Plugging 'Daisies'

There are some TV series, like The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lost, that play like weekly mini-movies. At their best, these shows rivaled what was playing in theaters at the time, with an overall quality level often surpassing their cinematic brethren. The new ABC show Pushing Daisies is just such a series. Like those three modern classics, Daisies is a fantasy and so much more: funny, romantic, thrilling, melancholy and, most of all, entirely original and utterly imaginative.

Brought to us by stylish cinematographer (Raising Arizona) turned film director (The Addams Family) Barry Sonnenfeld and Bryan Fuller, creator of cult TV faves Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me, the story centers on Ned (Lee Pace, who you'll remember from playing Calpernia Addams in Soldier's Girl), a timid pie maker with a secret: he can bring dead people back to life. He uses this power for good ... sort of; along with his partner, hard-nosed gumshoe Emerson Cod (Chi McBride), Ned revives the recently deceased just long enough to find out who murdered them, and then collects the reward. Complications to this sweet set up arise when Charlotte "Chuck" Charles (Anna Friel), Ned's dead childhood sweetheart who he has brought back to life for good, enters the picture. See, Ned and Chuck can never touch, or she would die again ... for good.

As you can tell, this is not the type of program one can sum up easily (this extended preview helps flesh out some of the details), but the outlandish premise is half its quirky charm. It is also insanely cinematic, with brightly colored art direction and the patented Sonnenfeld brand of sweeping camerawork. Not to mention an enormously talented cast who clicked from the get go. In addition to Jim Dale as the droll narrator, three stage faves round out the ensemble: Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene as Chuck's eccentric aunts, and Kristin Chenoweth as the lovesick Olive Snook, who memorably belted out "Hopelessly Devoted to You" in last week's installment.

The series' third episode airs tomorrow night, but if you missed them, you can get caught up on the first two episodes over at ABC.com. Trust me; you'll be glad you did.

UPDATE: Another Broadway favorite, Raúl Esparza, will join the show in a recurring role starting with this week's episode. And TV Guide has all the scoop on how Pushing Daisies came to be, such has how those Amélie-esque sets are not a coincidence.

Links via Imdb.com, YouTube.com, ABC.go.com, Playbill.com and TVGuide.com.