BURBANK, Calif. — Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene don't just play sisters on TV, they're kind of like siblings when the cameras are turned off.
"We do have that odd, sisterly feel," said Greene, who plays Aunt Vivian on ABC's "Pushing Daisies" — arguably the most original, charming show on TV. "It's very yin-yang."
"Truly, we bring out the best in each other, and I think we sort of complement each other's characters," said Kurtz, who plays Aunt Lily. "Like, I feel better when she's there because I feel like I'm better when she's there."
The veteran actresses are having the time of their lives playing the Charles sisters — the former Darling Mermaid Darlings synchronized swimming pair who inhabit the strange, magical world of "Pushing Daisies."
When the series began, their niece, Charlotte "Chuck" Charles (Anna Friel), had just been murdered. Which led shy, gentle Vivian and tough, sarcastic Lily to become virtual recluses in their Victorian house.
What they still don't know is that Chuck was brought back to life by the magic touch of the the Piemaker, Ned (Lee Pace), Chuck's childhood love. But while Ned can revive a dead person with a touch, if he touches him/her again, he/she is dead for good. Which is a decided impediment to Ned and Chuck's love.
What Chuck doesn't know is that Lily isn't her aunt, she's her mother. Which is playing out this season on the show, which continues to feature Ned, Chuck and private investigator Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) solving murders with the help of Ned's power.
It sounds crazy, but it's a brightly colored, very funny and heartfelt hour like nothing else on TV.
"(Creator/executive producer) Bryan (Fuller) has this amazing land that lives inside. Either that or he's taking amazing drugs," Greene said with a laugh. "He's a genius. His imagination knows no bounds."
(And, remember, Greene originated the role of Audrey in "Little Shop of Horrors.")
Vivian and Lily are getting out more this season, and they're not as joined-at-the-hip. But, like their characters, Kurtz and Greene have a sisterly relationship.
They almost finish each other's sentences. They interject and take over stories in midstream, passing the narrative back and forth.
"I do set her up for a lot of jokes. She's very funny," Greene said.
"I treat her, in real life — I'm sorry to say — exactly the way Lily treats Vivian," Kurtz said. "'Ellen, we're going now! Come on!"'
Among the many, many quirks on "Pushing Daisies" is that Lily wears on eyepatch. (She lost her eye in a cat-litter accident in the first episode. Really.)
And the eyepatches that Kurtz wears really do make her unable to see out of her right eye.
"The minute I put it on it's very dicey walking around the cables (on the set) and everything. I have to be really careful, especially in heels," Kurtz said.
"She has no depth perception. She's blind," said Green, who helps her navigate. They quickly fell into a pattern of Green being on Kurtz's left — her "sighted" side.
"It was a very natural thing," Greene said.
As a matter of fact, without even thinking about it, Greene was sitting on Kurtz's left when they took questions from TV critics wandering about the "Pushing Daisies" set. And Kurtz was not in costume.
"That's funny," Kurtz said with a laugh.
"We do do stuff like that that's odd," Greene said. "Like when we were walking, I said, 'She has to be on the other side because I'm comfortable with her on that side."'
"And sometimes we do things at the same time, from our synchronized swimming days. Even though we never really had them," Kurtz said. "We'll raise our hands at the same time or move at the same time."
The pilot script originally contained a scene in which Greene and Kurtz would re-create their Darling Mermaid Darlings act, complete with mermaid fins. And Greene spent hours preparing for it, learning to swim while wearing a mermaid fin.
"She would go to the L.A. Y every single day for, like, three hours and practice her swimming," Kurtz said.
"We were supposed to be mermaids. So, I was studying mermaid," Greene said. "And I said, 'Come with me, we'll learn."'
But Kurtz wasn't exactly enthusiastic.
"I felt so bad," she said. "I felt like I should be doing this, you know? But I also feel like production should be organizing it and they should have somewhere so we don't drown."
(Kurtz insisted she can "barely swim," but Green interjected, "Oh, she can swim.")
Eventually, Greene convinced Kurtz to join her in the pool.
"One day she shamed me into it. So I dug out my bathing suit and I met her at the Y," Kurtz said. "This was during the (filming of the) pilot. We had a day off and we were coming near the end of the pilot where they were going to shoot the swimming sequence. And I met her and I was in my suit and I was getting all ready. I was going to take the plunge, and my cell phone rang.
"It was the (assistant director) and he said, 'Go have a cappuccino. The scene is dropped."'
"And she said, 'Oh, good. I don't have to get wet,"' Greene said.
They did do a swimming scene later, but they weren't wearing mermaid fins.
"I'm hoping we don't do that much," Greene said. "I mean, I like being in the water, but I love being in my clothes. And my hats and my gloves.
"I mean, I get to be a regular drag queen. It's so wonderful. They just put everything on me and I have so much fun. It's like being a little kid."
And Kurtz has her "eyepatch collection."
"They wheel out this thing and they say, 'Let's see. Which one for this outfit?' And they make new ones if I don't have one that matches the outfit," Kurtz said. "But I also have a collection of stretch animal-skin pants. So, it's like we have red zebra, we have green tiger, we have you name it."
The two are so close that Greene worries about their characters having any kind of falling out.
"Ellen's very method. She takes it with her. And she was concerned that if we maybe had a fight coming up, how would that be with us on the set," Kurtz said.
"I've worked with some actresses who start behaving like their characters," Greene said. "I pretty much don't. Although, if it's a sad scene, it is sad on the set around me. I just stay in the same place."
And they sound just like sisters when Kurtz starts talking a little bit more about upcoming episodes than Greene thinks she should.
"You're giving all these secrets! I haven't told anything!" Greene said. "I've been so disciplined."
"Oh, they'll forget. They'll forget. You're not going to tell anybody, right?" Kurtz said to a group of critics holding voice recorders.
"Honey, what do you think these metal things are in front of you?" Greene said as Kurtz laughed.
If you watch
What: Pushing Daisies
When: Wednesdays, 7 p.m.
Channel: Ch. 4
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com