It’s official. I can forgive ABC for it’s new Wednesday night lineup, pushing a condensed new season of LOST back until January thanks to the Grey’s Anatomy spin-off, Private Practice, actually taking shape as a decent show, and the delightful — and I sincerely mean delightful — Pushing Daisies.

For starters, there is nothing else on network television with a visual aesthetic so stylized and saturated — having just entered the world of HD TV, Pushing Daisies is worth a look just because of how it looks. Think maybe Tim Burton directs a Nora Effron Meg Ryan movie and you might get the idea. The opening scene of the young protagonist and his dog running through an endless field of yellow flowers with a vivid blue sky is mesmerizing. Then his dog gets hit by a truck and you quickly jolt into the realization that this is not merely a serialized version of Robin Williams What Dreams May Come.

What made the pilot so enjoyable for me was its balance of imaginative wonder, romantic innocence, and wit. The quirky premise of a man who can bring things back from the dead with a touch and return them to the grave with another, and happens to resurrect his childhood sweetheart only to be unable to ever touch her could be mistaken for a childish fairy tale if you fail to catch all the double entendre, witty dialogue, and even a masturbation joke.

The problem is that shows this intelligent and quirky rarely last long, and I’m curious to see if the show’s premise can develop into a mature vehicle for the writers once the novelty of the formula has worn off. Will the Dr. Suess / Roald Dahl meets CSI meets romantic comedy vibe manage to stay edgy and charming, or will it melt into a saccharine mess? Personally, I’m hopeful that a show with great visuals and and strong writing & action from the pilot episode will translate into this fall’s best new series.

For those of you who missed Pushing Daisies Wednesday night, ABC is repeating the premiere tonight, Friday, October 5, at 8pm.

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