Drop Dead Diva – Grayson’s Anatomy

Ending the first season on a spectacularly high note, Drop Dead Diva’s finale dealt with no less weighty issues than: Are we destined to have one true love?  Are our lives predetermined by destiny?  Or is it all simply a matter of fate? These were the questions delicately and quite humorously addressed and, unfortunately, left hanging in this episode.  For Deb (Brooke Elliott) had begun to wonder about her life as Jane and whether it meant that she must live the life old Jane carved-out, or if she can change her life and live as a new Jane.

Fresh off her inadvertent date with Grayson (Jackson Hurst) in the prior episode, after Tony (David Denman) had canceled at the last minute due to work and Kim (Kate Levering) had broken up with Grayson, we got a glimpse into Grayson’s inner thoughts as he awoke from a dream about nearly kissing Jane.  The expression on his face clearly showed his confusion about the dream and what it meant.

But, in Jane’s world, things are going smoothly with Tony (David Denman) who thoughtfully brought Jane lunch at the office and invited her on a romantic getaway to Napa.  Grayson could only watch in the background contemplating how he felt about Jane.  Later Grayson inadvertently admitted to Stacy (April Bowlby) that he was having trouble sleeping because he had been dreaming about Jane.  Predictably, Stacy told Jane about Grayson’s revealing disclosure and that put Jane in a quandary:  does she continue to pursue the relationship with Tony or take the time to find out whether Grayson feels something for her?

In the end, Jane made her decision.  It was time for her to live her life as “new Jane” and no longer as “old Jane.”  She is not Deb anymore and she is not Jane either.  Thus, she needs to figure out who she is as the “new Jane.”  This meant no clinging to the past and wishing for things to be as they had been with Grayson.  It was time to put the past in the past — and Tony promised a new future.  However, just as Jane made that firm decision, there was a knock at the door and low and behold if it wasn’t a new romantic entanglement:  Jane’s husband, Ethan (Devon Gummersall).  Talk about a major cliff-hanger?!

Paralleling Jane’s dilemma, we watched Jane struggle with a case involving an aging minor-league baseball player, Eric Hayes (Bryce Johnson), who had undergone rotator cuff surgery only to find out the surgery had been botched and it left him unable to play baseball anymore.  In a huge display of faith, Parker (Josh Stamberg) invited Jane to be first-chair with Kim acting as second chair on the case.  While Terri (Margaret Cho) and Jane wanted to credit the star-treatment to the “partner pen” that Terri had gotten for Jane, it was a smart move for Parker to allow Jane such an opportunity to shine.  Despite the typical bickering and tug-of-war on legal strategy regarding whether to pursue the sloppy doctor’s history or the injured ballplayer’s background, the case was ultimately a slam-dunk victory to the tune of a $15 million settlement.

But it was a shallow victory once Jane realized that she had been duped into helping defraud the doctor’s malpractice insurance carrier.  It had been Dr. Dumont (Alicia Coppola) and Eric Hays’ plan all along to retire young and rich.  They had carefully concealed their affair so that even Jane was not suspicious until that one slip up by Eric when he mentioned that he would be taking a few weeks off to relax at the Kona Coast in Hawaii after receiving the settlement money.  That was when Jane remembered that Dr. Dumont had a home on the Kona Coast and then dug up the credit card receipts to verify the affair.  With the evidence staring her right in the face, Jane immediately took it Parker and Kim to share the bad news, “This whole case was a scam and we just helped them steal $15 million.”

But to Jane’s dismay, Parker rebuked her and said, “Forget the money.  If word gets out we turned on our clients, we’ll have no clients.  You’ll say nothing because you’re not allowed to – attorney-client privilege.”  Faced with Parker’s unyielding stance, Jane said in horror and astonishment, “So everyone gets to be ethical but me?!”  Contemplating her predicament, Jane later told Terri, “If my career goes up in flames, yours does too and that’s not fair.”  However, surprisingly, Terri said, “Six years ago, I took this job, yes – because I believed you were going places – but now I’m working for you because of who you are, not where you’re going.  Do what you have to do.”  Backed with this unexpected support, Jane played a reverse scam of her own on the wily Dr. Dumont to make her believe that Eric had only used her so that he could get the money and then cut her out of the deal.  Thus, Jane was able to get a full
confession from her on tape – a tape which Jane determinedly put in the mail to the District Attorney’s office along with a note for Parker.

