Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14792 in DVD
• Brand: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2008-09-16
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
• Dubbed in: French
• Running time: 379 minutes

Studio description
Every not-so-often, along comes a show that's different. Wonderfully different. Pushing Daisies, TV Guide's Matt Roush writes, "restores my faith in TV's ability to amuse, enchant and entertain." It's the story of Ned, a lonely pie maker whose touch can reanimate the dead. Cool, but there's a hitch. If Ned touches the person again, the miracle is reversed. If he doesn't, a bystander goes toes up. What to do? Easy: Team with a private eye, bring murder victims back just long enough to discover whodunit, and collect the rewards. Things go well until Ned's boyhood sweetie is the next dear departed, and he can't resist bringing her back for keeps! Dig the wit, style and quirky romance: If you're not laughing, you may need a visit from Ned.

Amazon.com
Pushing Daisies is many things at once: detective show, romantic comedy, whimsical fantasy and above all, a story about a guy who bakes pies and has the ability to bring dead people back to life. Somehow all of these things come together to make one of the most enjoyable, funny and bittersweet shows to come along in a long time. A lot of that magic comes from the near-perfect casting - Lee Pace (The Fall, Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day) as Ned the Piemaker is wonderfully reserved and adorably neurotic; his facial expressions alone provide some of the most moving and hilarious moments in the series. Anna Friel as Charlotte "Chuck" Charles, Chi McBride as Emerson Cod and Kristin Chenoweth as Olive Snook round out the regulars at the Pie Hole and veteran actresses Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene are great as Chuck's eccentric aunts whose passions include synchronized swimming, amateur ornithology and rare cheeses. Pushing Daisies exists in a world where people regularly break out into song to express their feelings, where death is never gory and usually played for comic effect, and where every color on screen is richly saturated and vibrant, creating an oddly timeless Edward Scissorhands-like world.

Bryan Fuller, the creator of cult favorites Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls has perfected his style with Pushing Daisies; this series has a broader appeal than the previous shows. Each imaginatively produced episode has such snappy writing paired with ghoulish sensibilities, heart wrenching romance and classic caper-style crime fighting, making every moment completely un-missable. The Blu-ray release of Season One contains all nine original episodes and a behind-the-scenes featurette. --Kira Canny

Customer Reviews

The best new show of the strike shortened 2007-2008 season
Now that the format wars are over and Blu Ray has won out over HD TV, I have taken the high def plunge. And the first thing that I have purchased in Blu Ray is PUSHING DAISIES. It won't be out until September, but for symbolic reasons I made this my first purchase in the format. The series is so visually stunning that it is perfect for high def presentation.

Season One of PUSHING DAISIES ended prematurely. Sadly, the show, which was supposed to run through 22 episodes, has ended at 9. Many shows have been adversely affected by the WGA strike, but except for FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (which not only is going to be cancelled, but did not even get to wrap up its final season, so that it will end with the narrative dangling, an unfitting end to one of the most brilliant shows on TV) none as much for my money as PUSHING DAISIES. This is simply one of the most original, extraordinary shows in the history of television. I awaited the arrival of each of the nine episodes comprising Season One like many await the release of highly anticipated films. That we got only the fraction of a season is heartbreaking.

In case anyone questions whether the season is indeed over, creator and producer Bryan Fuller has stated bluntly that the show will not resume production until next summer, when they will start work on Season Two. And to make it all even more definite, this past week it was announced that Anna Friel, who plays Chuck on the show, will very shortly start filming LAND OF THE LOST with Will Ferrell. You can't shoot new episodes if your female lead is unavailable.

What makes this so heartbreaking is how incredibly fresh and original this show was from the very first episode. I was enthralled from the very first seconds. As the camera moves up from underneath the earth, through the roots of the plants and grass just under the surface, and then up to reveal a vividly yellow field of flowers through which young Ned is running, I was completely entranced. Everything about the show affected me in similar fashion from the music, to the extraordinary use of color (the color is what causes many people to compare it to AMELIE), to the relentless number of wonderful sets. I've never seen a show that I have found so visually exciting.

