So what’s better than a Pushing Daisies star saving you from the deadly embrace of crystal meth? Not much, but the answer to that (and, lets face it, most other questions) is free freakin’ pie. ABC really doesn’t want you to forget about the whimsical show that was cut short by the writers’ strike, so Pushing Daisies is hitting the road.
ABC has outfitted an Airstream trailer to look like The Pie Hole, the shop in which most of Daisies‘ action takes place, and is driving it across the country to give fans free pie. In addition to the delicious confections, the temporary Pie Hole will feature props from the show and plasma TVs on which fans can watch footage from the show.
The Pushing Daisies Tour begins this Sunday and makes 10 stops. Follow me after the jump for the full schedule.
August 31: Anaheim, CA – Downtown Disney
September 7: San Francisco, CA – Ghirardelli Square– Chocolate Festival
September 10: Los Angeles, CA – Santa Monica 3rd Street Promenade
September 12: Las Vegas, NV – Fashion Show Mall
September 14: Phoenix, AZ – Westgate Complex
September 17: Denver, CO – Larimer Square
September 20: Dallas, TX – Addison Oktober Fest
September 24: Chicago, IL – Lincoln Park
September 26: Philadelphia, PA – The Shops at Liberty Place
September 29: New York, NY – Times Square
ABC has also started a site that you can go to to follow The Pie Hole’s progress at pushingdaisiestour.com. It doesn’t appear to be up at the moment, but should be functional shortly.
I don’t know if it’s my love of Pushing Daisies, or simply my love of pie, but this sounds like the best idea ever to me. I think I may even risk venturing into Times Square to see it. In fact, I wish more shows would do something like this. I want the Project Runway contestants to come by and make me a dress or a Grey’s Anatomy trailer to come give me medical advice. What other shows do you think should hit the road?
Man, Intervention is a downer. Between the alcoholism, the anorexia and the 8-10 per-day dust can huffing habits, it is really hard to watch that show and maintain a positive outlook on life. Luckily, Kristin Chenoweth, Broadway extraordinare and effervescent star of Pushing Daisies, has found a solution to all that nastiness: a peppy song about the dangers of crystal meth.
Chenoweth has teamed up with Funny or Die to create her own episode of Intervention. It still has distraught family members confronting an addict in a nondescript hotel room, but instead of a laundry list of ways that Bob, a musician and a meth addict, is ruining his and everyone else’s life, there’s a peppy song about “Tina,” the poor man’s cocaine, that includes warnings about “waking up in a pile of your own urine and doo-doo.”
The video is after the jump.
Intervention with Kristen Chenoweth even has happy little animated birds and sparkles. What meth addict could resist that? The language in the video is NSFW, but I have a feeling that if you work in the kind of place in which you could watch a video with people singing about crystal meth, throwing in a few curse words isn’t really going to put your job in jeopardy.
“Pushing Daisies’” Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Emmy nominee Lee Pace says he and the rest of the show’s team “were really surprised” by the show’s 12 nominations. Due to the writers’ strike, “We only did nine episodes.” He wants to make it clear that in spite of those dozen nods, nobody’s resting on their laurels.
Lee Pace on Pushing Daisies Forthcoming Season (Image: Wenn)
“One great thing about the strike for us was that it gave us time to pay attention to what was working on the show and what didn’t work,” he says, speaking of the imaginative series about a pie maker named Ned who has the ability to bring dead people back to life.
“He can’t get comfortable. It’s always fun to have Ned out of control, out of his comfort zone. When he has a lot of problems, it’s fun to play,” says the actor, whose work days often run from 6 a.m. ’til 10 p.m. Referring to Anna Friel’s character, Charlotte “Chuck” Charles, Ned’s beloved — who he brought back to life and must never touch again or she’ll perish permanently, he goes on, “Ned has to be a gentleman and a good guy, who’ll fight for Chuck’s life to be as good as it can be.”
According to Pace, in the forthcoming season, viewers will find out more about Ned’s background, as well as that of Chuck. Their mutual father issues and pain in having grown up without fathers will come to the fore.
Pace also notes, “We have some great guest stars coming on this season. David Arquette just came in on a show about a frescort.” How’s that again? “A frescort — a friend for hire for a really lonely guy. … Ned’s a misfit, and he’s a misfit, so they understand each other.”
Pushing Daisies, my favorite new show from last season, has just announced that Stephen Root is set to guest star on its upcoming season, which premieres October 1st. Although Root is probably best known as the Swingline Stapler-loving Milton Waddams from Office Space, he’s no stranger to television. Root also played eccentric boss Jimmy James on the David Foley comedy NewsRadio for four years and currently voices Bill on King of the Hill.
Root is signed up for a four-episode arc on Daisies. His character apparently has a connection to both Ned and Chuck’s fathers. Series creator Bryan Fuller says that “He stirs up a lot of hullabaloo for everyone, particularly Aunts Lily and Vivian.”
As a big fan of both Office Space and NewsRadio, I love Stephen Root. He’s quirky and chameleon-like enough to fit in perfectly with the gang at The Pie Hole. There’s no further information about exactly what kind of “hullabaloo” Root is going to stir up, but since it has to do with the aunts, I’d puts my bets on him being a long lost family member–or maybe former lover? Perhaps even Chuck’s real father. Dun dun, DUN!
