DLM Stuff From Other Forums

[DB7878]

From a thread at IMDb: Do you think the show would have been better if Bryan had stayed?

therealcromar:
Though I am a fan of Bryan Fuller, I have to admit the show improved dramatically after he was gone. In the early going there were tons of plot holes and logical problems. If you ignore most of the established rules early on and just go by the new rules later on it makes a lot more sense. Learning about the political problems helped me get over those inconsistencies and concentrate on the strengths of the later stories.

The movie was depressing, though. When you have a show with 5 principal actors and you can't get 2 of them, maybe you should call the whole thing off? I always hoped from very early on that the very last shot of the very last episode would be Rube leaving to the "lights" on his very last Reap - leaving Roxy in charge. The movie threw away that opportunity. Yeah, the actor is a bit of a nutcase and you couldn't get him - so don't make the damn movie!

Otiose8:
Re: Not being able to get 2 of 5

Rube and Daisy were more important back at that stage of the Georgia story than they became by the time of the movie.

The Rube and George relationship was the most important outside her obsession with her family (mostly Reggie). The unfortunate thing is tho that we never got more than an outline hinting at what was to come showing why Rube was so important.

He was first a father figure for George - someone whose approval she wanted. But he also had early interactions with his own family. We never got to see the details, but they caused him to withdraw and leave his family alone until, decades later, he met up with George. For him from the beginning George was a daughter figure. He at first tried to force her to conform to his own (probably) hard learned rules of staying away, but something happened towards the end because of his conflicts with George and her stubbornness about pursuing her helping Reggie that finally defeated the old Rube. At the end he was the one to capitulate. He sought out his own daughter to be with her when she passed on - against reaper custom and rules (as he was told by Penny and Roxy).

Daisy I did not like at all at first, but soon she became, after Rube, the most interesting of the reaper characters around George. I thought her primary role was brought into focus in the scene when Mason brought her the engagement ring and she pretty well summarized the hell on earth frustration of being a reaper trapped on earth and never able to live anything like a normal life when she rejected Mason's overtures (but she kept the ring hidden). She represented George's future or one possible answer to the future challenges she will be facing.

I did not find the movie depressing. It's five years later after the challenges faced by the young shiny new reaper George when she first had to come to terms with being dead and trapped as a reaper, and then decides she wants to help Reggie - against the rules and with some very bad repercussions from the PTB if she goes too far.

Anyway, it's too bad we didn't get to see how young George and Rube worked things out in those missing and forever lost five years, but the slightly older George has to find new challenges - the baby has learned how to walk - time to move on. To what is the question? That's where the movie was very successful in showing George being pushed into a new position as the reaper boss despite being quite young (although Cameron was also of recent vintage and the PTB put his obnoxiousness to good use testing other reapers).

If we're lucky enough to see more of the story, seeing George forced into the position of boss of the local gang of reapers would be interesting to me, and she's clearly moving up among the living at Happy Time.

George is dealing with her 'sentence' as a reaper in a different way than Mason, or Daisy, or Roxy, and of course than Rube chose to.

All these characters are fascinating and I would like to see how they grow, not a repetition of the story we've already seen. Going forward that Mandy and Laura aren't available shouldn't be a problem, but more of an opportunity to see an acceleration into new directions for the primary George character.



The whole thread:

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0348913/boar ... 174064?p=1

[IcyDelight]

Looks like there have been some interesting discussions over at imdb.

The show, whether series or movie, is set up with the idea that the principle characters can move on, hence be replaced. This allows for the eventual replacement of Rube, Daisy, Mason, and Roxy with new characters. If DLM had been a long-running series, it's conceivable that even George could be replaced, though that would probably have brought the series to a close. There have been other series ( Happy Days, That 70s Show, etc.) where the show survived a little while without the principle character.

Right now I just hope we get to see more adventures of our merry reapers, but I'm not too optimistic about that happening soon.

[DB7878]

Hi Icy,

I'm thinking about finding and linking here to any ongoing discussions regarding DLM at other forums, and information on what the actors are up to (e.g. interviews).

