Dead Like Me

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Rating 5


Created by Bryan Fuller

Written by Bridget Carpenter (5 episodes), Dan Fesman (3 episodes), Bryan Fuller (2 episodes), Karl Gajdusek (4 episodes), Stephen Godchaux (14 episodes), Paul Lieberstein (1 episodes), Mona Mansour (1 episodes), John Masius (7 episodes), Anna C Miller (1 episodes), Pete Ocko (3 episodes), J J Philbin (2 episodes), Tom Spezialy (1 episode), Ian Thomas (1 episode), Harry Victor (3 episodes), Annie Weismen (4 episodes)

Directed by Sarah Pia Anderson (2 episodes), Steve Beers (2 episodes), Milan Cheyluv (1 episode), Kevin Dowling (2 episodes), Michael Fresco (1 episode), David Grossman (4 episodes), Peter Lauer (4 episodes), James Marshall (1 episode), Robert Duncan McNeill (2 episode), Helen Shaver (1 episode), David Straiton (1 episode), Brad Turner (1 episode), Tony Westman (1 episode), James Whitmore Jr (4 episodes), Scott Winant (1 episode), Jeff Woolnough (1 episode)

Starring Ellen Muth, Mandy Patinkin, Cynthia Stevenson, Jasmine Guy, Callum Blue, Rebecca Gayheart, Laura Harris, Britt McKillip, Christine Willes, Greg Kean and Crystal Dahl


Georgia ‘George’ Lass (Ellen Muth) is a disaffected and cynical 18-year-old who stays on the sidelines, refusing to participate so as to avoid disappointment. When she drops out of college she is forced to look for a job by her mother Joy (brilliantly played by Cynthia Stevenson) and ends up at Happy Time, a temporary employment agency, where she is given a menial office task by Dolores Herbig (Christine Willes). However, when George is killed in a freak accident involving a toilet seat on her first day she becomes a grim reaper, part of a group of five reapers led by Rube Sofer (Mandy Patinkin) responsible for reaping the souls of people killed in accidents and at the hands of others.

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‘Dead Like Me’ was broadcast in the US for two seasons and a total of 29 episodes on the Showtime subscription television channel between 27 June 2003 and 31 October 2004. It was created by Bryan Fuller, who had previously been a writer on ‘Star Trek Deep Space Nine’ and ‘Star Trek Voyager’. He went on to create the short-lived ‘Wonderfalls’ (in collaboration with Todd Holland) and ‘Pushing Daisies’, as well as working as a consulting producer and writer during the first season of ‘Heroes’. Fuller wrote the first two episodes of ‘Dead Like Me’, but left after five episodes due to conflicts with MGM Television, the company that produced the show. He described the period as “the worst experience of my life,” although he continued to receive a credit as a consultant. The creative direction was subsequently dictated by John Masius (the show’s executive producer) and Stephen Godchaux, its most prolific writer.

The show is brilliantly executed, from the memorable opening credits onwards. It takes the simple premise of life explored through death (George does not really begin to live until she is dead) and produces a near-perfect mix of black comedy and poignant drama, set against a supernatural theme. It follows George’s journey as she slowly begins to understand what life really means; both through her reminiscences about her parents and younger sister and through her relationship with the people she meets in death, including the two people who become almost surrogate parents to her, Rube and Dolores. Even in death, George is required to deal with the mundane matters of life and in the guise of “Millie” she once again ends up working at Happy Time.

The standard of writing throughout is extremely high and the cast is superb, bringing life to several memorable characters. Rebecca Gayheart was cast as one of the original reapers, the 1920s flapper Betty Rohmer. However, Betty was written out the show after five episodes and Gayheart was replaced by the actress Laura Harris, playing Daisy Adair, a would-be Hollywood starlet who claims to have died in a fire on the set of ‘Gone With The Wind’ in 1938. I don’t know the reason why Gayheart left the show, although I guess it could have been connected to the departure of Bryan Fuller. She did have, at that time, seemingly, a rather chaotic life and in 2002 had been dropped from the main cast of the television series ‘Firefly’ after just one day of filming. She was replaced on that occasion by Morena Baccarin. Fans of that show would not agree with me, but I think it would have benefited greatly from the presence of Gayheart, who would surely have given us something more spirited than Baccarin’s depressingly bland performance.

