Howdy PUSHING DAISIES fans, Ned (dan.) here with something for all of us to chew on for a while. It’s our first Pushing Daisies Debate.
The topic of debate is the NARRATION and whether it adds or detracts from the brilliance of the show. I bring it up because Chuck (Kath) and I realized that we’ve had this discussion with numerous people over the past three weeks who are either in love with or turned off by the narration.
I’m typically a person that doesn’t want much narration with my narrative. It’s often used for exposition or to cover something that the actor or the writer couldn’t achieve on their own within any given scene. It’s often a sign of laziness or more commonly to dumb it down for the masses.
I in no way think this applies to Pushing Daisies. To me, the narration is an additional character. It adds layers to each character, it often takes a scene and moves it from fantastic to surreal while always accentuating the heart of the show. The language, the pattern of speech, the choice words used makes my mind explode in its eloquence and enormity often putting me into a sugar coma from it’s sweet googly goodness…
Most of the time...
While watching the third episode, The Fun in Funeral, my partner Jon had finally been pushed too far with the narration. He understood it in the pilot and found it charming but as the weeks have gone on, he’s felt it takes over a scene and often detracts from what the actors should be conveying. To quote him this past Wednesday, “Let the actors ACT — they have all these incredible talents but refuse to let them do their job.”
This made me sit back and think for a second. I rewatched the episode and realized that there are moments when the narration does take over a scene. There are times when Jim Dale cuts into an emotional beat to tell us what Lee Pace or Anna Friel are conveying at the same moment without words. Every actor on the show has been granted to gift of incredible facial expression which also includes impeccible use of the pause. There’s something to be said about letting the scene sit and breath; letting the silence do the talking which often can take a scene from great to frak-tastic!
Sadly, sometimes those are the exact moments where Jim Dale’s narration comes in. As much as I hate to admit it, there are moments in this almost flawless show where less is more.
This hands down is the #1 conversation I have about Pushing Daisies with my co-workers and friends. I’m wondering what you guys think and if you feel that while you still absolutely adore the narration, there are moments when they could dial it down?
Discuss in the comments please.
TV critics love PUSHING DAISIES. So much so that PUSHING DAISIES was named the best show in TelevisionWeek’s semiannual 