This was a make or break point for Jane.  Does she turn her back on the fraud committed with her unwitting aid, or does she do the right thing?  In the end, she just could not live with it and did the right thing.  She had to expose the fraud – even at the cost of her law license.  So just like with Grayson, she had to let go.  She had to let go of her life as Deb and her life as old-Jane.

With both her career and love-life hanging in the balance, it remains to be seen how the second season will resolve these dire predicaments.

WHAT WORKED:

Back-dropping the episode was another legal case involving a model who was fired after a lingerie company discovered she was a cancer survivor.  Upon first discovering this deplorable treatment, Jane vowed to “make them cry.”  But it fell to Grayson and Stacy to be the legal champions while Jane was tied up on the medical malpractice case.  Thus, there were some delightful comedic moments with Stacy trying to conquer the mind-bending legalese, but in the end it was Stacy’s insight that helped them prevail.  Employing some sexy black lingerie worn by the model as she disrobed on the stand, Grayson good-naturedly asked, “So who’s thinking of cancer now?”  Clearly, no one was thinking about cancer after that!  It was a clever way to provide some levity and make a point that women are beautiful no matter what they may have gone through or experienced.  It was a classic “Drop Dead Diva” storyline to emphasize women-empowerment.

GIVING CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE:

“Grayson’s Anatomy” was written by Alex Taub and Jeffrey Lippman and directed by David Petrarca. Drop Dead Diva stars Brooke Elliott, Brooke D’Orsey, April Bowlby, Ben Feldman, Margaret Cho, Jackson Hurst, Josh Stamberg, and Kate Levering. Drop Dead Diva airs Sundays on Lifetime Television.

Summer TV Surprises

A number of good series returned this summer like Burn Notice, Eureka, In Plain Sight, The Closer and Leverage. Along with these and numerous other returning shows, a handful of new shows debuted over the summer. The ones that stand out the most to me as surprise hits of the summer are:

1. Drop Dead Diva – This comedic drama on Lifetime has the most unusual premise: Deb (Brooke D’Orsay), a beautiful-but-vapid model wannabe, dies in a car accident and finds herself before Heaven’s gatekeeper. In her attempt to return to her life, she is relegated to the body of recently deceased Jane Bingham, a brilliant, thoughtful and plus-size attorney. Now, Deb’s soul is inside Jane with all of Deb’s memories but all of Jane’s intelligence.

The story itself sounds preposterous until you see the delightful and perfectly cast Brooke Elliott in the lead role, surrounded by her guardian angel (of sorts) Fred (Ben Feldman), her loyal assistant Teri (Margaret Cho) and Deb’s best friend Stacy (April Bowlby). At her law firm, Jane works with Grayson Kent (Jackson Hurst), who was Deb’s boyfriend; Kim Kaswell (Kate Levering), a tough-as-nails (and rather unlikeable) attorney and boss man Parker (Josh Stamberg).

The series airs on Sunday nights at 9 PM with its finale set for October 11. You can get caught up on the first eight episodes at mylifetime.com then join in the fun for the last five episodes starting this Sunday. And best of all the show has done so well this summer that the network has renewed it for a second season.

2. Warehouse 13 – After only eight episodes, this Syfy original has already made its way into the hearts of viewers, combining humor, intrigue and adventure all into one terrific package. After saving the life of the President, two secret service agents – Peter Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) and Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) – are transferred to Warehouse 13 a “massive, top-secret storage facility in South Dakota that houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and supernatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government.”

Pete and Myka work with warehouse caretaker Artie (Saul Rubinek) and young techno-wiz Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti) to track down these artifacts in order to “snag, bag and tag them” and place them, forever, in the warehouse. Also along for the ride is Leena (Genelle Williams), the proprietor of the bed and breakfast where Pete and Myka live; their former boss Daniel Dickson (Simon Reynolds) and the mysterious Director of the secret organization that runs the warehouse, Mrs. Frederick (C.C.H. Pounder).

With only four more episodes to air on Tuesday nights at 9 PM, you can catch up on the past episodes at http://www.syfy.com/warehouse13/ and watch the remaining episodes, leading up to the finale on September 22. Then make sure to tune in next summer, as the show has been renewed for another season.

