Reaper

[BlasterBoy]

For the first 20 years of his life, Sam (Bret Harrison, "The Loop," "Grounded for Life") wondered why his parents went so easy on him. Whether it was school, sports or career choices, Sam's mom (Allison Hossack, "Falcon Beach") and dad (Andrew Airlie, "The L Word") always let him get by with the least possible effort. As a result, Sam skipped college, took a dead-end job at the local Work Bench home improvement store and now wastes endless hours playing video games. Everything in his slacker world changed the day Sam turned 21 and discovered the ungodly reason his parents let him slide: they sold his soul to the devil before he was even born.

So, what did you all think?

I walked into it wanting to hate it. It looked like a stupid rip-off of Supernatural....but, I loved it I thought it was very funny!

I'm kinda surprised that the third guy survived and stayed in it. This show seems very those two character heavy, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out. The drama is actually very nice, even though there is only a little of it. I loved the scene between him and his mom, saying that his debt was payed.

I really loved the scene that explained the ham prize Probably my favorite!

Manager: The prize will be a huge ham!!

Worker: I'm jewish, you jerk!

Manager: Or a gift card.



I'm gonna keep with this show, see how it turns out.

[Ehlwyen]

I wanted to like this, but I can't. I love silly and dry and completely unPC humor. However pretty much everything felt fell flat or was too blunt to be slicing wit in the vein characteristic of Kevin Smith or the Simpsons.

Why, oh god, why?!! Why did his soul have to be sold for something as mundane and Lifetime-movie-of-the-week sappy as saving his mother's life?

Going into the show I hoped for someting utterly absurd like pot to show how stupid impulsive decisions we make in our youth actually do affect ours and our loved ones future. Truely, selling a soul for something as simple as a doughnut like Homer Simpson would have been the pinnacle in absurdity. And speaking of the Simpsons, is it just me or did their friend (who lost his eyebrows later) word for word rip off Lisa Simpsons own view on how a soul cannot be sold?

I felt everything was bluntly over the top trying to say "Hey look at me! I'm sly and witty" rather than leaving it to the background where it would be sly and hilarious. Prime example was Socks wrapping his hand in duct tape. I couldn't even hear the conversation at the forefront because the winding duct tape noise was so loud. It's the quiet normalacy followed by the unexpected surprise that leads to hilarity.

In addition, stupid people doing stupid stuff isn't nearly as funny as people who should know better doing it. I've unexpectedly burst through a closed door many a time to find my sister the attorney wrapped up in scotch tape with a guilty look. Now that's funny. As well as the best thing he could come up with was tape hand? Seriously, I've had a Scotch tape Dean Winchester sitting at my desk for well over a year complete with bowlegs and gun. ( ) Or this one person who made an entire city out of masking tape. That's bad ass! Tape hand is pretty basic and standard tape recreation.

For me the entire episode was too blunt, obvious, and overly proud of itself in its humor. Considering that this was the only episode Kevin Smith has been involved in, I don't have much hope for it getting better.

I'm utterly baffled at the critics who cry how witty this is. Though the ones that mention that Sam's soul was sold to save his Dad's life seem to insinuate less than genuine reviews.

[Jenni Lou]

Ouch, Lyn! I am actually watching right now and have about 7 or so minutes left. I'm not hating it but there are better things out there. I don't feel like going into an all out review since I have to retire to bed because I have a commitment in the morning--not that anyone cares--but I have to say that I think Ray Wise is fantastic. The rest of the pilot is mediocre but I am finding him superbly cast!

[little albatross]

Ouch, Lyn!

LMAO Seriously, though. Ouch, Lyn. But I see your point. It feels like it was trying to be ridiculously ridiculous, and trying to have a heart at the same time. But still...I, on the other, hand enjoyed it. (Hi, I'm J.j. and I'll watch almost anything if it makes me laugh a little.) It wasn't the best thing I've seen, but I didn't think it was completely horrible. It entertained me for a while. And I really wasn't expecting it to be anything like SN, because well...Whatever, I love Bret Harrison and thinks he rocks, but nobody in their right mind would cast him as your Dean knockoff. I can't really draw many SN comparisons, mainly due to the fact that I only watch SN when I get a chance. And I haven't even done my season 2 catch up yet. *shrugs*

There were parts I loved. Like, I'm (maybe too) easily entertained by a bunch of dogs running around. Or a bunch of doggies in general. And the part where he

Why, oh god, why?!! Why did his soul have to be sold for something as mundane and Lifetime-movie-of-the-week sappy as saving his mother's life?

