DISC 1- SEND IN THE CLOWN, THE LEDGER, GHOST STORY, THE SHALLOW END
DISC 2- HURRY, IN ESCROW, RITES OF PASSAGE, THE ESCAPE ARTIST
DISC 3- BE STILL MY HEART, DEATH DEFYING, ASHES TO ASHES, FORGET ME NOT
DISC 4- LAST CALL, ALWAYS, HAUNTED, featurettes, deleted scenes, photo gallery
DEAD LIKE ME is a like a good drink of water. It's dark comedy (with plenty of off-color language) and quirky characters
make this a stand-out series. Too bad Showtime unwisely decided to cancel the show after season 2 and go for more prestige
shows that aren't watched as many people as DEAD LIKE ME. Showtime is trying too hard to be like HBO, but they havd discarded
a gem like DEAD LIKE ME as they try to distance themselves from the mature sci-fi shows they have aired in the past (JEREMIAH,
ODESSEY 5, and TOTAL RECALL 2070).
George (Ellen Muth) is dead and she is a grim repear. She meets with her fellow reapers (all of them are a group of misfits
except Rube) at teh local Waffle house. Being a reaper isn't a free ticket because George has to take a job at Happy Tiem
temp agency (the same job she had before she died at the beginning of season 1). George aka Millie tries to fit in with her
fellow Happy Time employees, but she finds out it isn't all it is cracked up to for someone who never wanted to fit in.
Sometimes interacting with the living has consequences for the reapers. The last scene in ALWAYS leaves me a little
scared of George even though she did something good. Too bad Showtime had to cancel at the end of season 2. One
of my favorite moments is when Mason says to Daisy that George talks to herself in her head and then you have George asking
herself if she does.
VIDEO: 1.78:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)
Excellent video quality with good colors/shadow values. Image sharpness is also good.
AUDIO: English 5.1 Dolby Surround
Subtitles: Close Captioning only, no subtitle tracks
Audio is fine, but I wish they did have an English subtitles track.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
two featurettes are included on disc 4-
DEAD LIKE ME...AGAIN is a promo fluff piece that has interviews with cast and crew about how they love the show, love working
on it, and about the characters. Too bad theye didn't mention anything about where they would go for season 3.
PUTTING LIFE INTO DEATH has more meat as it shows how they did six of the CG effects in the show's second season (love
the Disco Father featurette teh best out of the six).
Also included on disc 4 are a photo gallery and 11 minutes of deleted scenes (nine scenes in total which are all pretty
good). Too bad they didn't recod any audio commentaries for the episodes.
MENU/ PACKAGE ART: Excellent. Very well designed indeed.
FINAL ANALYSIS: DEAD LIKE ME was put to death too soon because season 2 was fantastic. I wish they made
a third season to put on DVD.
this DVD review is (c)8-25-2005 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission (except for excerpts and a link
to the review). Send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com and look for additional content at http://www.livejournal.com/users/enterlinemedia
