PUSHING DAISIES at Comic-Con

I don’t think it’s a secret that my favorite pilot of the Fall season is PUSHING DAISIES. You’ve heard me talking about it on GMMR as well as gush about it on the GMMR|Ducky Podcasts. So I was beyond thrilled to be able to attend the PUSHING DAISIES panel at Comic-Con this weekend.

As the PUSHING DAISIES event was one my must-see panels at Comic-Con, Ducky and I took no chances and got in line at 7 AM for the 9:15 panel. There was already a pretty big line when we got there, but we managed to snag some fantastic seats in the 2nd row, dead center – perfect seats for all the PUSHING DAISIES yumminess that was coming our way.

The panel started off with a viewing of the premiere episode, the “pie-lette” if you will. This was my fourth or fifth time seeing it, but I found it just as enjoyable as my very first viewing. I was oddly nervous to watch the show with the rest of the audience. I wanted so badly for them to enjoy it as much as I had. But in the end, my worries were unfounded, as the premiere episode was more than well received by the packed room. Laughter was flowing throughout the episode, and from the collective “awws” from the crowd it was obvious that PUSHING DAISIES got it right with the emotional impact it was going for. The audience erupted in applause at the conclusion of the show, which must have sounded beautiful to the ears of the stars and the creative team that were watching along with us in the wings of the room.

Now that the episode was over, it was on to the good stuff, and by the good stuff I mean Lee Pace (my newest TV boyfriend). Lee, who plays Ned the Pie Maker, was joined by co-stars Anna Friel (Charlotte “Chuck” Charles), Chi McBride (Emerson Cod), Kristin Chenoweth (Olive Snook), creator Bryan Fuller (who also created “Heroes”, “Dead Like Me” and “Wonderfalls”), director and executive producer Barry Sonnenfeld, and executive producer Bruce Cohen.

      

Once introductions were over it was time for a little Q&A. Brian Lowry, from Variety, served as moderator and started by asking Chi McBride how he came to be part of the show. Chi spoke of reading the script and how he knew it was not like anything else on television, but he really knew he wanted to be a part of it when he met with director/executive producer Barry Sonnenfeld, whose work he had admired (and Chi can do a mean Sonnenfeld impression). Lowry then really got the crowd going when he asked Lee and Anna if they were “method” actors and if so did that mean they didn’t touch each other off-screen, ever? Anna Friel responded by grabbing Lee Pace and smooching him all over. The audience ate it up, and although seething with jealousy, I loved it too (for a video of this moment, check out www.thepiemaker.com). That moment might have been an important one for future fans of Ned & Chuck, because as Brian Lowry put it, “If the show runs 5 years, you’ve just seen Darth Vader without his mask“.

It was time for the audience Q&A portion and I had a million questions I wanted to ask about the writing, the cinematography, and Lee Pace’s relationship status, but a line quickly formed and I sacrificed my questions for the chance to sit back and enjoy the panel (did I mention I was sitting directly in front of Lee Pace?).

Here’s a little of what we learned:

• The concept for PUSHING DAISIES was originally intended as a story arc for Bryan Fuller’s show DEAD LIKE ME, but when the show wasn’t picked up for another season, the idea was shelved while Fuller worked on other projects.

• The bright and beautifully digitized look and feel of the show will remain constant from week to week. The pilot was directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (who plans on directing 3 of the first 13 episodes) who said that the creative team that worked on the pilot has signed on for the whole season.

• Although there will be some element of continuity from episode-to-episode, the show will have a self-contained case of the week approach (which will hopefully help bring on newbies as they hear the rave reviews from others.)

• We can expect more larger than life scenarios in the weekly adventures of Ned the Pie Maker and his friends, but they will all stay grounded with the show, and will often serve as metaphors for the characters emotional journeys.

• Lee Pace is incredibly hot (fact) and will be spending most of his time in Boston with GMMR reading poetry and having picnics along the Charles River (not so much a fact, but I wanted to stay with the “fairy tale” element so prevalent in PUSHING DAISIES)

I’d like to say we learned a lot more about the show from the entire panel, but it seems that the audience was packed with fans of Ms. Chenoweth and they let their love be known. As a major fan of Kristin’s work, I didn’t mind, but it would have been nice to hear from the series lead actors, Lee and Anna, who hardly got a chance to speak at all. An audience member asked the producers if we could expect to see more of Kristin Chenoweth in the future. The answer is yes, Kristin is a series regular, and we can expect to see her utilize her singing talents as well. And to show her love and appreciation to the fan who asked the question, Kristin leaned forward and showed her own pushing daisies to the crowd (and then again to director Barry Sonnenfeld who wanted a second look). The woman is too cute for words.

After a few more questions for Kristin, the panel was over. It went by too fast. But it was a wonderful experience to be a part of.

But wait…there’s more!

After the panel, Ducky, Rae, Seat42F and I headed down to the exhibit hall for the PUSHING DAISIES cast autograph signing. Sadly we were too late to get in line, but do you think that stopped us? Hells no. We camped out directly (and I mean directly) in front of series creator Bryan Fuller and cast members Lee Pace and Anna Friel as they signed autographs. Lucky for us we were with our Warner Bros contact most of the time, so I don’t think they thought we were stalking them (although we kind of were – but for the purpose of good blog reporting only…yeah.)

We got to share some small, nice moments with Bryan, Anna & Lee. At one point, after taking MANY pictures with fans, Lee gave a smoldering look to the camera, which I totally called him out on, and we shared a laugh. Bryan was so kind and went out of his way to thank us for our support of the show. At one point our WB contact grabbed us each a mini-poster that they were giving away during the autograph signing. Lee Pace leaned over and took mine from me and quickly signed it before passing it on to Bryan and Anna. The show hasn’t even aired and it’s already one of my prized possessions. All too quickly the session was over and everyone had to leave. But just as he was heading upstairs and away from the crowd, Lee Pace took a minute to look back over his shoulder, smile and say “thank you”. Le sigh.

   

So that’s that. I hope I’m doing what I need to do to get you all interested in watching PUSHING DAISIES this summer. If you need any more convincing, let me know and I’ll do it.

Make sure you check out other PUSHING DAISIES Comic-Con panel reviews and pics from our friends Ducky and Seat42F and the new PUSHING DAISIES fansite, The Pie Maker.