Pushing Daisies – Season 1

Archived review:

Perhaps the lesson learned from both Heroes and Friday Night Lights' second-year decline is that it's awfully hard to keep a much-hyped show going with the same enthusiasm as when it first entered the map. Celebrate Pushing Daisies then, whilst it still feels so fresh. It's a "forensic fairytale comedy" that focuses primarily on Ned (Lee Pace), a piemaker who can solve murder cases by bringing the dead victims back to life. When his childhood sweetheart Chuck (the adorable Anna Friel of Brookside-lesbian-kiss fame) gets killed, he brings her back and they begin a sweet and intriguing relationship (interesting because they're not allowed to touch lest she die again, for good). Pushing Daisies' influences are clear; It retains the same comedic outlook on death as the show's predecessor Dead Like Me (fortunately losing that show's unfortunate melancholic tone) and stylistically looks like it came from Tim Burton himself. Parallels with Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events have been made, although I haven't seen this.

So why is it such a treat to watch? Let's make it clear, this is definitely a love-it-or-hate-it show. You're either going to be drawn in or repulsed by its quirkiness (where musical numbers can occasionally happen without warning) and its over-the-top sugary commentary on love and life. For the moment though, it's still brimming with new ideas that keep the whole thing feeling fresh, and fortunately the writers still know how to pace ongoing storylines well, neither forgetting nor rushing continuing plots/questions from previous episodes. Having said that, a couple of revelations were made in the final pre-strike episode that may have had more impact later on in the show's lifetime. Kudos also to Chi McBride and Kristin Chenoweth, who in true Will & Grace style have already made their characters Emerson and Olive outshine the leads by being so damn funny and intriguing. Whenever this show returns after the strike (and this actually does seem like a certainty), I can't wait for more madcap adventures and snappy one-liners.

Heroes – Season 2

Archived review – the strike-shortened second season:

Ah, sweet, sweet justice! After a successful first season, I got tired of everyone jumping on the 'Heroes is better than Lost' bandwagon. Now after the fuss has died down a bit, this show's going through a rough patch for similar reasons given for Lost's disapproval not long ago - the introduction of rubbish characters meaning less screentime for old favourites, some storylines going at a snail's pace for episodes on end, and the occasionally awful bit of expository dialogue. Sure, Heroes may answer questions much more quickly, but when the "answer" is a cheap plot device such as magical healing blood, does it really matter? An entire volume (of eleven episodes) has now been broadcast and it wasn't all bad. The final few episodes were as exciting as ever, and several great characters/actors have been introduced such as David Anders' Kensei and Kristen Bell's Elle, but all in all this season's just made me realise how much I've missed Lost with its tighter episodic structure, superior character development and plotlines that actually mean something (I don't see Charlie cheating death as easily as some of our heroes have this year). Still, as <i>Lost</i> proved with its second-season decline and subsequent return to form, I'm not giving up on Heroes just yet, and gladly await new episodes. Whenever that may be.

NB – I think "gladly" may not have been the appropriate word. I didn't see any of the third season, at first due to being too busy to watch, then followed by hearing rumour of an even bigger downturn in quality. It's fairly safe to say I will never catch up with this sinking ship.