There have been many TV shows canceled too early but none more brutally than fantasy comedy drama Pushing Daisies. The cult series delivered two almost perfect seasons at the end of the 2000s, but after being cruelly shut down part way through the second season, rather than the show’s comically bizarre plotlines being allowed to play out, they were all wrapped up in the most hideously unsatisfying way. However, it looks like after 16 years, there is a small chance that the series could finally be returning for a third season. While promoting his new series, Dust Bunny, creator Bryan Fuller spoke to The Mary Sue and shared news that fans of one of the most unique shows ever put on TV may finally get redemption for the terrible way the series was previously brought to a close in 2009. He said:
“Well, we’re working on a Season 3, and the whole cast wants to come back. And, we’ve got a whole story. We’re trying to do another season this year.”

Why was ‘Pushing Daisies’ Buried Too Soon?

ABC

Created by Bryan Fuller, Pushing Daisies followed simple pie-maker Ned (Lee Pace), who has the ability to resurrect the dead by touching them. While this allows him to bring back his dead childhood sweetheart Charlotte “Chuck” Charles (Anna Friel), there is one snag, as Ned’s powers also mean that if he touches someone a second time, they will die instantly and cannot be revived a second time. While this sounds like a grim scenario, the clever trick of the show was to play everything like it was from the world of Dr. Seuss, including a rhyming couplet narration by Carry On legend Jim Dale. The show was a huge success, both with critics and audiences. The first season led the way with a 92% Tomatometer score and 95% Popcornmeter rating, with the second season going one step further and delivering a 100% score from 21 critics reviews – no small feat for such a whimsical series with the kind of humor that is often very subjective. For many the series was “something you shouldn’t miss,” while Rob Owen of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette perfectly summed up the series, saying, “Fans of delightfully daft fairy tales, this one’s for you.” Further to this, Boston Globe’s Matthew Gilbert noted that “even if “Pushing Daisies” were awful, it would deserve credit for being so boldly, psychedelically, extravagantly different from the rest of TV.” This was perhaps a problem for the series, as it was so unique, combining genres of crime, fantasy, pastel colors, Broadway musical sensibilities, and a logic that was perfectly illogical, that the series did not really get a chance to fully draw in an audience before being shut down. The biggest bugbear for fans, is that the production ended so abruptly that it had to end with a five-minute montage that wrapped up the main storylines in a recap fashion without having played out in the first place. While Fuller has not yet seemingly got a network or streaming on board, this is the time of magical revivals of properties long thought dead. If he can manage to bring back Pushing Daisies for another season, then perhaps Fuller has a touch just as powerful as Ned’s.

Release Date

2007 – 2009-00-00

Network

ABC