Spaced: References

If Spaced were just about the average lives of its characters, the show probably still would have been very funny, since the six cast members (seven, if you include Colin, Daisy's dog) are very funny on their own. But the non-character humor is just as much a part of Spaced's charm; watching Daisy try to concentrate while writing an article is funny enough, but add a Fantasia reference to the background, and it becomes hilarious.

Many of the references are explicitly stated by the characters, such as when Mike is interviewing with the army, and he is mentally telling himself to be like a fictional English soldier (only to get confused with the name, and begin thinking of himself as Andy McDowell, whose name is similar to the soldier's), or when Tim compares Twist to Cordelia Chase from Buffy and Angel. Other times, characters reenact sequences or inexplicably act in ways similar to popular films and shows, such as when we see Tim, dressed as a jedi knight, burning all of his Star Wars things due to his frustration with The Phantom Menace. One of the funniest reference gags took place in the pilot, as Tim and Daisy were exploring their new flat, and came a cross a pair of very creepy girls.

The point of these references is to emphasize the emotional impact of the situation the characters are facing. Their lives are otherwise normal, and it isn't enough to merely show reactions completely based in reality. Since Wright, Pegg and Stevenson Hynes grew up as nerds (not an insult, by the way), they choose to to make emphases through pop culture references as opposed to melodrama. Also, they're really funny.

The episode-to-episode plots of Spaced are about as thin as those of Seinfeld, but that is the point of each show. People didn't tune in every week to see the kind of adversity Tim and Daisy would overcome. They watched to see how their favorite movie, television show or video game would be honored in a hilarious way.

Anyone with an appreciation (or obsession) with popular culture owes it to themself to see Spaced. It was made by a group of people doing what they do best, and the quality is indicative of that.

Up next: The zed word...

Veronica Mars: Life in Neptune?

There have been a few reports showing up in various parts of the interweb (the main source is on Entertainment Weekly's site) giving tantalizing hints of a possibly Veronica Mars movie. When I first heard about this, I was very excited, since Firefly proved that dead TV shows can be resurrected as movies (a trend which Arrested Development looks to follow). Unfortunately, then I remembered that Serenity, despite being incredible, barely broke even at the box office. Most of the money it has made has been on DVD sales (there have been two DVD releases, it was a flagship HD-DVD release, and a Blu-ray release is upcoming).

Rob Thomas is involved with a few different shows, and Kristen Bell is working on Heroes, but it's clear that each would love to return to Neptune to finish the story of the world's cutest hard-boiled detective. There are plenty of stories that I (and many other fans) would like to see resolved, including the results of the election (though it was pretty obvious what was going to happen there), the fallout from the various attacks on The Castle, and the state of Veronica and Logan.

This story has made me temporarily happy, but I am not yet willing to believe that this movie will happen. Still, this is an interesting thing to know.

Up next: You lucky people...

Spaced: Meetings

I think that the above cover to the American version of Spaced says volumes. This series was conceived by Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes (nee Stevenson) and directed by Edgar Wright, and it is clear that the members of this trio are products of a society that values nerdiness and revels in pop culture references. The show follows Tim (Pegg) and Daisy (Stevenson), two twentysomethings who pretend to be a couple in order to rent a flat (or apartment for our readers who don't understand English English). Tim is an aspiring comic book artist who currently works as the assistant manager in a comic book shop (though it's not that glamorous; the only other employee is the manager), while Daisy is a writer. While each has high aspirations, neither of them tend to act on them; Tim is terrified of rejection while Daisy is lazy.

The pair meet after each begins a hunt for a new place to live, and within days of meeting each other, they decide to move in together, since the only flat they find desirable is for professional couples only. Their landlady, Marsha, is a middle-aged woman who has her hands full with a wild teenaged daughter and two glasses of wine; she is in a near-permanent state of inebriation, causing her to make life uncomfortable for Brian, the artist living in the flat below Tim and Daisy. In nearly every episode, Marsha delivers her signature catchphrase, "Hello, Brian". Words cannot describe how brilliant this line is; the delivery is brilliant, and and Brian's reaction are hilarious (the line, as well as a few teasing flashbacks lead us to believe an uncomfortable sexual incident occurred between the two).

Tim and Daisy are each introduced to the best friend of the other; Tim's friend Mike (played by Nick Frost, who goes on to appear in the supporting role in Wright and Pegg's films) is a kooky gun nut who wants to join the army, but was involved in a childhood accident that makes it difficult for him. Daisy's friend Twist (her parents were hippies) is a shallow and passively cruel girl who works in fashion (a dry cleaners), and is sorely underdeveloped. While every other character is used well, Twist is (I think) the only character not in every episode, and never seems to get the good lines.

Despite Twist's shortcomings, the cast is amazing, and it is obvious that they had a great time working together. Nearly everyone in the cast at one point has to do some pretty outrageous things for laughs, and they go all out. These range from Brian's performance art past to Mike's outrageous exploits while performing security duty.

The character-based humor is wonderful as well (I will go into the more outrageous stuff in the next post). The depths of Daisy's aversion to working is explored both at home as she tries to write as well as in her temp jobs (she has a penchant for telling people to "Fuck off" in response to perfectly reasonable requests). Tim's obsession with Star Wars and his hatred of The Phantom Menace tend to get him in trouble every now and then, and Marsha's alcoholism and boundaryless lifestyle is equal parts hilarious and creepy.

Wright, Pegg and Hynes are clearly masters of the parotribute, but they are also great actors and writers. It's a shame that Spaced didn't get a third series and that this trio isn't as recognized on this side of the pond (and possibly even in England) as they should be (don't get me wrong; they are certainly well among people like me, of which there is a significant number).

Up next: The mundane mixes with the spectacular...

All Wright! I Have My Next Idea Pegged!

But what I don't have down is puns. I'm very sorry about the title, but I felt compelled. Anyway, I've decided to devote the next few posts to the works of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg (and Jessica Hynes, nee Stevenson, on Spaced). I will look at their brand of nerd humor that was excellently captured in Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

I will look at how their sense of humor is similar to my own (though I am not saying that I am comparable to them); we use pop culture references to make jokes and basically run our life. They are masters of the parotribute (this is going to be a new word I use regularly; I really hope no one else has already coined it), and their work should be studied by all aspiring writers who plan on satirizing material they love.

I probably will wait a day or two in order to rewatch Shaun of the Dead since I haven't seen that movie in a while, but after that, I will dive head first into the minds of Wright, Pegg and Hynes.

Oh, do you want to know why I decided to do this now? I wish I could say that it was because of all the references I made to it in my posts about the webseries and Felicia Day, but that isn't true. I was surfing the web today (more specifically, whedonesque.com) and found a link to a page containing the following YouTube video (here is the set-up: Tim is about to interview for his dream job at a comic book publisher):



I really need to challenge myself to do 10 posts without making some sort of Joss Whedon reference (which would probably be hard, since I can tie so much back to his work and the people he associates with).

Up next: Spaced out...

Repo- The Genetic Opera: Repo Madness

I don't have an Administrative post here because (1) this is an interlude type post as opposed to the beginning of a new series, and (2) I'm not sure what I'm doing for the next series (hence the figuring it out line at the end of the last post). I have plenty of ideas, but I don't want to start something big only to leave it hanging for a while once school begins.

Anyway, as the release date for Darren Lynn Bousman's (director of Saw II through IV) Repo! The Genetic Opera approaches, I wanted to do a post on it to raise awareness for people who may not have heard of it. I came across it while checking whedonesque.com (it stars Anthony Stewart Head, who played Giles for seven years on Buffy). It mentioned that Head, who is a really great singer, would be starring in a new rock musical. Intrigued, I clicked the link and found a page featuring the following trailer:



When I first saw it, the idea of a world where human organs are a commodity and life is nothing but business intrigued me, but the main draw was Head singing. I will admit that the fact that Paris Hilton was in it put me off a little, but as time has gone by and as I've looked into this project further, I am less and less bothered by it (and if the following trailer is any indication, she may not be that bad of a singer):



As you can see, the date in that trailer is very wrong; the film was not released in April. That was the original release date, but it was later pushed back to August (I think that the second date was last Tuesday), and the new date is in November. Unfortunately, it looks like Lionsgate is not going to give this movie much of a chance, because the release looks to be extremely limited (internet gossip claims that it will appear on only 10 screens). Right now, I just really hope that Chicago will get a print so that I can see it on the big screen, since the visuals look fantastic.

Repo! looks like it will be extremely bloody and violent, but I'm guessing that the studio is being so apprehensive about its release because they're afraid that such a film won't work or be able to draw a crowd as a musical. My response is to look at The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Sweeney Todd, two films that Repo! has already been compared to; one is a cult classic and the other was extremely well-received and earned good enough box office receipts.

