Once you’ve written about the pilot twice, there’s really no need for you to talk about it yourself, wouldn’t you agree? But if you happened to catch the first episode of “Reaper,” I’d be very curious to hear your thoughts and see if you enjoyed it as much as I did…or if you didn’t.
So we got our hands on a copy of the revised pilot for “Reaper,” and the DVD box now features a tagline for the show:
“Meet Satan’s biggest tools.”
Ugh. God love The CW for picking up this great series, but, wow, that’s awful. I mean, seriously, it’s pretty awful. The only thing vaguely funny about it is that it reminds us that, at one point during the pilot, The Devil (Ray Wise), sees the soul Sam’s supposed to return to Hell and says, “Oh, gag! Look at that tool! Would you capture him already?”
That moment is funny. The tagline itself is not.
Okay, back to the revised pilot.
As you may or may not have read in our previous entries about the show, the role of Andi, Sam’s co-worker who he’s been crushing hard on for quite some time, has been taken away from Nikki Reed, star and co-writer of the film “Thirteen,” and given instead to Missy Perigrym, best known to fans of “Heroes” as Candice Wilmer, the shape-shifting associate of Noah “H.R.G.” Bennet. Since I am a fan of “Heroes,” that might be why, when Perigrym first appeared on the screen in “Reaper,” I found it almost impossible to buy her as the nice, sweet, and sympathetic girl that Sam’s been falling for. Fortunately, however, as the show progresses, it gradually becomes a bit easier to accept her in the role…and, besides, however I might feel about her being in the cast, it’s clear that The CW is banking on her recognizability, since they’ve pointedly placed her visage on the cover of this promo DVD, right along with co-stars Bret Harrison and Tyler Labine. (Why Wise isn’t front and center, however, is a little inexplicable.) Otherwise, however, this revised pilot for “Reaper” looks and feels just as fantastic as it did before, packed with action, comedy, drama, and plenty of special effects. And, to be fair, it’s likely that most viewers will readily accept Perigrym in the role of Andi without question; I’m probably just partial because I really liked the clean-cut feel that Reed gave the part.
Mark your calendars: the series premiere of “Reaper” – directed by Kevin Smith, no less – airs Tuesday, September 25th, at 9:00 PM EST. You won’t want to miss it.
Here’s a teaser…
They’re watching you.
And you’d better be watching them.
But just in case you didn’t see my write-up on The CW’s new drama, “Reaper,” in Bullz-Eye’s Fall TV Preview, let me throw it out here for the PH readership as well…
Reaper (Tuesday, September 25 @ 9:00 PM, The CW)
Starring: Bret Harrison, Tyler Labine, Ray Wise, Missy Peregrym, Rick Gonzalez, Valarie Rae Miller, Donavon Stinson, Andrew Airlie.
Producers: Michele Fazekas, Tara Butters, Mark Gordon, Deb Spera and Tom Spezialy.
Network’s Description: For the first 20 years of his life, Sam wondered why his parents went so easy on him. Whether it was school, sports or career choices, Sam’s mom and dad 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.
Though his guilt-ridden parents try to explain the circumstances that led them to the forfeit his soul, Sam can’t wrap his mind around what is happening to him. He’s always been the under-achieving son, while his younger brother Kyle was pushed to get straight A’s, excel at every sport and join every club. Kyle resents the easy ride Sam has enjoyed, and Sam can’t help but feel jealousy over Kyle’s achievements. What neither brother realizes is that their lives have been shaped by forces they can’t yet begin to understand.
When Satan himself drops by to personally explain that Sam must now serve as his bounty hunter, tracking down evil souls that have escaped and returning them to Hell, Sam refuses to accept his bizarre fate. After getting just a glimpse of Satan’s temper, however, Sam realizes that breaking a deal with the devil has consequences that are very, very bad. Still, Sam is fascinated by the devil’s charm and his flattering insistence that Sam is full of untapped potential.
Armed with a constantly changing series of vessels — starting with a Dirt Devil mini-vacuum — to collect the escapees, Sam finds that his new line of work is dangerous and frightening, even with the goofball help of his friends and co-workers Bert “Sock” Wysocki and Ben, along with Sock’s former-girlfriend-turned-paralegal, Josie. Sock has been Sam’s closest friend and slacker role model for many years and was the first person Sam turned to with the news about his gig with the devil. A perennial adolescent who attended high school on the six-year plan, Sock is perfectly happy with his life and his job at The Work Bench, where he is a thorn in the side of the assistant manager, Ted. Sock thinks Sam’s news is totally cool, and is happy to help with Sam’s assignments from Hell. Ben, on the other hand, immediately grasps the seriousness of Sam’s situation. A college student and the son of a reverend, Ben is also on board to help, but he knows that dealing with the devil is no game. Sam knows he’ll have to go to great lengths to hide his new identity from the person who matters most in his world: his smart and pretty co-worker Andi. Trapped by his lack of self-confidence, Sam has loved Andi from afar, despite Sock’s constant urging that he ask her out. Andi had gone away to college, but came home to her mother and her job at The Work Bench after her father died. Now she’s stuck in a safe job and a safe friendship with Sam.
