A sense of humor about death

I am completely nutso about a show called Dead Like Me. It is a dark (very dark) comedy about Georgia (George) Lass, an 18 year old girl who was hit and killed by a toilet seat dropped from Mir space station. Instead of "moving on" she was chosen to stay behind as a reaper, in her old home town. She is part of a little gang of reapers, and basically her afterlife is all about assignments, paperwork, deadlines, generally the business of taking souls. Oh yeah, then she has a day job as a temp. That's right, even in death you must work to eat and live.

She visits her family, which is falling apart after her death. Her mom and dad divorce, and her little sister knows that George is still around, is obsessed with toilet seats, and is generally having trouble coping, which leads the parents to seek psychiatric help for her.

George's appearance has changed, so she is unrecognizable to the living, and that means she can interact with family without being detected. She takes a job at the temp agency that she worked at for all of a couple hours before her death. She makes a family of the misfits of reapers that she works with. And she has to deal with the moral issues surrounding the taking of souls.

This show is great, a masterpiece. But Showtime (the network it originated from), in its infinite wisdom, pulled the plug after just two seasons. Now the makers are teasing all of us with an upcoming movie, which has had so many canceled opening dates, I am beginning to wonder if it is all a lie. Wouldn't it be great if networks actually saw the value of great shows in time to save them, rather than axing them and pissing off the myriad of fans? Anyway, check it out. Box sets are available, it is playing on Mondays on HD Net, and had run on the CW and SciFi. It is sure to pop up on a network near you. Then you can be one of us, that mourn the death of Dead Like Me.