3. Being Human – This BBC America series is already a hit in the UK while American audiences got to experience this unique telling of a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf sharing a house in Bristol over the summer. The story centers on John Mitchell (Aidan Turner), a vampire who was turned during WWI but now works as a hospital porter; George Sands (Russell Tovey), a werewolf, who while being extremely intelligent works alongside Mitchell as a porter, leaving behind his family, fiancé and friends due to being afraid of hurting them; and Annie Sawyer (Lenora Crichlow), a ghost who died in the house where George and Mitchell live and where she refuses to leave.

While there were only six episodes and the pilot in the first season, this supernatural dramedy with classic British humor grabbed onto the audience and didn’t let go until its final scene with viewers clamoring for more. Season 2 is supposed to be filming as of August and is expected to air in the U.K. in 2010. Those of us on the “other side of the pond” will have to wait our turn to see the new season once BBC America sets the airdates. In order to get caught up on this exciting drama, please visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/beinghuman/.

4. Royal Pains – This new medical drama/comedy has become the hit of the USA Network, starring Mark Feuerstein as Dr. Hank Lawson, a rising star in the New York City medical community who loses everything after fighting for the life of a patient (and allowing a prominent benefactor of his hospital to die). With his life and career in shambles, his younger brother Evan (Paulo Costanzo) takes him to the Hamptons for a Memorial Day get-away, which ends up allowing Hank to become a new kind of MD – a concierge doctor.

With his invaluable physician’s assistant Divya Katdare (Reshma Shetty) on hand and his brother Evan, who is a certified public accountant, along for the ride, Hank Med is up and running in the Hamptons. The series also stars Jill Flint as Jill Casey, administrator at the local hospital and on-again/off-again love interest to Hank.

The series just wrapped up its first season on August 27, but you can check out the 12 aired episodes via http://www.usanetwork.com/series/royalpains/ and you can tune in next summer when its recently announced second season will air.

What new summer shows did you enjoy most? Please share.

Nice Boy of the Week: Jackson Hurst

Jackson Hurst plays Grayson Kent on the Lifetime original series Drop Dead Diva. Hailing from Texas and a graduate of Baylor University, Jackson is making his presence known on both television and film, appearing with such talent as Samuel L. Jackson, Ed Harris, Marcia Gay Hardin, Eva Mendes and Lara Flynn Boyle. Lifetimers are familiar with his gorgeous face from Living Proof and Inspector Mom. The powerhouse team of Craig Zadan and Neil Meron obviously thought highly enough of Jackson from working with him on Living Proof, to bring him on board for Diva.

Drop Dead Diva has just been picked up for a second season, and Jackson’s fans couldn’t be happier. Neither could the Nice Girls.

Warehouse 13, Drop Dead Diva Renewed! Leverage Adds Two!

Two of our new favorite shows, SyFy’s Warehouse 13 and Lifetime’s Drop Dead Diva, have been renewed for a second season by their respective networks. Meanwhile, TNT is so happy with Leverage’s performance that they’ve added more episodes to the order for the current season.

Warehouse 13 is SyFy’s most watched show, averaging 3.7 million viewers a week. Almost 50% of those viewers are women, quite a significant change from SyFy’s normal demo. The network ordered 13 new episodes to air next summer, but says there’s a chance that the number of episodes will increase in future seasons.

Lifetime’s new show, Drop Dead Diva, has been a strong performer for the network. The show has averaged 2.6 million viewers so far in its first season, and in its most recent airing last Sunday, hit a record of more than 3 million viewers. Another thirteen episodes will be coming our way next summer when Drop Dead Diva returns to Lifetime.

Meanwhile, TNT has been so pleased with Leverage’s second season that they’ve ordered two additional episodes to air in September. The new season finale will air Wednesday, September 9. I’d hazard a guess that this means we can expect a third season to be announced soon!

Drop Dead Diva: Heaven’s Computer Glitch

In a clever twist to the classic body-swap storyline (think “Freaky Friday” meets “Heaven Can Wait”), we are introduced to two young women traveling parallel paths to an untimely demise. For one, there is an unexpected second chance and she returns to life-as-we-know-it  – with the unexpected caveat that she is returned into someone else’s body. And so we meet Deb, the shallow, beautiful aspiring model who mistakenly hits the “return” button on the computer while awaiting her fate at Heaven’s gate. Unfortunately, this accidental “return” sends her back as Jane, a highly intelligent, plus-size lawyer. (While not thoroughly explained, it is presumed that Jane entered Heaven, and her body was thus left vacant for Deb’s re-entry into this world.)

