TV Review: Drop Dead Diva

How do I love thee, Drop Dead Diva? Let me count the ways.

1) Brooke Elliott: Brooke is the center of the show, and you couldn't ask for a more perfect, non-typical leading lady. It's nice to have a leading lady who is not a size 4, or even size 6 or 8. We need more women like her on TV.

2) Original premise: I don't like most court room dramas, but this is more than a court room drama. Drop Dead Diva is the story of a model who dies, and because of a "computer glitch" in heaven, her soul goes back to earth in the body of Jane, a size 16 genius lawyer.

3) Great supporting cast: A show can't depend only on the leading character to carry it. Without great supporting characters, a show can't last into its fourth season. My two favorite characters are Grayson (Jackson Hurst), Deb's boyfriend, who doesn't know that Deb's soul is in Jane, although he is starting to have his suspicious; and Stacey (April Bowlby), Deb's best friend, who does know that Jane is really Deb. The rest of the cast is great too.

4) Dream sequences: Many episodes begin with dream sequences and some are musical production numbers. I love that the writers take advantage of Brooke's other talents. She was on Broadway and has a great voice.

5) Cases: The cases may not be steeped in reality, but at least they are clever and interesting.

6) Guest stars: There have been many guest stars in the first three seasons, including: Paula Abdul, Clay Aiken, Louis Van Amstel, Delta Burke, Vivica A. Fox, Tony Goldwyn, Elliott Gould, Tim Gunn, Deidre Hall, Valerie Harper, Gregory Harrison, Howard Hesseman, Kim Kardashian, Ricki Lake, Mario Lopez, Chad Lowe, Liza Minnelli, Kathy Najimy, O'Donnell, Jake Pavelka, Teri Polo, Faith Prince, LeAnn Rimes, Cybill Shepherd, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Wanda Sykes, Jennifer Tilly, Gina Torres, Nia Vardalos, Wendy Williams, and Chuck Woolery. It's great to know that these actors/performers see the worth of this show.

7) Jane's flashes of intelligence: Deb doesn't have any of Jane's memories of her past life, but she does get flashes of Jane's intelligence when she needs it. It's so funny to see how it hurts her brain when those flashes happen, and her shock and excitement when it happens.

8) Great lines: The scripts are wonderful, and there are plenty of great lines. The following is just one:

Fred: I've heard about physical attraction before, chemically I understand it but I've never experienced it.
Jane Bingum: What, you've never had a crush?
Fred: Up there all I meet are dead people.
Jane Bingum: Well, forget it, okay? Stacey's out of your league. You'll be setting yourself up for a world of hurt.
Fred: No no, you don't understand! I look at this Stacey, and I, and I can't help it. I wanna, I wanna do her grocery shopping, wanna, wanna re-roof her house. I wanna hunt animals and bring her the meat.

There are more reasons I love Drop Dead Diva, but the reason listed above give you a good idea of why I think it's one of the best shows on television. You can discover the many merits of Drop Dead Diva for yourself on Lifetime on Sunday nights. And the first three seasons are on DVD.