How I Spent My Halloween

I've never really liked Halloween. Even as a kid, I only remember two or three years when I dressed up and went door-to-door for treats, and I don't even recall what any of my costumes were. I didn't get as excited as the other kids did about "what I was going to be," and I remember mostly being cold walking around with my plastic pumpkin, not really seeing much fun in the idea of knocking on strangers' doors asking for handouts. {I also think my views of the holiday in general were colored by the memory of the year our dogs got into the chocolate my brother and I brought home from school, with the result that the living room carpet was a stinky mess and the dogs miserable when we got home from trick-or-treating. That and the fact that throughout my entire childhood, I was terrified to the point of immobility by witches, and any holiday which encourages hoards of people to dress up like them is obviously not going to be a happy one for me.}

So this Halloween, I did what I have done since junior high: stay in, make sure the porch light is quite conspicuously off, and watch a happy movie. My happy movie this year was actually one of the most charming TV shows I've seen in a long time, and which sadly, has already been cancelled and ran for only two seasons. I was snuggled up cozy on the couch with a mug of cocoa watching Season One of Pushing Daisies, a story about a fellow who can bring the dead back to life by touching them, the caveat being that they go back to being dead forever if he touches them a second time.

The central plot of the show centers around the fact that Ned, the main character, brings his childhood sweetheart Chuck (short for Charlotte Charles) back to life after her mysterious death on a cruise ship. They haven't seen each other in years, but fall in love again, and the ironic catch is that they can never touch each other or she dies again for good. The clever secondary plot is that Emerson Cod, Private Investigator, finds out about Ned's special gift, and convinces him to partner in his murder-solving business, at which Ned is of course, a natural, as he can touch the victims and actually ask them who committed their murders.

Normally, I don't really go for 'bring the dead back to life' stories, but this show is made so incredible by the bright colors, retro settings, endearing characters, and the fabulous costuming. Chuck wears the most amazing fifties and sixties dresses and outfits, and all of the sets are so colorful and original. The sets, mood, and staging remind me of Amelie, and Chuck's costumes are straight out of a Doris Day or Audrey Hepburn movie. 'Charming' is definitely the best word, in my opinion, to describe the show. I highly recommend it. Much more fun than running down the sidewalk, tripping on your jedi robe, trying to beat the other kids to the one house on the block with Butterfingers.