Dead Like Me - So gut wie tot

For me, TV hit a golden age during the early-mid 80's. It's been a long time since I've been as moved by a television show as I was with Dead Like Me.

Dead Like Me features Ellen Muth, who plays an 18 year old kid who gets killed by a toilet seat from the space station MIR. Her death introduces us to the fascinating world of the Grim Reaper. Full of workplace rules, guidelines, assignments, and generally horrific deaths, Dead Like Me explores the subject of death in a very unusual, yet original way.

When George(Muth) becomes a reaper, her whole world as she knows it changes. She, and her group of reapers, lead by Rube(Mandy Patinkin), use a German waffle house as their base of operations, receiving post-it notes with the names and times of their reaps. Another sub-plot of the show centers around George's family, and the adjustment that they go through after George's death.

Throughout the two seasons(currently available on DVD), the viewer follows life through the eyes of George, and also though her quirky narration. We see George grow into a more confident young woman, and also witness the interactions amongst the various characters and their reaps.

This show is without a doubt one of the most interesting shows out there, and with any luck, Showtime will decide to re-visit this show. I watched for about two minutes and was hooked. I'm certain you'd enjoy this show, too.

This show is easily one of my favorites. Ellen Muth's interpretation of the disaffected, cynical teenager who is forced into sticking to a higher standard is right on. The writers have produced some of the funniest comedy, especially where George's boss Dolores is concerned; a former junkie who has taken home drifters ("passionate lovers", she calls them), who gives no thought to using a Tazer on a courier at the elevator in order to get her incontinent cat to the vet. The dialogue is funny, and hearing what's going on inside George's head while she puts on a smile is more than a little amusing. The show still visits the serious side of things, showing how the Lasses lost a daughter, while George has lost her whole family. Little by little, the audience is fed bits and pieces of information about the lives and deaths of the main characters. Most mysterious is Rube. He has a love-hate relationship with the unseen being who delivers the death lists, and we know only that he had a daughter, and that he attempted to send money to someone named Rosie and her mother back in the 1920's. (The postal service failed to deliver it,unknown to him until 2004.) We can only wait to find out how everyone's lives -and deaths- have played out. This show is absolutely nothing like Six Feet Under, for which I am grateful.

After reading another comment about this show being a rip-off of six feet under I'd like to comment.

I've seen every episode of six feet under and consider myself an avid fan. The main differences are not hard to determine.

Six feet under is a show that centers around a dysfunctional family in the wake of their own tragedy.(Death of the father). The way the series has played out makes the fact that they own a funeral home unimportant. Great drama is always about the characters. Six feet under is no exception. There are various story arcs that play out over the course of each season. Some stories carry over to the next season to keep you watching. It is very original.

Dead like me on the other hand is a fresh perspective of how the human dead are handled in the grand scheme of things. The idea that there is an entire sub-culture of un-dead following orders to take care of the mundane task of reaping a soul and showing the dead folks the way to the other side is comical but also makes you wonder "hmm... who's to say this doesn't occur? It also centers on Georgia Lass (freshly dead after a toilet seat from a de-orbiting space station takes her life)and how she handles the dubious distinction of becoming a reaper. Now in its second season, it again is focusing not on the occupation of those in the show, but the characters in the occupation of reaping. We are starting to get a glimps of the lives of Roxy, Rube, Daisy et al before they became reapers. I think Ellen Muth and Mandy Patankin are fantastic. I also like every last supporting character. It's superbly written and actually make you think about life in a different light. If you've not seen the show, at least give it a chance. Now if HBO came out with a show called "Gay as Family",(their version of Queer as folk) then I'd be screaming rip-off. Never forget Death happens to everyone eventually. There is surely room for more than one show that focuses on it.

Watch and be entertained,

It's hard for me to like much on TV. I was devastated when they pulled Keen Eddie, it was one of the best things I've ever seen on network TV. I feel better after watching this show. It's quirky, engaging, and humanizing. I particularly admire the upbeat take on death juxtaposed to the darkly comic view of life. Dead Like Me is the only reason I'll continue to pay for Showtime. Most studios are desperate to be fringe and edgy, neglecting to notice that (while audiences love novelty) we also want characters with flaws. I'm sick to death of the beautiful empty. The show helps to remind us of what we are neglecting to notice in everyday life, the mundane poetry of the collective order. George discovers the beauty of life only after she's dead. The character's are lovably eccentric, the dialogue is casually caustic. It's Gen-X genius.

This show is a combination of extremely clever plot lines, a unique and unusual musical score, contemporary editing, and outstanding character casting. The chemistry of characters with this cast is more than exceptional. The ability to give such realism to such an absurd story premise is bewildering and you find yourself taken for a ride down this fairytale as if it were real life. This is perhaps the best program that no one has ever heard of yet and I wouldn't be surprised if it rose to one of the best series of this decade when the show becomes better known to the public. Once you start watching this show, there is now going back. It is ultimately the most addictive show I have ever witnessed. If you haven't seen it, you need to.