After watching the CW's Reaper premiere, I tried to, but couldn't quite recall what I got for my 21st birthday -- but I'm fairly certain it wasn't a job moonlighting as the devil's bounty hunter or eternal damnation.

Spoilers await you in the afterlife and for the remainder of this blog post.

For poor Sam Oliver (Bret Harrison), this is the rather bitter icing on the rancid birthday cake that his day's been. His parents were acting all weepy and morose that morning, a pack of dogs have been stalking him at his job at The Workbench, he's been moving things with his mind and the snazzily attired devil (Ray Wise) has been popping up everywhere.

You see, way back when, Pa Oliver was sick, so he and the little woman made a pact with the devil for a cure. In exchange, they had to give up their firstborn to the devil on the child's 21st birthday. The resulting guilt has been why his parents have always coddled Sam, letting him be a slacker who  quit college after a month because it "made him sleepy." Instead, they've transfered all their parental pressure onto his younger brother Kyle, who can't seem to live up to their expectations and resents Sam for the unequal treatment.

And now the devil wants his due, which means Sam will begin his service on Earth to track down souls that have escaped from Hell and return them to their fiery fate.

Amidst all this upheaval, at least Sam's best friend Sock (Tyler Labine) is his reliably obnoxious self -- whether he's hitting a dog with a car door, field testing his pal's newfound telekinesis or insulting his ex-girlfriend. Yes, Sock is highly annoying, but I gotta say, he's loyal. Not everyone -- even in the name of friendship -- would willingly volunteer to confront evil souls shooting fire.

With a little sleuthing -- prompted by the devil himself -- Sam realizes that the soul he's trying to capture belonged to a man who set fire to a series of buildings 50 years ago. Now that he's escaped from Hell, he's repeating the pattern, which leads the two buddies to track him down to his final target location. Equipped with a Workbench arsenal and the soul-sucking Dirt Devil, the guys snag the soul and cart it to the local Hellhole, the DMV, for transport to the underworld.

Now, if only the devil will leave Sam's not-yet-girlfriend Andi (Missy Peregrym) alone ...

A few thoughts/highlights:

- How great is Ray Wise? He's like the smarmy used car salesmen of Satans. My favorite scene: When he does a little dance just before cutting into chicken fried steak.
- Line: "It's not just about ham. It's about self respect."
  - Andi needs more stuff to do other than be pretty and understanding. She runs the risk of becoming bland.
- It's interesting that it's the supposedly evil devil who gives Sam a pep talk and the means to finally become a responsible adult who sees things through.
- Did you notice the production the elementary school was putting on? The Hobbit: The Musical. Sweet.
- That death by Zamboni was really fake, but highly disturbing.

What are your thoughts on the first episode? Was it funny? Is the devil really evil?

Comments

It didn't blow me away (there were a few less-than-subtle pieces of dialogue), but it was fun and showed promise.
So will there be a new bounty every week? I assume the episodes will be mostly stand-alone.

Billiam | Sep 25, 2007 9:32:18 PM | #

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I let it put me to sleep last night (but in a good way!!) I got up and watched it again (I work at home), snmd I really like it-ALOT! I'm glad it's on Tuesady night (despite being on the CW), since I don't watch DWtS or The Unit, this is perfect for me...

Sherry | Sep 26, 2007 4:33:04 AM | #

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I thought that the show was great! It had a great mix of humor and action-- ala Buffy/Angel.

This show is DEFINITELY on my MUST SEE list!

Sid | Sep 26, 2007 5:02:12 AM | #

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Great actors, great characters, great premise....so why was I not thrilled by it? Maybe it's too 'hip' for me? I'm definitely giving it another shot, but it seemed like a very long hour to me.

Dojo | Sep 26, 2007 5:09:47 AM | #

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I gave an applause at the end of this show. This show was excellent. Naive premise, yet executed brilliantly. During the part where Andi says Sam is like Batman, I thought she was gonna say that he is her hero (since the actress who plays Andi was on Heroes..haha)

CW | Sep 26, 2007 7:48:28 AM | #

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I loved this show! And I really loved Sock. He was too funny

becky | Sep 26, 2007 10:38:34 AM | #

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I thought this was the best new premiere I've seen this season so far. I laughed out loud several times. Given the Kevin Smith angle it was Clerks with the Devil thrown in for good measure. If you're Canadian, you can obviously see The Workbench is really Canadian Tire.

Opus | Sep 26, 2007 11:27:38 AM | #

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Reaper had me laughing out loud for the hour I thought it was a really good show and hope it sticks around for more than one season even though the overnight rating wasn't as high as i expected I think it will pick up with word of mouth but anyway the part where Sock hit the little barking dog with his door LOL or after Sam told him he did not use his hands to move the air conditioner unit but his mind and sock throws something that hits Sam right on the head LOL I love this show and can't wait to see what happens next week and oh yeah using a dirt devil to collect the bounties LOL

Joseph | Sep 26, 2007 11:27:43 AM | #

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Andi would be a better better character if they had stuck with the original casting. Nikki Reed is so much more appealing an actress than Missy Peregrym. I saw the exact same pilot on-line with Nikki Reed in the role of Andi and the show was awesome. (Nikki Reed was in this pilot - most noticably in the hospital scene for his friend he was standing behind Nikki Reed, not Missy Meregrym.)