I may be making a huge deal over two trailers and an actor that I like, but I really hope that the film lives up to the hype and gets a fair shake. If I'm wrong, I wasted a few hours of my life, but got to hear Head sing through most of it. I will also be expanding my horizons a little; I've never really been one for the over-the-top violent horror films (I've only seen about two thirds of one of the Saw movies, so its weird that I'm getting so excited for something that is so tied to the director of a majority of them), but this somehow appeals to me. Hopefully, if the trailers and music caught your attention, you will be in a place where the film is released. If this whole thing did nothing for you, that's cool too, just stick around for whatever I do next.

Up next: Hmm...

Heroes: The Fall

There’s a reason I don’t discuss worlds I dislike; what good would come from reading me rag on some show, movie or book that I personally dislike? My criticisms may be valid, but I may be purposely overlooking merits or ignoring the same flaws in media that I do enjoy. Sure, it may be a guilty pleasure (emphasis on “may” and “guilty”) but it is ultimately an empty endeavor. But what if I have to tear apart something I like? I think that I waited so long to do a series on Heroes because I didn’t want to do a post in which I complain for a significant amount of time (and I didn’t want to think about Season 2). You may notice that I didn’t add Bryan Fuller’s name as a tag for this post, which is because he had nothing to do with Season 2; he was over at ABC working on Pushing Daisies. I will try to mitigate my criticism with praise and keep this post constructive and entertaining, so here I go.

Season 2, titled “Generations” (originally, only the first half was going to be “Generations”, while the second half was going to be titled “Exodus”, but the writers strike changed all that), started out pretty well. In spite of the addition of two characters with pretty crappy powers (note: I am usually willing to give new characters the benefit of the doubt, because I believe that the writers have reasons for withholding information that may allow us to like the characters more, and that they have a plan for the new characters that needs setting up; hell, I even was willing to give LOST’s Ana-Lucia a chance), the season premiere set up some interesting plotlines. Nathan wasn’t coping with his survivor’s guilt very well, which caused him to either resign from or forcibly removed from Congress. Parkman and Surresh were living together in New York City with Molly Walker, and were working to bring down The Company. Parkman joined the NYPD and tried to get cases relating to The Company’s founders, while Surresh became an inside man and received guidance from Bennett, who had moved to a California town with his family to keep Claire safe. Hiro’s adventure in feudal Japan, where he met his idol (who turns out to be a drunken Englishman played by American David Anders, best known for playing British Sark on Alias), had the potential to be very entertaining. And then we learned that Peter had amnesia, and things went downhill from there.

I think I’ve said before that amnesia is a tough plotline to deal with; often it is done out of convenience for the writers. In this case, it was done to force Peter rediscover who he is, what his powers are, and once again deal with all of his insecurities. And this was one of the season’s biggest problems: repetition of plotlines.

Once again, Bennett and Claire went through a period of mistrust, and there were times when Bennett’s true loyalty was in question. Niki once again deals with her alterna-persona (ok, here’s my big problem with her: her second personality was a real person, her dead sister Jessica, but the one introduced in Season 2 was made up; are these related to her powers, or is she just crazy?). A character was introduced who could fly (just like Nathan, but is entirely unrelated to him… I think) and Kensei, Hiro’s idol, was a healer, like Claire. And Sylar returns to try and steal powers again. I think that the writers changed their plans for Sylar after he became such a popular character. Don’t get me wrong, I loved him and found him to be a compelling and challenging villain, but his story should have ended with the conclusion of “Genesis” (does his survival negate another one of Isaac’s paintings?). There was some difference in his story since he was unable to use his powers this year, but this took away a lot of his appeal. Fortunately, his manipulative personality remained in tact, which made him interesting enough to watch. And I don’t know where they can take the character; I don’t see him ever becoming a hero (then again, Spike eventually became a good guy in the Buffyverse). He looks to be a principle villain in Season 3, but that’s been done before.

Most of the new characters were pretty boring and didn’t get a lot of screentime to make them interesting, but the screentime they were given took away time from the established characters we had grown to love. Nathan was underused this year (BOO!) and Ando, who became a regular this year, did little more than read about Hiro’s adventures training Kensei to be a hero.

This year, the characters also apparently learned how to cure death. The blood of a healing character, like Claire or Kensei, was able to return life to the dead, which eliminates a lot of tension, since characters can be brought back at will (and this trick was used more than once). Furthermore, despite the fact that Niki was in a building that blew up, she is in the trailers for the upcoming season.

But worst of all, the overall plot was slow to build (which could have been offset by great character development) and was very similar to the previous year. The threat wasn’t revealed until midway through the year, and it was discovered when Peter accidentally traveled into the future to discover a disease-ravaged New York (sound familiar?).

