A new article from USA Today questions whether, after an abbreviated first season and a 10 month hiatus, Pushing Daisies will find the audience it needs for a successful season. Lead actor Lee Pace acknowledges that “It’s not for everyone. It’s fairy tale-like, it’s very romantic, it’s very quirky. There’s a very specific mark to hit with a squirrelly arrow. But luckily Bryan [Fuller]’s got great taste.”

The showrunner says that this season they’ve tweaked the show to be both easier on the budget and the cast: “Last year, our scripts were big, and we had a lot of scenes. And we just figured we couldn’t keep up with production under that model,” Fuller says.

Lead actress Anna Friel is glad. “To a certain extent, some of the pace has been simplified a bit,” she says. “We couldn’t have gone on at that pace. It’s more manageable.” Pace says the pace is “a lot easier this year,” with many fewer 16-hour days.

As for whether the fans will come back, Fuller thinks at least one demographic will continue to tune in: the show ranks in the top 20 of all network shows among both kids and teens. When the first episode aired last fall, “we all gathered the cast and writers and watched on a TV with a rabbit-ears antenna,” Fuller remembers. “The first act ended and the first commercial was for Chutes and Ladders, and it was like, ‘Oh, we’re a kids show!’ ”

Pushing Daisies is back Wednesday, October 1 at 8/7 Central.