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Wikipedia

Reaper (TV series)

Reaper is an American comedy television series that focuses on Sam Oliver, a "reaper" who works for the Devil by retrieving souls that have escaped from Hell.

Reaper
Genre
Created by
  • Michele Fazekas
  • Tara Butters
Starring
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes31 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
Production locationsVancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Running time40 - 43 minutes[1]
Production companies
Original release
NetworkThe CW
ReleaseSeptember 25, 2007 (2007-09-25) –
May 26, 2009 (2009-05-26)

The series ran from September 25, 2007, to May 26, 2009, airing on Tuesday nights at 8:00 p.m. Eastern/7:00 p.m. Central, on The CW. The series was produced by ABC Studios and The Mark Gordon Company. The rights for the show have been sold to Fox for its broadcast in Asia.

Premise edit

Sam Oliver (Bret Harrison) lives at home with his parents (Andrew Airlie and Allison Hossack) in the Seattle area. Sam dropped out of college ("It made him sleepy", his Mom explains) and took a dead-end job at the Work Bench, a home-repair superstore. He spent the rest of his time hanging out, playing video games, and pining for his co-worker Andi (Missy Peregrym).

On Sam's 21st birthday, his parents behave very strangely and Sam himself sees hellish visions and experiences odd events. His father eventually claims that many years ago he was very sick, and in return for restoring his health he and his wife promised their firstborn child to the Devil (Ray Wise). Although the couple intended to cheat the Devil by not having children, this plan went awry when Satan persuaded their doctor to lie and tell the couple that they couldn't conceive in exchange for wiping his gambling debts clean. Sam was born shortly thereafter.

After informing him of his fate, the Devil explains to Sam that he must serve as his bounty hunter (or "Reaper"), tracking down souls that have escaped from Hell and sending them back using his new powers (which include telekinesis) and "vessels," varied objects said to have been hand-made in the bowels of perdition by the iniquitous and the vile. Vessels appear inside a long wooden box sent for Sam to open (with the Italian inscription "Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate" ["Abandon all hope, ye who enter here"], as was written on the entrance to Hell in Dante's Inferno), and are specially designed for each job. Examples throughout the series have included a Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner, a Taser gun, and a cigarette lighter.

Although Sam initially balks, Satan tells him that should he refuse, Sam's mother's soul is forfeit. Unwilling to sacrifice his mother and convinced that he is doing good in the world by tracking down evil souls, Sam accepts his fate. With the help of his slacker friends, Sock (Tyler Labine) and Ben (Rick Gonzalez), he begins his new life tracking down the corrupted souls trying to escape their own eternal punishment.

Development and production edit

Reaper premiered on September 25, 2007, in the U.S., airing on Tuesday nights at 9:00PM Eastern/8:00PM Central on the CW, following Beauty and the Geek.[2] The series had a full 18 episode order for the 2007–2008 season, with 13 pre-strike episodes and 5 post-strike episodes.[3]

Reaper stopped airing new episodes after the tenth episode due to the industry-wide 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike. It resumed new pre-strike episodes for three weeks on Thursdays in March, and began airing post-strike episodes on April 22, 2008.

On May 12, 2008, Reaper was officially renewed for a 13-episode second and final season[4] which premiered on March 3, 2009.[5]

On May 19, 2009, Reaper was officially cancelled by The CW.[6] However, ABC Studios was still in negotiations with CW affiliates to syndicate the show, or sell it to cable.[7]

Tyler Labine who plays Sock posted on his Facebook account that Reaper is officially cancelled and will not be returning.[8]

Conception edit

The pilot script which was written by creators/executive producers Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters received a script commitment by The CW in September 2006. Mark Gordon and Deborah Spera also joined the project as executive producers under the former's production banner at Touchstone Television, The Mark Gordon Company.[9] The network green-lighted a pilot order for the script in January 2007, and writer/director Kevin Smith agreed to direct the first hour of the series in February 2007.[10][11] The CW gave the series an early pick-up and a 13-episode order on May 15, 2007.[12]

While initially not making a full season order, The CW eventually ordered an additional 3 episodes, citing a high percentage of audience retention between Reaper and Beauty and the Geek.[13] Additional episodes were ordered to fill in the first season after the writer's strike was resolved, and a second season of 13 episodes was later ordered, as well.

