Will 'Reaper' Fire Up the CW?

'Reaper' tells the story of Scott Oliver, a twenty-something slacker who barely works at his regular job at a home improvement center known as 'The Work Bench', where he receives little respect let alone be able to make it to work on time. Scott is in love with the beautiful Andi, a co-worker that he has been trying to get attention from, only to be briskly reminded that they are just 'friends' and she is hard at work trying to gain a degree in psychology in college.

But, after Scott saves the girl from an accident involving an air conditioner that has fallen from an approaching forklift by moving the appliance with his mind and saving the girl's life, he soon discovers that there may be more to his newfound powers. But, what Scott does not know is that his family harbors a devastating secret: they had sold his soul to the Devil himself before he was even born! But, it was an accident, as the deal was made in order to dave his father's life when he had fallen deathly ill, and the two had not planned on having any children, as their deal's price was the soul of their firstborn child. But, what his parents had not counted on was having Scott, and now the young slacker has to go into the servitude of the evil figure for the rest of his eternal life, sending escaped souls back to Hell as his personal bounty hunter!

Scott, however, is not alone, as he has his best friend Sock, who thinks that this is the greatest thing in the world while his friend has his reservations about the whole thing. But, what Scott soon learns in the first episode is that he has no choice in his duties, and if he does not succeed, his mother's soul will take his place as she will be sent to Hell for the rest of eternity.

In his first case, Scott and Sock have to catch an escaped soul who was an arsonist in his previous life and has escaped his torment and returned to the earthly plane posing as a fireman, and it is up to the new bounty hunter to catch the wayward demon and send him back where he came from. With his only weapons being a garden hose, a fire extinguisher, and a possessed Dirt Devil mini-vac in his quest, Scott soon discovers that he may have been destined to do this job, and apprehensively, remains in the service of Old Scratch in the end to protect his family as well as the world.

While the story itself comes across as a cheap rip-off of another Hell's-bounty-hunter-film (February's 'Ghost Rider' starring Nicholas Cage, Eva Mendes, and Peter Strauss, which was by far a better screenplay), it does give a slightly more humorous angle towards the subject of Hell. The Devil's character potrays himself as an average joe who simply likes to torment people and then gives evil people what they so graciously deserve. However, even with a somewhat good cast, the series is not very original. What the CW has thought was that it may have the same success as the film by incorporating some of the film's key elements into a television series. The only thing that is truly different is how Scott became what he was, and he has moronic friends to help him do the dirty work. While it cannot be proven that the series did do some 'hacking', it is very obvious that the series was spawned from the same concept.

After watching some of the new series that this network has to offer, I am not amused thus far from what they are producing. 'Supernatural' and 'Smallville' still have yet to air their season openers as of yet, and that will not be until October. I predict that 'Reaper' may have a cult following, but as far as a runaway hit, I don't believe that this is possible with the current formula that they are using. In order to compete for viewers and stay on the airwaves, 'Reaper' is going to have to do something original in order to keep its following. There are a lot of networks right now that are producing shows that have a paranormal concept besides what the CW has to offer. ABC is doing 'Pushing Daisies', which is set to air next month. CBS will have 'Moonlight' and 'Ghost Whisperer' on Friday nights, and while 'Reaper' is set for Tuesday's slot after 'America's Next Top Model', it will be in for a fight in order to keep viewers that are very hard into paranormal conten, and they might want to consider moving 'Reaper' into another time slot next to another of their shows, 'Supernatural', and moving 'Smallville' to another night and time. Maybe they could have it right after 'Gossip Girl', perhaps, as both shows are aimed at a younger adult audience.

The CW, thus far, has only proven that they can produce shows that are popular to the younger crowds, which is why they are losing older viewers. The other three major networks know to at least balance and make their shows age-specific and in the right days to help them maintain their viewer base. Unless the CW can make more shows that do not insult a person's intelligence and have a slightly more mature edge, they will not last long against the normal hits that are already currently out there.

I can also predict that unless the writers can keep the scripts interesting and unusual, 'Reaper' will have a very short lived existence, and the network will be given a new meaning to the place 'Hell' after they have spent all of that money and then come up short because they did not think the matter through.