Though his life has suddenly turned weird and scary, Sam is surprised to find that he somehow feels good about his newfound “mission” — removing evil-doers from the world and sending them back where they belong. Back when nothing was expected of him, Sam never had to push himself to achieve. Now, with his friends and his trusty vessel-of-the-week at his side, Sam is ready to face his destiny as the Reaper.
The Buzz: Based on two weeks at the TCA press tour, it seems as though virtually every critic who’s watched this show has fallen in love with it from the get-go. It plays like a guy’s version of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and Ray Wise’s demonic grin as The Devil is as good as the personification of evil gets. The fact that Kevin Smith directed the pilot adds seriously to its indie cred, too.
Pilot Highlight: Ray Wise’s sudden and dramatic change in tone and facial expression when Sam informs The Devil that he’s not gonna do any more of this soul-catching stuff.
Casting Caveat: Nikki Reed, who originally played the object of Sam’s affections, has been replaced by Missy Peregrym.
Bottom Line: Best show of the 2007 season on any network. Even factoring in that it’s an hour long rather than 30 minutes, it’s still probably about ten times funnier than any of the season’s new sitcoms. This ringing endorsement has been brought to you by the same person who envisioned a bright and prosperous future for “The Knights of Prosperity” and “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” of course, but it’s no less heartfelt for that track record.
Here’s officially all you need to know about “Reaper” to be sold on it: on his 21st birthday, Sam (Bret Harrison) discovers that, before he was born, his parents sold his soul to The Devil…and when The Devil turns up to let Sam in on what that whole soul-selling thing means to him, we discover that he’s played by – wait for it – Ray Wise.
Ray Wise, as you may or may not know, played Leland Palmer – Laura Palmer’s father – on “Twin Peaks,” and, believe you me, there ain’t nobody who can do a devilish smile like that man.
Executive producer Deborah Spera says, “We looked high and low for the right Devil, I have to say. And we had spent a lot of time looking at many actors and their portrayal of the devil. And (executive producer) Tom Spezialy came in and said, ‘You know what I was thinking about? What about Ray Wise?’ And we were like, ‘Oh, my God, perfect.’ Ray walked in and smiled at us, and that was it.”
At this point, Tyler Labine (“Invasion”), one of the stars of “Reaper,” said, “Just grin, Ray, right now.”
So he did.
After the applause died down, executive producer Michelle Fazekas added, “He read for us, and, literally, we were, like, ‘We’re there.'”
So are we.
For his part, Wise kinda sorta did research his entire life for this part. When asked what preparation he did to play The Devil, he replied, “Oh, I guess 37 years of acting and about 400 movies that I’ve seen in the last 10 or 12 or 15 years, watching John Huston in ‘The Devil and Daniel Webster,’ people like Peter Stormare in ‘Constantine.’ I’ve seen devils like Peter Cook in ‘Bedazzled,’ pretty much remembering every devil that’s ever been done on the screen, big and small, then forgetting all about that and doing my devil, which is a combination of probably me and every other character I’ve ever played from Caligula Caesar, the mad emperor of Rome, to Leland Palmer, to a variety of villainous and terrible people. But I play a lot of good people, too, and so I can inject some of that into the devil, too.
“In fact, I ran into David Strathairn this morning on an airplane flight here. David and I did ‘Good Night & Good Luck’ together. And he said, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m playing The Devil in ‘Reaper,’ a new TV show.’ And he said, ‘You are playing The Devil?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ ‘You mean The Devil is a good guy?’ He knows me only from ‘Good Night & Good Luck,’ really, you know, and he doesn’t know a lot of the other things I’ve done in the past, so, to him, The Devil would be a good guy…but he could also be perceived as a very bad guy. Personally, as The Devil, I don’t think he sees in terms of good or bad and black and white.”
However you see The Devil, there’s one think that’s for certain: “Reaper” is a great, funny show. It plays like a guys’ version of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” on a lot of levels. You’ve got a reluctant hero with a destiny he can’t escape from (instead of slaying vampires, he’s capturing the souls that have escaped from Hell), he’s got a best bud who helps him out, he’s got his own version of the Scooby Gang, and if he doesn’t exactly have the equivalent of a Giles in The Devil, at least he’s got a elder (to say the least) to bounce things off of.
Plus, the pilot’s directed by Kevin Smith! What more do you need?
…and, yet, somehow, they still managed to slip one of the best shows of the upcoming season into their lineup: “Reaper.” But more on that in a bit…along with details about a surprisingly promising comedy called “Aliens in America.” (I haven’t seen the whole episode yet, but the preview was hilarious.)