In a February 1, 2010 interview with CliqueClack TV, creators Fazekas and Butters revealed many of the unresolved plots from the series.[14]

Casting edit

Casting began in February 2007, when Bret Harrison won the lead role of Sam Oliver. At the time, his commitment to the series came second to his show at Fox, The Loop, which had yet to air its second season on the network. The show was later canceled, leaving Harrison free to fully concentrate on Reaper.[15] Canadian actor Tyler Labine (formerly of the fan favorite sci-fi series Invasion) was cast in the same month in the role of Bert "Sock" Wysocki, Sam's best friend and sidekick.[16] Nikki Reed, actress and co-writer of the award-winning film Thirteen, was originally cast as Sam's love interest, Andi, in March 2007 but she was replaced by Missy Peregrym, who was fresh off a high-profile recurring role on Heroes in June 2007.[17] Actors for the roles of Ben (Sam and Sock's co-worker and friend) and Josie (Sock's ex-girlfriend) were found in the same month when Rick Gonzalez and Valarie Rae Miller were cast.[18][19] Anthony Head and James Marsters auditioned for the role of the devil[20] before Ray Wise was cast in the part in mid-March.[21] Kyle Switzer was cast as Sam's younger brother Keith. Keith's name would later be changed to Kyle, and was written out of the show after two episodes. Donovan Stinson and Andrew Airlie rounded out the cast as Ted Gallagher and John Oliver, Sam's boss and father respectively.

In July 2008, it was announced that Eriko Tamura had been cast as a season 2 recurring character, playing Sock's new stepsister and love interest.[22]

Broadcast history edit

The first telecast of the pilot occurred on July 27, 2007, at Comic-Con International in San Diego. It received mostly positive responses from critics and audience members alike.[23] The series premiered on The CW on September 25, 2007, and ran on Tuesdays, but moved in late February 2008 to Thursdays after Smallville. After the restart following the writers' strike, Reaper returned to being broadcast on Tuesday nights on The CW as original releases.

Cancellation edit

The CW canceled the show near the end of the second season, airing the final episode on May 26, 2009.[24] ABC Studios was initially in talks with CW affiliates to get a syndicated version of Reaper run on Sunday nights.[25][26][27]

It was later reported that syndication talks with CW affiliates fell through, as well as attempts to sell the series to Sci-Fi Channel as part of its change over to Syfy, after news that both Bret Harrison ("Sam") and Tyler Labine ("Sock") would not be returning for season three even if the syndication plan proved viable.[28]

The official Reaper website confirmed that there will be no third season, but there will be a comic book series and possibly a cartoon.[29]

In February 2018, Bret Harrison and Tyler Labine reprised their roles from the show on an episode of Kevin (Probably) Saves the World.[30]

Syndication edit

In 2013, FEARnet made a syndication deal to air the entire series. It is FEARnet's first "off-network" series, meaning that it is the first third-party show they air that they didn't make for the network. The series premiered on June 4, 2013, but on May 28, FEARnet aired a 30-minute reunion special that they produced which featured discussion with some of the cast.[31] During the reunion cast members left open the possibility that a Kickstarter campaign could help finance the production of a season 3 of Reaper.[32]

Cast and characters edit

Main characters edit

Samuel "Sam" Oliver edit

Sam Oliver (played by Bret Harrison), the protagonist of the show, is a dropout and all-around slacker who, due to a deal that his parents made to save his father's life, is coerced into becoming a bounty hunter for the Devil after turning 21 years old. According to the terms of the contract, Sam would serve the Devil by using various tools, called vessels, to recapture souls who have escaped from Hell. After capturing an escaped soul with a vessel, he would then drop the vessel and soul at a portal to Hell, which was the local Department of Motor Vehicles in the show. Also, the Devil would grant Sam a unique power to aid in a particular soul's capture; the type of power ranged from telekinesis to a tattoo hinting the soul's location.

Sam, despite being an inherent quitter, surrendered to his fate as a bounty hunter for the Devil in an endeavor to prevent the escaped souls from endangering innocent lives and to protect his mother's soul. He enlists the help of his best friends Sock and Ben to capture these dangerous souls.

Since the beginning of the show, Sam had romantic feelings for his co-worker, Andi and the two entered a relationship by the end of the first season.

At the end of season one, the demon Tony tells Sam that he believes Sam's parents were paid by the Devil to carry his (the Devil's) baby, though Sam's mother denied this, and the Devil admits that he would probably not answer Sam honestly if asked about it. Later, the Devil indicates that Sam is his son, although the father who raised Sam, Mr. Oliver, tells Sam that the deal with the Devil will not allow him to tell Sam the truth of the matter. All other characters who know about the claim assume that Sam, though kindhearted, is indeed the Devil's son.

During season 2, Sam discovers an escaped soul, Alan, who can't be sent back to Hell because he claims he escaped the Devil. Sam continues throughout the season hunting down Alan, trying to get information on how to escape his contract.

In "Underbelly", the Devil hints that Sam is invulnerable. In "The Home Stretch," Sam inadvertently wins a competition with his half-brother Morgan and is appointed the Devil's right-hand man. In the words of the Devil, he is "my right-hand man, my human representative in this realm, serving at my side as we create Hell on Earth". In "No Reaper Left Behind", the Devil tells Sam, "I expect you to rise to the heights of political power here on Earth, seize control of the planet, and hasten the Apocalypse".

Andi breaks up with Sam once Morgan gives her the idea that Sam is the son of the Devil. She stated she recognized evil within him, and she couldn't deal with it. Even though she ended the relationship, Andi continues to assist Sam in capturing souls. In "The Devil & Sam Oliver", Andi ends up with him again, united by the fact that both of their souls are owned by the Devil.

