V.J. Erickson's Blog, page 29
July 19, 2012
The seven things I loved about... Pushing Daisies pt. 5
After only two short seasons, Pushing Daisies was cancelled. Here’s seven reason reasons why it was gone too soon.
#3 - The Women
Writing a book series with a young female protagonist, I think a lot about how to portray women so they are strong, independent characters, but not so tough that they fail to be realistic or relatable. From Twilight to 50 Shades, there is evidence that women want to be fought over and taken care of and I try to capture those feelings without ending up with a perpetual damsel in distress whose sole purpose is being desirable to men. I’m not saying that’s what happens in either of the aforementioned series. I haven’t read them.
Watching Pushing Daisies with a new internal emphasis on the portrayal of women in media, I am consistently impressed by the way the women of the show are complex balls of vulnerability and strength and are equally as likely to either save the day or need saving as any of the male characters. And though the two female leads pine over Ned, they are not slaves to his romantic whims. Chuck moves out on him to find herself as an individual and Olive tells him off when she realizes she is being taken for granted.
The guest-starring women were awesome too, particularly the ones that gave Emerson Cod a run for his money, including his mother Calista Cod and romantic interest Simone Hundin, but this post is about the four main female cast members.
First, Olive Snook:
Kristin Chenoweth has quite a fan following. She is probably best known for her Tony-winning role in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, her Tony-nominated role as Glinda, the Good Witch in Wicked and recurring TV roles on The West Wing and Glee, but I will always remember her for her role as Olive Snook.
Bryan Fuller did not let Kristin’s singing talents go to waste. She had several numbers and musical bits throughout the series, including the above Sound of Music spoof. Check out a montage of most of her singing moments:
She was more than just a pretty voice (and pretty face), however. Though she crushed on the piemaker, it was more a tale of unrequited love than a love triangle and her tale was one of finding confidence in herself and asserting her own needs. She was brave, funny, and clever and became a good friend to Chuck despite Ned’s feelings for her and an invaluable asset to the investigative team.
Also bringing their theater credentials to the show are the actresses who played kookie aunts Lily and Vivian:
Source: The Piemaker
Tony award-nominee Ellen Green (above left) and multiple Tony award-winner Swoosie Kurtz (above right) both brought a sense of Broadway theatrics to their roles as Chuck’s aunts/surrogate mothers. They both suffered from a variety of personal anxieties and quirks, such as Vivian’s aversion to physical contact with others and Lily’s paralyzing fear of clowns. These fears combined with their shared agarophobia rendered them shut-ins.
Once a synchonized swimming duo, the world-famous Darling Mermaid Darlings, they spend most of the show entertaining us with a variety of bizarre hobbies and traits, such as an obsession with birds–living, taxidermied, and even bedazzled–and an obsession with cheese so intense that Chuck grew up thinking that the proper name for a refrigerator was the “cheese box”.
Less quirky was the lead heroine, Charlotte “Chuck” Charles:
Source: Makeup 411
Anna Friel plays what has to be my favorite female lead outside of Buffy. She’s everything you want in a lead character. She’s strong-willed and independent; she takes charge of her relationships, she’s an equal partner in both Ned’s business and his investigations, and she reminds Ned and Emerson of the humanity of the victims they investigate. All this while displaying a killer fashion sense.
Anna Friel is British, which gets a few extra bonus points with me, but you’d never know from her stellar American accent. If you watch the second episode of season 1, you can hear her natural accent in the commercial for the Dandy Lion SX.
There’s more Chuck to come in the upcoming posts, so I’ll leave it at that for now. Each of the women above saves the day more than once and as the series progresses they all grow by learning to like themselves and assert their independence while finding strength in their love and friendship. They are characters that exist on a level to aspire to write to.
Seem more of Chuck tomorrow in reason #2 why Pushing Daisies ended too soon!
July 18, 2012
It turns out that otters aren’t natural-born swimmers....
It turns out that otters aren’t natural-born swimmers. Like us, they have to be taught… and it is completely adorable to watch.
The seven things I loved about... Pushing Daisies pt. 4
After only two short seasons, Pushing Daisies was cancelled. Here’s seven reason reasons why it was gone too soon.
