History Series / PushingDaisies

There once was a piemaker who could raise the dead with a touch, only there were two catches. Firstly, after sixty seconds, someone else has to die to take the place of the person raised from the dead and secondly, If the piemaker touches the resurrected person again, they die permanently. One day, the piemaker was given the opportunity to raise Chuck, his childhood sweetheart... So he did. This act brought the two much closer, but tragically kept them apart; one more touch would mean Chuck would be dead forever. Along with his [[InsistentTerminology alive again]] dog, a grumpy private eye, Chuck's eccentric aunts and a jealous singing waitress, they solved murders, asking the dead who their murderers were in those sixty seconds and then collecting the often substantial reward for finding the killers.

There once was a piemaker who could raise the dead with a touch, only after sixty seconds, someone else would have to die to take their place. If he touched the resurrected person again, they died permanently. One day, the piemaker was given the opportunity to raise Chuck, his childhood sweetheart... So he did. This act brought the two much closer, but tragically kept them apart; one more touch would mean Chuck would be dead forever. Along with his [[InsistentTerminology alive again]] dog, a grumpy private eye, Chuck's eccentric aunts and a jealous singing waitress, they solved murders, asking the dead who their murderers were in those sixty seconds and then collecting the often substantial reward for finding the killers.

There once was a piemaker who could raise the dead with a touch -- but only for sixty seconds, or else someone else would have to die to take their place. If he touched the resurrected person again, they died permanently. One day, the piemaker was given the opportunity to raise Chuck, his childhood sweetheart... So he did. This act brought the two much closer, but tragically kept them apart; one more touch would mean Chuck would be dead forever. Along with his [[InsistentTerminology alive again]] dog, a grumpy private eye, Chuck's eccentric aunts and a singing waitress, they solved murders, asking the dead who their murderers were in those sixty seconds and then collecting the often substantial reward for finding the killers.

** Combine this with JustForPun and you get Olive's pig companion, Pigby.

* AshesToCrashes: In the episode "Girth", [[spoiler: in this case they aren't human ashes]].

** And now, it would seem, [[spoiler: Charles Charles.]]
* BadassBystander: [[spoiler: Lily, who blasts Chuck's assassin with a shotgun, complete with a nice PreMortemOneLiner: "I can hold my breath for a long time."]]

* CoolOldLady: Both of Chuck's aunts are cool old ladies, but especially Aunt Lily, [[spoiler: who shot Chuck's murderer. After nearly being killed herself. With zero depth perception. ''In the very first episode.'']]

* CutShort: The finale is a mad rush to try to tie up several of the loose ends, and misses a few in the process. We never did find out what happened to [[spoiler: Charles Charles]] or meet Ned's dad beyond a five second shot at the end of one episode. He was going to be played by George Hamilton.

* FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo: Chuck [[spoiler: is the daughter of the woman she always believed to be her aunt.]] See also ParentalAbandonment, below.

* FlirtyStepSiblings / NotBloodSiblings: How they explain Vivian and Lily having the same last name as Charles and Vivian thinking Chuck is hers and Lily’s niece if Charles is Vivian’s ex-fiancé and [[spoiler: Chuck being Lily’s secret daughter.]]

** In "[[Recap/PushingDaisiesS1E7TheSmellOfSuccess The Smell of Success]]" Aunt Lily mentions a sweater that belonged to Charlotte's mother. The narrator mentions that this made her go to "her dark place." The moment is framed such that it appears Chuck's aunt simply misses her niece. [[spoiler: But a later episode reveals that Aunt Lily is Chuck's mother.]]

** [[spoiler: Chuck's father]] is aware of and afraid of becoming a [[ZombieApocalypse flesh-eating Zombie]].
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* ITasteDelicious: Said almost word for word by [[spoiler: the Colonel]] when Ned brings him back in the episode Comfort Food.

%%** Also made awkward in the episode where Ned dreams Chuck and him getting intimate and actually touching [[spoiler: and then it turns out that it's actually Olive in a Chuck suit.]]

* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Emerson suggests this to Ned, about [[spoiler: Chuck's alive-agained father, Charles Charles]].

%% * MommasBoy: [[spoiler: John Joseph Jacobs]] in "Girth".

* SadisticChoice: In "The Legend of Merle [=McQuoddy=]", [[spoiler: Charles Charles, the father Chuck always longed for, offers to take his daughter on a life of adventure--far, far away from the man she loves]].

* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: "I grew up" is the reason Ned gives for disliking Halloween, even though it is really because [[spoiler: that's when he found out his father had a second family.]]

** Averted in Bitter Sweets. The murder plot is handled in the first 12 minutes. [[spoiler: Well, the first one anyway.]]

* StigmaticPregnancyEuphemism: [[spoiler: Lily]] spent time at a convent when pregnant [[spoiler:with Chuck.]]

* AndStarring: With Swoosie Kurtz (Aunt Lily) And Creator/KristinChenowith (Olive)

* AndStarring: With Swoosie Kurtz (Aunt Lily) And Kristin Chenowith (Olive)

* ThatRemindsMeOfASong: With Broadway actresses Kristin Chenoweth and Ellen Greene in the cast, it was [[TheCastShowoff inevitable]].

** Also: [[BigThinShortTrio Thin/Short/Big]] (respectively) and ThreeAmigos.

* CutShort: The finale is a mad rush to try to tie up several of the loose ends, and misses a few in the process. Stupid network.
** We never did find out what happened to [[spoiler: Charles Charles]] or meet Ned's dad beyond a five second shot at the end of one episode. He was going to be played by George Hamilton. ''Stupid'' network.

%% * SwordFight: in "The Fun in Funeral".
** With Improbable Fencing Powers justified by the page quote of SwordFight.

* SmellsOfDeath: One episode introduces a man obsessed with scents and odors, and he instantly takes an interest in Chuck and Digby, Ned's girlfriend and dog respectively that he brought back to life with his magic touch. He can smell that there's something off about them and wants to know ''what'', as there's not much that he can't normally suss out through smell.

** ''Film/{{Superman}} The Movie''

** [[StarWars "I'm channeling fear into anger." "Anger leads to hate." "And hate leads to stress baking."]]