"Dead Like Me" Returns!

One of my favorite TV shows of all time, Dead Like Me, was canceled abruptly after only two spectacular seasons on Showtime. (The L Word continues to plummet into mediocrity while this show remained brilliant but whatever!)

For a quick synopsis, the show is about George, a young girl (played by Ellen Bluth), who dies suddenly and becomes a grim reaper. It's about how she deals with death, letting go of her family, and the team of reapers she runs around in the afterlife with. It was funny, dark, dramatic, completely original, and well acted. And one of my favorite shows. So of course it was doomed and Showtime canceled it. Grrr!

Well, good news because Dead Like Me is back in the form of a straight-to-DVD movie. I pray that it doesn't suck. From various postings and rumors on different sites and blogs here's what I was able to find out.:

Good news:

• Ellen Bluth (George), Jasmine Guy (Roxy), and Callum Blue (Mason) are all returning.


• Since two years have passed they are not picking up exactly where they left off but will still wrap up the show by the end of the film.


• They promise to answer all of our questions. (We'll see!)


• If the movie does well, it may return as a series though probably on SciFi, not on Showtime.

Interesting and perhaps bad news:

• Mandy Patinkin was involved with Criminal Minds (since canceled) at the time of the filming so they have written out his character. This is pretty huge as his character, Rube, was the leader of the reapers and almost as important as George.


• Laura Harris is not returning as Daisy since she has a new show and wasn't available. They recast her character instead. I don't really think this is too big a deal but still unfortunate.


• Bryan Fuller*, the creator of the show, is not involved with this film. He left during production of the first season though and I happened to love the second season. It's disheartening though because he left due to creative professional conflicts with Showtime. This could have freed him up to tell the story the way he wanted to. (*whose new show is Pushing Daisies which I am looking forward to especially now that I know he created Dead Like Me. And he created Wonderfalls. Cool.)


• Ellen Bluth has said there is "a new concept" and she hopes fans will stick with it. What new concept? They don't take people's souls anymore? They opened up a roller disco? What does that mean?

All in all, I am THRILLED! Beggars can't be choosers and I gonna have to be happy with what I can get. I loved this show and I'll be delighted to see their (in most cases) familiar faces. I just pray they did a good job and that we'll soon see it back as a TV series.

Now if only they'd wrap up My So-Called Life! :)