What's the Buzz: Daisies, Friday Night Lights Return
Pushing Daisies by Adam Taylor/ABC
The facts are these, dear readers:
Pushing Daisies, ABC's dazzling storybook fable of colorfully romantic comedy and mystery, is finally back this week to kick off a reprise of last fall's Wednesday line-up, all of which was cut short by the writers' strike last winter. (The other shows are
Grey's Anatomy's inferior spin-off
Private Practice, which is almost as annoying as it was a year ago, and the decadently opulent
Dirty Sexy Money, which arrives as something of a gaudy anachronism during this week of financial meltdown. One plot twist is so reprehensibly immoral I wonder how the show's fans will react.)
As for
Daisies: It returns with none of its Technicolor whimsy or magical charm diminished by time. It's a literal honey of an episode, with a surreal murder plot involving bees, whose hive mentality serves as a metaphor for how everyone longs for a place they can call home. That includes the star-crossed couple of pie-maker Ned (Lee Pace) and his adoring childhood sweetheart/soulmate Chuck (Anna Friel). They're still engaged in a daily "ballet of avoidance," because if Ned ever touches Chuck again- he raised her from the dead with his special gift of touch, which of course comes with a price- she'll die for good.
Pace and Friel are simply delightful, heading a sparkling cast including Chi McBride as gruffly lovable private eye Emerson Card, the bizarre duo of Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene as Chuck's neurotic aunts- Swoosie's Lily having recently revealed herself to be Chuck's mom- and Kristin Chenoweth as spunky waitress Olive. In a hilarious subplot, Olive retreats from Ned's Pie Hole to a nunnery (yes, there's a
Sound of Music gag) because, as Jim Dale's narrator puts it, "the weight of kept secrets had become unbearable." Olive's scenes with Mother Superior Diana Scarwid, who has more secrets up her habit's sleeve, are a scream.
Pushing Daisies is that rare creature: a true TV original. Miss it, and you'll have missed something awfully special.
Wednesday's other major TV headline, at least where critically worshipped underdogs are concerned, involves
Friday Night Lights, rescued from cancellation by DirecTV, which will air 13 expanded episodes exclusively on the satellite's 101 Network (Wednesdays, 9/8c). NBC will carry the episodes starting in early 2009.
The good news for those who don't get DirecTV or don't have friends with DirecTV is that, judging from the emotionally stirring first episode, the wait will be worth it. (Just pretend it's one of those cable shows that make you wait a year between seasons.)
[Mild spoilers follow.] I can't tell you how my heart leaped at words I once feared I'd never get to hear: "Here are your 2008 Dillon Panthers!" Yes, a year has passed since we last spent time in this small Texas town, and lots has changed, but not the essential decency and humanity of these characters- especially Coach Eric Taylor and his wife, new Dillon High principal Tami (the brilliantly understated Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton). We catch up quickly with how the last football season turned out- not so well for the graduated Smash (Gaius Charles), whom the coach is continuing to mentor off the clock- and we're introduced to a new set of relationships, including a secret-for-now fling between good-girl Lila and bad-boy Riggins, who's told, "You're a rebound from Jesus."
No other TV drama captures the realistic rhythms and everyday pressures of American life with such authenticity, and it's hard to imagine any other show grappling with the harsh cold budgetary facts of financially strapped public schools, where teachers are seen as more expendable than perks for the football program. And yet it's all incredibly entertaining and moving, culminating in a post-game party in which a film of great moments in Panthers history is shown. (You'll see a glimpse of the young Buddy Garrity along with other more recent players we've come to know and care deeply about.)
The first episode ends with Coach Eric declaring, "I need something good to happen." For those of us who love
Friday Night Lights, something good has already happened. Even if it will take months for many fans to be able to experience the new season, having even a little more of
Friday Night Lights to savor at any time is a cause for celebration.