Actually, I thought that too! I love lame, but my god, that's just mushy and gooey and ick. Cheesy, corny, stupid I could deal with (and sometimes even love it). But mushy is walking a fine line. I would rather it was for something selfish or impulsive. Not something that actually matters (like a human life). It's like they're forcing the dramatic aspect, without actually showing us that huge emotional event. Something stupid, something that Sam (and we, the viewers) wouldn't be as able to sympathize with, would have just made the situation so much more absurd...in a good way, I think. In the bounty hunter biz, the heavy drama stuff would come more naturally anyway (like Ben getting injured while their trying to catch Arson Guy).

I agree with Jenni Lou about Ray Wise. Totally entertaining as the Devil. (That's so wrong. ) That ice rink scene with the guy and the zamboni totally had me thinking Dead Like Me, though :/

I never watched the original pilot, but apparently there was this whole thing about Nikki Reed being replaced by Missy Peregrym. It makes sense as to why fans were angry. I really didn't like her on Heroes (Candice could have been so much more awesome...), and she was pretty dull on this show.

In addition, stupid people doing stupid stuff isn't nearly as funny as people who should know better doing it.

True. But stupid people still do stupid stuff anyway...It's not as satisfying, but I'll take what I can get.

For me the entire episode was too blunt, obvious, and overly proud of itself in its humor. Considering that this was the only episode Kevin Smith has been involved in, I don't have much hope for it getting better.

I don't know. It could have been a lot better. I enjoyed it. Enough to keep watching it. Maybe it was Kevin Smith who was full of himself and it rubbed off on the show. (And I'm saying this as a Kevin Smith fan.) And even though I've seen plenty of kickass pilots, I still don't have high expectations for them because so much can change in a matter of episodes.

I feel like I'm taking both sides here. I'm trying to say I'm just accepting the show for what it is so far, and overall I didn't hate it. I think it has growth potential. To be honest, I only got REALLY into The Office a few months ago because I gave it another chance. I didn't like it too much when it first premiered and was only a casual viewer after that, and now, it's pretty much all I talk about. A bit off topic, but I think it could be a similar situation.

[Ehlwyen]

LMAO Seriously, though. Ouch, Lyn. But I see your point. It feels like it was trying to be ridiculously ridiculous, and trying to have a heart at the same time. But still...I, on the other, hand enjoyed it. (Hi, I'm J.j. and I'll watch almost anything if it makes me laugh a little.) It wasn't the best thing I've seen, but I didn't think it was completely horrible. It entertained me for a while. And I really wasn't expecting it to be anything like SN, because well...Whatever, I love Bret Harrison and thinks he rocks, but nobody in their right mind would cast him as your Dean knockoff. I can't really draw many SN comparisons, mainly due to the fact that I only watch SN when I get a chance. And I haven't even done my season 2 catch up yet. *shrugs*

Real quick since I need to get to bed. I'll say more later.

It's not that the show is being paraded around as a new and improved SN. That's besides the point since magazine and internet articles are all just opinions anyway.

I watched Reaper hoping to find a random screwball comedy. Not to try to compare it to SN. In fact the show has nothing in common with SN.

Most importantly, I've always loved Tyler Labine which was the main reason I tried Reaper. He's always been adorably cute, geeky, and hilarious in delivery. ( ) But for once, I didn't even find Labine funny or endearing here. And boy I want to, I watched all of Invasion mostly for his brief appearances.

I don't know Bret Harrison (though he was in the OC once and not funny then either). And I completely believe already liking a lead greatly helps engage a viewer. And Missy Peregrym was not interesting on Heroes or here. She seemed so stock a female character rather than someone interesting or one to aspire to be.

I'm like you jj, I'll shamelessly try most things. And I'm not afraid to laugh at stupid or gross things. You shouldn't feel embarrassed to say you like it. But I felt like most lines missed their comedic timing or were just too obvious or archaic a joke to surprise me into laughing.

[galathea]

I have to say I am mostly with Lyn on this. I watched the Pilot because I liked the premise but possibly more so because I was curious for various reasons: a) the Reaper producers deliberately tried to mock SN when they first went public, which didn't sit well with me for obvious reasons b) the CW advertised the hell out of the show, while they tend to neglect SN constantly in that regard and c) I am a huge Kevin Smith fan and wanted to see what he made out of the theme.

First off, I have no clue how anybody comes to compare this to SN, since they have nothing in common, apart from the protagonists names. If anything Reaper leans more towards 'Wonderfalls' and 'Dead Like Me', but without coming anywhere near the wittiness of those shows or their charmingly grumpy lead characters. I think what annoyed me most was that they couldn't really decide if they wanted to be a drama or a comedy and hence lacked in both departments. The dramatic elements had no emotional background and hence fell flat and the comedic elements were over the top. Mind you, I have to say that I am no fan of slapstick of any kind, so the humor is wasted on me mostly, I don't find a guy chasing dogs around a supermarket aisle or throwing cans at his co-worker even remotely funny.

