Lists
Welcome to another of my underappreciated gems posts, the ones where I pay tribute to a TV show canceled too soon.
This time, I'm talking about: Reaper.
Reaper was a show on the newly formed CW network from 2007-2009 about Sam Oliver, a guy who finds out his parents sold his soul to the Devil before he was born, and is now, at age 21, forced into being a sort of bounty hunter for him, sending escaped souls back to Hell.
Though an hour-long show, Reaper was very much about the comedy. In fact I would call it more of a comedy than a drama. While Sam (Bret Harrison) was the emotional core of the show and definitely had some moments of angst about his eventually having to go to Hell, his best friends and coworkers Sock (Tyler Labine) and Ben (Rick Gonzalez) were not always helpful layabouts who also know his secret, and attempt to "help" him catch the souls.
The beginning of the first season played a lot more episodic, focusing more on capturing the souls and the hijinks the guys would get into doing that, rather than an underlying substantial arc. The arc slowly evolved as the first season went on, and, as such, gave the show much more intrigue. The characters became people you actually cared about rather than caricatures. An important thing on a television show!
The second season amped up the serialized nature of the story, and made it more about how Sam was trying to get out of his deal and less about the actual capturing of the souls. Though that was still going on, of course. More moral dilemmas were presented for the characters, with more interactions with demons, and what that all meant.
And if you are looking for a love story, never fear. Sam's been pining after Andi (Missy Peregrym) for quite some time, and has to hide his true nature from her for awhile too. The nice thing is that the show didn't drag this out forever, which can become really annoying on other shows that take five seasons before characters get together. Alas, this show didn't have five seasons to do anything like that anyway!
In short, if you like to laugh, you'll like this show. Plus you've got Ray Wise playing the Devil, and you just can't go wrong there. He plays it with a certain panache that makes you like him even when he's doing terrible things. Personally, my favorite character was Ben. Though Sock was the more over the top funny guy, Ben was subtle, and I dug that.
Top episodes:
1x12 - Unseen
1x15 - Coming to Grips
1x18 - Cancun
2x04 - The Favorite
2x09 - No Reaper Left Behind
2x13 - The Devil and Sam Oliver
Best episodes to get you into it:
1x01 - Pilot
1x04 - Magic
1x06 - Leon
The entire series is on Netflix Instant right now, and I can assure you even though it's a few years old, it still made me laugh a lot when I rewatched the whole thing. There are some fun guest stars throughout the series, including Ken Marino, Michael Ian Black and Armie Hammer.
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Lists
Underappreciated Gems: Reaper
This time, I'm talking about: Reaper.
Reaper was a show on the newly formed CW network from 2007-2009 about Sam Oliver, a guy who finds out his parents sold his soul to the Devil before he was born, and is now, at age 21, forced into being a sort of bounty hunter for him, sending escaped souls back to Hell.
 |
| Season 1 cast |
The beginning of the first season played a lot more episodic, focusing more on capturing the souls and the hijinks the guys would get into doing that, rather than an underlying substantial arc. The arc slowly evolved as the first season went on, and, as such, gave the show much more intrigue. The characters became people you actually cared about rather than caricatures. An important thing on a television show!
 |
| Season 2 main cast |
And if you are looking for a love story, never fear. Sam's been pining after Andi (Missy Peregrym) for quite some time, and has to hide his true nature from her for awhile too. The nice thing is that the show didn't drag this out forever, which can become really annoying on other shows that take five seasons before characters get together. Alas, this show didn't have five seasons to do anything like that anyway!
In short, if you like to laugh, you'll like this show. Plus you've got Ray Wise playing the Devil, and you just can't go wrong there. He plays it with a certain panache that makes you like him even when he's doing terrible things. Personally, my favorite character was Ben. Though Sock was the more over the top funny guy, Ben was subtle, and I dug that.
Top episodes:
1x12 - Unseen
1x15 - Coming to Grips
1x18 - Cancun
2x04 - The Favorite
2x09 - No Reaper Left Behind
2x13 - The Devil and Sam Oliver
Best episodes to get you into it:
1x01 - Pilot
1x04 - Magic
1x06 - Leon
The entire series is on Netflix Instant right now, and I can assure you even though it's a few years old, it still made me laugh a lot when I rewatched the whole thing. There are some fun guest stars throughout the series, including Ken Marino, Michael Ian Black and Armie Hammer.
- Underappreciated Gems: Fastlane
Guns in our waistbands like what.You may find this latest addition to my underappreciated gems posts surprising. As in, you may be surprised that I watched it. And liked it so much. That show is Fastlane. The show, starring Peter Facinelli, Tiffani Thiessen...
- Underappreciated Gems: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
I will be the first to admit that this show wasn't perfect. First and foremost, it should've just been called Terminator: The Connor Chronicles. Placing all of the emphasis on Sarah Connor and not also her son John was, in my opinion, a misstep....
- Underappreciated Gems: 10 Things I Hate About You
Instead of featuring another underappreciated one-hour drama, this time around I'm going with a half hour comedy. Which one? Probably one you didn't watch. Duh. 10 Things I Hate About YouAdapting movies into TV shows doesn't really happen...
- Underappreciated Gems: Dark Angel
As I mentioned in my inaugural post on The Invisible Man, I'm starting a new series here about underappreciated shows from television's past. There are, admittedly, a lot to choose from. As I don't have a limitless amount of knowledge on the...
- Underappreciated Gems: The Invisible Man
I'm trying something a little different here today on the ole blog. Usually I limit myself to recaps and reviews of TV shows currently on air. But today I'm going to tell you about a little show that was one of the first that I could be said to...