In the series finale, Sam gains information that can help him regain his soul. Sam challenges the Devil to a game, but a wingless angel named Steve intentionally breaks Sam's hand causing Sam to lose to the Devil. But at the end of the episode, Steve reveals to the then-dating pair Sam and Andi that he helped Sam by breaking his hand and that he was acting from a higher authority.

Bert "Sock" Wysocki edit

The lowest-performing salesperson at the Work Bench, Bert "Sock" Wysocki (played by Tyler Labine) spends most of his time sleeping on the stock shelves, planning his topless home supply store, and other time-wasting activities. He won the Dog of the Month award (the opposite of Employee of the Month) nine months in a row. He also regularly steals supplies from the Work Bench, both to aid Sam in capturing souls and for fun (like making a mechanical bull from paint mixers and lumber). Fortunately, he is braver and more athletic than his slacker personality suggests and often provides the muscle of Sam's group. Sock assists Sam with collecting souls.

Sock lived with his mother for the majority of the first season but had to move out after she remarried in Las Vegas. After being kicked out, he first lives in the Work Bench but then he finds an apartment and forges Sam's and Ben's signatures on the lease and they live there for the rest of the season.

At the start of the show Sock and Josie have just broken their relationship off but they get back together in the 14th episode and break off again in the final episode, with Josie saying that Sock is a bad boyfriend. In the last episode of the first season Sock kisses the succubus Marlena multiple times, losing one year from his life for each kiss (he estimates he has three years left).

At the beginning of the second season, it is revealed that Sock has a beautiful Asian stepsister whom he finds sexually appealing and considers asking out. He continues down this path, even with his new sister continually viewing him as a big brother. Sock eventually manipulates her to have sex with him, which they do in the second-season episode "Underbelly." She leaves for Japan shortly after.

Sock is also one of five characters other than Sam who have captured a soul (the others being Andi, Ben, Mr. Sprong, and Morgan). He captured the blob soul in episode five ("What About Blob") with the sweater vessel, and in the season finale ("Cancun"), he caught the fortune teller soul by throwing the baseball vessel through her car window after the fortune teller tried to run over both Sam and himself. In the first episode of season 2 ("Episode IV: A New Hope"), he captured one of the 40 fight club souls with the cattle prod vessel. In the final episode "The Devil & Sam Oliver," he severs the toad tongue of an escaped soul with a machete and sends it back to Hell.

Benjamin "Ben" Gonzalez edit

One of Sam and Sock's co-workers and friends, Benjamin Casper Perez Gonzalez (played by Rick Gonzalez) knows Sam is working for Satan and helps him out. He seems to have a tendency to get hurt when assisting Sam in capturing escaped souls (though this tendency diminished as the series progressed, partially because he doesn't go soul-hunting along with Sam as extensively as Sock does). In the series pilot, he is sent to the hospital by the fire soul and consumed by the blob monster in episode 5 ("What about Blob"), is held hostage in episode 10, ("Cash Out"), and hit by a 2x4 along with his friends while fighting two of the 40 fight club souls (Episode IV A New Hope). However, in "Dirty Sexy Mongol" Ben shows a rare side of bravery by fending off a demon with a tiki torch, thereby saving Sam from the would-be assassin. Ben is initially seen as the brains of the trio as he is usually the one responsible for coming up with tactics and strategies in aiding Sam capture escaped souls and is not above recommending and taking advantage of the Work Bench's merchandise as makeshift hunting gear whenever the three conduct a hunt; he initially sought training as a priest and has extensive knowledge of the Bible, and often raises theological questions about the nature of their missions and the Devil's involvement.

Ben appears far less competent when he agrees to a green card marriage with his British co-worker Sara. He had just given up on his search for the perfect girl, who happens to be independently wealthy, enjoys mixed martial arts, and reads Sue Grafton novels. Once married, Ben immediately meets Cassidy while chasing a soul, and she fits every criteria for his perfect girl. Sara, far crueler and more shrewd than she initially lets on, forbids Ben to see Cassidy, though she has no qualms about her own extramarital affairs that she keeps secret from Ben. Ben is eventually able to negotiate a compromise with Sara after discovering she is pregnant with her married boyfriend Esteban's child.

When Ben's sham marriage is discovered by an INS agent, he is told he is going to jail. He gets money together to pay a fine in lieu of jail time, but Sara tricks him into giving her the money so that she can go on the lam. At the end of the episode "The Leak", Cassidy drives Ben to jail, telling Sock " When this is all over, my boyfriend will no longer be married". Early in the next episode, "Cancun," Ben arrives at the Work Bench disappointed that his friends forgot to pick him up after serving his eight-day sentence. It is revealed later that Cassidy broke up with him during the jail sentence.

