Emerson Cod (Pushing Daisies)

Created by Bryan Fuller

“In Cod We Trust.”
— advertising slogan on a billboard

Hoo-boy. This one’s a stretch, even on a site whose parameters are as elastic as this one.

Sure, television’s Pushing Daisies  (2007-09, ABC) had a private eye as a regular character, but it was never really a PI show.

What it was was a quirky, stylish fantasy/mystery/comedy about an affably nerdy twenty-something pie-maker, Ned (played by Lee Pace), who has the magic touch… literally.

With a single poke of his finger, Ned can revive dead things. Of course, there are rules. Like, the dead can only come to life for a brief moment, after which Ned must either let them die again or have someone of “equal value” die in their place. And, if he touches the revived person or thing a second time, they die again. Forever.

Or something like that. Digby, his childhood Golden Retriever, was the first thing Ned reanimated, and the mutt’s still going strong, suggesting that maybe, just maybe, his magic touch can suspend the aging process of the recipients of his “gift” — as long as Ned never touches them again.

Not that the powers had done him much good. As an eight-year old, he brought his mother back to life when she keeled over from an aneurysm, but that lead to the death of the dad of his boyhood crush, Charlotte “Chuck” Charles. And Ned’s mother when she went to kiss him goodnight.

Oops.

But now Ned’s all grown up (he’s twenty-nine), and the proud owner of the struggling Pie Hole bakery in Coeur d’Coeurs, a fictional town in Papen County (wherever that is). There, he works alongside love-struck waitress Olive Snook (Kristin Chenoweth), who has the odd (but Emmy-winning) habit of bursting into song.

And then there’s the reappearance of Chuck, who moved away after her father’s death, to be raised by her two agoraphobic aunts (and former synchronized swimming stars) Vivian and Lily. Ned hasn’t seen her since that fateful night, but their reunion, at least at first, is not a happy one. Chuck is a recent murder victim, and although Ned revives her, and their relationship blossoms, he soon realizes they can never touch again — or else it’s permanent room temperature for good ol’ Chuck.

Bummer.

All of which would probably be enough plot hooks for most shows, but then local private eye EMERSON COD comes along and discovers Ned’s odd gift, and strikes a deal. Ned will use his powers to help Emerson work cases, particularly murders, and they’ll split the reward.

And of course Emerson is yet another oddball — a cynical knitaholic and children’s book author who’s been searching for years for his long-lost daughter, and who adds a welcome bit of ground-level pragmatism to the la-te-da proceedings.

Chalk it up as a “screwball forensic fairy tale.” The show drew critical praise for its oddball art direction (lotsa bright colors), quirky characters, rat-a-tat-tat snappy patter and splashes of black humour, while Jim Dale’s voiceover narration played into the whole storybook vibe.

TELEVISION

• PUSHING DAISIES
  (2007-09, ABC)
  2 seasons
  22 60-minute episodes
  Premiere: October 3, 2007
  Created by Bryan Fuller
  Writers: Bryan Fuller, Peter Ocko, Lisa Joy, Gretchen J. Berg, Aaron Harberts, Abby Gewanter, Chad Gomez Creasey, Kath Lingenfelter, Scott Nimerfro, Dara Resnik, Jim Danger Gray, Rina Mimoun, Davey Holmes, Douglas Petrie
  Directors: Barry Sonnenfeld, Lawrence Trilling, Adam Kane, Peter O’Fallon, Allan Kroeker, Peter Lauer, Brian Dannelly, Paul A. Edwards, Tricia Brock, Paul Shapiro, Julie Anne Robinson, Dean White
  Narrator: Jim Dale
  Starring Lee Pace as Ned
  Anna Friel asd Charlotte “Chuck” Charles
  Kristin Chenoweth as Olive Snook
  Sy Richardson as The Coroner
  and Chi McBride as EMERSON COD
  Also starring Field Cate, Ellen Greene, Swoosie Kurtz
  Guest stars: Samantha Hanratty, Stephen Root, Leyna Nguyen, Diana Scarwid, Tina Gloss, David Arquette, Randy Mann, Nicholas Khayyat, Jon Eric Price, Christine Adams, Victor Z. Isaac, Paul Reubens, Josh Randall, Raúl Esparza, Diana Costa, Wesley Harris, Steven Wash Jr., Joel McHale, Molly Shannon, Dash Mihok, Barbara Barrie, Rachael Harris, Orlando Jones, Shelley Berman, Wendie Malick, Richard Benjamin, French Stewart, George Segal, Nora Dunn, Michael McDonald, Fred Williamson, Mary Kay Place, George Hamilton
  • SEASON ONE | Buy the DVD | Buy the Blu-Ray | Watch it now!
  • “Pie-lette” (October 3, 2007)
  • “Dummy” (October 10, 2007)
  • “The Fun in Funeral” (October 17, 2007)
  • “Pigeon” (October 24, 2007)
  • “Girth” (October 31, 2007)
  • “Bitches” (November 14, 2007)
  • “Smell of Success” (November 21, 2007)
  • “Bitter Sweets” (November 28, 2007)
  • “Corpsicle” (December 12, 2007)
  • SEASON TWO | Buy the DVD | Buy the Blu-Ray | Watch it now!
  • “Bzzzzzzzzz!” (October 1, 2008)
  • “Circus Circus” (October 8, 2008)
  • “Bad Habits” (October 15, 2008)
  • “Frescorts” (October 22 2008)
  • “Dim Sum Lose Some” (October 29, 2008)
  • “Oh Oh Oh…It’s Magic” (November 19, 2008)
  • “Robbing Hood” (November 26, 2008)
  • “Comfort Food” (December 3, 2008)
  • “The Legend of Merle McQuoddy” (December 10, 2008)
  • “The Norwegians” (December 17, 2008)
  • Window Dressed to Kill” (May 30, 2009)
  • “Water and Power” (June 6, 2009)
  • “Kerplunk” (June 13, 2009)

COMICS

• PUSHING DAISIES
  (2007, ashcan)
  Written by Bryan Fuller
  Art by Cameron Stewart
  A complete ashcan edition was given out as a freebie at San Diego’s 2007 Comic-Con, as an introduction to the new show. Good luck finding one. It included the following stories:
  • “Head (Part One)”
  • “You’ve Been Outbid”
• PUSHING DAISIES
  (2011, never published)
  Written by Bryan Fuller
  Art by Jonathan Wayshak, Zach Howard, Tom Fowler
  After the show’s cancellation, series creator Fuller posted the first few pages of a Pushing Daisies comic book online in April 2011, billing it as the show’s long-demanded “third season”, but the promised comic book/graphic novel was never officially released, as far as I can tell. 

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.