Dead Like Me (2 seasons, 30 episodes, 2002-2003)

I keep over 100 movies in my Netflix queue and it takes about a year for a selection to go from just added to top of the list.  It takes so long to get to the top that I often forget why I selected something and what appears in my mailbox is a complete surprise.  And so it was with Dead Like Me.  I still have no idea what inspired me to select it but whatever it was, it was a good idea.

Dead Like Me follows the afterlife of George, a morose 19-year-old woman who was killed by debris that fell from the sky after the re-entry burn up of a Russian space station.  The particular piece of debris was a toilet seat.  That pretty much sets the tone for the whole series.

George's afterlife involves a job, believe it or not.  She has to be a Reaper, someone who takes a person's soul at the time of death.  She hates her new job as much as the temp job she had at the time of her death, so her moroseness continued unabated.

George's situation was worse than for most reapers.  She was stationed in the same town she lived in, making it hard to let go of her family, particularly her little sister, Reggie.  Notice a theme with these names?

I devoured Dead Like Me one after the other and couldn't wait for the next disk to arrive.  It only went two seasons on Showtime and qualifies for associate membership in the too-good-for-TV club.  I suspect that the show would've gone down hill had it gone to a third season but we'll never know.  I highly recommend Dead Like Me if you're looking for well written, mature humor.