I like Rebecca Gayheart a lot and also like the character Betty, so her early departure was initially disappointing. However, Daisy Adair proved to be one of the show’s great characters. I was previously aware of Laura Harris from the Robert Rodriguez film ‘The Faculty’ and from an episode of ‘The X Files’. Her performance here is outstanding, as we slowly learn more about the very sad and poignant nature of her character, which she carefully hides beneath a brazen and self-absorbed exterior.

This is just one of several really outstanding performances. The character I found perhaps most interesting is Joy Lass, George’s mother, played by Cynthia Stevenson, who once again is not what she seems on the surface. Dolores Herbig is also worthy of mention; George’s seemingly annoying manager at work who proves to be very kind-hearted and acts as a mentor/mother figure to her. Dolores is played by Christine Willes, who has subsequently featured in a recurring role in the television series ‘Reaper’. The actor and singer Mandy Patinkin is always very watchable and Rube Sofer is another particularly noteworthy character, his relationship with George and the other reapers being one of the many joys to had watching the series.

The show’s most overtly comic character is the constantly hapless Mason (Callum Blue), a 1960s alcohol and drug addicted drop-out who killed himself drilling a hole in his skull in search of the ultimate high.

There is a notable shift in emphasis between the first and second seasons. Season one is more comedy-attuned and irreverent, whereas season two begins to delve more deeply into the lives of the various characters, for example exploring the relationship between Joy Lass and her daughter Reggie (Britt McKillip), George’s younger sister. As a result, I think, having watched the series in its entirety three times, it’s a more interesting season, as much as I like the first one. It contains several memorable and heartrending moments, such as the scene in the episode ‘Rites of Passage’ when George’s free-spirited grandmother Phyllis (beautifully played by Barbara Barrie) holds a small framed photograph of her grand-daughter up to her chest, tears in her eyes, or in ‘Always’ when Rube sings a lullaby to his daughter Rosie, now a elderly woman, in the final moments of her life. There are also scenes that leave a powerful impression, such as one in the episode ‘Be Still My Heart’ that sees Daisy crouching down, terrified, in a hotel room closet while the young woman whose soul she has come to reap is brutally strangled by her married lover.

The second season is also notable for an appearance in three episodes by Eric McCormack, playing a distinctly unpleasant character quite unlike his signature role in the long-running sitcom ‘Will and Grace’. I should not, of course, forget to mention Ellen Muth, who is perfectly cast in the lead role as George Lass, although I can never quite get over how scarily skinny she is. Muth, who apparently has an unusually high IQ and is a member of both Mensa and Intertel, made her acting debut in the 1995 film ‘Dolores Claiborne’ when she was 14-years-old, receiving many positive reviews for her performance.

My only criticisms of the series are two very minor quibbles. In ‘Reaping Havoc’, the fifth episode of the first season, an Irishman who dies goes into the light when he sees the white cliffs of Dover, which are to be found on the south coast of England and would have no emotional pull whatsoever for someone from Ireland. The storyline required cliffs, but this is cringe-worthy. In ‘A Cook’, the eighth episode of season one, Mandy Patinkin adopts a Scottish accent that is so awful it is embarrassing, worse even than the typically dreadful Irish accents that so many American actors seem to feel the need to adopt at least once in their acting careers.

Accurate data about viewing figures for the show are not available. It has been claimed that it was watched by an audience three times the Showtime primetime average; although there is no evidence I know of to back this up. Whatever the truth, Showtime decided not to commission a third season. However, a direct-to-DVD film version was released in the US in February 2009. It was written by John Masius and Stephen Godchaux and reunited several of the cast from the television series, although Mandy Patinkin, Laura Harris and Greg Kean, who played George’s father, Clancy, are absent. The film was directed by Stephen Herek, whose previous films include ‘Critters’, ‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ and the live-action version of ‘101 Dalmatians’.

Review posted 21 March 2009



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Wonderfalls

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Created by Bryan Fuller and Todd Holland

Written by Bryan Fuller, Todd Holland, Tim Minear, Liz W Garcia, Krista Vernoff and others

Starring Caroline Dhavernas, Tracie Thoms, Tyron Leitso, Katie Finneran, Lee Pace, Diana Scarwid, William Sadler, Neil Grayston, Jewel Staite and Kari Matchett


“Just look at them. They all work really hard every day and they’re dissatisfied. I mean, I can be dissatisfied without hardly working at all.”

Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas) is a highly intelligent graduate of Brown University whose cynical view of life leads her to choose a path of least expectation, taking a dead end job in a souvenir shop next to Niagara Falls. While her older siblings Sharon (Katie Finneran) and Aaron (Lee Pace) still live at home, Jaye chooses to live in a trailer park, away from her parents. Her best friend Mahandra McGinty (Tracie Thoms) works in a local restaurant, and Eric Gotts (Tyron Leitso), who she falls in love with, ends up working behind the bar when his new marriage to Heidi (Jewel Staite) crumbles during their honeymoon. Jaye’s life become complicated and begins to take unexpected turns when inanimate objects start giving her instructions to help people around her, often people she doesn’t know or doesn’t like.

The basic premise of ‘Wonderfalls’ is noticeably similar to the slightly earlier and superior ‘Joan of Arcadia’, although without the religious overtone (Joan’s instructions come directly from God, while here there is no hint of divine intervention). There were even plans, had the show survived, to have Jaye sent for psychiatric evaluation and be diagnosed as suffering from “Joan of Arc Syndrome”, something explored in ‘Joan of Arcadia’ at the end of the first season.

‘Wonderfalls’ premiered on the Fox network in America on 12 March 2004, although it was originally intended to have premiered much earlier, at the start of the “fall” season in 2003. It survived for just four episodes before being cancelled by a network that seemed to be particularly trigger-happy at that time, although it does seem that the nature of American television means that most shows are condemned to an early death. A total of 13 episodes had been made and these were released on DVD in 2005.

Bryan Fuller, who co-created the show, first made a breakthrough writing episodes of ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ and ‘Star Trek: Voyager’. He had previously created the acclaimed ‘Dead Like Me’, a show that ran for two seasons on Showtime before being cancelled. Todd Holland was previously associated with shows like ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ and ‘The Larry Sanders Show’. Tim Minear, the third executive producer, but not one of the creators of the show, had previously worked with Joss Whedon on ‘Angel’ and ‘Firefly’ – but not on Whedon’s signature show, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’.

‘Wonderfalls’ is not as good as the wonderful ‘Dead Like Me’ and, as I have already mentioned, I do not think it is as good as ‘Joan of Arcadia’. I enjoyed watching it very much and I will watch it again, but it never quite managed to grip me the same way as my favourite American television shows of recent years, be it something like ‘Buffy’ or ‘Point Pleasant’. Equally, I am not sure I enjoyed it as much as shows like ‘Cold Case’, which I am happy to catch as and when, without becoming dedicated to watching them come what may.

The cast is very good. Some of the actors I was already familiar with, others were new to me. I had not previously come across the French-Canadian actress Caroline Dhavernas. Her performance is interesting. Jaye is a slightly brittle character, not particularly sympathetic, and Dhavernas certainly doesn’t seem to be doing anything to add warmth to her. In fact, the Tyler family in general, including the parents, Karin (Diana Scarwid) and Darrin (William Sadler), are not especially likeable, although I am rather fond of the constantly neurotic and put-upon Sharon, the lesbian lawyer older sister.

Most of the episodes are very good, although I don’t recall any that were exceptional – episodes that really stood out and made me take notice. On the other hand, one, ‘Totem Mole’, the penultimate episode, was noticeably disappointing. Despite some nice touches, I thought it was very trite. It was also one of the episodes that reminded me most of ‘Northern Exposure’, a show that ‘Wonderfalls’ in general put me in mind of.

Although it may not seem to be of any great importance, the most disappointing thing about ‘Wonderfalls’ proved to be the various objects that talked to Jaye. They had a purpose and I suppose they fulfilled that purpose, but there was nothing appealing or interesting about any of them. Instead of drawing me into the fantasy aspect of the show, they did the exact opposite, pulling me out of the story.

In the end, I would recommend the show, with a few minor reservations, to anyone who thinks the premise sounds interesting.

Bryan Fuller later worked on ‘Heroes’ and subsequently created ‘Pushing Daisies’, a show that has gone into a second season as I write this. Lee Pace, who plays Jaye’s brother in ‘Wonderfalls’, has the lead role in this new Bryan Fuller show.



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Pushing Daisies: The First Episode

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Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld

Written by Bryan Fuller

Starring Lee Pace, Anna Friel, Chi McBride, Kristin Chenoweth, Ellen Greene and Swoosie Kurtz : Narrated by Jim Dale


“Some people may mistake all this for some kind of literariness. I think it’s just really irritating. And twee. And doesn’t mean anything – puns for puns’ sake, super-speedy so people think it’s clever.”

