Reaper

A report on one of my latest forays into network Television.

Reaper
I caught the premiere of this show, whose premise I liked: slacker Sam Oliver (Bret Harrison) finds out his parents sold his soul to the devil, collection due the day he turns 21 (which is when the pilot takes place). The devil (Ray Wise) doesn't want to drag Sam to the underworld, at least not yet: there's a job to do. Sam is to collect the souls of escapees from Hell, by sucking them up in a mini-vac (Dirt Devil brand, naturally). Sam confides in his friends from the hardware store where he works, Jack-Black-alike Bert "Sock" Wysocki (Tyler Labine), unaware-of-her-brains-and-beauty Andi (Missy Peregrym), and a quiet fellow named Ben (Rick Gonzalez). His friends also include sassy Josie (Valarie Rae Miller), the only non-slacker among them (she works for the distract attorney).

While the premise shows promise, I was not overly impressed with the execution. The Sock character is tired, done much better by Jack Black in School of Rock. Sam's love interest is Andi, who is also his ex-girlfriend. They broke up when Andi's father died, and that is somehow keeping Sam from getting together with her again. She doesn't seem to mind that he now chases demons for Lucifer, so I'm not sure what's keeping them apart. The other characters didn't have enough to do to judge where they are going.

Conclusion: not sure it's worth persuing, but still on the TiVo.