If, as sometimes happens, the new TV series with the most critical praise wields Emmy clout the next year, then you must watch the premiere of "Pushing Daisies" tonight on ABC at 8 p.m. (ET/ PT). It was created by Bryan Fuller, who exec produced last year's breakout new series, "Heroes," which landed like swashbuckling caped crusaders into the Emmy lineup for best drama series.

This new program's premise: A piemaker (Lee Pace) has the power to bring back the dead, but only temporarily or someone else must die. When his childhood sweetheart (Anna Friel) is murdered, he faces his ultimate test: kill somebody in order to bring her back to life? If so, he can never kiss her because, if he touches her again, she croaks again.

Pace was a 2004 Golden Globe nominee for playing a transexual in "Soldier's Girl" and starred in Fuller's short-lived "Wonderfalls" several seasons back. Emmy favorite Swoosie Kurtz along with Broadway vets Kristin Chenoweth and Ellen Greene support while "Harry Potter" audiobook virtuoso Jim Dale narrates.

This series is being billed as a comic fantasy. And TV critics are pushing "Pushing Daisies" hard, with the show scoring an impressive 86 at Meta Critic - the highest of any freshman series so far this year. If it's as good as they say, we may see a TV network rewarded with both high Nielsens and at the Emmys for, creatively speaking, pushing the envelope. One note of caution: Variety reported of tension between the Alphabet net and the studio over budget and production overruns with co-exec producer Barry Sonnenfeld relieved of helming duties. That news brings to mind the standoff several seasons ago between show creator Rod Lurie and ABC over "Commander in Chief" which resulted in the sudden fall of that rising star.

Tom Shales of the Washington Post calls "Pushing Daisies," "the zaniest novelty on any network's fall schedule and, if only because it will be all the buzz by tomorrow, the show you least want to miss." (Read More)