Still, things picked up towards the end of the year, and we did get a few new good characters. Kensei proved interesting (and I really hope he returns), but the biggest draw of Season 2 was Elle, played by Veronica Mars’ Kristen Bell. Elle is a Company employee who has electric powers that are not always in control. She is gleefully sadistic, but somewhat stunted, since she was denied a normal childhood due to her uncontrollable powers (and the fact that her father, a Company man, kept her under surveillance to test her abilities). Kristen Bell is always a pleasure to watch, and it was fun watching her indulge in her bad side.

And while the episode-to-episode cliffhanger endings weren’t as good as the first season, the writers sure know how to write a finale. Despite all of the things that I have just complained about, I will be tuning in to watch the Season 3 premiere. The advertising has been good, and the concept of certain heroes going over to the dark side is too much to pass up. Check it out:

However, if my heart is broken again, I may have to call it quits for Heroes.

Up next: Figuring it out…

Heroes: The Good, The Great, and The Mediocre

Heroes is in many ways a televised comic book. The first year had a season-long story that connected all of the characters together, but smaller story arcs were told across three or four episodes, while each episode told a thematic story about the various heroes. These episode-long thematic stories and short arcs serve to build up our characters and reveal their motivations and experiences to us, which ultimately impact how they act in regard to the main story. Speaking of which, this grand story involves a nuclear explosion in New York City. Two characters' abilities set this story in motion; Isaac Mendes paints this bleak future, which allows the New York-based heroes to begin finding ways to stop it, while Hiro Nakamura accidentally traveled to the date of the explosion and experienced it before returning to the present day. This set him and his friend Ando Masahashi on their quest to New York, where Hiro hoped he would fulfill his destiny of becoming a true hero.

For the most part, the structure of the mini-stories feeding into the big one works very well. Everything that happens somehow directs the characters to be in a position to somehow deal with the New York storyline; Matt Parkman's manhunt for Sylar brings him to New York to pursue the killer, while Nathan's dealings with criminal Linderman gives him a new perspective on what it means to be a hero. Claire's search for the truth about herself leads The Company to finding her, forcing Mr. Bennett to relocate her to keep her safe.

Speaking of which, I'd like to bring up the episode "Company Man", which was written by Bryan Fuller. This is an example of Heroes at its best; there are a lot of characters on the show, some of which seemed unnecessary, and most episodes tried to feature each of them. While this worked for the most part, there would be times when we felt like our favorite characters didn't get nearly as much screentime as we would have wished (and this forced their episode storyline to not be as fleshed out as possible). "Company Man" focused only on the Bennett family, Parkman, and Ted Sprague, a radioactive man who is on the run from the US government, and they were all involved in one story. Parkman and Sprague believed that The Company was responsible for their abilities, which were beginning to cause grief for the pair. Mr. Bennett is one of the most compelling characters on the show; his murky morality and secretive past (and present) led to some extremely great conflict both within himself, with his family (notably Claire) and other powered characters, like Parkman and Sprague.

Since the entire episode followed Parkman and Sprague attempting to hold the Bennett family hostage, the story had a more complete feeling than other episodes. This was the dramatic conclusion to the Parkman-and-Sprague-hunting-for-answers mini-arc, which was contained in the entire episode, as opposed to having the conclusion either truncated or spread across two episodes. "Company Man" also contained revelations for the characters (Mrs. Bennett learned about her daughter's powers) as well as for the audience. Bennett's boss was introduced (Eric Roberts rocks), Bennett's history with invisible man Claude (who we'd seen earlier as a sort of Yoda-esque character for Peter) was shown in flashbacks (and Claude was certainly a different man back then), and one of the season's most touching scenes ended the episode. Hopefully, we'll get a few more episodes that only focus on three or four of the characters in the future (SPOILER!!: I really hope that we get a Nathan-centric episode, assuming he pulls through the shooting).

I've mentioned how the immense cast can sometimes be a detriment for episode-by-episode storytelling, and that is the biggest flaw the first season displayed. Taken as a season, this is pretty forgivable, and it is much easier to deal with on DVD, since we can just pop in the next episode. There were a few other problems as well, though. Lack of explanation about certain characters' powers (Nikki) led to some confusion, while sometimes logic was sacrificed for the sake of story (Peter tended to be associated with these things). Finally, while Heroes was excellent at setting stories up, the conclusions weren't always as dramatic and astounding as they could have been; a lot of people complained a lot about the final battle of the season. I agree that it was less than what I was expecting, but it was by no means awful.

