Dead Like Me

Although the Takers of souls that populate 'Dead Like me' prefer being called "Reapers" they are in fact Grim. Each Reaper has his/her own dark secret or painful memory from their life that they have to deal with in their After-life...

'Dead Like me' is a witty, funny, but realistic look at what it would be like if there was (or is) an afterlife. Mandy Patinkin stars as "Rube" the boss, wise but contemplated. Ellen Muth stars as "Georgia" a young teen who was killed by a toilet seat, she's having trouble adjusting. Jasmine Guy stars as "Roxy" the angry Meter Maid with a license in 'kick your ass'. Callum blue stars as "Mason" the druggy, he drilled a hole in his head just to feel high. Laura Harris stars as "Daisy" the town /cough, country, slut... "i once blew (<insert famous person's name here>)

Other noticeable mentions go to Cynthia Stevenson who plays "Joy Lass" (oh the irony) who is the disgruntled mother who can't face her grief. Britt McKillip as "Reggie" the silent sister who misses her personal idol, Georgia, her sister. And Christine Willes who plays "Dolores Herbig" who is Georgia's boss at "'Happy Time' Temp agency", a lovable character, with a huge heart.

Brilliant writing, Funny but not over the top. Has plenty of drama, but doesn't breach the Series/soap opera boundary. For those who say "Oh they just a spin off of 'Six feet under'" you are wrong, 'Six Feet Under' is a Drama. 'Dead like me' is a Dark comedy. Believe me when i say they are on opposite sides of the tracks.

In my years of viewing gems that enchant my interest. Dead like me has struck a nerve. It shows you that live life while you can, (and other such cliché's) Or you might just miss it.

I give this show a 10 out of 10.

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.

Finally a show I can watch and get interested in. Dead Like Me continues to intrigue me through great acting and well written scripts. The whole reaper thing seems to be a sub culture; go to the message boards. There are back and forth discussions about minute details, as if the reapers are real. They aren't, but one can still empathise with these "dead" people. As each reaper grows through life situations (usually sticky) the viewer grows to like each character even more.

Mandy Pantinkin adds a wonderful balance to the whole cast. His character Rube fascinates me. He is secretive, yet he opens himself to emotional attachments with the reapers he "manages." Each of the reapers have their weaknesses and strengths, but like the viewer, they discover them through the crazy situations they find themselves in.

Its on late Sunday night, I'm on the West Coast, but I don't care because the show is the highlight of my Weekend TV viewing. Watch it once and you will be hooked!

"Dead Like Me" proves that cynicism, humor, depth, and even compassion can not only co-exist on a single television series, they can actually flourish together. With sharp and witty writing and directing, "Dead Like Me" explores the bizarre world of our working-class grim reapers, the good folks charged with escorting human souls to the afterlife. As the second-lowest level group of bureaucrats in the afterlife system (best not to ask about the lowest), grim reapers must trudge along "popping" the souls of the soon-to-be-departed before they meet their grisly (and, dare I say, often hilarious) ends. And they must also survive, and pay rent, in the living world.

The chief protagonist on the series is George (a.k.a. Georgia), a recently deceased, uber-cynical, 18 year old who just can't seem to resist rebelling against the whole "death" system. Her fellow reapers include an unapologetically opportunistic drug-smuggler, a meter-maid who does a lot more than write parking tickets, a happy-go-lucky pragmatist who has developed a truly macabre taste in photography, and an actress whose resume is surprisingly out of date. And then, of course, there is Rube.

Rube is the would-be foreman of this somewhat strange assemblage of reapers. He is also, arguably, the most sympathetic, complex, and mysterious character on the showâ€'thanks in no small part to the superb acting of Mandy Patinkin. As with the other characters on the show, no amount of space here can really hint at the depth alloted to Rube by the writers and directors of "Dead Like Me" or the skill with which Patinkin explores that depth. Suffice it to say that Rube plays a lot more like a real person (or real undead person) than any mere television contrivance. Rube is more alive as a dead man than any television character from the living world.

The very essence of "Dead Like Me" is, in fact, its willingness to explore not only the bizarre world of the reapers, but also the lives and personalities of the reapers themselves. Undead life has had (and continues to have) some pretty strange effects on these formerly-living reapers, and watching their individual responses to the problems of their bizarre occupation provides much of the humor of the show.

And, not to leave out the living world, the creative minds behind "Dead Like Me," also frequently turn their attention to living characters on the show, from the "soon to be referred to the past tense" reaper clients to the families they leave behind (most notably George's grieving family). Just about any character is subject to being fleshed-out on this show (even dogs and frogs). A minor character named Angus Cook makes a more memorable impression in one episode of "Dead Like Me" (appropriately titled "A. Cook") than most TV series regulars will make in an entire season.

Some have compared "Dead Like Me" with shows like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and similar, more pedestrian, fare. But about the only thing Buffy and George have in common is youth and blonde hair. And the only thing the reapers have in common with television vampires is that they've both been around a while. Of course, one of the problems with television vampires is that they never seem to *realize* they've been around a while. They are also generally kind enough to join up with either the "good guys" or "bad guys" teams of the Buffyverse and its ilk, teams which don't exist in the universe of "Dead Like Me."

But you might want to visit the universe of "Dead Like Me" for yourself, and form your own impressions. Just don't stay too long. You might end up with a post-it note and a new job.