There are moments in a TV watcher’s viewing life that one remembers.  That night where a plot twist takes you by surprise and makes you high five the person next to you.  The time when you laughed so hard that your stomach was sore the next day and you could barely drive your car.  Then there is that magic moment when you watch a pilot for a show and you know, deep down that something very special has just happened.  Something wonderful has entered your life.  That is it is love.  And you, a faithful, loyal TV watcher know that eventually this love will end in heartbreak.

            For me all three moments happened with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Freaks & Geeks,” and “Veronica Mars.”  Those shows made me smile and made me euphoric.  Weeks became just counting down until the next installment.  The root of TV obsession is a good TV show.  And this addict was seriously in need of a new fix.  Enter “Reaper.”

            “Reaper” is the age old story of sweet slacker boy whose soul was sold to the devil by his parents.  Now before you judge his parents too harshly, please note the circumstances under which this deal was forged.  The father, deathly ill, was spared by the devil in exchange for the soul of their first born.  The couple made the deal, fully expecting to never have children.  Then with added input from the family doc that the father was infertile, they thought nothing of the deal and went about living their lives.  But as countless people can tell you thanks to drunken nights, dark backseats, and late exit strategies, the best laid plans of men don’t always end conception free.  Such was the fate of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver who popped out little Sam.  On his 21^st birthday the devil comes for his contractual gains.  Father Oliver explains the history to Sam, and Sam learns from the devil what this deal means exactly.

            As the devil’s employee, Sam is expected to collect the escaped souls from hell and return them to the nearest hell portal.  Satan explains that any place that feels like hell on Earth actually is hell on Earth.  Well, a portal anyway.  As you may well expect, this means the local DMV.  While that may be an old joke, the payoff for me was hysterical.  (Anytime something goes wrong in my life I will now shake my fists to the heavens and mutter “DMV!”  Thanks to Tyler Labine as Sock for making this spectacular line delivery.)  Anyway, the wonderful Ray Wise does a beautiful job walking that fine line between being devilishly charming and wickedly threatening.  Often he does this with the same smile on his face.  Wise is brilliant in the role.  Even when he says things like “I can be nice!” it sounds like a threat. 

            Though Sam is reluctant to do the Devil’s bidding he is warned that forfeiture of his soul means that his mother’s soul is taken instead.  Sam, nice son that he is, accepts his fate, even going so far as to tell his mother that the devil set him free from the deal after she begs Sam to let the Devil have her soul instead.  With little choice, Sam attempts to finish his first assignment.  With the aid of his buddy Sock (and decked out in the line of clothing the Ghostbusters animated series rejected), they hunt down a firebug intent on burning down an elementary school.  Satisfied that he is doing good in some way, Sam settles into his new role.

            The writing on this show is funny and unexpectedly realistic in a way.  The fact that some slacker guy has telekinesis and is a bounty hunter for Beelzebub part not so much, but the dialogue, in a lot of ways is very real.  The characters are a nice mix of likeable and flawed.  More importantly, the cast all around is perfect.  Bret Harrison as Sam Oliver gives a relaxed comedic delivery (far less manic than his “Grounded for Life” years) and is generally very likeable.  Likewise Tyler Labine is just as fantastic as ever.  Although I was one of the few people who liked “Invasion,” I can tell you that I think a sizable part of that sprang from how much I just liked Labine’s performance on that show.  Labine has a very natural delivery that seems less like acting and more like just being the character.  He does a beautiful job of being likeable and yet an ass.  The other new show dealing with a nerdy guy with powers “Chuck” has a character like Sock called Morgan played by Joshua Gomez.  The difference is that I don’t know if I would want to hang out with Morgan, but slacker Sock however I could totally hang out with.  Even though that would likely mean I would end up calling him an ass at least twice during any conversation with that character.  Such is the greatness of Labine.

            This is by far the best new show of the season so far.  Granted I am only half way through but I think the networks would be hard pressed to come out with anything as fresh and fun as “Reaper.”  Even more exciting, the pilot was directed by Kevin Smith and the show was created (and the pilot written by) two women.  Add to that the talents of Tom Spezialy and Mark Gordon and you just have an incredible hour of television.  The fact that it will likely languish on CW like “Veronica Mars” is a heartbreak indeed, but hope springs eternal.  Hopefully this time will be different.  Hopefully it will be discovered.  And I for one sincerely hope you discover it with me.  Good shows are not nearly as fun if you have no one to rhapsodize over them with you.