Dead Like Me could not be more full of stuff that would normally have me snobbily and disdainfully running the other way: self aware quirkiness! A lighthearted approach to normally taboo subjects that just screams, 'This is edgy! This is premium cable cable!' A folksy attempt at poignancy! Oh, and lazy writing that propels the story through constant narration.
And yet, Jim and I have found this to be a suitable late night, before bed pleasure, one that makes us feel far less guilty than the god awful Crossing Jordan that we used to inexplicably indulge in.
The cast is actually pretty solid. I really like the main character George, played by the unfamiliar Ellen Muth, even if all her lines are a but too pat, and if you loved Whitley from A Different World, Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride (or the pharmaceutical commercial he's currently starring in), or the Noxema Girl from the latest leaked sex tape (link NSFW), rejoice, because they all play modern day grim reapers.
Creator Bryan Fuller went on to make the equally complex and quirky Pushing Daisies after spats with the suits at Showtime turned the Dead Like Me into, “the worst experience of [his] life“.
But what do you think?