For most of us the first stories we remember from our childhoods all began with the words ‘Once upon a time’. This traditional opening phrase for a fairy tale would stay with us for all of our lives. The primary reason for this is the beautiful simplicity of a fairy tale. If you look back at some of the actual stories that enthralled us as children were horrible. Hansel and Gretel was about an old woman who was a cannibalistic serial killer of children who is hacked tossed alive into an oven by a pair of children. Little Red Riding Hood’s parents should have been reported to Children’s Protective Services for letting their daughter wander around alone in a wolf infested woods. Fairy tales traditionally have a dark center surrounded by a nice sugar coating. While this seems so easy to produce the fact is it is a difficult format to master. One man has come closer than any other in this endeavor. Brian Fuller with his latest foray into television ‘Pushing Daisies’ has managed to capture the essence of the fairy tale in a darkly delightful way. It is an odd little series about a simple pie man who has the unusual talent of bringing the dead back to life. As with any fairy tale there is fine print to the ability and therein lies the story. This is a series built upon pure whimsy and we should all be thankful for that. It is so different from anything else that is one that is shines through the mire that the television landscape has become. Technically it is a forensic series but it is nothing like CSI or any of its derivations. What helps to make this series so refreshing is how off the beaten path it goes. When you are sick and tired of the so called reality series or some scientific investigator solving crimes take a chance and watch a few episodes of this show. In case you missed it when it was on the air Fox has the first season on DVD. This is just in time to rev up for the up coming second season. As Monty Python used to say ‘and now for something completely different’ and this series certainly qualifies.

Fans of science fiction and fantasy are very familiar with the name Bryan Fuller. He started his television writing career on two of the Star Trek spin off, ‘Voyager’ and ‘Deep Space Nine’. From there he started to come up with his own twisted and fantastic worlds that translated into some of the most imaginative TV series ever. Unfortunately, his genius was not as fully appreciated by the studio executives as they were by the fans. Fuller was responsible for ‘Dead Like Me’ and ‘Wonderfalls’. In one a slacker teen age girl winds up as a Grim Reaper charged with taking the souls of the soon to be dead. In the other a young woman, also a slacker receives cryptic messages from toys and other inanimate objects telling her to fix people’s lives. There are a few recurring themes in most of Fuller’s works. One is his perchance to name pretty girls with male names. ‘Dead’ had George, ‘Wonderfalls’ had Jaye and here in ‘Daises’ we have the main female lead in the character of Chuck. Another is a drive sense of a moral imperative. The lead characters in a Fuller television series are trapped by circumstances beyond their control to do the right thing. The thing about a Fuller show is how he creates an internally consistent universal with its own set of natural or perhaps unnatural rules. His stories pull you in to these worlds and the results are great.

There has always been a sense of Fuller’s series being modern day fairy tales but with ‘Daises’ he goes all out with the motif. He sold the series as a ‘forensic fairy tale’. The voice over is much like the kindly narrator (Jim Dale) of most such stories giving the required exposition to remove that burden from the characters. Often he will date a moment to the exact second. This is a part of the method here; to add a touch of reality to the fantasy. One of the most notable things about this series is the use of the color palette. It has the look of an illustrated story book brought to life. This is achieved by using conflicting patterns with the colors overly bright concentrating on yellows and orange with almost no blue hues. There is also a feel of being in the late fifties or early sixties even though the show is set in the current day. This just serves to take you out of your own world and placed in this fairy tale land. Also used is a popular device from comic books; many of the names of ancillary characters are alliterative; using repeating consonants. All of this combines to make a fairy tale come to life and the bottom line is it pulls together.

Ned (Lee Pace) is a simple and humble maker of pies. When he was a child he his beloved god Digby was killed by a truck. When Ned touched the dog he came back to life. Ned discovers that he can reanimate any thing that is dead. When his mother dies he does the same to her bringing her back to life. Ned soon discovers that there is a set of rules and a price to pay for his gift. Unless he touches the revived recently dead within sixty seconds another life of similar form must die. This comes crashing down on Ned when a neighbor dies a minute after he brings his mother back. The now dean man was the father of Charlotte "Chuck" Charles (Anna Friel) who Ned has a big crush on. When he touches his mother again she dies; this time for good. Ned is sent away to school and Chuck’s family moves and he does see her again until much later. Has an adult Ned takes his love for making pies as his profession. He opens a shop aptly called ‘The Pie Hole’. In his employ there is Olive Snook (Kristin Chenoweth) a tiny bundle of energy who is not so secretly in love with him. Ned has a side business that uses his exceptional ability. He teams up with a broken down private investigator Emerson Cod (Chi McBride). The pair waits until there is a mysterious death with a bounty for information attached. They go to the morgue where Ned revives the victim; they ask him who killed him; touch him again to return him to dead and collect the reward. This all goes well for the team until the victim turns out to be Chuck. Ned cannot bring himself to deliver the second deadly touch and she remains alive. The two falls in love but Ned is cursed to never touch her again or else Chuck would die for good.

Like any good fairy tale this one has a few quirky characters to round things off. Chuck has a pair of aunts who are more than a little odd. Vivian (Ellen Greene) and Lily (Swoosie Kurtz) Charles are retired synchronized swimmers who used to have a mermaid act that was quite popular. Now they live in the old family home as recluses. Lily sports an eye patch from a horrible cat liter accident and is sullen and always unhappy. Vivian is more upbeat but she is so devoted to her sister she stays at home with her. You might remember Greene from her role as Audrey I in the musical film ‘Little Shop of Horrors’. Since she and Chenoweth are both accomplished singers the writers delight the viewers with musical performances for both worked into the scripts. There is a version of Cat Steven’s ‘Morning has Broken’ that will blow you away.

This is a rare and wonderful show that hopefully will not be cancelled before its time like the other two Fuller series. It has been renewed for a second season so if you have not experienced this show before this DVD release from Warner Brothers is the perfect chance to catch up before the new season starts. It is a rare and wonderful series that is so unique that you cannot help but be captivated by it. It is witty, intelligent and pure imagination; something not often found in television now. This DVD has a brilliant anamorphic 1.78:1 video and an exceptional Dolby 5.1 audio so it looks and sounds better than ever. Get this set; sit back and enjoy.