Dead Like Me: Back?

         Have you ever been crushed by a show’s abrupt ending?  Fans of television have always been deterred from watching new shows, due to the agony of cancellation.  As a television watcher, you have to wonder: if I attach myself to this show, will it be back next season?  Look at the list of series that were cancelled after the 2007-2008 season, some have only been on air for less than a year (not even a full season if you count the writer strike). Its sad to think that if a show doesn’t get enough ratings, no matter how good the concept and storyline is, it won’t last.

Jericho: cancelled after the first season, brought back for a second season by “the power of the fans,” and then cancelled again.  Freaks and Geeks: considered one of the best coming of age high school comedy series, created by Judd Apatow, and cancelled after first season—we still talk about it as one of those prematurely cancelled T.V shows.  My So-called Life: Now a cult hit—it has one of the most visited tribute website, but only aired 19 episodes in 1994/95 season.  Thank god for DVD re-releases! We would miss out on some of the great ones, no matter how short or long the run was. 

Television to movie: this concept is great for all those loyal fans that hoped and prayed for a satisfactory ending for their favorite characters.  Not all shows receive this kind of treatment, but hopefully more will in the future.  Fans would feel less abandoned.  Which brings me to this current news: Dead Like Me is back, not in series form, but as a feature length movie. 

Anybody remember this show? It aired on Showtime for two seasons in 2003 and 2004

 It was one of those dark, intelligent, quirky comedies that always seem so short lived once canceled.  It starred Ellen Muth as 18-year-old Georgia Lass, who was struck and killed by a “toilet seat” falling from the sky, a mishap of the MIR space station.  Maybe it was a statement: Life sometimes throws crap your way? 

Because she was fated to, George gets a reprieve from death and actually takes her rank among the living dead—so-called grim-reapers. A grim-reapers job is to free (reap) the soul of the living from their bodies upon impact of death.  Assigned to the “external influence” division (a division that specializes in death caused by suicide, homicides, and accidents), George learns to cope with her new circumstances and accept her afterlife (which proves to be hard).  George and her family of grim-reapers struggle with a crisis of faith, love, and life’s other unresolved issues—such as families they left behind. 

Even though she lives in her former hometown, George is

 forbidden to revisit her past life.  The family she left behind: Joy (mother), Reggie (sister), and Clancy (father), all struggle with George’s death—all three in different ways.  Because of her borderline-pathological way of grieving (i.e. steeling toilet seats from the neighbors), Reggie is placed in therapy.  Her mother Joy, with a repressed state of depression, lives in a world of denial and Clancy’s withdrawn and isolated state leads to the deterioration of their marriage. 

This was a great show that asked many life and death questions and was never afraid to be blunt about the answers (watch it and you’ll know what I mean). I look forward to the movie release, but I have to wonder, as a movie, will it live up to the series?

 How do you feel about series cancellation? And should more shows be turned into movies? And if so, which series?     

-Caylee So