Accordingly, we are invited to share in Deb’s experience in acclimating to living her new life as “Jane.” Initially, it is monumentally confusing for Deb as she grieves for the loss of her former physical self, the loss of her boyfriend and friends, and the life she had before. But as her personal guardian angel, Fred, explained, living as her former self, she was just a “zero/zero” – meaning she was neither good or bad, having not done a single good or bad act. Thus, becoming Jane now allows Deb the chance to become a better person and ensuring that she will not get stuck at Heaven’s gate the next time she must account for her life.

In many ways, living as Jane, Deb is freer since she has inherited Jane’s keen intellect, prestigious job, personal assistant, and even Jane’s worldly belongings, which includes a cool, silver Porsche (much to Deb’s delight). So without having to worry about getting a job or income to live on, Deb slowly begins to adapt. However, to counter-balance the perks of Jane’s life, Deb also has to accept: (1) the responsibility of Jane’s cases and (2) the new physical differences.

For as she find out, as Jane, she now has clients who rely on her to stand up and represent them in a multitude of complex cases. While initially it is a good thing that Deb can rely on Jane’s natural intelligence to assist, Deb discovers it is her own instincts that really win the cases for her clients. (In particular, her closing argument for a client who lost his wife was especially touching and poignant based on the five stages of grieving: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance – which were something Deb could intimately relate to as this is exactly what she was experiencing in mourning her old self and life.)

And last, but not least, Deb must come to terms with her new body type. She is no longer a size 2, slim figured blonde who can crook her finger and every guy will come running. She is a full-figured, raven haired woman who, while professional, is not yet confident in her own body. She must adjust to the fact that she has different food cravings, wears a different size of clothes, cannot do a standing squat, and must have a window in her office or she feels like she’s going to overheat. These physical changes are a huge adjustment and yet she embraces the challenge with more perseverance than most people would have in her shoes.

The comedy of watching Deb meld her two lives together is simultaneously hilarious and touching:  for example, watching her steadfast refusal to give up her best friend, Stacy, shows loyalty and common sense as she needs at least one touch-stone in her life; watching her react to having a guardian angel who both works with her and lives in her house, which is delightfully funny and yet reminds her of the challenge she must face in pursuing a life as a better person; and feeling her mixed reactions upon encountering her boyfriend who was just hired by her firm (and who naturally does not recognize her as Jane), which felt heart-breaking and yet hope-filled all at once.

At the end of the 2 hour pilot, I knew I had found a “keeper” as I discovered myself wishing for more and, thus, I am only too happy to have been invited on Jane’s journey of self-discovery.

WHAT WORKED:

Casting of the two Brookes as Deb and Jane is spot-on-brilliant. Both bring their best work to the show and you find yourself rooting for them no matter whoever is on screen. Special kudos to Brooke Elliott for deftly meddling both personalities into one body in such a fun, likable and relatable way. Shout-outs should also be given to the rest of the cast who are just as phenomenal in their roles and which make Jane’s world such a fun place to visit.

I also loved the cute and delicate resolutions to each of the legal cases and the care given to how sensitive the subject matter may be. In depicting legal cases, sometimes writers forget there are actual people who are ensnared in those legal messes and their only wish to get out with some dignity and justice.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK:

Bringing in a snide, insecure, competitive co-worker who immediately starts hitting on Deb’s boyfriend so early on in the series seems unnecessary. It feels like “Jane” is being unnecessarily kicked while she’s already down. That is a story that could easily be played out later with a bit more humor and thoughtfulness. Bringing it in so early just feels mean-spirited, as Deb deserves just a little more time to learn what her life is like as Jane.

GIVING CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE:

“Drop Dead Diva: Pilot” written by Josh Berman and directed by James Hayman.  ”Drop Dead Diva” stars Brooke Elliott, Brooke D’Orsey, Apil Bowlby, Ben Feldman, Margaret Cho, Jackson Hurst, Josh Stamberg, and Kate Levering. “Drop Dead Diva” airs Sundays on Lifetime Television.