The first season ranked fifty-second out of all programs. Not what I'd call 'excellent.'
Averaged ifty second in total viewership out of two hundred twenty shows. Context is everything. If I recall, Pushing Daisies handily beat its ABC predecessor, beat its timeslot competition and did even better in the demographic. Which isn't the be-all and end-all but still is important. I'd double check but I don't want to spend more than ten minutes on my google fu.
As for the ludicrous honeymoon theory, the whole point is that Pushing Daisies' ratings did not fall off in the way that fits the honeymoon theory. Which is to say, a continual drop from the first showing. Quite often the drop is roughly the same percentage from week to week. There is no honeymoon phase that lasts an entire season, not even one truncated by the writers' strike. Wile E. Coyote runs off the cliff and stays up for a little while, but interpreting Pushing Daisies' ratings change by cartoon physics is really getting desperate.