Things are going to be quiet for some time as we wait for events to move toward something new (or not). Thing is that just because it is quiet doesn't mean nothing is happening. Remember back in 06.

I agree the longer things go the harder it is to get anything resembling the old DLM restarted. In whatever form George takes (due to maturing - mentally etc) if she isn't there I suspect MGM would just relaunch with certain elements, but something very different.

[IcyDelight]

DB,

It's only been four months since the movie release and discussion on most of the DLM boards has dropped to nil. So what happened? Were fans disappointed by the movie, or simply conclude it was the end of the road and there would be no more? Or with no news, have we just run out of things to say?

Yes, I think it would be good to cross-post discussions from other boards here in order to concentrate the information. With MGM's current turmoil, it looks like it could be some time before something happens--if anything. A series revival would be great, but if too far off would entail a new cast and no-doubt a re-worked premise. Would we even recognize it?

[DB7878]

All those elements are at play for reduced activity on the boards. Most of new people will be the trickle who come across it for the first time and go looking for reinforcement on the Internet.

Just a little energy from a few people over the next year or so can go a long way to bridging to whatever does come out later (if anything does come out later!).

If in fact the movie sold well, despite MGM's problems, I would be surprised if they don't go for at least one more movie (that is of course if the bankers don't veto everything).

I think it's too late to get anything really close to the look and feel of the first two seasons. That story with the young George has now moved on to an older George with different challenges. And, has therefore become a much more risky project. It still amazes me at the low success rate Hollywood has in putting up new series - so much money and effort and so little acceptance by consumers. The further any new DLM project shifts away from the original formula, the higher the probability of failure - just like any new project coming out of Hollywood.

DLM was and is a great idea that got birthed into a difficult financial situation at MGM, which has only gotten worse.

If MGM management is trying to propose to their bank group anything like the strategy outlined in recent news articles, they're likely to get a very bad reaction from their bankers. Management needs to show awareness of the how and why their recent behavior was so unsuccessful. There's just nothing in any of those articles that they have a clue of what they did wrong and what they need to do in this economic environment that will work going forward.

MGM's strategic position as an independent studio may no longer even be viable. However, I suspect if they scale their production efforts to fit within the range of cash flow thrown off by that foundation library - i.e. many smaller projects - there's something viable there - after a sh*t load of write downs on all that debt.

Unfortunately, I suspect that, absent someone(s) stepping up giving clear evidence they have a viable plan going forward to assume management control, the bankers will be left with no alternative but to liquidate selling off the library and taking their losses.

[DB7878]

BTW,

If you've just watched the show and/or movie and have questions here are a few threads - these are from IMDb - ...

1) Source: IMDb
Thread Name: Millie

brityzer wondered in the opening post:

Why is Millie(Georgia how she appears to living humans)not recognized by Reggie and her Mother?
If I remeber right she talked to them before (in the series), although she looks now different.

Long involved discussion (20+ posts) on who sees what when looking at a reaper.
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt1079444/boar ... /129804723


2) Source: IMDb
Thread: Does anyone know how the movie did?

Opening post by Bj25492003
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt1079444/boar ... 820909?p=1



3) Source: IMDb
Thread: Plot Hole After Plot Hole...

Opening post by wandersfar.
This thread - on the Movie's alleged plot holes - is at times chaotic, but well worth reading thru:
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt1079444/boar ... 639864?p=1


4) Source: IMDb
Thread: Last episode with Eric McCormack (Ray)

And, if you've been wondering about that graveling that came out of Ray when he was killed by Mason you're not alone.
emiliehope started a thread asking:

I kind of got lost when the graveling came out of him. Why was it in him in the first place?

