Pushing Daisies - The Complete First Season (2008)

Every not-so-often, along comes a show that's different. Wonderfully different. Pushing Daisies, TV Guide's Matt Roush writes, "restores my faith in TV's ability to amuse, enchant and entertain." It's the story of Ned, a lonely pie maker whose touch can reanimate the dead. Cool, but there's a hitch. If Ned touches the person again, the miracle is reversed. If he doesn't, a bystander goes toes up. What to do? Easy: Team with a private eye, bring murder victims back just long enough to discover whodunit, and collect the rewards. Things go well until Ned's boyhood sweetie is the next dear departed, and he can't resist bringing her back for keeps! Dig the wit, style and quirky romance: If you're not laughing, you may need a visit from Ned. Studio description

What Blu Ray was made for............

This is why Blu Ray is great! If you where never sold on High Def then get this Season get some high end cables to connect your Blu Ray to your High Def TV and watch! It is a short season writer strike and all but the price isn't bad for what you get. November 29, 2008

Hungry for those delicious extras? The facts are these... :)

PUSHING DAISIES is a rare treat. It creates a charming modern fairy tale romance with wit, humor, and creativity and the show's technical flair of bringing its magical world to life is matched only by the heart of its storytelling.

But my review isn't intended to sell you on the show. If the multitudes of gushing reviews here don't do it for you, then perhaps the show just isn't for you. Instead, I thought I'd share a little more about the contents of the set to help you decide on your potential purchase...

3 discs of pie-eating goodness...
Each disc contains 3 of the 9 episodes that comprise the short-lived Season 1. The presentation is rather simple. No trailers, no top menu. After the copyright warnings and the Warner Bros logo, they start directly into the episodes. The show is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen and also contain a short end credits sequence where you have a chance to listen to a brief arrangement of James Dooley's beautiful music. This may vary on the area, but I don't recall ever seeing this bit aired on my local television station, so it was something new to see and hear for me. The blu-ray popover menus allow you to select language options and episodes. The third disc also contains the extras...

"delicious interactive featurettes"
If by "interactive", they mean clicking through countless menus to watch its 18 mini-featurettes, then sure, let's call it interactive. Not that I really needed anything more interactive than that. :) But in any event, there are indeed featurettes and they are indeed delicious. Once you navigate to the "Pie-Time" menu, you can click on an episode name in order to watch one or more of its featurettes. Navigating between each episode featurette menu is a bit slow and cumbersome and very "DVD-like". I wish the extras menu could have been overhauled just a bit to take advantage of some of the quicker Blu-ray menu capabilities, but I suppose staring at all the pies while waiting for the next menu to load isn't all that bad...

All in all, there's around 43 minutes worth of featurettes, which typically contains one or two folks from the cast or crew commenting on clips or content from the episode. Alas, Lee Pace is the only cast member to make an appearance. The lengths of these featurettes is a bit disappointing, with some of the lasting barely a minute. Each featurette flies by in a heartbeat, leaving you wanting for more. It was rather surprising when I noticed that they all add up to over 40 minutes.

In case you care, here are the lengths of each featurette:
- Pie-Lette (3.24 / 1:46 / 2:53)
- Dummy (1:41 / 3:24)
- The Fun in Funeral (2:12 / 2:29)
- Pigeon (1:05 / 2:40)
- Girth (1:10 / 0:56)
- Kitchen (3:00 / 1:46)
- Smell of Success (1:58)
- Bitter Sweets (1:42 / 2:33 / 6:09)
- Corpsicle (1:32

Overall, the featurettes take some clicking to watch, but they're all worth it, if you like the show. It would have been nice, had they simply combined all the shorts into a single indexed program for ease of viewing. For extras, 40 minutes isn't too bad, but for a show with such a great ensemble cast and so rich in effects, I had hoped for a little more. But nonetheless, I'm happy enough.

If you're fan of the show, this seems like a no-brainer to me. Unlike other TV sets that I've bought, I've found myself popping in PUSHING DAISIES a few times and still thoroughly enjoy it. I hope the above info has been helpful.

On a final note, as of this writing (November, 2008) it appears that Pushing Daisies has been cancelled. If you are so inclined, please consider joining one or more of the campaigns to save the show. Thanks! November 25, 2008

Love this Show!!!

I love this show. The writing is witty. The plots are well-thought-out. The acting is brisk. The sets are marvelous creations with a cartoon like fantasy, primary color schemes, and intricately detailed. I hope this series stays alive a few more years. It looks great in Blu-Ray. October 27, 2008

Wow! What a beautifully filmed and cleverly written show!

I didn't really know what to expect from this show. The nearest I can describe would be "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" movie done for adults with more humor thrown in. It's unique, interesting, and a feast for the eyes. The colors in the show are super saturated and imagery is surreal. I usually don't buy Blu-Ray for TV shows, but I wish I had bought this one. Consequently, I can't speak for the Blu-Ray version, but I would recommend buying it instead of the regular DVD as it's bound to be better than the regular DVD. Remarkable TV show. My highest recommendation! October 23, 2008

Great show with great quality.

I really enjoy this Blu-ray and how it takes the wonderful set of Pushing Daisies into a gorgeous show. Worth every cent. October 20, 2008

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