It still is a great show, but I thought Nikki Reed had a nice chemistry with Bret Harrison in the pilot I saw, which evaporated with the changing of the actress. That may have just been the result of her late addition but it was very noticable.

Brian | Sep 26, 2007 12:17:59 PM | #

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Didn't get to see it this week!! But from the rundown it sounds pretty good--maybe I'll give it a shot next week!!

Michele | Sep 26, 2007 12:42:34 PM | #

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Already added it to my DVR season pass...I kind of like the addition of peregrym. Seems better suited for the role.

JT | Sep 26, 2007 1:47:08 PM | #

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Sock was funnier and less annoying than I anticipated after reading several previews of the show. I don't think he will let his subscription to Jack Black's mannerisms lapse... and why should he? I've seen very few wannabes pull that off as successfully as he has.

It was eery how much Sam resembled Heroes' Peter Petrelli at times.

Loved the Kevin Smith influence over this episode, complete with conversation about a comic superhero. And he certainly revived a lot of thematic elements from Dogma in a short amouint of time. Which leads us to...

The Devil. This makeover of the prince of darkness as a helpful, understanding and pragmatic guy who just happens to have a dirty job to do certainly creates a very likeable presence. It's only when he seems to be enjoying his job just a little too much that we find ourselves pitted against him for the moment. His biggest vice for now seems to be an addiction to leading people into temptation with costly pacts that help them out of a jam. Still, even though it is clear that a darker picture of him will emerge, I think viewers will find it hard to hate him -- the same way they can't help but like a Tony Soprano or a Don Draper.

This devil is like a Vegas casino: He believes in free will, he likes that the odds are always stacked in his favor and he doesn't seem to begrudge those honest souls who beat the odds. He rather seems to admire them - and God for that matter. ("We all know how this ends. God wins.")

Goph | Sep 26, 2007 2:27:57 PM | #

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Ray Wise and Tyler Labine are the highlights of the show... totally agree with Brian about casting Missy Peregrym. In the closing shot, where they show the friend whose face got burnt and he kinda looks like the devil, is that foreshadowing? Oh, and Sam's mom is hot!

AC | Sep 26, 2007 7:18:46 PM | #

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Opus, I'm Canadian also but the Work Bench is clearly Home Depot.

Rishi | Sep 26, 2007 7:57:52 PM | #

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Hanh,

I want to say just like the show which hooked me about 2 minutes into it, your opening paragraph hooked me into reading the rest of the blog.

I'm not sure if Tyler Labine had a bad line in the entire episode - and if he did, his delivery of said line more than made up for it.

This show is definitely in my permanent viewing pattern for this year.

Rishi | Sep 26, 2007 8:00:30 PM | #

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reaper or chuck, reaper or chuck, reaper or chuck? definitely reaper!!

what a show! i was cracking up continuously from the time sock made his appearance.

irreverence rules! the comedy is right on. the devil is perfect, and even sam could grow on me. it's a terrific ensemble show with just the right mix of comedy and drama.

i loved it! can't wait for next week's show.

i liked chuck, too, but in comparison to reaper it's much too stylized...hardly real...just great tongue in cheek. even sophisticated, maybe. reaper leans more towards supernatural (meaning the show). it's down and dirty evil. the zamboni incident was definitely upsetting. you'd never see something like that in chuck. fabulous!

KR | Sep 26, 2007 9:04:49 PM | #

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I loved Bret Harrison in The Loop and I was so glad to see him get another lead role. Bret and Tyler may just be the two funniest males on TV today. They can deliver absolutely ridiculous lines and pull it off and make you laugh at the line and at the situation that they actually said that line. Bret did this all the time in The Loop (a show I will miss).

Can't wait to see how this show progresses. The hot smart girl is pretty cliche, but how can you complain about that when the rest of the show is just as cliched and tongue-in-cheek? Nerdy sweet guy gets the interest of hot smart girl, it happens more than people realize and it's nice to see shows like Reaper and Chuck putting that out to the public.

Can't wait to see what the next weapon will be in the next bounty. Also interested to see if they develop a season long or multi-episode long sub-plot(s). Obvious sub-plot of how does Sam deal with this and how does this affect Sam/Sock and Sam/Andi.

Josh | Sep 27, 2007 5:21:49 AM | #

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I thought the show was good but I especially liked that it's filmed in a Canadian Tire - I used to work there and all they've done is slap on a sign and some US flags but otherwise it looks the same. Brings back somewhat good memories of my youth as a CTC cashier!

Kelly | Sep 27, 2007 5:45:45 AM | #

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I think Rishi mentioned Home Depot but from the yellow price stickers to the aisles to the outside of the building it's Canadian Tire. You can also tell from the hardware nuts and bolts aisle they went down. It looks the same in every store.

Opus | Sep 27, 2007 11:58:49 AM | #

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Best new show of the year without a doubt. I loved everything about it and even though Missy Peregrym is bland in this show, i know that she can be a lot better from her work on Heroes so give her time.

steve | Sep 27, 2007 1:57:40 PM | #

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