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0348913/boar ... 021445?p=1

[DB7878]

Here's another good thread - again from IMDb - this time on the Movie:

Source: IMDb
Thread: Complete and total misstep **Spoilers**

The opening first post:

Complete and total misstep **Spoilers**
by saturdaysaint-1
**Disclaimer: All opinions are mine, and if you don't agree...feel free to say so, just venting**

It saddens me that it's come to this. I watched the movie last night and I can't express my level of disappointment. There were so many things wrong with that movie I can't even begin to list them all (though I'm going to try). Lets start at the beginning:

Lack of Theme Song:
Seriously, I'm listening to the opening theme as I type this. In my opinion, the song embodied the show, it's playfulness, upbeat, happy tone to a show dealing with a morbid topic. I felt that, by leaving it out, even a small snippet made it feel a little less, Dead Like Me.

Tone:
The direction and feel of the movie felt more drama like than dramedy. Sure there were occasional funny moments, but it just felt...empty. Like they weren't sure how to approach the characters that they haven't played in years. Though the series dealt with death, it still had an open, airy feel to it which I feel wasn't the case with the movie. It was more dark. Whether they were using this as a set up for future Direct to DVD movies, I don't know, but again, felt a little disjointed in tone.

Characters:
I'm going to go through each main character as all of them felt off.

The Reapers:
Rube: WTF. I wish they would have either A. found a way to get Mandy to reprise his role, or B. had a better explanation for his absence...maybe remedial training for the "slack" of his department. Which would have made MUCH more sense in having him replaced with the next trainwr... character
Cameron: WTF take 2. Not a good idea...all around. The restaurant, the chauffeur, the trio's (which again..felt really dated), all just seemed pretentious. Sleeping with Daisy, Kissing George, etc, there just didn't seem to be any motivation behind it all. Like I said about Rube above, he shouldn't have been a permanent replacement, but only set as a temp. Have the group remove him at the end still? Sure, that's one of the things this group stayed true to as they were in the series.
Daisy: As most have said on this forum, written out of this installment. End of story. The replacement actress did 0 justice to the character. Sorry lady, but it just wasn't there. Just like on The Sarah Connor chronicles, there's only one Sarah Connor, there's only one Daisy.
Roxy: One of my favorite characters, she was one of the only ones on this movie that stayed close to her character. The misstep was her giving in to Cameron so easy. Would simply not have happened in the series. If anything, it would have made sense having HER take over for the reapers while Rube was gone. Have a subplot of her guarding where Rube was for the entire movie would have been good. But not the sudden selfishness saving the guy. If anyone understands "The Rules", it's her.
Mason: He was more of the same, though it seemed his role was just kinda thrown to the dogs. He didn't have much to do this movie except to hold up the "models" that Cameron gave him. Waste of space and character.
George: Now don't get me wrong, I know this was filmed years after the series was done and we all age...but WTF hollywood? If you can make Eddie Murphy look like an old Jewish man and no one realize it until the credits roll... you can make a woman look 5 years younger...just sayin. Her acting chops have gotten better though which is good, and she still had her snarky attitude which was good, but there was something missing...

Happy Time Crew:
Delores: Underused, period. I know she's just a sub character, but still, her subplot with Murray felt like the old series. Her bipolar outlook on profanity seemed to fit nicely (I do recall her calling someone "Punjab Mother****er" during the series...makes me laugh to this day).
Crystal: Even when the series was on, I still say that she is COMPLETELY underused. There are SO many possibilities with this character. Is she a reaper? Is she upper management? No one knows, but there's a VERY odd connection between her and George. EXPLORE IT.

George's Family:
Mom: Still not a favorite character of mine... Kinda wish SHE was the one that moved out of town. Not the dad. I guess they needed the dynamics between her and Reg. but, meh.
Reggie: Tragic. Why give her her sister back just to strip her of that. Have you not read about teenagers and the wreck that this situation would throw them into? The actress did a great job though so, can't fault her for that.

