Series Description

The Dead Like Me TV show was a 60 minute fantasy series with a comedy twist that aired on Showtime. It was about a female college dropout nicknamed "George" who was generally displeased with her life, bitter about it, and constantly arguing with her mother and friends. Then one day, she got hit in the head by the toilet seat of the Mir Space Station after it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and was killed. She got assigned to be a "grim reaper" and had to collect people's souls right before they die. She attacked her new "life" pretty much with the same grouchy demeanor that she had while alive, constantly arguing with her boss and fellow reapers.

Dead Like Me Cast

Ellen Muth .... Georgia "George" Lass
Laura Harris .... Daisy Adair
Cynthia Stevenson .... Joy Lass
Jasmine Guy .... Roxy Harvey
Callum Blue .... Mason
Mandy Patinkin .... Rube Sofer
Greg Kean .... Clancy Lass
Christine Willes .... Delores Herbig
Britt McKillip .... Reggie Lass
Rebecca Gayheart .... Betty Rhomer (2003)

Dead Like Me Trivia:

Dead Like Me was inspired by the novel, "On A Pale Horse", written by author Piers Anthony. One noteable difference between the book and the series is that the TV show has several grim reapers and the book only had one.

Clancy Lass was originally supposed to be gay, according to Dead Like Me's creator, "Bryan Fuller". The show's producers decided to make him straight after Bryan left the series.

Mandy Patinkin did a great job as "Rube Sofer" on "Dead Like Me" but you might know him better from his roles as "Doctor Jeffrey Geiger" on the series, "Chicago Hope" or as "Jason Gideon" on "Criminal Minds".

Dead Like Me is a perfect example of why many TV pilots are among the best shows of their series. They spent a month filming the 2-hour pilot and only one week filming the 1-hour episodes. Often, the pilot scripts are also among the best too. One thing that can hurt a pilot, however, is that the actors may need several episodes before they "settle into" their roles.

In the first scene of the pilot and occasionally thereafter, there's a mysterious red frog that seemed to either be the very first person to ever die, the very first grim reaper, or possibly both. The frog, by the way, is an Argentinian Horned Frog which does not make a "ribbit" noise in real life like it does on the show.

Ellen Muth is a member of "Mensa". In order to become a member, you must score in the top two percent of the public on a supervised IQ test! There are only 100,000 Mensa members worldwide!

Before being cast in her role as "Celia Bachelor" on the hit series "Men in Trees", Cynthia Stevenson was one of those actors who you recognized but couldn't place where you'd seen her. Besides her role as "Joy Lass" on "Dead Like Me", Cynthia also played the role of "Trisha McKay" on the series "Bob", "Hope Davidson" on "Hope & Gloria", and "Tracy Calloway" on "Oh Baby". And that's not counting dozens of guest-starring appearances on other series and roles in both TV and theatrical movies.