Test Pilot: Reaper

Photo: Michael Courtney/The CW

Test Pilot is a semiregular feature this summer sharing my first impressions of the pilots for next fall's shows. These aren't reviews, since these pilots may be rewritten, recast and reshot before airing, and end up much better or worse. But, premature opinions are why God invented the Internet, so let's get on with...

The Show: Reaper, CW

The Premise: Sam (Bret Harrison, The Loop), a college dropout working in a big-box store (trend alert: also the setting for Chuck), is turning 21, and his parents have a big birthday surprise for him. The Devil (Ray Wise) conned them into selling Sam's soul before he was born, and today that soul is forfeit. The deal: he must capture escaped souls and return them to Hell, for the rest of his life. With his friend Sock (Tyler Labine, serial comic-relief sidekick) he goes after his first quarry, with the aid of a Satanic hand-vac.

First Impressions: So these aren't reviews, but I don't think the CW will mind my saying that I loved this pilot. Produced by Kevin Smith (who directed the pilot), it's consistently funny and actually more focused in its humor than, say, a Kevin Smith movie. The casting is excellent: Harrison as good-natured, lazy Sam, Ray Wise as an appeallingly smarmy Satan and Nikki Reed (Thirteen) as Sam's love/like interest. Not to jinx Reaper with high expectations, but there's something Buffy-like about the mix of humor, low-fi action scenes and character: at heart, there's a real story here, about Sam's finally having to accept a challenge he's not allowed to quit. I'm not saying this show will become Buffy, but I don't think I would have said that about Buffy after its pilot either.

Will I Watch Another One? Hell, yes.