Things that make 0 sense:
George not being able to reap Hudson. The series had the reapers with the ability to reap anyone, at anytime, no? What, was she being taught a lesson? Cameron even sent her to the hospital to do her job, but she still wasn't able to. The fact that it was just a plot device just doesn't play into it. Even with it giving her a reason to "Get to know" the situation for Reg and Hudson, but there are other ways. Poor writing.
Joy Lass' self help group, such a passing thought, showing how she copes, that's pretty good, but still feels like a second thought.
Roxy's sudden turn to the Cameron level? What's the point? Her character is not for selfish gain. She follows rules, that's what she....um..lives for. Jasmine Guy did a great job for the most part, except for when she was suddenly a yes man.
The ending. I know it's symbolism. But for what? Making George the head reaper? I don't think so, wouldn't have happened. Rube giving her a sign that it'll be alright? Doubt it. Just doesn't make any sense really...none of the ending did.
This movie should have been called Dead Like Me: Out of Character. Cause that's what it was..all out of character.

The above was the first post of a longer thread with many other posters contributing. Feel free to respond over there and/or here. Recommend when responding here to quote the source post here.
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt1079444/boar ... #140490876

[IcyDelight]

While my take on the movie isn't quite so negative, saturdaysaint-1 makes many astute observations as to why it wasn't what it could have been. I too found most of the characters "out of character" and the darker tone less appealing. Stewart Copeland's music contributed much to that mood and as saturdaysaint-1 pointed out, the music was not there. Copeland's "happy sad," as he described it, was replaced with "sad happy."

Yes, I would like to have seen more of Delores and Crystal, but mostly I would just like to have seen more! Eighty-seven minutes after a five-year hiatus was little more than a tease.

[DB7878]

The above was just the opening post. It was followed by quite a few more opinions about the Movie.

It seems the more into the series a fan was, then the more shocking some of the directions taken by Herek and crowd.

I like that word twist 'happy sad' vs 'sad happy' - captures how easily the tone of the DLM universe and stories as we saw in the series can be lost.

As for the Movie being only 87 minutes -- you'd think that if they go to the well for water they'd fill the bucket to the top - would the cost for another 30 minutes (or more) be so much?

However, that first post of the thread captures a deeper problem - the story, the characters, and the tone were too often 'off' from the original. My first reaction was bad, but I then learned to compartmentalize the bad away and focus on the good. But still what happened? I suspect the creation by committee problem, or perhaps it's Herek.

When Joss did 'Serenity' it worked very well. 'Firefly' was created by Joss and he knows that universe thru and thru. But for this movie, MGM brought in someone who was not involved in any of the creative aspects of the original series, and worse, had delusions of some new direction (i.e. style or whatever) to take the franchise. (I suspect MGM is guilty of wanting to take the franchise in some new direction.)

This is an example of someone (MGM in this case) finding a solution to a non existent problem. The excuse probably involved some need to expand the fan base, or something like that. However, the real problem was (not small at all) where to take the story that could keep the old fan base (who were attracted to the original young George and her problems), and find new fans thru expanded outreach (the original reached a limited fan base on Showtime) and distribution. The fan niche is what it is. Either the franchise can make a profit by reaching the old and bringing in the new who just haven't heard about it yet, or it is dead. To put it another way, it is a dead end trying to attract a new type of fan who either did not or would not like the original series.

MGM seems to have gotten the idea that the problem was to tweak the franchise to stylistically to attract a broader fan base - this is very dangerous and unlikely to succeed.

They should have focused on keeping the characters in character and the franchise in franchise i.e. keeping the look and feel of the original. And then attacking the real problem - finding a new direction for the story.

What the Herek led committee did was let characters get away from the originals and dropped the original look and feel. The blame rests with MGM for picking Herek. The original creator couldn't step in (BF), and Godchaux couldn't or didn't, I suspect, because of MGM misunderstanding what was needed.

By accident and/or good fortune, the one thing they had to get right they did - they did find a new story direction for the core characters that probably can hold the original fans and add new ones (those that just haven't yet had the good fortune to find DLM yet).