First up were the pair of announcements from The CW’s executive VP of communications, Paul McGuire, who looks a little bit like Darrell Hammond and, to the relief of the gathered critics, had pretty decent comedic delivery as well. (There’s really nothing more excruciating than watching a network exec get an attack of the flop sweats as they attempt to be funny when it goes against every fiber of their being. Well, maybe watching the pilot for “Cavemen.” But not much else.)
* Supergirl will be flying onto “Smallville” this season, played by Laura Vandervoort. She’s hot, she can fly…what more do you want?
* There’ll be two new cast members on “Supernatural” this season: Lauren Cohan and Katie Cassidy. Katie’s dad, it turns out, is David Cassidy. I was so, so tempted to find her at the party later that night and ask her what her dad’s deal was about only wanting to talk to press who give rave reviews to his albums – back story: I only kinda-sorta liked his recent Target-exclusive album of remixes, and my indifference led to the cancellation of an already-scheduled interview – but I restrained myself…mostly because my wife was with me.
After McGuire’s comedic monologue, he introduced Dawn Ostroff, President of Entertainment with The CW, who dropped the following tidbits:
* On September 18th, the new season of “Beauty and the Geek” premieres with a new twist: this time, there’ll be a male beauty and a female geek.
* The CW has extended their deal with Tyra Banks through the 2009-2010 season, which means that as long as it keeps performing, you’ll keep seeing her within the context of “America’s Top Model.”
* Waiting in the wings: an ensemble comedy called “Eight Days a Week,” starring Christina Milian, Mario Lopez and Justin Hartley and produced by “Will & Grace”‘s Sean Hayes.
* “One Tree Hill” will be back with 22 new episodes…much to the annoyance of several of the critics, you could tell, since they – like me – would rather have seen the return of “Veronica Mars,” instead.
* This season’s new cringe-worthy reality show concept: “Farmer Wants a Wife.” Big city girls move to the country, and “Green Acres”-styled comedy hijinks almost certainly ensue.
* This season’s new cringe-worthy reality show in practice (or, at least, based on the clips I saw): “Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants.” Mother-daughter beauty pageants. It’ll probably be huge. But it made me want to run far, far away.
* Casting changes to new shows: Missy Peregrym, formerly the shape-shifting bad girl from “Heroes,” is now going to be on “Reaper,” while Scott Patterson – a.k.a. Luke from “Gilmore Girls” – will now be the dad on the sitcom “Aliens in America.”
* Chris Rock will finally appear in front of the camera on “Everybody Hates Chris” rather than simply serving as the show’s offscreen narrator. He’ll play a guidance counselor in the season premiere. (Further appearances aren’t currently scheduled, unfortunately.)
* No further movement on that long-rumored “Spike” movie. Says Ostroff, “We typically do not do movies of the week or miniseries. I never say never. You never know. Something could come up that just, you know, feels so right for us. But we have not had any conversations with Joss about the ‘Spike’ movie, although we would love to be in business with Joss in any way.”
* Asia, the winner of last year’s Pussycat Dolls series, has decided to go solo, thereby completely defeating the entire purpose of going through the season to become a member of the group.
* On the subject of “Gilmore Girls” wrapping up last season rather than lingering on for one for year: “We were looking at (the show) as the season was going on,” said Ostroff, “and I think that we all felt that the show had lost about 25 percent of its audience. Lauren Graham, who is, you know, the consummate professional and was truly fantastic to
deal with, as was Alexis — you know, we all talked about it. And I think that, at the end of the day, we just didn’t want to see ‘Gilmore Girls’ go on for another season and see the ratings go down even further. And I think we just felt that a lot of the stories had been told, and it was just time to move on. I was happy that the show ended on the two women, on the girls, because I felt that’s where the show started, and I was happy that that was the focus of how the show ended.”
* On the quick dumping of the much-tauted “Hidden Palms”: “We had ordered it as eight episodes,” explains Ostroff, “and we really saw it as probably a miniseries, a serialized miniseries of eight episodes. And if it were to catch on, we would have had the ability to do more episodes, but that’s really one of the ways that we talked about marketing it and having it on the air.”
* On dumping “Veronica Mars” after only three seasons, despite the loud clamoring of the show’s fans: “I can honestly sit here and I say I can not look back and have any regrets. I feel that we gave ‘Veronica Mars’ every chance,” declares Ostroff. “And as many of you here know, there was no stronger champion of that show than me. You know, we gave it a better time slot to follow up every single year that it was on the air. And eventually, we just had to say how much longer do we go on without the show really catching on? So the taking the show off the air for a while was not the demise of the show. We really tried every single year to figure out how we can bring more viewers in. We just weren’t able to crack it.”
To just close on a personal note, sorry, but I absolutely don’t buy that. “Veronica Mars” was a smart, funny, exciting series, and I refuse to believe that the network couldn’t have tried another timeslot or two to see if any of them worked any better. I mean, the diehards would’ve followed it anywhere they put it, so what would it have hurt?
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