Ben is one of five people who have captured a soul for Sam (the others are Morgan, Mr. Sprong, Sock and Andi) - he captured the tentacle soul in episode 24 ("Underbelly") with Sam's grenade vessel.

In season two, he begins dating Nina, a demon. In "The Home Stretch", he breaks up with her at the insistence of his domineering grandmother, but gets back together with her in "No Reaper Left Behind." He has shown that he has grown out of his nature by going against his psychic grandmother in order to remain together with Nina (which means he has gone against his family since his grandmother is in control of the entire family). It was later revealed he only followed his grandmother's orders for the purpose of being left in her will. During the mating season for the demons, Ben fought off a male demon determined to mate with Nina; he did not want any demon to touch Nina.

In "The Favorite", Ben is shown to be the laughing stock of the group as Sam and Sock are always wanting to tease him; Sam's zombie-like father hides in the backseat of Sam's car while Sock and Sam tempt Ben into the car to see the look on his face when he is scared by Sam's father.

Andi Prendergast edit

Andi Prendergast (played by Missy Peregrym in the series and Nikki Reed in the unaired pilot) is Sam's girlfriend and for a time, manager. Initially unaware of Sam's Reaper duties, she is let down multiple times when Sam is called away from dates to capture souls. Chancing to see him on duty, Andi watches Sam behead an escaped soul from a distance and initially threatens to go to the police. Sam is warned by the Devil to ensure she remains unaware of his activities, but eventually, he receives permission to let her know what he does. With help from Sam's neighbor (and demon) Tony, as well as from the escaped soul at the time, Sam convinces Andi of his "job". Andi reacts poorly, but eventually accepts Sam's fate and becomes his third assistant in hunting souls, though her assistance seems more focused on research rather than actual confrontation. In season 2, Andi was promoted to manager of the Work Bench when Ted was fired because of harassing a "secret shopper". She was later demoted in "My Brother's Reaper", for allowing the Work Bench to be used for a bachelor party.

Sam and Andi start dating near the end of season one but this ends abruptly in "Underbelly". She can't handle this and believes that evil is brewing within Sam. Although they break up, Andi continues to help Sam on his quest to get out of his deal with the Devil. In the season two finale ("The Devil & Sam Oliver") she declares her love for Sam and offers her soul as a prize in a contest between Sam and the Devil and, after Sam loses the contest, ends up sharing his fate.

Andi is one of five people who have captured a soul for Sam (the others are Ben, Morgan, Mr. Sprong, and Sock) - she captured the multiplying soul in episode 15 ("Coming to Grips") with Sam's scythe vessel.

Josie Miller edit

Josie Miller (played by Valarie Rae Miller) is Sock's ex-girlfriend who works at the district attorney's office. Despite her obvious dislike for Sock, Josie remains friendly with Sam and agrees to provide information that helps him track down different souls, unaware of his work for the Devil. However, after Sock used a share of stolen bank loot to buy duplicates of all the stuff lost in a fire at her apartment (which he inadvertently caused), she begins to suspect that something isn't quite on the "up-and-up" with the boys and is even more suspicious and upset when her lost I.D. is used to access the city morgue. Toward the end of season one, Josie got back together (and subsequently broke up again) with Sock, due to his insecurity and his apathetic nature. The character did not appear in the second season.

John Oliver edit

John Oliver (played by Andrew Airlie) is Sam's father. Though equally distressed by his son's predicament as his wife, he, in effect, works against Sam for the protection of his family. In one episode, John is seen burning a page from the contract which binds Sam to the devil, to hide information from Sam (which he later admits to in the season finale).

In the season two premiere ("Episode IV: A New Hope"), Sam is confident that the Devil is his true father, not John. After surviving being buried alive at the end of Season 1, John reappears as a zombie. Sam sees him again in "The Favorite" when delivering a freezer to his mother's house. John explains that he cannot die because of the deal with the Devil that cost Sam his soul. As a zombie, he cannot go out in public and needs to be kept cool. His deceased status gives him plenty of free time, which he attempts to spend rekindling his relationship with Sam. At the end of "I Want My Baby Back," John moves into the garage of Sock's parents' house and sleeps in a freezer.

In "No Reaper Left Behind," John attempts to regain some semblance of a normal life through the use of the internet, only to be disappointed. In an effort to find some purpose, he asks Sam to send him to Hell in an attempt to locate Alan Townsend and help Sam get out of his deal. Sam agrees and sends him to Hell with the Nerf gun vessel. John subsequently contacts Sam by cell phone and tells him he's discovered a way for Sam to break the deal, but he's trapped in the third circle of Hell (it is unknown how he got there as the third level is inhabited by the gluttons). Nina goes to Hell to get it and rescue him, but he stays behind, saying he has something important to do.

In the canonical (but yet unmade) season 3, it is revealed that John is in fact Sam's father. John was a demon who made a deal with the Devil to become human. Part of the deal was having his first-born son become a reaper. As a demon, he couldn't die, and therefore, became a zombie.

