In the absence of baseball, The Doc and I are still cozying up with Netflix every night. Our much needed break from all of this canned entertainment hasn’t happened and we are getting a little tired of Netflix’s spring offerings. All the high-quality British crime dramas that were often our go-to shows are slowly dissipating to other streaming services. We are running out of things to watch. The American series Scandal is still holding our attention, and we follow a few other shows that we are beginning to lose interest in–proving why they each have only a couple of seasons. The selection of not-so-great Netflix movies isn’t working for us either. We have started, but not finished, several during these isolating times. Maybe one out of a half dozen is worth watching. Our favourite Netflix shows; quality shows like The Crown, Grace & Frankie, Sex Education, and The Kominsky Method are done for the season. Normally this would be fine with us because we would have happily moved on to the boys of summer.
To counter all of this, I discovered one show that I personally really, really like and currently feel the need to binge watch. I rarely binge watch anything, preferring to savour a good series over a longer period of time, just like I enjoy savouring a good book and the challenge of an interesting jigsaw puzzle. This particular show is called Drop Dead Diva, which aired on Lifetime from 2009 to 2014. Six whole seasons! 78 full episodes! The premise of this show is that an aspiring model is killed in a car crash then returns to life by possessing the body of a recently deceased not-so-petite lawyer. Yes I know this sounds hokey, but this is a very entertaining show.
There is a wonderful cast of characters, including an old fiancée, a blonde and very wise best friend, a quirky assistant and a virgin guardian angel named Fred, who all surround lawyer Jane as she navigates this new life. Again, I know this sounds hokey, but this show makes me both laugh and cry. There are hilarious dream scenes where Paula Abdul often appears as a judge. There are wonderful song and dance sequences, also part of the dream scenes. And Brooke Elliott, the beautiful actress portraying Jane, has an amazing voice. Did I say I know this sounds hokey? These days, with most of us in distancing mode, I can’t think of anything that could be more beneficial than some good old-fashioned hokey entertainment.
Yet this show also tackles pretty current issues in law, like the rights of captive chimpanzees and the vetting responsibilities of sperm banks. Plus the lawyers don’t always win. The best aspect of this show is how it portrays the very personal issue of body image and the definition of beautiful. It does this in such a positive way that one can’t help but feel good about it. Personally I don’t think that is hokey.
My problem with this show is that it is not a Netflix series, and it is scheduled to leave the Netflix platform on May 23rd. This creates the problem of me having to binge watch it in order to see all the episodes before then. I still have over three seasons left because I am squeezing them in between times when The Doc and I usually settle down for our evening standards. I am trying to slip in a couple during rainy afternoons and then possibly one or two more right after dinner. I would much prefer to savour this show slowly because it is well worth savouring but I can’t. That being said, I need to go now in order to squeeze in another episode before I have to drive The Doc to the garage to pick up his car.
Thanks for reading.
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