My Favourite TV: Dead Like Me
18 Year old Georgia Lass finds out there is an afterlife the hard way – by being killed in a bizarre accident when she’s struck by a toilet seat falling from an orbital space station. Luckily for her she’s already been ‘reaped’ by Rube (played superbly by the outstanding Mandy Patinkin). On that day
On the face of it this sounds like a particularly gruesome premise for a show. But on the contrary it’s funny (in an off-beat sort of way), quirky (most definitely) and thoughtful. Any series revolving around death is inevitably going to be ‘heavy’ from time to time but the quite sublime writing takes this show well beyond any mundane concerns. The acting by all concerned – especially Ellen Muth who plays George, Laura Harris who plays Daisy (who is, incidentally, drop dead gorgeous) and Jasmine Guy who plays the feisty Roxy, is universally excellent. Even the annoying Mason, played to perfection by Callum Blue, manages to round out this amazing cast.
This short lived character based show (only lasting 29 episodes) revolved around the lives of the small tightly knit group of reapers, who not only have to come to terms with their own deaths but also their new profession – often whilst holding down a boring day-job. Their instructions are handed out on a daily basis by the enigmatic Rube on post-it notes with sparse details of the soon to be deceased’s name, location and ETD (Estimated Time of Death). The new girl, George, is the focus of the series. We get to know about her life and that of the family she left behind. Her mother Joy (played by the totally gorgeous Cynthia Stevenson) sees her relationship with her husband fall apart and has to cope with her other daughter Reggie (played by Britt McKillip) who quickly goes off the rails by stealing toilet seats.
Obviously hard to put into words this is a delightful, funny, definitely strange series that deserves to be tried (if you haven’t seen it before). Give it a few episodes to grow on you and I think that you’ll really enjoy it. I certainly did.
5 comments:
I SOOOO miss this show. I was so depressed when it got canceled. I cannot tell you how much. It was such a brilliant, quirky, and smart show. Sigh.
I loved it also. I still don't understand why it was canx>:-(
laura said: I SOOOO miss this show. I was so depressed when it got canceled.
Me too. I guess that it was just *too* quirky for them? It does seem that the good stuff gets canned whilst shit lasts forever.
JM said: I loved it also. I still don't understand why it was canned:-(
Beats me.
Strangely, while looking up some details on IMDB, it appears that their is a Dead Like Me movie in post-production. Unfortunately Mandy Patinkin isn't in it & the beautiful Daisy is being played by someone else. Maybe if it's successful they'll bring the TV show back?
I liked this show but didn't really love it, which is strange because I felt I ought to given the concept and cast. It was a very good show, but it sometimes felt a little repetitive, and like it was dragging its heels.
Interested in the TV movie, though the lack of Mandy Patinkin is a huge blow... The dude is awesome!
I remember enjoying this show and watching up until Rube "moved on" and there was a revelation for George's character. I don't know if there were any more shows after that or if there were, why I didn't watch any more of them. Maybe I need to put this on Netflix. Also, I remember watching Ellen Muth in a Lifetime or some other made for t.v. movie in which she played a gay teenager dealing with coming out. I thought she was really good in that. That movie was prior to the Dead series. Sorry, I can't remember the name of it.
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