Lee Pace has the magic touch.
Relaxing on the set of his critically praised series, "Pushing Daisies," Pace taps the air teasingly with his forefinger. It's how Pace's character, Ned, makes others live or die with a single stroke on the darkly whimsical ABC drama.
It's also how Pace keeps British actress Anna Friel, his lively co-star, in line during long production hours. Friel plays Ned's longtime love, Charlotte "Chuck" Charles.
"When Anna acts up on-set, I just touch her like this," Pace said, pointing a magic finger.
The finger-tap is a joke on Ned and Chuck's deadly dilemma on "Pushing Daisies" (7 p.m. Wednesdays). In the show's pilot, Ned resurrected Chuck after she was murdered. Now they live together. If Ned touches Chuck once more — directly — she's back in a casket, pronto.
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In fact, the physical intimacy of Ned and Chuck is carefully chaperoned on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, especially by executive producer Barry Sonnenfeld ("Men in Black"), who also directs the series.
Bryan Fuller previously created "Dead Like Me," the Showtime series about grim reapers, and "Wonderfalls," the short-lived Fox series in which inanimate objects talked. With "Daisies," he meshes fantasy, comedic romance, food and murder.
When he's not baking perfect pies, Ned investigates homicides, with help from Chuck and private eye Emerson Cod (Chi McBride). Zap, and Ned revives victims long enough for them to reveal their killers. Zap, and they're dead again.
Fantasy elements aside, playing Ned is not a stretch, Pace said. Not after his previous roles as a transgendered female entertainer in the 2003 Showtime film "Soldier's Girl" and an inscrutable CIA agent in the 2006 movie "The Good Shepherd." He also played a supporting role in "Wonderfalls."
Visually, "Pushing Daisies" pops with rich colors and quirky sets, including the Pie Hole, Ned's restaurant-in-the-round with a crust-shaped roof.
On the romantic side of the series, visual jokes abound. Ned and Chuck must never brush flesh against flesh. But they adopt an array of inventive protective barriers, including cellophane, body bags and beekeepers' suits.
"Actually, there's something about the not-touching that's kind of hot," Pace said. "Ned and Chuck are turned on by wishing they could touch."
