Reaper

Reaper

Reaper did somewhat of a TV feat. It managed to make battling demons and losing your soul into a consistently excellent punch line.

Centring on slacker Sam, the show sees him get a rather unusual 21st birthday present when he discovers that his family made a deal with The Devil in exchange for restoring his father’s health.

Now forced to do Satan’s bidding, he becomes a demonic bounty hunter, or ‘Reaper’, forced to hunt down and capture escaped souls from Hell. It’s only with the help of his friends Sock and Ben that he can face this task and try to win the heart of co-worker Andi.

Despite a great premise and great writing throughout, Reaper never seemed destined for big things, with even its premiere only attracting just over 3 million viewers.

Perhaps it was due to the lack of real star power either in front or behind the camera, with producer Kevin Smith being the biggest name attached. While a cult icon and a big name in the geek world, he’s not quite got the cache to bring in a mainstream audience, with Reaper only getting an average of 2.7 million viewers a week.

It wasn’t for a lack of quality on the show’s part, as Reaper was an often hilarious slice of light hearted supernatural fun. The show delighted and revelled in its ‘demon of the week’ structure, as Sam and his buddies would have to constantly try and outfox their demonic target. Something of a challenge to three lazy employees of a DIY shop.

A huge slice of the fun is due to the brilliant chemistry between its main stars, as Bret Harrison and Tyler Labine have a brilliant spark between them as Sam and Sock. Missy Peregrym is also a big factor, as she imbues Andi, a character that could have become simply an annoyance, with a massive amount of charm.

Ray Wise is also absolutely perfectly cast as The Devil, his tanned, grinning and debonair façade an absolute hoot whenever he’s on screen.

Despite poor ratings in its debut year, Reaper got a second series, although the show wouldn’t survive for too much longer, as the its second series got cancelled after the ratings continued to disappoint the network bosses.

Despite its early demise, Reaper still stands four years later as a brilliantly fun time, with its light-hearted tone, entertaining characters and bizarre premise the perfect antidote for the dark and moody supernatural show’s that currently reign supreme.

 

FemaleFirst Cameron Smith

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