Going forward, what MGM needs to do is
1) find someone (Godchaux?) who has the original franchise spark still alive and turn over creative control
2) let them get the next movie back to the original look and feel
3) find a way to let the original characters come back thru (let Roxy and Mason be themselves) in a movie (series of movies?) format (or find the capital to restart the series - difficult)

[DB7878]

From over at E-M.net a link to an appearance by Ellen at Montclair State University in NJ in which the Movie was shown:

Link to E-M.net thread discussing:
http://www.ellen-muth.net/forum/viewtop ... 2836#p2836


Direct link to article discussing the appearance:
http://www.montclair.edu/Arts/arts_news ... nnelID=102

Dead Like Me: Life After Death Movie Receives First Public Showing
Montclair State University Public Relations Student Society Chapter Hosts Ellen Muth Event

On Saturday, May 9, the Montclair State University Public Relations Student Society of America chapter sponsored the first public viewing of the movie, Dead Like Me: Life After Death. The film is a sequel to the Showtime television series, Dead Like Me. The star of both the series and the movie, Ellen Muth, was the MSU/PRSSA special guest for the event.

The movie, which is about iconoclastic 18-year old Georgia Lass, who is killed by falling space debris (a toilet seat from a satellite), and becomes a grim reaper. She joins a local grim reaper group and is assigned the task of helping the souls of the newly dead cross into the afterlife. Dead Like Me: Life After Death is a sequel to the Showtime series, Dead Like Me, which ran during the 2003 and 2004 seasons. After its initial run, reruns of the series could be seen on the Science Fiction channel. Jasmine Guy, Callum Blue, Joy Stevenson, and Britt McKillip reprised their television roles for the movie.

Prior to the movie showing, Muth sold autographed photos, with the proceeds going to the Walter Reed Army Hospital in Maryland. According to Muth, more than $250 was raised on May 9, and those proceeds would go to the purchase of equipment and supplies for wounded military personnel. Muth has already raised $20,000 for the hospital.

A question and answer period followed the film, during which time Muth revealed the bad news that she felt the movie represented the end of the Dead Like Me franchise.

The Montclair State University Public Relations Student Society Chapter was granted its charter in 2008. Its projects for the 2009/2010 year include coordinating communication projects between the Communication Studies Department and clients, which include the Metropolitan Opera Guild, Seeing Eye, and the Andy Kaufman Award.

Strictly speaking I would have to agree with EM here when she says 'she felt the movie represented the end of the Dead Like Me franchise.'

There are a lot of hurdles to anything new - another movie or restarting the series - ever materializing. MGM is more likely than not facing near term extinction as an independent corporate entity. The cast representing reapers are aging and several are occupied with other projects. My heart's not into enumerating any more.

So the odds are against it. It's just a realistic assessment given the overall situation and how Hollywood works that the odds are, in fact, against it.

Realizing that tho does not mean there's not a good independent case for going forward with new DLM projects that could make money. There are always lots of projects around Hollywood that could make money given the right breaks and resources. It's tough making that happen. That is the truth of it.

That's judgement of the head tho, not the heart. Sometimes you just have to go with the heart. I still hope for more.

[DB7878]

This is a review of the Life After Death movie from IMDb by Clock Work Banana:

IMDb 4 3 09 by Clock Work Banana Re: Just saw the movie…WTF man?

So wtf was the that?

What the hell happened? It was a disaster. As a long-time fan of the series and the actors in the series I was sorely disappointed with this movie tonight.

Not only was the plot full of holes but it was so cheaply made and poorly edited that it was literally hard on my eyes. I'm not trying to be cruel so please don't rip my head off. I honestly had great expectations for this film but man it was a stinkbomb. I really hope Ellen's career recovers after this.

