It’s quirky, it’s sweet–and yes, even a little macabre–but that’s why we have fallen in love with Pushing Daisies, the hit TV show which stars Lee Pace and Anna Friel as star-crossed with some very odd obstacles in their way. The writers’ strike threw a cramp in much of television’s best, but none more so than Pushing Daisies, which had gained momentum as a freshman show only to get shut down. But it’s not dead, not by a long shot, after recently getting several Emmy nominations, including one for Pace, as the pie-making, bring-back-to-life-with-one-touch Ned, and Kristin Chenoweth as Olive, a waitress who works at Ned’s pie shop and also loves her boss.
At Comic Con, creator Bryan Fuller and executive producer Barry Sonnenfeld aren’t in the least bit worried their show will have that infamous sophomoric slump. In fact, they give this self-proclaimed Daisies fan exactly what she wants: tidbits on the new season.
“When we sat down to talk about the second season, we start talking about cliffhangers and taking the hero sensibility and bringing that to the Pushing Daisies world,” Fuller begins. “We have this great arc in the first four episodes that reminds everybody who are characters are, what their roles are in the universe and with each other. And then we start bringing in new characters to shake s**t up in a big way.”
“This season, we are really getting back into family and family relations,” he continues. “We are going to be dealing a lot with Ned’s MIA father, dealing with Chuck’s revelation Aunt Lily (Swoosie Kurtz) is really her mother and why those secrets were held. We’re going to meet Emerson Cod’s (Chi McBride) mother, Ned’s half brother. Ned has successfully been able to run away from his family issues for 20 years and now they are conspiring against him to make him deal with this s**t and grow up.”
Guest star David Arquette will be joining the cast for a few episodes, playing Ned’s friend who has his own social retardation–and Fuller means that in the kindest way possible. “David comes off so sweet on camera.”
As for Olive, Chenoweth tells us, “I get to go to a nunnery this season. The cliffhanger last season was Olive knows a lot of secrets and she’s loyal, but she isn’t very good at being a waitress or pie maker. So, she goes to a nunnery. And I work with a pig named Pigby.”
Yes, that’s correct–a pig. Sonnenfeld explains, “In addition to the dog, Digby, you’ll meet Pigby, the pig, who is strangely adorable but not how you think. He’s not an adorable, pot-bellied pig. This is a big pig.” [Note: The pig hasn’t been dead and then touched by Ned to come alive again–not yet, anyway.]
Now, who wants some pie?
