Drop Dead Diva

Yeah, I know, Lifetime.  I know who watches that channel.  Fat old ladies who have a lot of cats.  And a few other people.  But mostly the ladies with the cats.  I can't even remember how I found this show, but I did, and here is what I think about it.  I think it is freaking awesome.  It stars Brooke Elliott who had been working on Brodway for several years before this show.  Brooke plays a woman who was a young, aspiring model who is killed in a car accident.  In death, she finds herself in heaven's admitting room, and refuses to accept that she has died.  She pushed the "RETURN" button, and returns.  But not as herself.  She returns as Jane Bingum, an overweight lawyer without much of a social life, who died at exactly the same time taking a bullet for her boss.  Suspend disbelief.  But it works.  Jane finds herself with the memories of her old self, and the brains of her new self.  She starts taking cases that the old Jane would not have bothered herself with, (as you would expect--slightly odd, off kilter, never going to win type of cases) and finds herself winning.  But her fiance from her old life works at her firm, and she loves him so much, and of course he thinks of her as good old Jane from the office, not knowing who she really is.  Two story lines, I guess.  The cases wrap themselves up neatly in each hour long episode, but the angsty love story continues throughout the season.  I know this sounds kind of lame, but the show really pulls it off.  Jane, despite her socially unacceptable extra weight, is really very pretty, and she has a compassion that doesn't seem contrived, even for Lifetime.  The show has managed to secure quite a few notable guest stars including Paula Abdul, Rosie O'Donnell, Tim Gunn, Jorja Fox, and Liza Minelli to name a few.  Margaret Cho is also a supporting cast member working as Jane's assistant, and even though she is toned down from her usual flamboyant self, she is still fun to watch.  Although she does spend a little too much time in pants that give her a camel toe, which in my opinion, is unfortunate.  It reminds me of that stupid movie, "Run, Lola, Run" where that girl wears those ugly, tight, green and white pants.  But I digress.  This show plays on your emotions a bit, but not too much, it has made me laugh out loud a few times, and more than once has made me cry a little bit. But the crying part might have something to do with me feeling sorry for myself, not attractive, NOT ATTRACTIVE!  I have even bookmarked the Lifetime website on my computer just to watch this show, but if you want to catch the whole season I recommend that you find it on Casttv.com.  No downloads, no sign-up, no payment. Just shared streaming video.  Don't take my word for it, watch it yourself.  Just don't tell anyone.