Fortunately, the first year of Heroes was a pleasure (if a slightly guilty one). The show proved that ubergeeky superhero stuff can be compelling drama and had the potential to be the next big superhero universe in a world that is dominated by superheroes decades old from two universes.

EDIT: I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but the world of Heroes is expanded online through an internet comic strip (that was later printed as a trade paperback containing the first bunch of stories; I don't know if this will continue though, since I have not heard anything about a second volume) that is updated every week. This serves to introduce characters (Hana Gittelman, who was in one or two episodes of the show, was barely a character on TV, but was a huge player in the comic stories) and reveal backstory about featured characters (Linderman's past with the father of Nathan and Peter Petrelli was told in these comics). I think that the writers have said that there is more material than airtime for the characters, and this allows them to flesh out their characters more. This is certainly a cool idea, but there are definitely fans who don't read the comics (I stopped after a while because the writing quality was definitely a step down from the televised stuff), and there are certain plot developments revealed in the comics that make the things on TV easier to follow (Hana's motivations and a possible return of Adam Monroe are revealed in the comics).

Up next: And then there was Season 2...

Heroes: Super Men and Women

Bryan Fuller did not create Heroes, but wrote for it during its first season; possibly the best episode of the series, "Company Man", was written by him. As a sci-fi fan, it is easy to see why he was drawn to this series, and while it is sad that he will no longer be contributing to it (he left to do Pushing Daisies), both Daisies and Heroes seem like they will be here for a while (unless the third season is anything like the second).

I'm still surprised that this show has taken off. In addition to the fact that Heroes is basically a televised comic book, I don't remember NBC promoting this show exceptionally well until after it started airing. I may not be remembering this properly, but I remember knowing that this show existed. There were plenty of posters that premiered at Comic-Con '06, but aside from the fact that we knew it would be about "normal people discovering superpowers", there wasn't much other information that I was aware of (though this doesn't prove much; many things have slipped past my radar). Then the pilot aired and things turned around. Despite mixed reviews, the ratings were huge and the first season became the new must-watch show (I started watching with the second episode and immediately went online and watched the series premiere).

Most of the praise given to the show was deserved (strangely, a fair amount of the negative reception was deserved as well, but more on that later). The story of a group of people discovering superpowers that they have trouble controlling and understanding was extremely captivating, and was supplemented by amazing special effects. There was a season-long arc that directed the characters, but the main point of season one (called "Genesis") was to introduce the various "heroes" to us.

It is very hard to find a true lead character, but I guess the closest thing in the first season was Peter Petrelli (though the biggest break-outs were definitely Claire Bennett, Mr. Bennett and Hiro Nakamura). Peter is a hospice nurse (first gripe: in a show that claimed that it followed "normal" people trying to deal with superpowers, Peter's normal life as a nurse disappeared pretty quickly) who only wants to help others. He helps others so that he does not have to focus on his own shortcomings and insecurities, of which he has many. He is a very admirable human being, he is kind and selfless, but he longs to be special. A series of dreams lead him to believe that he can fly, but the truth is so much more incredible... and dangerous. He has the ability to mimic the power of any other superhuman he meets, but his insecurities manifest in his inability to control these powers.

The power of flight was procured from his older brother, Nathan, a New York City Assistant District Attorney running for Congress (and is one of my favorite characters on the show). Nathan and Peter are nearly perfect mirrors for each other. Whereas Peter is open and optimistic, Nathan closes himself off and is often critical of humanity's ability to accept unfamiliar ideas. Peter would never compromise his values for the greater good, while Nathan gets in bed (figuratively) with organized crime; he hopes that the money they give him will help him get elected, which will allow him to do more good than he would be able to do as a private citizen. Both are inherently good people, though Nathan's goodness is much, much murkier than Peter's.

My other top favorite character is Mr. Bennett, a man who begins the series as a very shadowy personality who's agenda is kept a secret (unfortunately, the promotional materials kind of laid the "Mr. Bennett is evil" very thick, which is what led me to deduce where his character was really going to go). Bennett has no powers of his own, but he works for an organization that tracks and documents the actions of powered individuals. His daughter, Claire, is a cheerleader at a Texas high school, who discovers that she is invulnerable to harm. Mr. Bennett (his name is a highly-kept secret throughout the first year, which was done to enhance the mystery around him) works for a company (called The Company) that monitors the heroes. He joined them due to pure motivations (there are dangerous powers and dangerous people out there, like Sylar), but the organization has some shadowy motives. The story of the Bennett family follows Claire as she tries to figure out her origins (she's adopted) in order to understand herself and her powers, while Bennett has to determine how far he is willing to go to keep his job and keep his family safe (and to prove to the audience that he really does love his family).

