Pushing Daisies: The Complete Second Season

Lee Pace is Ned “The Pieman,” a strangely-gifted lifelong loner who can bring dead people to life with a single touch and then send them back to the Great Beyond with another. In fact, if Ned doesn't remake physical contact within a minute, someone else in the near vicinity dies. Chuck (Anna Friel), Ned's childhood sweetheart and a murder victim brought back to life (at the cost of another human), is destined to remain his untouchable love (since physical contact will send her back to eternal slumber). In series creator Bryan Fuller's fantasy of life, death, love, and loss, Ned and Chuck offer the sweetest contemporary TV romance, while also partnering with Emerson Cod (Chi McBride), a flinty private eye who uses Ned's gift to get the inside scoop on murder cases. Of course, there are plenty of wild and wacky crimes to solve in this crazed world of absurd melodrama, complicated love lives, and storybook imagery. Sadly, this beloved high-concept series experienced low ratings and was canceled after this 13-episode 2008-09 season (the finale offers a provisional ending of sorts—more a promise of happy endings than actual closure, but it's a sweet send off for the characters). DVD/Blu-ray extras include a quartet of featurettes on the show's production, writing, music, and special effects. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)