Let me explain:

The writing: So...Cameron Kane (who is disguised as the new head reaper but in actuality is going to make one of the four the head of the group after putting the reapers through a series of tests to determine their eligibility for the position) plays a 'devil' type character by offering each person a custom crafted temptation. After each person makes their 'deal with the devil' misfortune befalls them; Roxie saves the life of her reap to gain career recognition only to have the survivor die shortly after leaving her with feelings of remorse for the additional tragedy she caused, Mason robs a convenience store (and not only is he not incarcerated but I don't understand how this leads to any misfortune for him, especially considering his character doesn't give a sh-t either way about anything moral and throughout the series he regulary pulled stunts like robbery all the time), and Daisy flubs up a stage performance after killing the original female lead (she isn't incarcerated either which is yet another plot hole). She does get her heart devastatingly broken - which is again nothing new for her.

Meanwhile George cannot take the soul of Hudson Hart and her temptation, as always demonstrated throughout the series, is revealing herself to Reggie after learning about Reggie's romantic involvement with the guy. Cameron Kane's actual role should have been clearly explained to the audience - I bet you over half the viewers didn't get that he was there to weed out the next head reaper and he wasn't evil at all. If he was there for the sole purpose of weeding out the next head reaper through tests of willpower than it would have been nice if the audience was in on it from the beginning. I gotta say, there is a real lack of audience participation going on here. I know that not everything should be spelled out but certain explanations can make a movie better. The audience was truly not considered in the telling of this tale. And why was George the one chosen? She gave into temptation like the rest of them. I guess, because it wasn't clearly explained, that it was because she thought of a way to rid them of Cameron once and for all and proved she was the best problem solver/leader according to upper management. That was the ultimate test.

The only consistency in the entire movie was that the temptations presented were recognizable to the past development of each character; Daisy always wanted to become a famous actress and to find true love, Mason always wanted money that he didn't have to earn, Roxie always wanted to make a mark of success via her career and George always wanted to re-connect with her family because she didn't get a chance to say goodbye. Granted it was good that the writers remained true to the underlying needs of each character the actual storyline was missing so much explanation that it is hard to appreciate an aspect that should be a given. And Millie getting her old job back due to a fraudulent law suit displayed a little of the old charm from the Deloris-Millie relationship. But the humor wasn't there. Infact this movie lacked the humorous one-liners the series was famous for. For example, it wasn't funny and cute this time when Millie freaked out - her outburst was too unreasonable and it made her look out of character.

My main complaint is this: Why would the entire movie be centered on events that wasn't referenced in the series? If at least some information had been given to us in the movie about how a new reaper comes to be or if it had been mentioned briefly by Rube in the series at one point, than it would have been possible to understand the plot. That's just one problem and it is a major one. Without a familiar storyline the entire movie becomes a waste of the audience's time quickly.

The final scene was shot with George looking up at all the post-its, although a nice looking scene, it didn't finalize the story well at all. The next scene following the post-its falling from the sky scene could have been her sitting in the booth of the newly resurrected Der Waffle Haus passing out the reaps to Roxie, Mason and Daisy and saying something like, "Read 'em and reap," to give the audience some insight on how it actually played out for her and her fellow reapers. And Kiffany could have served them some food. Bringing back a familiar character from the series would have better concluded the whole story for the audience. "I am so f-cked" as a final line is a weak final line in comparison to her final line in DLM which was, "Walking in a graveyard on a beautiful November morning I realize it isn't so bad, being Dead Like Me." A deeper, more meaningful line that related to the title of the film "Dead Like Me: Life After Death" such as, "Life after death isn't so bad. Being killed by a toilet seat and becoming a reaper ended up making me put value on the quality of my life after death," would have been a stronger ending.

A minor complaint would be the sets for the Happy Time office. How was anyone supposed to believe Happy Time had grown into this expensive, huge looking corporation? Even Deloris carrying around her cat Murray was too much. And what about the George-Reggie driving sequence? A car exceeding 120 mph stops and only slides 30 feet? Yeah right. That's not even possible. At one point in the shot of George in the passenger seat while the car is racing along her hair is barely blowing in the wind that would normally be whipping it in every possible direction.

That being said you now know why this is not a good movie. The writing was the main killer of whatever comeback the series had. Furthermore, the cheap set designs, bad editing and horrible directing made mockery of what was once a creatively written series.

