Our Tivo has a new friend on Tuesday nights. He's a Reaper.
Most shows that even get a shot at getting season passes disappear quickly with a swift remote delete. Reaper, on The CW, may yet be the sole new show to break through that iron wall this year.
I set it to tape after reading some rave reviews around the net, but knew I might have an issue with Kevin Smith's directing the pilot. I was right about that. The concept is clever and humorous, but the characters spent that first hour talking and talking and talking. It drives me nuts in his movies too.
I was on the ropes, about to send Reaper back to the net.
Thankfully Kevin Smith set up fertile ground for others to breed great new television. This is one of the best new shows on TV.
Brett Harrison, as Sam is pitch perfect as a loser who works at that home supply store and due to some events beyond his control now hunts escaped souls for the Devil. Sam Wise's satan is a clever combination of hellfiend and professional mentor.
The friends are one-notes for now: The Jack Black wanna-be dude, the ethnic dude that's there to get hurt it seems, Sam's crush interest, the random lawyer who randomly shows up with key pieces of evidence and Sam's darn-we-sold-ya-to-the-devil family. I'm sure we'll get more out of them over time, but at least for now they're generally likable friends for our antihero.
The whole absurdity of the premise is what drives it. It's smart enough to take itself not too seriously. Sam's weapon so far, to bring down the spawns of evil? A Dirt Devil and a remote controlled truck.
Give it a whirl. If you don't like what you see, you can, of course, drop whats left off at the Department of Motor Vehicles (otherwise known as Hell on Earth).
This is a warped fun drive that I'm hooked on now.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I can choose to randomly remove comments on here at will, with no explanation.