The Devil edit

Smooth-talking and debonair, known as "Jerry Belvedere" to those who have no idea of his true identity, the Devil (played by Ray Wise) claims the rights to Sam's soul thanks to a deal he made with Sam's parents before Sam was even born. Although he knows how it all ends ("God wins"), he is determined to do as much as he can to oppose God until the end. He also convinces Sam that he (Sam) is doing good by clearing the world of the escaped evil souls. Aside from Sam, Morgan, Cady, and Andi at least once, the Devil never appears before any of Sam's friends face-to-face, despite the Devil knowing all about Sock and Ben, and them being aware that they know Sam's secret job of being a reaper for the Devil. In the finale of Season Two Andi sells her soul to the devil in an attempt to free Sam from his own deal.

While firm at times, the Devil has never expressed outright anger, in spite of Sam's frequent complaints, incompetence, and meddling; however, when Sam cheated him out of a deal with another human, the Devil caused all of the surrounding racks in the Work Bench to collapse on Sam out of "disappointment."

The Devil has a variety of supernatural powers, and often teleports an unsuspecting Sam to locations that serve to exemplify whatever subject he wishes to speak with Sam about. He also has a habit of providing Sam "motivation" in catching escaped souls, usually by informing him that someone just died (or is about to die) due mainly to Sam's inaction - a habit which generally gets acceptable results; this habit became less displayed in later episodes however, as Sam is beginning to "adjust" to his infernal fate.

The Devil is nearly indestructible, and scoffs at the idea that he could be contained within a Solomon's cage (which can confine the strongest demon). He also has superhuman strength, having tricked and placed Sam once in a painful arm-hold to interrogate him. However, the Devil can be affected by angelic relics, as he can be killed by the Sword of the Archangel Michael (which he has in safekeeping), and could be "destroyed" if the whole world were to turn to pacifism (as Sam deduced after the Devil's near-annihilation of a demon rebellion as if the Devil couldn't tempt others with sin, he would cease to exist - although the Devil notes that all humanity adopting complete pacifism would be nearly impossible). In addition, the Devil cannot see, hear, or appear within curves or circles, although he can be summoned within a circle. He holds no influence over true love, which may be attributed to his belief that humans are incapable of experiencing it. The Devil also confesses that even though he tried to overthrow God, he still loved Him when Sam asked the Devil about love. He confesses to Sam that God loves us all no matter what we are.

The Devil loves ice cream, but cannot eat it, as it melts as soon as he touches it. This doesn't happen of his own volition but was apparently a curse given upon him by God shortly before he was cast out of Heaven, knowing how much he loves ice cream. It is later revealed that the devil opposes anthropogenic global warming as anyone who dies of it would be considered innocent and not be sent to hell.

The Devil is Sam's father, according to the Devil throughout the second season. He does many things throughout the series that imply this: he never gets truly angry with Sam, he only gets outwardly angry with him one time where he says that he is "a disappointment." He often offers guidance to Sam. Plus, he seems to have an extreme dislike of Sam's father. Throughout the series, he and Sam do things that could be considered 'father-son activities' such as going to hockey games, eating ice cream, and playing baseball together.

In "The Home Stretch" the Devil held a competition between Sam and his half-brother Morgan. Whoever captured a soul would be made his right-hand man. Sam inadvertently won, even though he had intended for Morgan to win since the beginning while saving Morgan's life from the escaped soul.

In "The Devil and Sam Oliver" the Devil is forced to accept a challenge, a game of Quarters, from Sam to win his soul back, and they end in a tie. In the re-match, he is distracted by his face in the mirror and only manages to get one quarter into the shot glass. When Sam's hand is broken by Steve and Sam can't score at all, the Devil wins Andi's soul.

The Devil claims that he changes his suit three times a day, despite all of his suits looking exactly the same.

In the canonical (but yet unmade) season 3, it is revealed that John is actually Sam's father, but was unable to tell anyone as a part of the deal he made to become human.

Ted Gallagher edit

Played by Donavon Stinson, Ted was the Work Bench's pompous, imperious manager (and recovering gambling addict) who gave his employees, especially Sam, Andi, Ben, and Sock, a hard time. In episode 20 ("Dirty Sexy Mongol") Ted was fired from his job as manager at the Work Bench after sexually harassing a secret shopper sent from corporate. Corporate appointed Andi as the new store manager. She took pity on Ted and rehired him as a trainee for the Work Bench with Sock as his trainer. When Andi is demoted in "My Brother's Reaper", Ted reclaims his spot as manager.

