Television series

Pushing Daisies

Name: Pushing Daisies
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Supernatural
Released: 2007
Cast: Lee Pace, Anna Friel, Chi McBride, Kristin Chenoweth, Jim Dale

A pastel-bright fairy tale about death: a pie-maker discovers he can revive the dead for exactly sixty seconds, then use their last words to solve their murders — as long as he never touches them, or his true love, twice. Narrated like a children's book for grown-ups, drenched in saturated colour, it's part murder-of-the-week procedural, part doomed romance, part screwball comedy, and stranger and sweeter than that summary makes it sound.

TVMaze rating

8.2

If you liked this

Big Fish2003

Tim Burton's tall tale about a dying father whose life stories blur myth and truth, told in the same jewel-toned colour palette and gentle ache Pushing Daisies trades in.

But It's sentimental on purpose and unashamed about it; if whimsical father-son movies feel manipulative to you, this leans hard into it.

Amélie2001

A candy-coloured Parisian romance told through a knowing narrator and elaborate visual gags — the clearest cinematic cousin to Ned and Chuck's courtship.

But The whimsy never lets up, and it's in French with subtitles, which some viewers find gets between them and the charm.

Wonderfalls2004no page yet

Same creator as Daisies, same delight in small-town oddness: a disillusioned gift-shop clerk starts taking orders from talking animal figurines. Sharp, funny, and gone too soon.

But Cancelled after thirteen episodes, so you're signing up for something that ends mid-thought.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Carnivàle2003

Both shows hinge on a touch that can restore or end a life. Daisies plays it as a fairy tale; Carnivale plays the identical premise as a slow, biblical gothic nightmare.

A Depression-era carnival drifter can heal or kill with a single touch, caught in a slow-burn war between good and evil — the exact power at Daisies' centre, stripped of every ounce of whimsy.

But Glacially paced and cancelled mid-arc after two seasons; this is prestige gloom, not pie-shop comfort.

Dead Like Me2003

Another Bryan Fuller creation, this one about a teenage grim reaper collecting souls — darker humour, same fascination with death as an everyday inconvenience.

But Rougher production values and a meaner streak; less fairy tale, more bruised, cynical comedy.

Jane the Virgin2014

A telenovela turned inside out by a knowing narrator, soap-opera plotting played completely straight and completely absurd at once — the same trick Daisies pulls with mystery plots.

But Five seasons of increasingly tangled plot; a much bigger commitment than Daisies' two-season sprint.

Psych2006

A fake psychic solves crimes with a wisecracking best friend at his side — breezy, colourful, case-of-the-week comfort food with real affection between its leads.

But Broader, punchier comedy with none of Daisies' melancholy undertow or visual craft.

Eli Stone2008no page yet

A lawyer who might be a modern-day prophet gets musical hallucinations that solve his cases — ABC's other short-lived experiment in mixing whimsy with weekly mystery.

But Never quite finds Daisies' confidence; the musical numbers feel more like novelty than magic.

Chuck2007

A nerdy everyman gets secret-agent knowledge downloaded into his brain and has to save the world while keeping his day job — same warm, low-stakes charm and slow-burn romance.

But Plays it far more conventionally; spy-genre trappings replace Daisies' storybook strangeness.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel2017

Amy Sherman-Palladino's saturated, candy-shop New York and rapid-fire dialogue share Daisies' love of stylised artifice over gritty realism.

But No mystery, no death, no touch of magic — just borrow the visual sugar rush and leave the plot mechanics behind.

The Trouble with Harry1955

It proves the trick Daisies runs — treating death as a charming inconvenience amid a blossoming courtship — is older than colour television.

Hitchcock's black comedy about a corpse nobody can quite get rid of in a picture-postcard New England town, spinning a murder mystery into deadpan small-town romance.

But Slow by modern comedy standards and dry as a martini; the laughs come from raised eyebrows, not one-liners.

Death Parade2015no page yet

Both use the freshly dead as storytellers who reveal a hidden truth before moving on — Daisies for laughs and clues, Death Parade for something far heavier.

In a bar between life and the afterlife, the recently dead play games that reveal who they really were — gorgeous, stylised, and quietly devastating by the end.

But It's a subtitled anime that swaps whimsy for genuine philosophical grief; expect to feel rattled, not charmed.