Untimely ripped from the land of the living by a stray piece of bathroom porcelain from the MIR space station, teenaged girl George Lass (Ellen Muth) joins several other disgruntled decedents in pursuing her heavenly job of "reaper," helping ordinary mortals pass from this life to the next with comfort and dignity in the first season of
Dead Like Me. In many of the early episodes, George eavesdrops to see how her highly dysfunctional family is bearing up under the weight of losing her. Otherwise, she is hard at work fulfilling the assignments given her by her celestial supervisor, Rube (
Mandy Patinkin). In the opening two-hour episode, the newly dead George is told that she has been chosen to be a "reaper" -- and also learns to her chagrin that, in death, she has become famous as "The Toilet Seat Girl." Later on, she tries to wriggle out of her reaper duties, only to discover that if she doesn't follow the rules, dire consequences will befall those who are about to die. Also, she finds out that she still has certain "mortal" emotions intact when she becomes close to a fellow reaper named Betty (
Rebecca Gayheart), and when she falls in love with a living schizophrenic whose disease allows him to see her even though he's not "due" yet. Additionally, she must suffer the intrusion of obstreperous new reaper Daisy Adair (
Laura Harris), who is briefly her "roommate." Finally, she is made aware that a reaper's job is never done when, on a day that no one dies, she is swamped with heavenly paperwork. At end of the first season, George finds herself on the verge of losing her office "day job" at Happy Time Temp Agency. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide