I'm Currently Downloading A Program To Manage My Downloads.....

....So now all I can do is wait. At least I have Spider Solitaire.

If you don't like long posts then you may as well go read The Onion.com....


.........because I have a new entry in my list of favorite TV shows. I'm currently completely obsessed with the Showtime original series "Dead Like Me."

This is absolutely one of the best shows in recent TV history. And I don't even see that much TV. I remember seeing the ads for this show, but I don't have Showtime to I never got to see it. A few months ago I heard Art Bell interview Ellen Muth from the show, and he talked about how much he absolutely loved it, so I thought it must be good. So I shelled out the money to buy the first season DVD of a show I have never even seen before. And I don't feel bad at all.

"Dead Like Me" follows the life—errrr, I mean DEATH—of 18-year-old George (short for 'Georgia'). You see, Georgia was killed one morning by a flaming toilet seat that fell off of the Russian Space Station 'Mir'(you see how clever this show is going to be already, don't you?). However, before she died her soul was taken by a grim reaper. Now, death in general is a total bureaucracy with posistions, levels, and departments. It just so happens that if you are a grim reaper, once you reach your quota, you are given a promotion and the last soul you reaped takes your place. It seems as though death has just as much of an order as life. Well, George happened to be the lucky millionth customer. She is now a grim reaper.

Reapers are divided into departments, and hers happens to be the violent/unexpected deaths division. As a courtesy, it's best to take their souls before they die so as not to traumatize them dramatically. Well, she meets her 'boss'—a very lovable Mandy Patinkin—who is given the daily death assignments from the people higher up. It's his job to hand out the souls that are to be reaped on little post-its to all the reapers under his care. The notes consist of two initials and a last name, and address, and an ETD (estimated time of death). This is so that the reapers never totally know who is to die until they reach the appointment so that they won't become emotionally involved. This is the daily life....death....of a reaper. An un-dead.

Now, that's the premise. Here's why the show is sooo good. You see, being a grim reaper...an un-dead.....is not all fun and games. You see, they still have human form, therefore they have human needs. People gots to eat. Therefore, the reapers must take part-time jobs or have some form of income to exist day-to-day. (Alot of the time, they usually just take stuff from the dead people they've just guided to 'crossing over.')

George is 18 years old, and a very lazy and pouty girl who has no real direction in life. Therefore, the writers of this show are brilliant by giving her a job at Happy Time Temporary Agency. So, that's where this show gets it charm: it's 'X-Files' meets 'Office Space.' Every episdoe you cringe at some of the not-so-nice deaths, but you feel sooo bad for George everytime she's visited by her constantly happy "Getting Things Done" boss, Ms. Herbig (as in: "Her Big Brown Eyes").

There is also an awesome dynamic with George's family. She never got along with her mom and dad, and never even talked to her little sister. After her death, things only got worse. Her weird sister got weirder. Basically, things are really screwed up at home. And there's NOTHING George can do. (When you are a reaper, you have a different physical apperance than your life, so people won't recognize you as the person you were. So, when George goes home, she's basically a stranger.) George realizes what she had when she was alive, and desperatly wants some way to communicate with her sister, and regrets only being 18 years old and never really living.

Both flipping hilarious and equally heart-touching, "Dead Like Me" is one of my new favorites. I only hope season 2 is over soon so it will be out on DVD.