Attention fans: Pushing Daisies may not be pushing up daisies much longer.
The well-loved show, canceled after its second season, may be finding an afterlife as a Broadway musical — and it’s not alone. These days, it seems that cancellation is just a pit stop for many TV shows along the way to continued recognition. Veronica Mars is on its way to the silver screen after a fan-funded effort, Arrested Development got a second life on Netflix and now Pushing Daisies and Scrubs may be heading to the Great White Way.
While the Scrubs musical has been in the works since 2012, Bill Lawrence, the creator of the long-running comedy, told EW that the project is still in development. Scrubs, which starred Zach Braff, Donald Faison and Sarah Chalke as young doctors, ran for seven seasons on NBC and two seasons on ABC, earning a dedicated fanbase and a Facebook following that is edging up to 13 million fans — who would likely shell out to see the show if it ever hits the stage. Lawrence says he has already written a basic story outline and is currently shopping the project around to various theater groups while working to find composers to pen songs for the show. The show has already set a high bar for songsmiths:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvYF3PTWLK0]
Lawrence hopes the medical musical will hit the stage in 2017.
Now comes news that Pushing Daisies, the quirky comedy about a piemaker who can bring the dead back to life with one touch of his finger, is looking for a revival — either as a musical or a movie. Bryan Fuller, the show’s creator, told E! News that he was inspired by Rob Thomas and Veronica Mars: “I’m so jealous of Rob Thomas and the Veronica Mars movie, which looks fantastic!” he said.
Fuller added that he is now in talks with Warner Bros. and director Barry Sonnenfeld about potentially bringing the ABC series back from the TV grave. “There’s a couple of format options,” Fuller said. “Barry said to me, ‘I have some ideas on how we could pull this off!’ I would love to do a musical, and I also would love to do a movie [as opposed to a Netflix run], because you have higher impact and it also has an iconography.”
The show’s cast is already rich with ready-made stage talent, including Swoosie Kurtz, Lee Pace, Anna Friel, Chi McBride, Raúl Esparza, Ellen Greene and, of course, Tony Award-winner Kristin Chenoweth. “I would love to do a musical and make it all about Kristin Chenoweth and her character, Olive Snook,” Fuller said. “I think it would be incredible.” No word yet on whether Chenoweth, who won an Emmy for her work on Daisies, would be on board to recreate some of the show’s musical magic:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbe1m30RS8c]
Fuller didn’t mention any timeline for production, but it may take a while for him to get the Pushing Daisies to the stage; he’s currently occupied with his show, Hannibal, which makes its return Feb. 28 on NBC. If he’s planning a Hannibal musical, too, it’ll probably take the show getting canceled for him to talk about it.
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