On June 27th of 2003, Bryan Fuller's soon to be short-lived series
Dead Like Me (a first of many) premiered on
Showtime. Starring Ellen Muth as Georgia "George" Lass, a young aimeless woman who finds herself killed in a freak accident and recruited to be a Grim Reaper, the series also starred Jasmine Guy, Mandy Patinkin, Callum Blue, Laura Harris, and Christine Willes, among others.
A uniquely comedic take on the afterlife, George was assigned to assist people by removing their souls just before they died, leading her and her Reaper friends into all sorts of ridiculous and dark situations, all the while still having to work a full time job to pay for "living". In the meantime, Georgia's family and her younger sister Reggie struggle with grieving her loss and trying to move on and have a normal life. One of Fuller's early shows, he left at the end of the first season because of behind the scenes debacles, and continued to make the also short-lived
Wondefalls starring Caroline Dhavernas and ONTD's fave
Pushing Daisies of a similar vein.
There was also the
Dead Like Me: Life After Death movie, but lets keep this post positive. Below I've listed the top 10 rated episodes on IMDB (in order of release) as well as some clips from the show!
1.
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Georgia 'George' Lass is an emotionally lost, 18-year-old slacker whose life changes (or ends) when she is killed by a toilet seat that falls from the sky after being separated from the orbiting Mir space station which hurtles to Earth.
Immediately, she discovers that the afterlife does indeed exist, where she has been assigned a job as a 'Grim Reaper.' It's her job to reap the souls from the living and guide them to their eternal reward. Besides coping with her new job, she must learn to deal with being young and starting out and of course, being dead...
2.
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George takes Delores and her cat to the vet, where they encounter a young pet Reaper. Rube reaps a yoga instructor, and George's family prepares for a ceremony dedicating her gravestone.
3.
George experiments with being a mean girl at work, while Mason has a reap who wants to attend his own funeral. Daisy takes her reap to church, and Reggie goes clothes shopping.
4.
George must deal with an efficiency expert at Happy Time. Rube hangs out at the Post Office all day, Daisy does some speed dating, Roxy works the airport and Mason chases after a bike messenger that owes him money. Meanwhile, Joy and Clancy work on finishing their divorce while making Reggie join the band.
5.
The other reapers are jealous when George draws a VIPR - Very Important Person Reap. Daisy restores a cynical priest's faith and Reggie visits the scene of her sister's death.
6.
Mason and Roxy fly the friendly skies on T&A Airlines. Rube teaches grade school. George phones home and Joy resists buying in to her mom's philosophy.
7.
Ray and Mason fight for Daisy's affection, and their game turns into something worse when Daisy wants to breakup with Ray. In a hospital, George must convince an elderly woman of her death. Joy is looking for a job at Happy Time, where she finds out more information about the time George worked there. Rube seeks help from Penny, a another reaper, to find his daughter.
8.
Mason receives a purple post-it, possibly his final reap before moving on. Roxy investigates Ray's disappearance, questioning Daisy. George attends another going-away party at Happy Time. Reggie accidentally lets J.D. out, and searches for the dog.
9.
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George finds out that her mother was in Happy Time looking for her file. Rube goes to see his daughter after receiving upsetting news from Penny. Ray continues to cause problems even after his death and Mason runs into a bit of trouble with Kiffany.
10.
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It's Halloween and reaper legend has it that the reapers can be seen as they were when alive; a serial killer stalks a neighbourhood, the reapers collecting his victims as he goes, George getting the bad guy; Joy and Reggie pay a late night visit to George's grave.
Scenes and clips:
ONTD, what are your favorite memories of this show? If you haven't seen it, be sure to give it a chance.
