Dead Like Me Marathon

"Dead Like Me," does anyone ever watch that show?

To remind my loyal readers, and those just passing by, I don't own a TV. (Yipes!?! No! You lie!) Yes, it's true. I once bought one for the simple "white noise" it produced when I was a grad student living in the most "interesting" part of Menlo Park (the kids used to call it "east" Menlo Park. It was so sad and pathetic that I needed company in the form of Star Trek TNG & The Simpsons episodes (which seemed to ALWAYS be on--this was the time of syndication and on Network TV too!).

Fact was, once I moved onto my sailboat, a TV just had no place. I think my friend Mikey might still have that TV, unless it's bitten the dust. Believe it or not, after a while, it's easy to live without said electronic equipment...but the Network execs would put a hit out on me if they knew I was telling you this, so shhhhh. All I ever liked watching were old syndicated shows anyway...Enter the latest cable trend: complete seasons on DVD.

I'm no alien! Just cuz there's no television in my life doesn't mean there's no way to watch movies and such. I may complain day and night (recently) about my little lappy, however, when it will give me sound, it is perfect for playing DVD's.

Now, add this fact to my free access to movies (Placer county does not charge you money to check out movies everyone!) and I'm home free. One of the many perks of working slave labor at a library is that you can be the absolute first to check out a DVD (unless someone put a hold on it long ago and far away), and that's what happened with this series. I guess I couldn't resist the grim reaper blowing bubble gum bubbles on the cover.

What with this video burning a hole in my lappy's DVD drive and my sinuses deciding to get me one more time before leaving the mountains, I sat and watched, for HOURS. Well, until my sinus headache became so bad that I had to take the heavy duty pain killers...and almost tossed them and my dinner, the pain was so bad. (I hate this whole sinus issue. In Hawai'i it was the volcano and its ash and such. Here it's the dryness that's not being my friend. I wonder what Seattle will bring me.) As Andy says he's googling to see if I mention his name, I sucked Andy into watching most of the pilot episode and ANDY and I watched all of the 14 season 1 episodes together.

It certainly has given us much to talk about. For those who don't know. the premise is this: an 18-yr old gets killed in a "violent" way and becomes a "reaper;" an "undead" who has no special powers except for that "culling of souls" thing. She assumes a fake identity (and face for those who are alive who see her) and must pursue her new role as well as try to make money to "live" her "undead" life until she's reaped enough souls of people who have also (or will also) succumb to violent deaths to "go on" to her own afterlife. Yeah, that's Showtime for you :). But I think it works.

Mandy Patinkin (Inigo Montoya of "The Princess Bride") plays "Rube." The boss of the motley crew that work the...ha, get this...WASHINGTON region. Or so I'm guessing. The pilot episode is the only one that mentions that the kid's father is a professor at the "U of Dub" which I took to mean University of Washington. That and all the Tudor-style houses, the boats, the sea shore, the lakes, the fact that they have to take ferries to get to some "appointments." But they don't mention it again during the rest of the season.

Jasmine Guy (you remember her? Whitley from that Cosby Show spin-off "A Different World"?), she plays Roxy, a tough little meter-maid come reaper. I love her character.

The main girl, ummmm, Ellen Muth, is so very cute. She has a lip thing going that you know, you just KNOW was a lisp thing when she was younger. She's perfectly apathetic and then wonderfully dead pan. And I hate saying it cuz I really really hated it when it was told to me, but I think it's almost adorable when she swears!

This is what happens when you watch a season of shows over two nights while under 800 mg Motrin and Sudafed, what can I say? Well, I can say that I'm thankful about the whole "last-season-straight-to-DVD" phenomena. I feel like such a hick, but when did that happen? I mean, I hear that "Lost" is on DVD (KB Library even OWNS that first season but we haven't seen hide nor hair of it as it's making the rounds by the kagillion people who have it on hold) and aren't they network TV? I know I will be an old and gray lady before the Simpsons catch up their DVD thing as they began as syndicated and I'm guessing have to wait until they get the rights back? My little brother has up to season 7 or something, while we're on, what, season 15 or so? TV and entertainment are bizarre concepts that I will probably catch up on again some day. I mean, when I have friends writing for "Cold Case" and that new "telenovela" style soap opera Richard is working on, how can I not?

Oh, that knitting thing...right. Worked on the sock. I'm doing the "heel flap" for what seems like the 7th or 10th time...learning curve, yup, must keep telling myself this, oh yeah. Pictures some day...but no, not today.