Supporting characters edit

  • Gladys (played by Christine Willes) - A demon who works at a DMV office, which actually houses a portal to Hell. Gladys collects the filled vessels from Sam and sends them back to Hell. In "The Leak," when it was revealed that Gladys was the one repeatedly freeing home-wrecking soul Mike Volta from his vessel, the Devil "transferred" her to the "home office." She was later released at Sam's request. She seems to have a sexual interest in humans as well, making overtures to both Sock and Andi. Like all demons, she can project nightmares into human beings, nightmares so convincing that they believe they're real.
  • Nina (played by Jenny Wade) - A demon who tried to kill Sam, but her assassination attempt was thwarted by Ben. Enamored by his loyalty to his friend and love for his pet bunny, Nina kidnaps Ben and takes him to her lair. In "The Sweet Science", Nina is introduced to the group as Ben's girlfriend, but Ben remains concerned that Nina is not really interested in him and still trying to kill Sam. Nina reveals to Ben in "The Favorite" that she once had a physical relationship with a fellow demon named Brad. When Ben tries to break up with Nina in a restaurant, she cries tears of acid. She tells how, while she was still an angel, she once fell in love with a human. After her relationship with the human was discovered by God, her human lover died shortly thereafter, explaining her reluctance to get more involved with Ben. In "The Home Stretch", Ben shows his reluctance to introduce Nina to his grandma who has 'the eye' being able to see potential evil. Nina strikes up a pleasant conversation with her about St. Peter but is shocked into her demon form when scared by a barking dog, which sends Ben's grandma into cardiac arrest. Ben later breaks up with Nina at the Work Bench, and Nina declares a vendetta. However, at the end of "No Reaper left Behind" they get back together. Nina subsequently moves in with Ben. Ben's grandmother later threatens to disinherit Ben unless Nina undergoes an exorcism. The exorcism seemingly succeeds, but Nina is in fact unaffected.
  • Tony (played by Ken Marino) - Sam's former neighbor, a demon and Steve's widower. Tony was a leader of the anti-Devil rebellion, and was often plotting against the Devil. He helps Sam and his friends in their quest to capture escaped souls. As of the first-season finale, his whereabouts are unknown. It is Tony who tells Sam that he is the son of the Devil. In the Second Season, he reappears and adopts the newborn daughter of an escaped soul, whom he names 'Stevie' after his deceased husband Steve.
  • Linda Oliver (played by Allison Hossack) - Sam's guilt-ridden mother. Initially led to believe that Sam refused to do the Devil's work, she now accepts her son's fate, and actively supports him in his everyday life. According to the Devil, her soul is on the line if Sam should decide to quit his "job" as a Reaper. At the end of episode 18 ("Cancun"), she is seen digging up the very much alive John, despite the fact that, when confronted by Sam about John's burial, she claimed to be unaware of both the burial site and the fact that John was still alive. In the second season she doesn't appear, and John admits she blames him for the entire situation and doesn't want anything more to do with him.
  • Kristen (played by Eriko Tamura) - Sock's new stepsister who adores Sock for being the older brother she's always wanted and wants to be involved in 'brother/sister' activities with him. These put no end to Sock's frustrations as he's extremely attracted to her and wishes to sleep with her. He eventually manipulates her that they should sleep together in "Underbelly", and as their new relationship began to develop, their parents return home. She leaves to return to Japan in "The Good Soil" after graduating with a degree in hotel management.
  • Steve (played by Michael Ian Black) - A deceased former neighbor of Sam, also a demon, and Tony's deceased partner. Prior to his death, Steve was an active part of the rebellion against the Devil. He chose the more passive path of rebellion over Tony's aggressive route, but still stood by him regardless. It is revealed in the first-season finale that Steve is still "alive", and is now an angel (again). Subsequently, other demons follow 'The Way of Steve' in an attempt to emulate his path to Heaven. Steve appears to a human being to convince him to abandon the path to Hell. In "The Devil and Sam Oliver," he works as an unseen guardian angel to a klutzy Work Bench greeter. He appears to Sam and helps him translate symbols necessary to summon the Devil, but apparently misreads them. In the season two finale, when Sam appears ready to win a contest against the Devil, Steve breaks his hand and claims he's acting on orders from Heaven, and earns his wings as a full-fledged angel as a result.
  • Morgan (played by Armie Hammer) - He is the son of The Devil, and Sam's (alleged) paternal half brother. He first appears in "The Favorite", where the Devil bails him out of jail using Sam's lottery winnings. He was arrested for stealing a limousine. He drives a silver Maserati, which was a gift from his ex. Morgan is very self-centered and lazy telling Sam that he has no qualms in fighting Sam to the death for The Devil's right hand seat and would wait for him to mess up to get his dad's favor. Since The Devil feels that Morgan is unmotivated, he orders Sam to take Morgan on a reap in the hopes that Sam's good work ethics rub off. While Morgan is and always has been the Devil's favorite of the 2 sons so far introduced (Sam and Morgan) he is growing increasingly unsure of the situation, because while Morgan behaves as the Devil would like, he has little to no desire to work. Sam, in contrast, though he regularly complains and defies the Devil, always "gets the job done." In "The Good Soil," he attempts to bribe Sam with money into capturing a soul and giving him the credit. He takes back his money after Sam turns in the dodgeball vessel with a corpse and later in the episode captures the soul himself with the vessel. In "The Home Stretch", The Devil challenges Sam and Morgan to a contest, in which whoever returned the soul back to Hell would become his right-hand man. When Sam accidentally wins the contest, The Devil takes everything from Morgan, and he swears revenge against Sam. In a rage, Morgan pulls a gun on Sam, but is killed by Nina and other surrounding demons, and sent straight to Hell. The Devil has stated that he is repeatedly crying out Sam's name whilst being tortured.