And luckily the writing and the acting is every bit as good as the art design. It is almost impossible to over praise the writing on the show for two reasons. First, when you watch the first episode, it is so stunningly good that your immediate reaction is: they can't possibly keep this level of excellence up. Yet, they do. In fact, the show doesn't merely stay as good as the pilot (or "Pie-lette," as it is titled), it gets better. The show doesn't merely have a brilliant premise, but has a plan. Although we've had only 9 episodes, any viewer will definitely get the sense that this show is going someplace very specific. Second, the show features some of the wittiest dialogue ever found on television. Many compare the dialogue to that on THE GILMORE GIRLS, both for its immense cleverness and wonderful wordplay, but for its sheer quantity. Without doubt those two shows probably have more words per minute than any shows ever previously seen. (Interestingly, some of PUSHING DAISIES is filmed on the part of the back lot upon which THE GILMORE GIRLS was filmed.) Part of the reason for this is that any spots that on other shows would result in silence on PUSHING DAISIES provides an opportunity for the Narrator, who embellishes the story in marvelous fashion. Other shows have featured narrators, but in my opinion only ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT does so quite so well.

PUSHING DAISIES features a wonderful if somewhat compact ensemble cast. Lee Pace, whom many may know from an earlier Bryan Fuller series WONDERFALLS (on which he played the main character's brother), plays Ned aka The Pie Maker, who "isn't like the other boys," in that whenever he touches a dead thing he brings it back to life, with two caveats. First, if he touches that dead thing (or person) a second time, they will be dead forever. Second, if he doesn't touch it or them again within 60 seconds, something else must die in its place. Anna Friel plays Ned's great childhood love Chuck aka Dead Girl, who is brought back to life by Ned after she was murdered. Of course, this means that Ned and Chuck can never touch directly, which is, as Olive Snook points out, tragic ("notwithstanding big ticket items like genocide and death"). The outrageously talented Kristin Chenoweth plays Olive. Although one of the great Broadway musical talents of her time, neither TV nor the movies have found a way to take advantage of her. Until now. At first I was perplexed why they would cast such a huge talent in what was clearly the second female lead, but as the series goes along Olive quickly became one of my favorite characters. And Kristin even sang a song, performing "Hopelessly Devoted to You" in one of the season's highlights. Ned's partner in solving crime, the delightfully named Emerson Cod, is played by Chi McBride. Emerson is hands down the funniest, most delightful character on the show and perhaps a majority of the funniest lines on the show are uttered by McBride. Chuck's aunts are played by two more Broadway stars, Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene. The Narrator is performed by Jim Dale, who is perhaps best known as the reader of the Harry Potter books on CD. For me he is one of the most wonderful things about the show, providing precisely the right texture and background to every scene. But one other performer has to be mentioned, or rather a pair of performers. I can't tell them apart and I don't know the name of the second "actor," but Orbit and another Golden Retriever play Ned's dog Digby. Orbit played JD (short for Just Dog) on an earlier Bryan Fuller series, DEAD LIKE ME. I have no idea how they get the reactions on film that "Digby" makes to things that happen around him, but to watch him you'd swear he really is acting. My favorite Digby scene might be his interaction with Olive during her singing of "Hopelessly Devoted."

As much as I love this show I have to add that I've been amazed and perplexed that not everyone I know who has seen it has liked it. Some don't like the Narrator. Some don't like the fast-paced dialogue. I simply can't account for this. PUSHING DAISIES does have a very definite style. I suppose that if the style rubs you the wrong way, you might not like it. But for me and several of my closest friends, this is one of the most magical shows I've ever seen. My two all time favorite shows are BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. How much do I love PUSHING DAISIES? Although there have been only 9 episodes, right now I am inclined to say that I love it as much as those two, making it one of my three all time favorite shows. Which is just another reason why I have been so upset by its truncated debut season. But with the writers strike finally about to end (as I write this it has been indicated that the union will vote two days from now on the new contract), I am eagerly looking forward to Season Two. What accidentally turned out to be the final episode of Season One did end on a bit of a cliffhanger and works fairly well as a transition to Season Two. Be sure to watch this to get ready for it.

Quirky, imaginative and just beautiful
Obviously, since this title is not yet released, I can only comment on the series itself. There's really only one thing to say about it: it's brilliant!
If you enjoyed the deadpan humour of Dead Like Me as well as its more serious and heart warming sides, liked the quirkyness of shows such as Wonderfalls, then I'm certain you'll enjoy Pushing Daisies.

