Roush on Pushing Daisies, Arrested Development and Reaper
Question: First, I totally agree with you on
Pushing Daisies. The show is an absolute delight, and I love all the little side excursions, like the backstory on the Civil War hero ancestor of the sword owner. While it's completely different, I am reminded a bit of
Arrested Development, in that the show isn't afraid to take really wild chances while keeping everything in character and staying respectful of its premise. Now a question on
Reaper: I'm enjoying the show, but if Sam continues to be such a slacker and show so little initiative in his life, doesn't he risk becoming really unlikable? I know the show is slowly nudging him forward, but maybe it needs to be a little faster. Of course, he is saddled (humorously) with perhaps the worst TV parents ever!
— Lance S.
Matt Roush: Once again, can we just cheer the full-season pickup of
Pushing Daisies? If
Moonlight is improving by the week, I'm becoming incrementally less enchanted by
Reaper by the week. Sam is a big part of the problem (through no fault of the actor,
Bret Harrison). While there's comedy to be mined in Sam's reluctance to ever amount to anything despite the Devil's urging — and it is a clever twist to have the Devil become Sam's biggest cheerleader, almost a father figure — this main character is becoming a drag on the story itself, which seems most episodes to take forever before revving up to anything that's either exciting or funny. I still like
Reaper's premise and hope that it's fixable. It would be a shame to waste performances like
Ray Wise's and
Tyler Labine's (as the ultimate scruffy comic sidekick).
