History Series / PushingDaisies

* TheResolutionWillNotBeTelevised: Although a rather rushed epilogue of sorts was stuck on the end of the final episode, a "third season" of comics is due to be published by DC in 2011. It will apparently involve a "fresh take on the ZombieApocalypse"

** The Cynic: [[DeadpanSnarker Emerson.]][[note]]KnightInSourArmor[=/=]TheSnarkKnight. OnlySaneMan also applies considering he works with a dead girl, a miracle worker, and a zany girl.[[/note]]
** The Optimist: [[ThePollyanna Chuck.]][[note]]TheHeart[=/=]PluckyGirl. Also TheDeterminator considering she doesn't give up despite losing everything save for an extremely difficult relationship with Ned.[[/note]]
** The Realist: [[TheFettered Ned.]][[note]]TheCaptain who frequently makes the final call [[GreyAndGrayMorality between Chuck's/Olive's unbreakable idealism and Emerson's extreme cynicism.]][[/note]]

There once was a piemaker who could raise the dead with a touch -- but only for sixty seconds, or else someone else would have to die to take their place. If he touched the resurrected person again, they died permanently. One day, the piemaker was given the opportunity to raise Chuck, his childhood sweetheart... So he did. This act brought the two much closer, but tragically kept them apart; one more touch would mean Chuck would be dead forever. Along with his undead dog, a grumpy private eye, Chuck's eccentric aunts and a singing waitress, they solved murders, asking the dead who their murderers were in those sixty seconds and then collecting the often substantial reward for finding the killers.

* AndStarring: With Swoozie Kurtz (Aunt Lily) And Kristin Chenowith (Olive)

* CantHaveSexEver / ChastityCouple / CourtlyLove: Ned and Chuck, though deconstructed in that they've apparently found ways around the "no touching" problem.

* HasTwoMommies: Chuck, raised by her two aunts [[spoiler: or rather, one aunt and her mother masquerading as her other aunt...]]

Created by ''Series/{{Wonderfalls}}'' and ''Series/DeadLikeMe'' creator Creator/BryanFuller, and set InAWorld lavishly [[RetroUniverse decorated in Fifties styles]], the show effortlessly makes its faintly ridiculous plots believable, as it deftly traces the line between earnestness and irony. Its fast-paced and witty dialogue, quirky characters, and great acting really bring out what can only be called the heart of the show: showing how people connect -- or don't connect -- with their fellow humans.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Implied for Ned in the first episode of season two.
--> '''Ned:''' You're thinking about living here, aren't you.
--> '''Chuck:''' Yeah. Well, you hate corduroy and sleigh-bell slippers, and I'll stop walking in on you doing things you don't want me to know you're doing.
--> '''Ned:''' That would have never happened if you were wearing your slippers.

** Pinky McCoy, who fixed horse races resulting in a near-death injury at the Jock-Off 2000.

* RecycledSet: The sewers from "The Smell Of Success" show up again as the penstock of the hydroelectric dam in "Water & Power".

%%* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: "[[Recap/PushingDaisiesS1E7TheSmellOfSuccess The Smell of Success]]"
%%* AccidentalKidnapping: [[spoiler:Olive Snook]] as a child.

--> Digby was three years, two weeks, six days, five hours and nine minutes old... and not a minute longer. '''''*splat*'''''

* LoveTriangle: Ned, Chuck and Olive- TriangRelations Type 4.
** Getting slightly more complicated with Alfredo and Oscar Vibenius
** Also made awkward in the episode where Ned dreams Chuck and him getting intimate and actually touching [[spoiler: and then it turns out that it's actually Olive in a Chuck suit.]]

* FiveManBand:
** TheHero: Ned
** TheLancer / TheBigGuy: Emerson Cod
** TheSmartGuy: Chuck
** TheChick: Olive
** TeamPet: Digby
** [[SixthRanger The Sixth Ranger]]: Simone or Randy Mann

** Used a fair bit, especially with Olive's outfits -- the costuming department really got the most out of using Creator/KristinChenoweth, that's for sure. The ultra-low-cut mermaid costume with the one-leg so she had to [[{{Gainaxing}} hop up and down to move]] is probably the shining example.

There once was a piemaker who could raise the dead with a touch -- but only for sixty seconds, or else someone else would have to die to take their place. If he touched the resurrected person again, they died permanently. One day, the piemaker was given the opportunity to raise Chuck, his childhood sweetheart... So he did. This act brought the two much closer, but tragically kept them apart; one more touch would mean Chuck would be dead forever. Along with his undead dog, a grumpy private eye, Chuck's eccentric aunts and a singing waitress, [[TheyFightCrime they solved murders]], asking the dead who their murderers were in those sixty seconds and then collecting the often substantial reward for finding the killers.

* TheyFightCrime: But as private investigators primarily motivated by big rewards.
-->'''Emerson:''' I suppose I ''could'' pay my bills with blind kids' smiles, but their ''money'' is a lot easier.

