The Truth About Pushing Daisies and Private Practice

The series premiere of Pushing Daisies seems to be just what the critics have been saying. It was so cute, so innovative, so beautiful (not just because it's infused with hyper-real colors).

It's Tim Burton-style. And heaven forbid a television show actually have a style, equipped with narration and angles. And it's brought to us by Bryan Fuller, part of the same creative team behind Dead Like Me (which I haven't seen really at all) and Wonderfalls. And to be honest, I've been noticing the Wonderfalls vibe from more than a few shows this season. (When watching Reaper this week, I had a moment of realizing the ever-changing "vessel" is a lot like Jaye's "inanimate talking object of the week." Except Sam's vessels don't keep hanging around and talking him into a frenzy, but you know. . . same kitsch.) And Lee Pace (Jaye's older brother) is with us as the main character Ned.

Things to love:
1. Kristin Chenowith, Tony nominee and going strong
2. Quirky background music.
3. When you throw death and whimsical tones together, great things transpire.

4. A dog and a love interest the main character can't touch, and it's done without over-the-top dramatics!? Gasp!

5. It's first episode was titled "Pie-Lette"--Ned owns a pie shop called The Pie Hole.

6. It's pretty.

And, about an hour later if you stick around on ABC, you get to see the Grey's Anatomy spin-off Private Practice. Now, I don't watch Grey's Anatomy in general. No real reason other than I wasn't impressed and did have a long-standing crush on any of the cast members. Lucky for PP, though--they have Chris Lowell.

I've previously posted loads on Chris, so I won't go into it here, but he makes me go "yay!" with pretty much everything he does. Granted, he's really periphery in this show, but there's time for his guy (William "Dell" Cooper) to grow. Just this week he awkwardly asked Naomi to speak at one of his midwifery classes.

But though Chris is the reason I started, he most likely won't be the reason I stay. (Because eye candy can only trick you into a show commitment for a few months at best.) The last two episodes have really "gotten" to me, as in Yes, I really did--I cried. Both times.

Maybe it's the intertwining love stories, the high call of practicing private medicine, or the vulnerable characterization of some of these people.

Or it could just be the babies. The cute, glorious, precious babies.

But I'm down for the count. It's not like--sobbing--but it's the same crying that Bones did to me all last year. That moment of, Oh, this is life--I remember. And when art does that, it's awesome. (No other word really fits there, IMO.)

So we'll see how this ABC block sets up in the ratings game. (I worry for the future of the show at times. It's touching.) I'm just glad (for once) that they moved Bones to Tuesday, or I would have missed out.