Other major players include Hiro Nakamura, a Japanese salaryman/drone who discovers that he can manipulate space and time. He can stop time, teleport across distances and travel across time, allowing for the very interesting "Five Years Gone" episode, which takes place five years in the future and shows a darker side of our heroes. Matt Parkman is a telepathic cop who has perpetually been down on his luck. His dyslexia has prevented him from passing the detective exam, and no one ever seems to take him seriously. When his mind reading powers manifest, they are initially uncontrollable and he uses his accidental discoveries give him an edge at crime scenes and in the bedroom. Mohinder Surresh is a sort of anti-Bennett; he is a solo scientist who is also researching the heroes, but his motives are purely benevolent.

Unfortunately, not all of the characters work as well as the aforementioned heroes. Isaac Mendes, an artist who was able to paint the future while high on heroin, was always more of a plot device than a full-fledged character (his mural of New York City being atom-bombed was the impetus for the first season's plot). Unfortunately, his girlfriend Simone was even less of a character. This is sad because both had a lot of potential to be more interesting; Isaac's ability could have allowed him to be a power player at The Company, while Simone had many interesting stories planned for her, only to be abandoned by the writers. Finally, the family of D.L. Hawkins (phasing), Niki Sanders (super strength... sort of) and Micah Sanders (technopathy- think of Mitch Hundred from Ex Machina) never grabbed my attention. The most interesting of this group was D.L., but he wasn't introduced until around the seventh episode, and one of the coolest aspects of his character, a prisoner who could walk through walls, was basically ignored and rarely referenced (in a deleted scene, we see that he was originally going to be introduced in prison and we'd see his breakout). Micah filled the annoying kid role while Nikki's abilities were vague at best and was not written as well as the rest of the cast.

And then there's Sylar. Sylar is the kind of man The Company was designed for; he is unhinged and uses his powers for personal gain and to hurt others. And not only that, he has a mission to hunt down other powered individuals in order to increase his own power; you see, he is another kind of mirror for Peter. Peter acquires the powers of others by accident, and does so harmlessly. He is not looking to increase his power, but he uses his growing strength to try and help people. Sylar, on the other hand, has the ability to acquire other superpowers by devouring the brain of the holder of the power (he may also be part zombie).

Up next: The first season's story and themes...

Pushing Daisies: Storybook Love

The fact that this show has taken off continues to perplex me. When I first saw the TV spots for the show, I thought it looked interesting, but it could never last as a series. But then, the love story element was revealed, and being the sucker for tragic love stories that I am, I had found the new show of the season to check out. But I was still afraid that I was going to once again fall for a critical darling that would gain a very small (but very loyal, but very small) fanbase, which would die an early death. Instead, Pushing Daisies gained a sizable audience. The reviews are glowing, and were probably a factor in the early full-season pickup (the ratings are good, but it's not like they are LOST-sized), and I found a new show that is able to make me run the gamut emotionally almost every week, which is a feat very few shows are able to do.

I realize that my tastes aren't exactly the tastes of the average American, and the things about Pushing Daisies that make me smile every week may not be appealing to everyone. Some of you may think that I am about to sound like a crazy person when I talk about how the bright colors and silly puns can enthrall me. But if you're willing to set aside conventional ideas about what drama "should be", you will find a true gem of a television show.

Bryan Fuller has said that his goal for the show was to make it resemble a child's storybook, and along with Barry Sonnenfeld (who did visual work on the Men In Black films and the Addams Family films), he succeeds. An omniscient narrator, bright colors, seemingly innocent characters and clever wordplay (including alliteration and puns) create the sense that we are once again young children being fascinated by a whimsical picture book. But these childlike attributes cover up a much darker side of the world of Pushing Daisies. The world is brightly colored; even the morgue is painted with candy stripes. The narrator is omniscient, and he points out the dark nature of many of the characters. And those who don't hold dark secrets tend to have tortured pasts. Ned's childhood was fraught with despair; after his mom died (twice), his unloving father sent him away to a boarding school run by a cold staff and populated by cruel students. Olive hides her sadness with an overly enthusiastic personality, while Emerson has a painful family life that has yet to be fully explored. Oh, and the wordplay? There are many times when euphemisms for sex or violence are hidden behind more benign language.

