Do You Remember? Eli Stone and Pushing Daisies

Out of the countless short-lived TV shows that have come and gone over the years, every once in a while there are those rare shows that viewers remember no matter how limited their time on the air lasted.

Case in point: Firefly

But there are at least two other shows that many TV viewers still remember:

Eli Stone and Pushing Daisies

Both dramas had a few things in common: each had a very unique premise; they both aired on ABC; they aired around the same time; they both aired for two seasons and their creators are very recognizable names in the industry.

Pushing Daisies came from the creative mind of Bryan Fuller (Heroes, Hannibal and several of the Star Trek franchise series), which debuted on October 3, 2007. While Eli Stone came from the prolific mind of Greg Berlanti (the man behind all of the DC series on The CW among many other shows) and Marc Guggenheim, debuting on January 31, 2008.

Pushing Daisies starred Lee Pace (Foundation, The Hobbit franchise and Guardians of the Galaxy) as Ned, a pie-maker with the ability to bring dead things back to life with his touch, an ability that comes with stipulations: the second touch took their life away for good. Together with his formerly deceased childhood crush Chuck (Anna Friel from the box office movie Timeline and the short-lived FOX drama Monarch), co-worker Olive Snook (Broadway alum Kristin Chenoweth) and private investigator Emerson Cod (Chi McBride from Hawaii Five-0 and the box office movie I, Robot), Ned used his abilities to solve murder cases.

Meanwhile, Eli Stone (Jonny Lee Miller, best remembered for Elementary), a San Francisco lawyer, who begins to have hallucinations (such as a George Michael soundtrack that only he can hear or getting dive-bombed by a World War I biplane on a busy San Francisco street) which led him to two possible conclusions: a potentially fatal brain aneurysm, or the chance that something greater was at work. His visions led him to accept cases with little monetary gain but a lot of moral goodness.

The ensemble cast of Eli Stone included Natasha Henstridge (The Whole Nine Yards and Diggstown), as Eli ex-fiancée Taylor; the one and only Loretta Devine as Patti, Eli’s assistant; Matt Letscher (The Flash and The Mask of Zorro) as Eli’s doctor and elder brother Nathan; Sam Jaeger (Parenthood and The Handmaid’s Tale) as Eli’s co-worker and rival Matt; James Saito (Always Be My Maybe) as Dr. Chen, who helped explain Eli’s prophetic messages; Julie Gonzalo (Supergirl and Veronica Mars) as Maggie Dekker, a junior attorney; Jason George (Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19) as Keith Bennett, a criminal law attorney and Victor Garber (Legends of Tomorrow and Alias) as Jordan Wethersby, the co-owner of the law firm where Eli worked and Taylor’s father.

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Pushing Daisies attracted 13 million viewers for its pilot episode and averaged over 9 million viewers during its first season, but then fell to just a little over 6 million viewers on average during its second season.

Eli Stone fared about the same with an average of just a little over 8 million viewers during its debut season but fell to just a little over 5 million viewers on average during its sophomore run.

Each show boasted quite an array of recurring players and guest stars as well.

Ellen Greene and Swoozie Kurtz recurred on Pushing Daisies as Chuck’s agoraphobic aunts while Yellowjackets alum Sammi Hanratty played Young Chuck in flashbacks. Other recurring guest stars included David Arquette; Diana Scarwid and Christine Adams.

Among the long list of guest stars on Pushing Daisies included:

Wilson Cruz
The late, great Willie Garson
Joel McHale
Robert Picardo
Missy Pyle
Molly Shannon
Eric Stonestreet
Gina Torres

Recurring guest stars on Eli Stone included Broadway alum Laura Benanti, Tom Amandes, Tom Cavanagh, Kerr Smith and Taraji P. Henson along with special appearances by Katie Holmes and Sigourney Weaver.

The show also had a legend of one-time guest stars, including:

Melinda Clarke
Steven Culp
Gina Torres
David Giuntoli
Sterling K. Brown
Megan Hilty

You can watch the trailers for both Pushing Daisies and Eli Stone below:

Pushing Daisies:

Eli Stone:

Pushing Daisies ended on June 13, 2009 after 22 episodes. Eli Stone came to a conclusion on July 11, 2009 after 26 episodes.

Do you remember Pushing Daisies and Eli Stone?