I have discovered a tv show that I absolutely love now. Of course, with a title like Dead Like Me, I couldn't help but be curious. The show centers on a girl named George (played by Ellen Muth), who is killed by a flaming toilet seat from the space station Mir as it falls to Earth in the first episode. George becomes a
reaper and is to collect souls from people about to die. The head reaper, Rube, is played by Mandy Patinkin. Rube hands out the daily assignments via yellow Post-its. The group of reapers is rather ecclectic. Roxie, played by Jasmine Guy, is a no-nonsense meter maid turned cop. Mason, played by Callum Blue, is a horny, drunk, drug-abusing Brit who become infatuated with Daisy. Daisy Adair is a starlet from the heyday of old Hollywood. George is obsessed with her family, which is still living. She keeps returning to her former home and watching her family as they fall apart after her death. She also returns to her former employer, Happy Time Temporary Services, and gets a job there since reaping doesn't pay any money. The people she knew during her "life" don't recognize her in her "unlife". Happy Time is an even more ecclectic group of people than the reapers. The boss is Delores Herbig (as in Her big brown eyes ...a running joke on the show). Delores is obsessed with her cat, Murray. She is also obsessed with Happy Time. She becomes sort of a mother figure for George after her death. Anyway, the most interesting part of the show is the death scenes. Very few of the people who's souls are reaped die in a "normal" way. A water delivery man slips on spilled water and the 5 gallon replacement water jug just happens to land in his mouth and drains to fill him up. A sewer explodes killing the workers looking to find a gas leak and a flower saleslady. A man falls over a balcony at a church as a bride and groom are leaving and all three die. It seems kind of strange to say the death is entertaining, but in the case of this show, it certainly is. I don't know if there were any more seasons after the first two. I certainly hope so as it just keeps getting better and more interesting as they go. The second season provided a lot of backstory about the various reapers and their lives before their death and subsequent unlife. I really hope there is more...
May 24, 2006
