I really liked this episode too, for all the reasons mentioned above. I think in a word it is “Quirky.” How will they deal with Chuck and her having a life? And her aunts? You can’t bring in power like Ellen Greene and Swoosie Kurtz, and only use them a little (not an actual rule – I would trust the writers/director to do what they please with this so far).
On a more shallow note, between Chuck, Olive and Jeanine, there was a wonderful cleavage-fest going on tonight. Also, Anna Friel looked stunning in that dress.
This show makes me happy. I like pretty much everything about it.
One thing that threw me off was that the actor who played Mr. Chase strongly resembles an acquaintance of mine, with the last name of Chase, who is also an actor.
I like everything about this show - except Chuck. I really wanted to smack her when she start babbling to the reanimated dead engineer. I hope they use that plot device very sparingly.
And it wasn’t much of a mystery. Mr. singular was walking out of the room when the dummy was standing in front of the Dandy Lion, and he said “It can’t be the car guy, That’d be too obvious.” Two seconds later, the dummy unmasked, and I said “it’s the car guy.” Hmm…
I want one of those Dandy Lion hats! If I still did Halloween, I’d be feverishly working on that for a costume right now!
I loved the dress itself, too. I think the costuming has been fantastic; it really highlights the visual style of the show. There is something very modern and retro about everything, all at the same time. I have HDTV at home and more than once I found myself pausing on a particular scene just to stare at it for a minute. Which – Barry Sonnenfeld is well-known for that, if I am remembering my college film courses correctly.
Also, I am now perpetually hungry for pie, as well.
And I thought I was the only one who noticed! I was expecting nippleage at any moment. They must use truck loads of duct tape.
Great show.
My God, I hate that damned narration. Maybe they’ll put out a narration-free version.
So they’re repeating the pattern of the actual “murder mystery” being simple and making no sense (and in this case involving an impossible car defect). That’s fine if the rest of the show works as a fable, but the fable part’s actually getting boring.
I was hoping (assuming, really) they’d have Kristin Chenoweth sing eventually. A tiny woman with considerable pipes (you need them to sing Cunegonde in Candide).
And the song was done well also - did you notice she stopped singing every time someone came in or could hear her. Normally, in a musical number, bystanders either take part in the song or don’t realize that the character is singing.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen her with hair that short. I wonder if it’s a wig.
The TWOP reviewer for the pilot said that the show was wasting Chenoweth by not having her sing. Has she won any Tony’s for Wicked or any of her other Broadway work?
I guess I must be the only person in the world decidedly underwhelmed by this show. I did watch it again last night, but I’m really not being drawn in.
Okay, hang on while I get a head start…
I like Reaper much better.
I thought the same thing when I saw those hats.
Speaking of having to stop the show and rewind a little … As they were cruising into town towards the "Pie Hole”, I noticed a theatre marquee. It was fast, but I wanted to double check. The movie or play was the classic quirky murder comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace”. I suspect this was a tip of the hat to that old classic.
BTW: I enjoy the narration; it gives a Dr. Seuss or Big Fish vibe to the show that I enjoy. I also don’t see how the cleavage could not be noticed. I am in no way complaining, it did not hurt or detract from the story. But, it was obviously what they were going for.
Liberal: I have been watching both shows, I like this one better, but the pilot to “Chuck” was much better than the next two episodes. There is an “I Love Chuck” thread going currently. You should head over there if you haven’t already.
Anna Friel is bugging me, I know her from something and I still don’t know what. I have checked Wiki & IMDB, I now know she is a Brit that does an excellent American accent. However, outside of a small role in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999) I don’t recall anything she has done. I think she is very cute and her character is interesting.
Jim
give it a couple days and it will be posted here.
I am so loving this show. There was a “bring pie” reference…did you catch that?
Was Janine played by Faith Ford? It kind of looked like her.
I love Olive singing, Emerson knitting, and Mark Chase chasing his dream eco-friendly car…in a Hummer!
Cute, quirky…let’s see if it gets legs.
Maybe she reminds you of Zooey Deschanel - Trillian from The Hitchhickers Guide to the Galaxy? That’s who she reminds me of.
Poor Olive…Olive realized how much she appreciated Digby due to the lack of appreciation by the Pie Maker… Digby realized how much he likes Salt.
My dogs are always trying to deplete my sodium levels.
Nope, thanks IMDB
And he couldn’t get away because he ran out of gas.
I also loved when the woke up one of the dead body crash test dummies and she screamed and Emerson screamed, too.
Also, when they were in the tiny car being chased by the hummer and it rammed them I thought I heard a squeaky sound like the car was a big squeaky toy. Maybe I imagined it.
I don’t think so, I like Zooey, she was very memorable in both HHGttG and “Almost Famous”. I do see where they look similar.
Thanks for the quote, one more reason why I am enjoying the narrator.
Maybe someone can recall, one of the 4th wall breaks involved the narrator commenting on Ned feeling trepidation or something like that towards Chuck and Ned quietly going “why always with trepidation”.
Jim
The quote was something about a mixture of two things, sorry I don’t remember the specifics (one good, one bad) and Ned says “Why always a mixture?”
I think I liked this episode even more than the pilot (Pie-lette), which I loved. I find myself grinning all over my face again and again. I thought Emerson’s character worked better in this episode, because they gave him an interesting quirk, so he didn’t seem so much like he was from a different universe. I loved how all his desk accessories had knitted cozies. I want to know what the asian lettering on the outside of his office window says.
I also laughed and laughed at the “Titanic” reference.
I think it was happiness and trepidation.