Sam Wollaston of The Guardian reviewed ‘Pie-lette’, the opening episode of the American series ‘Pushing Daisies’, following its broadcast on ITV1 and he wasn’t impressed. I can see his reasoning for much of what he writes, except that I am obviously in the 5% of “clinically insane” men who are not in love with Anna Friel. However, I enjoyed the episode enormously and now look forward to watching more. Perhaps I have mistaken the failings of the show for “some kind of literariness.”

Lee Pace plays Ned, a pie maker and owner of ‘The Pie Hole’, who has the gift of bringing the dead back to life with a single touch. However, this gift comes with a curse. After one minute another living person must die to redress the balance and if he ever again touches the person he brought back to life that person dies and stays dead this time.

He helps private eye Emerson Cod (an amusing deadpan performance by Chi McBride) solve murder cases where a reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest of the killer. He does so by bringing the victim back to life just long enough to reveal the name of the guilty party.

Everything changes when his childhood crush Charlotte ‘Chuck’ Charles is murdered during an ocean cruise. He brings her back to life, but does not touch her again to end her extra one-minute of life. The premise is now established. Ned and Chuck fall in love, but can never have any physical contact. She finds out about Ned and Emerson’s scheme and becomes a third partner. The first case they investigate is her murder.

Other regular characters introduced include Olive Snook (Kristin Chenoweth, previously seen in ‘The West Wing’), a waitress at The Pie Hole who harbours unrequited love for Ned, and Chuck’s two eccentric cheese-loving aunts Vivian (Ellen Greene) and Lily (Swoosie Kurtz).

‘Pushing Daisies’ was created by Bryan Fuller, who previously created the critically acclaimed ‘Dead Like Me’ and co-created ‘Wonderfalls’. Anyone familiar with either of those shows should already have an idea what to expect here – the three shows share many common themes. Fuller also previously wrote episodes for two Star Trek off-shoots, ‘Voyager’ and ‘Deep Space Nine’, and more recently for ‘Heroes’.

Sam Wollaston correctly identifies visual stylings in ‘Pushing Daisies’ that are reminiscent of Tim Burton. He also references “Amélie kookiness”. He does not make mention of the very obvious influence of ‘Desperate Housewives’, particularly in the use of background music (also reminiscent of ‘Amélie’) and the distinctly arch narration. The narrator here is Jim Dale. Americans know him for the hugely successful ‘Harry Potter’ audio books. I know him as a stalwart of the old ‘Carry On’ films.

‘Pushing Daisies’ has been a success so far in America. The nine episodes completed prior to the WGA writers’ strike averaged a little under 10 million viewers per episode and a second season has been commissioned. Both Lee Pace and Anna Friel were nominated for Golden Globes, as was the show itself.

The only thing I knew about Lee Pace prior to this was that he co-stars with Sarah Michelle Gellar in a film called ‘Possession’ that is due into cinemas later in 2008, although he was also in the aforementioned ‘Wonderfalls’. He is certainly very personable in the opening episode of ‘Pushing Daisies’.

I have not previously been fond of Anna Friel as an actor. I can remember her from the TV soap opera ‘Brookside’ back in the early 1990s. She made a big splash in that, largely because of the “novelty” of a storyline involving lesbianism, but her performances in films like ‘The Land Girls’ and ‘Mad Cow’ niggled with me, as did her television advertisements for various products.

There is no particular reason for this aversion; at least not one I could put my finger on. It is just one of those anomalous things. There is nothing different about her in ‘Pushing Daisies’, apart from an American accent, but instead of being irritated in any way I actually thought she inhabited the role really well. I suspect her character exists on that fine line between engaging and annoying, which is also probably the line I stand on the other side of to Sam Wollaston in relation to the show in general, but time will tell which way she eventually falls.

‘Pie-lette’ was directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, an executive producer on the show. Sonnenfeld is the director of several big screen box-office hits, including ‘The Addams Family’, ‘Get Shorty’ and ‘Men in Black’.

For reasons best known to themselves, ITV have decided to skip episode two and broadcast episode three next. I cannot bring to mind any sensible reason for doing this, but perhaps it is something for further comment on at a later date.


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