Lee Pace is wonderful as the good hearted pie maker, Anna Friel couldn't be more adorable as the - unfortunately dead, but revived - love of his life. Chi McBride is no Mandy Patinkin, but he delivers in his part. Then there's Kristin Chenoweth as Olive Snook. She works for the pie maker and is (not so secretly) in love with him. She is probably the most entertaining character on the show and you just can't help but adore her.

I just hope that Amazon is right this time and the release actually is for all Blu-ray regions, otherwise, I probably won't be able to enjoy this wonderful show on Blu-ray due it being rather unlikely to be released in Europe. Btw, dear people at Amazon, when are you going to learn that Blu-ray uses different region codes than DVD? There is no region 1 for Blu-ray, it must be region A instead.
And while I'm at it, dear studios and publishers, get rid of the darned region codes altogether. They'll eventually be overcome also for Blu-ray and they're just annoying the hell out of those people that actually buy what you have to sell (especially annoying if there's no chance for a release of a title in the region you happen to live in).

Hungry for those delicious extras? The facts are these... :)
PUSHING DAISIES is a rare treat. It creates a charming modern fairy tale romance with wit, humor, and creativity and the show's technical flair of bringing its magical world to life is matched only by the heart of its storytelling.

But my review isn't intended to sell you on the show. If the multitudes of gushing reviews here don't do it for you, then perhaps the show just isn't for you. Instead, I thought I'd share a little more about the contents of the set to help you decide on your potential purchase...

3 discs of pie-eating goodness...
Each disc contains 3 of the 9 episodes that comprise the short-lived Season 1. The presentation is rather simple. No trailers, no top menu. After the copyright warnings and the Warner Bros logo, they start directly into the episodes. The show is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen and also contain a short end credits sequence where you have a chance to listen to a brief arrangement of James Dooley's beautiful music. This may vary on the area, but I don't recall ever seeing this bit aired on my local television station, so it was something new to see and hear for me. The blu-ray popover menus allow you to select language options and episodes. The third disc also contains the extras...

"delicious interactive featurettes"
If by "interactive", they mean clicking through countless menus to watch its 18 mini-featurettes, then sure, let's call it interactive. Not that I really needed anything more interactive than that. :) But in any event, there are indeed featurettes and they are indeed delicious. Once you navigate to the "Pie-Time" menu, you can click on an episode name in order to watch one or more of its featurettes. Navigating between each episode featurette menu is a bit slow and cumbersome and very "DVD-like". I wish the extras menu could have been overhauled just a bit to take advantage of some of the quicker Blu-ray menu capabilities, but I suppose staring at all the pies while waiting for the next menu to load isn't all that bad...

All in all, there's around 43 minutes worth of featurettes, which typically contains one or two folks from the cast or crew commenting on clips or content from the episode. Alas, Lee Pace is the only cast member to make an appearance. The lengths of these featurettes is a bit disappointing, with some of the lasting barely a minute. Each featurette flies by in a heartbeat, leaving you wanting for more. It was rather surprising when I noticed that they all add up to over 40 minutes.

In case you care, here are the lengths of each featurette:
- Pie-Lette (3.24 / 1:46 / 2:53)
- Dummy (1:41 / 3:24)
- The Fun in Funeral (2:12 / 2:29)
- Pigeon (1:05 / 2:40)
- Girth (1:10 / 0:56)
- Kitchen (3:00 / 1:46)
- Smell of Success (1:58)
- Bitter Sweets (1:42 / 2:33 / 6:09)
- Corpsicle (1:32

Overall, the featurettes take some clicking to watch, but they're all worth it, if you like the show. It would have been nice, had they simply combined all the shorts into a single indexed program for ease of viewing. For extras, 40 minutes isn't too bad, but for a show with such a great ensemble cast and so rich in effects, I had hoped for a little more. But nonetheless, I'm happy enough.

If you're fan of the show, this seems like a no-brainer to me. Unlike other TV sets that I've bought, I've found myself popping in PUSHING DAISIES a few times and still thoroughly enjoy it. I hope the above info has been helpful.

On a final note, as of this writing (November, 2008) it appears that Pushing Daisies has been cancelled. If you are so inclined, please consider joining one or more of the campaigns to save the show. Thanks!