Drop Dead Diva
By Marshall Fine
Rating:
Sunday, July 12, 9PM, Lifetime
It's hardly a new idea (remember "Heaven Can Wait"?): A less-than-perfect person dies, then gets a second chance at life by coming back in someone else's body. But this new series actually makes it work, with both heart and humor. In this version, a shallow model dies prematurely - and when she comes back to Earth, she lands in the body of a just-killed attorney. Here's the gag: The model, who's kind of a dim bulb, gets the lawyer's brains - but she also gets her plus-size body and the life (and Lane Bryant wardrobe) that goes with it. The cheers must go to actress Brooke Elliott, who plays both the attorney and the ditzy blonde who inhabits her body. Look for Margaret Cho as the lawyer's wise-cracking assistant, a role she was born to play.
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