#4 - The Prose
The concept was quirky, the colors and costuming outlandish, and the crimes absurd. Given the over-the-top nature of the show, the writing could have easily have been lost in the shuffle, but even beyond the content, the quality of the writing stands on its own.
Like every other element of the show, the writing never played it straight, instead using elements like rhyme, alliteration, and repetition to create narration and dialogue as colorful as the scenery.
Every episode was narrated by Jim Dale, whose British accent added to the “Once Upon a Time” storybook quality to the prose.
“Narrator: As Madeline McLean prepared to grant one last deadly desire, Bobo the bonobo monkey had a wish of its own, to play with the ball on a stick called the shifter. And so, its wish was granted… as was the wish of Madeline McLean, for though her sanity was torn asunder by a boy named Abner Newsome, and her body was torn apart by a bonobo named Bobo, her heart was still intact, which allowed her to grant one final wish, and that was for Abner Newsome to have a change of heart… Madeline McLean’s heart.”
From the alliteration of Bobo the bonobo to the contrast of a literal change of heart (a heart transplant) to the metaphorical change of heart, nearly every line by the narrator had a playful quality to it. This was emphasized by the narrator, but extended to the characters, who inserted a sense of poetic meter to their regular conversations.
“Ned: Do you know you have a “tell” when you lie?
Olive Snook: Do I?
Ned: You answer questions with questions.
Olive Snook: Maybe I know I have a tell and I know you know I have a tell and maybe I’m doing it now to confuse you because you don’t know what tell I’m telling.”
With names like Olive Snook, you can see that the naming is playful too. The characters all live in the town of Ceour d’Ceours (the “s” is silent), where Ned pines for Charlotte “Chuck” Charles, daughter of Charles Charles, who was raised by the stars of the Darling Mermaid Darlings synchronized swimming team. They visit places like the Boutique Travel Travel Boutique and solve the murders of characters like Betty Bee and Deedee Duffield.
Despite the murder mystery premise of the show, the style of writing and the choices of words and names elevate it to something more artful than a procedural drama. It is shame that such ambitious writing choices were not rewarded with a renewal for a third season.
Tomorrow, we begin the top three reasons why Pushing Daisies ended before its time. See you then!
July 17, 2012
This guy taped an interview with his future self when he was 12...
This guy taped an interview with his future self when he was 12 and is now responding to himself 20 years later. The concept is cute, but the execution is awesome!
This video is easily my favorite I’ve seen all year, if not ever. It certainly took the longest to make!
The seven things I loved about... Pushing Daisies pt. 3
After only two short seasons, Pushing Daisies was cancelled. Here’s seven reason reasons why it was gone too soon.
#5 - A Different Take on Murder
Our obsession with mortality defines us as a species and I would argue that there is no greater motivator to all aspects of our existence than the winding down of our mortal clocks. Religion, family, art, technology, science- all in some way or another are focused on postponing death, extending our existence or legacy beyond death, and alleviating the fear of death while we inevitably approach it. Heavy stuff.
Though Pushing Daisies is hardly horror, it is certainly macabre and it employs the same approach to easing the discomfort associated with death that horror films often employ: it makes death completely ridiculous.
Where horror films often go for over the top blood and gore, however, Pushing Daisies takes it in the opposite direction, treating death with a cartoon absurdity that gives death all of the gravity of a Wile E. Coyote cartoon.
Take for example, the tasty example of Colonel Likkin, who met the same fate as his southern fried chicken in a deep fat fryer.
Image Source: Pushing Daisies Wiki
Or Betty of Betty’s Bees who was swarmed to death by, you guessed it.
Image Source: tvchitchat.net
From the crispy golden skin of Colonel Likkin to the blistery bubbles of Betty, the make-up artists always went over the top to give the undead comic touches. Often over the top, but sometimes subtle, such as the dangling crystal earring of Gustav Hoffer as a result of death by chandelier.
Image Source: Are You Screening?
With the proliferation of crime procedurals on the market, it often seems that they try to push the boundaries by creating every increasingly morbid corpses and chill-inducing crimes. Pushing Daisies was refreshing because their version of chill-inducing was a talking “corpsicle”.
Image Source: ShareTV.org
Added bonus:
A pre-Community and Soup Joel McHale as a dog breeder done in!
Image Source: I Spy a Famous Face
Come back tomorrow for reason #4 that killing Pushing Daisies was a crime!