[DB7878]

A response to the above by Danioton from IMDb

CWB, I saw your long post from the other day. You made a lot of good points and I'm still digesting some of the ideas there.

And, I'm also disappointed in certain aspects of the movie. However, I'm trying to keep my eye on the larger goal of eventually seeing more.

I'm still trying to figure out what happened and perhaps why and who gets apportioned the responsibility.

After watching it a few times, I came up with a list of problems too. I'm confused. My impression is that the movie we got looks like a first draft it has so many issues. There's a really good story there - a necessary story about George advancing to a leadership role among reapers. But somehow the execution got screwed up.

We need to look at the movie as a trial run - like a shakedown cruise for a ship that's been in port for a few too many years. It's better that we (this means MGM suits accountable + Godchaux) find out now what sort of creative execution problems are there. I suspect to anyone working in the business it's obviously a problem with execution and not a flaw in the franchise or it's attractiveness to its core audience. It's obvious to me, at least. If this was a launch of a new season (which costs a lot more money than one movie made in Canada direct to dvd) and these problems were not fixed then that could well be a fatal disaster for the continuation of the franchise.

My current theory as to what happened is that someone at MGM wasn't paying attention and either initiated (or perhaps listened to) Herek's zany idea that the franchise needed his creative imprint/input. Probably this zany idea was married to another misguided notion that the franchise needs to expand its base in order to become more financially viable, blah, blah. People who believe that are IMO clueless as to some fundamental trends moving thru the industry, but...

It seems obvious to me that the first goal in making a movie based on successful TV series is to make the core audience totally comfortable by replicating what I think of as the 'look and feel' of the series. People who get addicted to a series want to see familiar characters going about their business within expected and known boundaries. This is especially true when returning to a series, BFuller's and Godchaux's reaper universe, after almost a five year lapse. I like your point, CWB, that because the series never dealt with just how a new head reaper was chosen, more care in explaining this up front would have helped the audience with understanding the basic story line. Or, because the background wasn't ever laid down in the series, perhaps a different story should have been told - one based on known universe boundaries - so all the old fans are comfortable right from the beginning and only the new ones have a hurdle.

When choosing a director MGM should have been looking for one capable of recreating Dead Like Me look and feel completely (why didn't they just pick from one of the many who did the series??).

Where the creative element comes in is to add some fresh new direction to the story telling for the primary (because there isn't time in a stand alone movie to explore dropped arcs from the series or start a lot of new ones) arcs revolving around George as a reaper and George's relationship with her family (mostly Reggie). The Movie did neatly bring those two together. I don't have a problem with George revealing herself to Reggie, just how it was done. There are pathways within the boundaries laid down within the series - breaking those boundaries was sloppy story telling- which would allow Reggie to know more about George's existence as a reaper. That these two are going to get closer is the logical next step, but there are boundaries that must be respected for the story 'energy' to remain alive.

I like your comment about how the Movie should have been ended - with George sitting at a rebuilt (or another one in the chain in Seattle) Waffle Haus with George handing out the postits. I would add that at the table might be the new reaper replacing George's slot - to bring the gang back up to five. (When I read your post thinking about the fifth new reaper - my favorite candidate would be a young person who had lived their life blind from birth and when 'reborn' as an undead reaper can now see for the first time. The contrast with George's life and attitudes would be very entertaining - such a person would have a whole different approach to the reaper existence that George the reaper boss would have to restrain - very different lighter mood vs Rube and George relationship, but totally within the boundaries of the universe.)

Anyway, the part of the movie that worked was also the most important as far as moving things forward. George seems to be the new head reaper for the gang, and her relationship with Reggie has taken some interesting new turns with a lot of potential for the future. The Movie is worth the money just to see those characters' stories advance.

The problems you cited - many I agree with - but with the right management are all fixable in a new movie and/or a relaunch of the series. There is a strong fan base that very much wants to see the franchise continue and will forgive the long list of screw ups in the making of this one installment. I also strongly believe that fact is obvious to any professional in the business above an intern.