The lead character came off as two-dimensional for me, not to mention that I think the actor has no charisma whatsoever LOL. I haven't seen that actor before, so his lack in performance can be a result of the actor feeling the imbalance of the script and hence couldn't decide on how to set out his character, either as funny or as serious. The only character that really stood out as a character with an attitude, was Tyler Labine's character, who was kind of the standard Kevin Smith character.

Talking of Smith, there were some dialogues lines that I could easily identify with Smith, but on the whole, the Pilot missed his absurdedness and his utter lack of political correctness. It was way too tame for Smith's usual hand writing, so I am under the impression that they brought a big name in to get the show off, but also created false expectations with that amongst the audience. At least I was disappointed by that.

On the positive side was that I think they had some really neat special effects in the 2nd half of the Pilot, but that's not really a hook to draw me into a show. Overall I think that the show was written for a pretty young audience, so maybe I am not in the target group, LOL but I doubt that I am motivated to watch it further. If I had loved the Pilot I maybe would've forgiven the CW's attempts to build this up as a competition to SN, but as it is, I am inclined to just ignore it.

Oh, one thing:

Though the ones that mention that Sam's soul was sold to save his Dad's life seem to insinuate less than genuine reviews.

That's genuine. The copy that was sent out for the press actually had them sell his soul for his Dad's life. The version I saw had that particular detail as well. I am not sure why they changed it in the end!

[Jenni Lou]

I feel like I'm taking both sides here. I'm trying to say I'm just accepting the show for what it is so far, and overall I didn't hate it. I think it has growth potential.

Couldn't have said, er, wrote it better.

If anything Reaper leans more towards 'Wonderfalls' and 'Dead Like Me', but without coming anywhere near the wittiness of those shows or their charmingly grumpy lead characters.

Agreed!

Mind you, I have to say that I am no fan of slapstick of any kind, so the humor is wasted on me mostly, I don't find a guy chasing dogs around a supermarket aisle or throwing cans at his co-worker even remotely funny.

I have to admit, I laughed out loud when he opened the car door and hit that dog at the beginning. And I love dogs. But it did make me giggle.

On the positive side was that I think they had some really neat special effects in the 2nd half of the Pilot,

There really were!

[Nikole]

I thought it was cute. Loved the two leads before this so that could be why I warmed up to it so quickly. I mean it's not the greatest show ever but it entertained me enough for me to keep watching.

[little albatross]

I have to admit, I laughed out loud when he opened the car door and hit that dog at the beginning. And I love dogs. But it did make me giggle.

Ha! I know. If I saw that happen in real life I would probably cry because I LOVE dogs. But I couldn't help laughing at that for some reason

I don't know Bret Harrison (though he was in the OC once and not funny then either).

To be fair, wasn't he supposed to be not funny then? Just joking, just joking...But I loved him when he was on Grounded for Life (one of those FOX-cancelled shows *grumbles*, but this one ended up getting picked up by the WB and now they rerun it on cable) and The Loop (which *surprise* was also cancelled on FOX)...and he was in Orange County, but that was a smaller role, so...yeah

It's not that the show is being paraded around as a new and improved SN. That's besides the point since magazine and internet articles are all just opinions anyway.

I watched Reaper hoping to find a random screwball comedy. Not to try to compare it to SN. In fact the show has nothing in common with SN.

I hope I didn't give you the impression that I thought you were biased in any way about SN. If fact, I didn't even get that the commercials were mocking SN in any way. I mentioned the show more in response to what Ben said. Because like Chris said, I would have thought more along the lines of Dead Like Me if I was comparing it to any show.

[Wolfie Gilmore]

I really enjoyed it! I'm partly biased by my love of the idea of Laura Palmer's dad...who is also BOB!!!! being the devil. Cos...it's Bob!

*Hides under the sofa*

Also found the lead actor charming, liked the light touch, liked the jokes. Yes, it's silly, but sometimes silly's just what I want. Bearded sidekick dude was clearly out of chubby stoner sidekick academy, but still enjoyed him, and, ok, that girl would NEVER fancy that boy (low standards was a lame excuse). But it was charming, imo. Charming and funny. Much like Giles

Ok, nothing like Giles.

[HuffySchwin]

I never really saw this to be rival to SN .. I feel like it's in a different category