Speaking of the visuals, you may have noticed that these posts contain many more pictures than I normally use. I love the promotional stills from Pushing Daisies; the sets and costumes are deliciously quirky, and the actors are very beautiful people, and I just can't get enough of seeing how the production designers put them all together.

But there is substance in addition to style (if there weren't, this would be nothing more than a very guilty pleasure). Watching these characters interact is incredibly fun to watch, even when the interactions break your heart. We know that, unless there is some big change to the rules, Ned and Chuck will never truly be a couple; intimacy is part of the package, and that is a luxury that they can never achieve. So it's fun watching them come up with ways to get around this handicap, such as using saran wrap to put between themselves when they kiss, or when they each held a monkey statuette and pressed the lips of the monkeys against each other's statue. But at the same time, it breaks the heart, because we as the audience know how futile their attempts truly are. Olive never fails to amuse; Kristen Chenoweth is a gifted actress who knows how to use herself to make great physical comedy. She is a very short actress and Lee Pace is very tall, and there is a scene where she stands up on a table to be eye-to-eye with him, only to realize that she's STILL shorter than him. She also is very adept at excess cheeriness (she wasn't the original G(a)linda in Wicked for nothing), which is funny until we remember that it is nothing but a front.

The show also uses musical theater as a way to set it apart from most other series on television. This isn't a musical show (not every episode features a song), but every now and then, characters will randomly burst into song:



These songs serve as a way to both express the emotions of the character singing (don't make a Whedon reference, don't make a Whedon reference... shit) and remind us that anything can happen on Pushing Daisies. And I do mean anything. Conventional logic is thrown out the window. This is a show that has featured a redneck Chinese man who is a descendant of a Confederate war hero ("I wanted to be a Jedi!"), a carrier pigeon has its wing replaced with that of a stuffed parrot's, and a scratch-and-sniff book proves to be a deadly weapon. If these examples aren't crazy enough (and you are caught up with the show), check out this preview for the new season:



By popular (enough) demand, here is a great crash course for those of you who haven't seen the first season:



I wish that I could have watched Buffy (and the other four seasons of Angel) when it was actually on television, so that I could talk about plot developments with other fans and speculate about what was to come. I am very happy to have found a show that makes me feel the same way and will allow me to do the aforementioned activities... wow I'm a nerd.

Up next: Holding out for some Heroes...

Pushing Daisies: The Facts of the Case

This is just wild speculation right now, but Pushing Daisies could one replace Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel at the top of my list of favorite television shows. Of course, only nine episodes have aired so far, and there is a long way to go before that happens, but if the quality we have seen continues (and grows), I will have to rearrange my list (ok, so I have to rearrange it anway, now that I've seen the end of Six Feet Under, more of How I Met Your Mother, and have now seen Deadwood, Spaced, Mad Men, and The L Word).

But the purpose of this post is to talk about Bryan Fuller's first show that has both been picked up for a second season and remains under his control (before this, it was one or the other). Lee Pace (who played Aaron Tyler on Wonderfalls) leads as Ned, an emotionally stunted man who has never been able to get too close to anyone. He is gifted/cursed (isn't that always the way in modern fiction) with a life-giving touch; if he comes in physical contact with any dead object, whether it be person, animal, or plant, he will imbue it with new life, or, really, with its old life. But if he ever touches it again, it will revert to its dead state, and will never be alive again. And if he does not return the being to death within a minute, something of equal size will die in order to keep the scales of life and death balanced (and this doesn't give the revived object immunity from Ned's second death-giving touch). Because of this, Ned is afraid of getting too close to anyone, since the desire to return them to life could become too great. Doing so would rob someone else of their life, and he would never be able to touch his beloved again.

Unfortunately for him, such a case occurs when he runs into his childhood sweetheart one day. But I get ahead of myself; Ned has become a piemaker (following in his mother's footsteps) and cuts costs by buying dead fruit, and returning it to life. He further finances his business through his dealings with Emerson Cod, a shady, money-obsessed private eye. Emerson accidentally discovered Ned's ability and immediately figured out a way to capitalize on it; Ned brings murder victims back to life and asks who killed them. With this information, Emerson "solves" the case, collects the reward money, and splits it 50-50 with Ned. It is this arrangement that brings Ned back to his hometown to bring Charlotte "Chuck" Charles back to life. The two were sweethearts as children (sort of) but after the death of Ned's mother, Chuck's father (due to Ned bringing his mother back to life), and the second death of Ned's mother, Ned was shipped away to boarding school, never to see Chuck alive again. And Ned's greatest fear is realized when he cannot bring himself to return Chuck to her dead state. This creates one of the sweetest and saddest romances that I have ever seen; their courtship for each other must remain entirely innocent, which is both cute and heartbreaking.

