This 2-Season Fantasy Show Was Cancelled Way Too Soon, and I’m So Glad It Might Finally Be Coming Back

There was an incredible fantasy TV show that ran for two seasons and ended up canceled despite its brilliant premise. However, there is now some good news that the show might be coming back for a third season with some changes. Pushing Daisies premiered on ABC in 2007, created by the brilliant visionary showrunner Bryan Fuller. The series followed a young pie maker named Ned (Lee Pace), a man with the supernatural ability to bring the dead back to life. The twist is that if he touches them again, they die forever. If he doesn’t touch them within one minute, someone else in the vicinity with an equal “life value” will die.

Despite the dark premise, Pushing Daisies was a brilliantly told fantasy comedy drama with a fantastic cast, and some deep and disturbing lessons learned along the way. The backstory had Ned’s mother die from an aneurysm, and Ned brings her back to life, which causes his childhood sweetheart Chuck’s father to die. However, the twist is that Ned’s mom kisses him goodnight and then dies forever, leaving him scarred.

Pushing Daisies Was Never Appreciated As It Should Have Been

Pushing Daisies is a mystery series as well, with Ned helping a private investigator named Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) solve murder cases by bringing the murder victims back to life long enough to get the clues they need to solve the case and split the reward money. When someone murders Chuck (Anna Friel), Chuck brings her back, but then he can’t bring himself to touch her again, leaving her alive. They fall in love, but can never touch.

The series ran for two seasons and 22 episodes before ABC canceled it. It was highly praised for its comedy and for Fuller’s production design, which made it look like af fairy tale come to life. The cast was also brilliant, with Kristin Chenoweth becoming a star thanks to her performance as Olive Snook, a woman who works with Ned at the pie shop and harbors a secret crush for him. Critics gave Pushing Daisies a 96& Rotten Tomatoes score, while the audience score was just as high, at 95%.

However, while fans loved Pushing Daisies, not enough people watched it to save the show, and ABC canceled it due to declining viewership in the second season. This is also despite the show getting 17 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning seven of them. However, there might be good news for fans.

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Pushing Daisies is Possibly Coming Back

Bryan Fuller said in an interview with ComicBook that he would consider returning to Pushing Daisies for a third season. “We have a season three pitch, and the entire cast wants to come back, and we’re hoping we get to return to them,” Fuller said. “We just have to find somebody who wants to make it.” This is something we want to see above almost anything else.

However, there is a problem. Fuller also said that a network would have to put up the money to bring it back. This is where Bryan Fuller always finds roadblocks with his television shows. Honestly, Hannibal was the only one that was a great success, lasting three seasons and telling a full story. However, he has left other shows quickly when the networks won’t give him the money he wants to fulfill his vision. This happened with American Gods and Star Trek: Discovery, both of which he left due to “creative differences” and “budgetary concerns.”

If Pushing Daisies can get a third season, and the original cast returns over 17 years after the series ended, it would have some drastic changes thanks to their advanced ages. Lee Pace, who was 30 when he starred in Pushing Daisies, is now 46, and he has a higher profile thanks to his roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (as Ronan) and the Hobbit trilogy (as Thranduil). Kristin Chenoweth is 57 now, and she has become a Broadway star. However, if anyone can pull it off, it is Bryan Fuller, but only if he finds someone willing to put up the money he needs to put his visionary imagination on the screen.

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