat Rays, Obama Pummels Pushing Daisies". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Robert Seidman (November 20, 2008). "Wednesday: America's Next Top Model Finale Scores for CW". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Matt Mitovich (November 28, 2008). "Ratings: Rosie's Special... Is Not So Special". TV Guide. Retrieved January 24, 2011.
- ^ Robert Seidman (December 4, 2008). "Updated Wednesday: Rudolph and Victoria's Secret models lead CBS to demo wins". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Bill Gorman (December 11, 2008). "Wednesday Ratings – CBS Romps But Millionaire's No Secret". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Robert Seidman (December 18, 2008). "Wednesday Ratings: Life and Private Practice no match for Criminal Minds". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Bill Gorman (May 31, 2009). "Saturday Ratings: Stanley Cup Finals Score Easy Win Over Harper's Island & Pushing Daisies". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Robert Seidman (June 7, 2009). "Updated Saturday Ratings: NBC; NHL Stanley Cup Finals Game 5 Wins The Night". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Bill Gorman (June 14, 2009). "Saturday: Fox Wins Night Of The Living Dead vs Kings, Harper's Island, Pushing Daisies". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2010.