Minor characters edit

  • Alan Townsend (played by Sean Patrick Thomas) - The man who reneged on his deal with the Devil. Sam meets Alan first in the Season 2 premiere, "A New Hope," during a reap to capture 40 fighting souls in a warehouse. After being knocked unconscious by Alan, Sam continues his hunt for him in "Dirty Sexy Mongol" and tracks him down to an apartment. He tries to solicit Alan's help, but two demons, sent by The Devil, attack Sam at the gate. Scared that he'll return to Hell, Alan leaves his apartment. Sam and Andi find out that Alan's been trying to stay off The Devil's radar by avoiding all temptation. Alan accepts a job offer as a gravedigger and takes refuge at a cemetery after being informed that the grounds have been consecrated and thus untouchable by the Devil and other demons. Sam and the others corner him at the cemetery and, since Alan was a gambling addict, attempt to bribe him with horse-racing tickets for the information. Alan eventually buys into a trip to Vatican City and tells Sam that he needs to challenge and beat The Devil (Alan beat The Devil in a game of poker). He promises to tell Sam how to make The Devil agree to the challenge after landing. As he is on a plane toward Vatican City, the Devil diverts the plane to Las Vegas and gives him 100 dollars in casino chips. Later, the Devil tells Sam that he took Alan back to Hell after he started gambling again; Alan's deal with the Devil was that if he sinned again he would return to Hell, and gambling was a sin.
  • Cady Hansen (played by Jessica Stroup) - Sam's ex-girlfriend, and possible daughter of the Devil. Cady is the daughter of Mimi, the Devil's ex-girlfriend, but her true father is unknown. Although Sam is initially attracted to her, he suspects that she may be the Devil's daughter (a suspicion seemingly put to rest by Sock and Ben in "Cash Out"). Despite his general calm to the situation, Sam's suspicions re-surface later on, due to her reportedly strange behavior around Andi and the manifestation of strange phenomena around her, such as breaking glass spurred by a kiss, and flowers wilting and dying several moments after she has touched them. At the end of "Unseen", Cady, upset by the fact that Sam still has been distant and in her eyes deceitful, goes to New Mexico to stay with her mother and sort things out. If the Devil truly were her biological father as well as Sam's, that would make them paternal half-siblings.
  • Taylor (played by Pascale Hutton) - Taylor is Sam's one time fling, she appeared in the episode "Love, Bullets and Blacktop", when Sam is trying to capture the souls of a couple.
  • Judy Wysocki (played by Marilyn Norry) - Sock's mom. She went unseen until "Hungry for Fame," when she returned from Las Vegas and announced she had married an Asian cowboy named Morris. Angry that his mother had married without his blessing, Sock ran away from home; when he finally returned, his mother kicked him out of the house, prompting him, Sam, and Ben to move in together.
  • Greg (played by Colby Johannson) - Andi's college boyfriend. He initially comes across as caring and sympathetic toward her needs, but it becomes clear that he knows very little about her and is more concerned about himself and his feelings. Greg and Sam end up fighting in "The Cop", and Andi breaks up with him. Broken-hearted, Greg sold his soul to the Devil, and returned (in "Greg, Shmeg") with a newfound influence over Andi. Unfortunately, as a result of his deal with the Devil, his id began physically manifesting itself as a chainsaw-wielding maniac that materializes from his body every time he got angry. Greg eventually realized that no matter what deal he made, Andi would never love him, as the Devil cannot influence true love. Sam used his "Get Out of Hell Free" card to undo Greg's deal.
  • Sara (played by Lucy Davis) - Ben's ex-wife, a British national formerly employed at the Work Bench. In "Coming to Grips," after Ben gives up on finding his perfect girl, he agrees to a green card wedding with Sara in exchange for $1600. Ben eventually meets his perfect girl, Cassidy, later on while chasing a soul, but Sara expects him to live up to their deal and refuses to let him go out with Cassidy. When Ben threatens to report her to immigration, Sara counters by threatening to report him for extorting money from her. Ben considers just giving her the money back, until he discovers that Sock spent it on tickets to the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. In addition to being married to Ben, Sara is also involved with a married Cirque du Soleil performer named Esteban. When Sara reveals she's pregnant with Esteban's child, Ben has the bargaining chip he needs, and Sara eventually lets him date Cassidy. After an immigration officer discovers their ruse, Sara convinces Ben to give her $2,000 to help bribe the officer; in actuality, she takes the money and goes on the lam.
  • Cassidy (played by Kandyse McClure) - Ben's ex-girlfriend. She is a nurse at St. Vincent's Hospital who practices jiujitsu and enjoys Sue Grafton novels. Cassidy and Ben met in the maternity ward of St. Vincent's in "Coming to Grips" when Ben was pursuing prolific soul Jack King. After a string of dates in the hospital cafeteria, Cassidy began to ask questions, specifically about Ben's wedding ring; it was at that point that Ben came clean about his green card marriage to Sara. The three of them came to an understanding, although Cassidy would still get a little excited about being Ben's "mistress". When Immigration busted Ben and Sara, Cassidy was the one who took Ben to jail, excited at the prospect that he would be single again when he got out. In "The Sweet Science", Ben explains to Nina that Cassidy ditched him while he was still in jail.
  • Kyle Oliver (played by Kyle Switzer) - Sam's younger brother. Much pressure has been put on him by his parents to be successful in life, which he considers unfair compared to them letting Sam slide. Kyle is the one member of the family unaware of Sam's debt to the Devil and does not realize how lucky he was to be born second. It is indicated that he left for college early in the series. He has only appeared in the pilot episode and "Charged" to date. It is hinted that he may have left for college, explaining his absence for the remainder of the series.
  • Pesi (played by Pesi Daruwalla) - An older customer at the Work Bench, he is first seen in the second-season episode "Dirty Sexy Mongol." Andi subsequently hires him in "The Home Stretch." He seems to enjoy deliberately making inappropriate sexual and offensive comments to his co-workers. He also has criminal connections, offering to sell his co-worker's guns and Pontiacs.

