If the idea of a guy getting crushed by a Zamboni andleaving a blood-and-gore trail across a skating rink doesn’t make you chuckle,then you probably didn’t watch last night’s series premiere of The CW’s Reaper,the first freshman fall series to score a "series recording"designation on my DVR. (Much to my shock, this means my favorite new sitcom,Aliens in America, and now my favorite new hour-long show both reside on — dun, dun, dun — The CW. Who’dve thunk?)
In her A- review of Reaper in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, TV critic Gillian Flynn pretty much summed up my feelingsabout the show’s terrific cast, noting that sidekick Tyler Labine defies his"manic Jack Black sidekick role" by "actually being someoneyou’d want to hang out with," and calling series lead Bret Harrison (pictured, left, with Labine)"perfectly endearing" as Sam, who thanks to his parents’ deal withthe Devil, is forced to become a bounty hunter in pursuit of the escapedresidents of Hell. Indeed, Harrison, with his perpetually downturned mouth andsleepy, puppy-dog eyes, puts a fetching face on modern slacker-dom, scoring biglaughs almost every time he opens his mouth and decries his unexpected fate.(Sample rant: "I got chased by a pack of dogs. I moved an air conditionerwith my mind. Oh, and the Devil tried to carjack me. So overall, not a greatday.") The rest of Sam’s crew is terrific, too; I especially loved how Ben(Rick Gonzalez) responded to Sam’s "punch me in the face right now"request by giving him a comforting pat on the back. And even the show’sseemingly throwaway moments — the Devil (a hilarious Ray Wise) flirtatiouslynodding to a female shopper at Sam’s Home Depot-esque place of employment,demons being transported back to Hell via a pneumatic tube at the DMV — areall plotted and filmed with the kind of zest and cleverness that’s absent fromso many network series these days.
Anyhow, if you missed Reaper last night — I urge you tocatch The CW’s encore airing on Thursday night at 9 pm EDT. And if you’ve alreadyseen it, share your first impressions with your fellow PopWatchers in thecomments section below.
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I laughed out loud numerous times while watching this show. I know it’s being compared to Chuck, but I think I liked Reaper a whole lot more.
Michael, I couldn’t agree with you more! I *LOVE* this show! I thought it was hilarious. I thought that Bret Harrison and Tyler Labine had great chemistry together. The rest of the characters were also well cast. LOVED seeing “Delores Herbig” as the demon at the DMV. Fitting, since the tone of the show reminds me a lot of Dead Like Me. Great show. Can’t wait for next week.
Loved it! Hopefully since it’s on the CW, it’ll last long, even if the ratings aren’t great. I especially enjoyed the Dirt Devil bit recharging.
This show is so good that I can’t find anything wrong with it. Harrison and Wise were awesome, and I got a kick from seeing Dolores “Her Big Brown Eyes” Herbig with horns at the DMV. Tres hilarious!
Slezak – dang you! I was trying to avoid Reaper as i’m boycotting the cw (RIP VM), AND my Tivo is so overloaded i’m afraid it’s going to blow a gasket, AND i think the premise is just sooo silly! But great now that you LOVE it i will have to try it, dang you dang you
I LOVED it! My boyfriend and I watched Chuck and were not entirely impressed – but Reaper was fantastic. Kevin Smith did a great job directing it. Definitely a TiVo Season Pass entry.
Are you kidding me? The scene where the jerk sidekick opens his car door into a little dog leaping at his window is SICK and NOT FUNNY. I will never watch this show again. I can’t believe people aren’t outraged by that scene. Not only was it pointless and cruel but you could hear yelping sounds long after the thud, as if an animal in pain is somehow funny or acceptable.
Great first outing. Now the test will be how the show does without the guiding hand of slacker king Kevin Smith. If it can continue the mood of last night’s show, then I have a show worth watching again on the former WB/UPN (RIP Buffy).
I read about the comparisons between Reaper and Chuck. After seeing both shows, I thought Reaper was much better. I’m much more likely to tune in to Reaper for the rest of the season.
i loved the first episode. This is now one of my favorite show that i will not miss one single episode.
loved it, which kind of surprised me, since i didn’t feel other new shows lived up to their hype (no names mentioned). and dirt devil…brilliant!
This show was awesome, hooked right from Beck’s “Devil’s Haircut” at the beginning.
I was very happily surprised by how much I liked it. Better than Chuck (although I liked that alright, too), and it doesn’t compete with anything else I’m dying to watch, so I’ll probably watch it every week.
I liked it, and think it shows great promise. I’ve been afan of Bret Harrison since “The Loop,” in which he coincidentally also played a character named Sam.
I thought it was hysterical. I only caught the first half b/c I had to switch over to watch Boston Legal (yes i realize i need to get DVR) but i’m glad to hear it will be replayed tomorrow night! This show is worth catching.
Chuck had its moments and the last 20 minutes made my decision to watch episode #2 much easier but Reaper blows it and every other new show so far this season out of the water. If the writing continues to be as good as the pilot then I dont think they would need Kevin Smith to direct every episode. If any show has to take over Veronica Mars timeslot then I’m glad its a quality one like reaper.
I rarely laugh out loud at TV…just usually at The Office. But I was cracking up last night at Reaper!! LOVED the show. It also scored a “season pass” on my Tivo last night only a few minutes in.
What a great pilot episode! Definitely my favorite new show of the season so far.
I was surprised that I enjoyed this one. It’s actually cute, funny and smart. If it continues w/ the same quality, I hope it sticks around for a while.
Here here! It’s rare that a pilot episode can be so great to make me want to keep watching (although I think I thought the same of the Friends pilot). I wasn’t even going to watch it until I read Gillian’s review here on EW.com. I’m excited to catch this every week!
I loved this show! It was funny, sweet with great characters. I hope that it is just as good with in the non-Kevin Smith directed epsiodes. I liked Chuck but this is way better. It is definitely must watch tv in my book. Its amazing to me that The CW keeps getting quality shows like this one, VM and Buffy and then they inevitably drop it a few years later. It makes me wonder just how much I should invest into this show since it will probably get treated just as shabbily as aforementioned shows.
MKS, so glad you caught that the DMV clerk was Dolores from Dead Like Me! I can only hope they make her a recurring character, we need her back on the small screen.
P.S. I just saw that a straight-to-DVD film version of Dead Like Me is in production…without Mandy Patinkin or Laura Harris. Outlook not good.
Hilarious! Not on my list of must see, just stumbled onto it, but found it a hoot. I will be watching again for sure.
Slezak, are you crazy??? I am sure I will DVR Reaper, but don’t go around telling people to watch the encore showing. It’s on at the same time as The Office!!!
Guess I am in the minority. I watched and while there were good parts for sure, overall it felt a bit dull and certainly didn’t feel like an hour was needed. Also, the lead is deathly dull.
Great Show, it definitely is in the mold of serenity, buffy, etc… I can see them doing a lot with the characters in the future.
I LOVED it, and I’m an old lady! I have liked Tyler Labine since his X-Files stoner dude. I liked Chuck, too, but I think this is my favorite of the two.
It was similar to Chuck in style and stuff, but I thought it was better. Word up.
I thought it was “meh”. if there’s nothing else on, I may not channel surf past it, but it’s not on my must watch list. guess I’ll have to avoid the rest of the EW Picks, if this is the best out there.
Loved it, and thank you to Gillian Flynn, otherwise I would have missed it (CW is just not on my radar. For no good or rational reason, I’m an NBC devotee). Between this, Chuck, and Heroes, my inner sci-fi fangirl is totally gleeful! And it’s only midweek! IF BW is good tonight, I’m going to be a goner.