Chuck becomes the third partner in the arrangement, and goes to work at Ned's establishment, known as The Pie Hole. This arrangement upsets Olive Snook, Ned's only other employee who harbors a crush on Ned that's obvious to everyone except for our main characters. Olive's outward perkiness masks her sad true self that hopelessly pines away for a man who only has eyes for a woman he can never touch.

The other two main characters are Chuck's insanely quirky aunts, Lily and Vivian. The two are former synchronized swimmers who have developed an intense case of agoraphobia. They raised Chuck after her father died, and their fear of leaving the house helped shape Chuck's love of reading, learning and beekeeping.

So far, there hasn't been a grand, overarching storyline, but there have only been nine episodes. The show got a full-season pick-up within a few weeks of the pilot airing, but due to the writers strike, the ninth episode's ending was reshot to feature a season finale ending. Sadly, a storyline involving a neighboring candymaker (played by Molly Shannon) was aborted after her first appearance towards the end of the season, since she won't be available to continue, but I am sure that Fuller and his writers have plenty of other great stories to tell about a piemaker named Ned and a girl named Chuck.

Up next: It's quirky, bizarre, deceptively innocent, and I love it...

Bryan Fuller: Past Works

Bryan Fuller has created some great shows, but due to network meddling, Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me were never given a chance to flourish. But these weren't where he started in the television business; a self-described sci-fi fan, Fuller wrote scripts for two Star Trek series, as well as a few other projects. He has also written for Heroes (which will be discussed more in the posts about that show), but while the aforementioned series have all been successful, his own shows have crashed and burned (Wonderfalls) and have been removed from his control (Dead Like Me).

Since I may one day do a more in-depth post on Wonderfalls, I won't delve into its themes too deeply here. The show followed Jaye Tyler, a graduate of Brown University who chooses to work in a souvenir shop at Niagra Falls and live in a trailer. The rest of her family (whose names all rhyme, a fact further separating her from them) are successful overachievers who are perplexed with Jaye's choices, but still love her. But Jaye's life is put on a course she never hoped to take when she started hearing voices from inanimate animal-shaped objects. These trinkets give her obscure instructions that allow her to help out people in need (a fact that Jaye detests; why should she help anyone else?!). FOX quickly lost faith in Wonderfalls (sound famliar Firefly fans?) and gave the show at least three different time slots across four weeks. Having seen the entire series and hearing about where the show was heading, I can say that FOX once again killed a potential classic-in-the-making.

On the other hand, Showtime's Dead Like Me lasted two seasons. However, Fuller left early on in the show's development, since MGM insisted on making changes to the show that Fuller deemed necessary (one important one was the sexuality of lead character Georgia "George" Lass' father; a scene in the pilot suggested that he was gay, and then was ignored throughout the rest of the show, since MGM didn't want him to be gay). I only saw about a quarter of the episodes, all of which were from the second season, so I cannot comment on the quality of the series as a whole. From what I saw, I found the premise interesting and the episodes funny and somber enough, but it just didn't click with me the way I thought it would.

George Lass dies in the very first episode, killed by debris from the MIR space station (specifically, the toilet). Instead of going on to the afterlife, she is recruited to be a reaper, undead beings who walk to Earth in order to remove the souls of those about to die (they do this by touching them; this detail will become relevant by the end of this post as well as for the next one). She joins the reaper crew led by Rube, a man who died in the 19th century and has become somewhat jaded with and tired of life on Earth. The other reapers try to find ways to hold on to and honor their own lives. Former flapper Daisy (played in the series by Laura Harris and in the upcoming direct-to-DVD continuation by Sarah Wynter; I mention this because those two actresses played sisters on 24 in the second season) tries to make sure that people still find her beautiful and interesting, while 60s druggie Mason can't get past his mooching and layabout ways.

Fortunately, after two failures, success finally has come to Fuller with Pushing Daisies, which sort of started out as an idea to use on Dead Like Me; the reapers can take life with a touch (well, they actually take out the soul with a touch; the mischievous gravelings do the actual killing), while Ned, the lead character of Pushing Daisies can return life with a touch. Daisies is probably the quirkiest show Fuller has created yet (and that's saying something), and it is by far the best.

Up next: The facts are these...