Pilot

Episode aired Jun 27, 2003
TV-MA
1h 14m

IMDb RATING

8.3/10

842

YOUR RATING

Comedy Drama Fantasy

Georgia, 18, a college dropout in Seattle, gets a filing job. She gets killed by a falling Mir toilet seat on her first workday. Two grim reapers have her join their rank.Georgia, 18, a college dropout in Seattle, gets a filing job. She gets killed by a falling Mir toilet seat on her first workday. Two grim reapers have her join their rank.Georgia, 18, a college dropout in Seattle, gets a filing job. She gets killed by a falling Mir toilet seat on her first workday. Two grim reapers have her join their rank.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.3/10

842

YOUR RATING

3User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
George's wish that she could just "wish it into the corn field" is a reference to Jerome Bixby's short story, "It's a Good Life," in which a little boy with god-like powers whisks an entire town into an alternate reality, and holds the population in a paralysis of fear. "Wish it into the cornfield" was what his mother pleaded with Anthony to do to creatures, and people, that he had killed. The story was adapted for the original The Twilight Zone (1959), with Bill Mumy, and re-imagined for Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983).

Goofs
In later episodes, it is established that if you reap the soul after death, the soul has the characteristics of the dead body - like claw-marks on the face, flattened heads or even autopsy scars. Yet here, Roxy reaps a woman's soul after a piano has fallen on her, but her soul emerges totally intact and unscathed.

Quotes
George: I'd say I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not. I excel at not giving a shit. Experience has taught me that interest begets expectation, and expectation beget disappointment, so the key to avoiding disappointment is to avoid interest. A equals B equals C Equals A, or whatever. I also don't have a lot of interest in being a good person or a bad person. From what I can tell, either way, you're screwed. Bad people are punished by society's laws, and good people are punished by Murphy's Law. So you see my dilemma.

Connections
References Leave It to Beaver (1957)

Soundtracks
Hell
(uncredited)
Written by Tom Maxwell
Performed by Squirrel Nut Zippers

User reviews3

Review

Featured review

Promising pilot

Overall, this is a pretty promising Pilot. The show does a good job of establishing the lead character and making her more likable as the episode goes by. Along with that, it solidly introduces us to all of the other reapers that are sure to be regulars in the series. I do appreciate that they didn't overdo the sentimentality with George's family, and even after death they aren't afraid to not show them as the perfect family. As of now, the character development is spot on. I'm interested to see how the show will handle long-running arcs with the episodic "Reaper Case of the Week" that I'm guessing will be part of the show. But yes, I'm intrigued.