* AbsoluteCleavage: Olive rocks some while wearing the Darling Mermaid Darling outfit.
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: "[[Recap/PushingDaisiesS1E7TheSmellOfSuccess The Smell of Success]]"
* AccidentalKidnapping: [[spoiler:Olive Snook]] as a child.

* NewspaperThinDisguise

* NoNameGiven: If Ned has a last name, we haven't yet learned it. The narrator, who often refers to characters by their full names, calls him "young Ned" in the flashbacks and "the pie maker" in the present. Doubles as a meaningful name, given that it is an anagram for 'End' and 'NDE', the acronym for 'Near Death Experience'.

* TheydCutYouUp: Ned's greatest fear.

* CantHaveSexEver / ChastityCouple / CourtlyLove: Ned and Chuck, though they've apparently found ways around the "no touching" problem.

* ChekhovsGun: "[[Recap/PushingDaisiesS2E2CircusCircus Circus Circus]]" has Chekhov's ''Cannon''. A midget with a cannon happens to pass by when Ned and Emerson are at the ringmaster's trailer... then, later in the episode, the human cannonball gets fired at them.

** And to a lesser extent, Emerson seems to be a bit of a mama's boy when we meet his mother in "Frescorts".

-->'''Emerson:''' I mean, it's a broad generalization, but my guess is an attractive man who makes pies for a living [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar shouldn't spend even a short amount of time in prison.]]

* GratuitousGerman: Used by the Waffle Nazi, who, funnily enough, neither speaks the language nor is German at all. He's just cultivating [[AllGermansAreNazis an image]].
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** "Jock-off 2000."
** "Well, I'll be dental-dammed." In the same episode, after hearing a man is a "cosmo drinking shopaholic," a character remarks "queer"... to which Emerson says "you bet it's odd!"
** "Simone had come... and gone." How in holy hell do they get ''that'' past the radar?
*** Simone's dog training in general leads to ''many'' [[DoubleEntendre Double Entendres]] about the word "come".
** Also in the episode "The Norwegians," the crime lab used by the titular Norwegians is called Mother, with the lettering on the side saying "Mobile Investigative Lab Facility." The acronym spells a certain popular term for a hot mom.
** Naming an episode "Bitch''es''" when only one female dog is involved?
** [[DoubleEntendre Randy Mann]]. That is all.
** Olive, in one episode: "I used to think 'masturbation' meant chewing."[[note]]Fun fact: the word that means chewing that starts with an "m" is "mastication," which does sound a lot like "masturbation," which is probably why "mastication" isn't used much in this day and age[[/note]].
** Chuck in episode 2 talks about a tee shirt Ned gave her for her eighth birthday, "Be kind to animals, kiss a beaver." Also [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Chuck's aunts, who said Ned had a dirty mind and called him "Beaver Boy" following that incident.
** Ned referring to his abilities as "Waking and Baking".
** In "Corpsicle," one of the suspects deliberately messes up Emerson Cod's name, referring to him as Mr. ''Cox''.
** Come & Sleep Hotel.
** from "Oh Oh Oh It's Magic" "I would have eaten anything for that man!"
** In the conclusion of "Comfort Food":
-->'''Widow:''' Now that I have [my husband's] recipe, that nice donut man and I are gonna go into business together: "Finger-Lickin' Donut Holes".\\
'''Ned:''' Sounds delicious. ({{beat}}) [[LampshadeHanging And]] [[DoubleEntendre filthy]].
** A possibly unintentional one: [[spoiler:his ex]] tells Emerson to light a red lantern by his office window when he's ready to talk. In Chinese culture, a single red lantern indicates a brothel, and Emerson's office is in Chinatown.
** The second episode has a woman who clearly is bulimic, but the show dances around mentioning it directly and plays it for laughs.

* CassandraTruth:

* ConspicuousCG: Most exterior shots of large buildings.

There once was a piemaker who could raise the dead with a touch--but only for sixty seconds, or else someone else would have to die to take their place. If he touched the resurrected person again, they died permanently. One day, the piemaker was given the opportunity to raise Chuck, his childhood sweetheart... So he did. This act brought the two much closer, but tragically kept them apart; one more touch would mean Chuck would be dead forever. Along with his undead dog, a grumpy private eye, Chuck's eccentric aunts and a singing waitress, [[TheyFightCrime they solved murders]], asking the dead who their murderers were in those sixty seconds and then collecting the often substantial reward for finding the killers.

That could be the premise of ''Pushing Daisies'', if it weren't a laughably inadequate description.

Created by ''Series/{{Wonderfalls}}'' and ''Series/DeadLikeMe'' creator Creator/BryanFuller, and set InAWorld lavishly [[RetroUniverse decorated in Fifties styles]], the show effortlessly makes its faintly ridiculous plots believable, as it deftly traces the line between earnestness and irony. Its fast-paced and witty dialogue, quirky characters, and great acting really bring out what can only be called the heart of the show: showing how people connect, or don't connect, with their fellow humans.

%% * BedsheetGhost: "[[Recap/PushingDaisiesS1E5Girth Girth]]"

* BrickJoke: Emerson's confusion of "narcoleptic" and "necrophiliac"--set up in "Pie-lette" for a payoff in "Pigeon".