Demons edit

Demons, in the Reaper universe, are portrayed as seemingly neutral and non-aggressive (so far) entities who are either in the direct service of the Devil or plotting to overthrow his rule. It was stated that all demons were once angels who "fell" out of their place after joining up with the Devil's attempt to overthrow God and got banished along with him from Heaven.

Demons residing within the mortal realm exhibit the ability to assume near-human forms that enable them to live along with real humans, with the only thing distinguishing them from actual mortals (besides their immortality) being two small horns protruding from their foreheads which can be sanded down to create the complete illusion that they are human; they are also capable of morphing into their true demonic forms, as displayed by Tony, which seem to grant an incredible boost of physical power in the process, and also flight with demonic wings. They are immune to mortal weapons in either form. Types of Demons include standard and succubus.

Reapers edit

'Reapers' are beings tasked by the Devil to apprehend souls that have escaped the depths of Hell. Sam became one in the premiere episode of the series. The word was first used in the episode "Acid Queen", which implies that there may be others like him with a similar obligation (or predicament). Currently, it is not exactly known how many Reapers there are, or if all of them are even human. Sam does not like this status but begins to live with this fate, though shows no surprise towards its utterance. It is made clear by the demon Steve that Sam is perhaps the only person on Earth that the Devil talks with face-to-face, which raises suspicion amongst Sam and his friends. This suggestion is later disproved when the Devil introduces Morgan, a young man the Devil claims is his son.

Escaped souls edit

These are fugitives from Hell whom the Devil has entrusted Sam to recapture. All of them were once mortals who committed various crimes or sold their souls that ultimately led to their damnation. When they come back to Earth, they are intent on finishing the jobs that they started.

After escaping Hell and returning to the earthly realm, not only do they regain a corporeal body with which to interact with the living world once again, but sometimes also exhibit supernatural powers that often reflect the nature of their crimes or punishments. For example, an arsonist imprisoned in Hell for 50 years being tortured by being burnt every day came back with pyrokinetic powers and could take on the appearance of a humanoid creature made of molten rock. Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of William McKinley, gained the ability to turn his hands into guns. Not all souls come back to Earth with a corporeal body, as seen in "Ashes to Ashes," where the Mortician soul came back as a spirit since his body was cremated.

Vessels edit

As the souls that Sam is sent to apprehend have already died once (along with the fact that they have various paranormal abilities), an attempt to capture or even kill them by a mere mortal could prove almost impossible. The Devil provides Sam with vessels to help him do his work. The vessel is usually sent for Sam to open in a wooden box which varies in shape per episode, sometimes inappropriate for the vessel they hold (e.g. a large box contained a Zippo lighter vessel) and it's usually up to Sam to figure out how to use it to capture the escaped soul assigned for him to apprehend since the vessels don't usually come with an instruction manual. All vessels are unique because each of them is intended to capture the escaped soul for whom they were created and intended to confine. The vessel could even be a seemingly living thing (e.g. a live dove).

Vessels often have the appearance of seemingly ordinary day-to-day accessories, and can easily be mistaken for such. Most escaped souls shown in the series seem to be aware whenever a vessel is brought to their presence, especially if that particular vessel is the one intended for their capture, thus alerting them of potentially being sent back to Hell by the one wielding the vessel.

Vessels don't always work for anyone, though several characters in the show other than Sam have used vessels to capture souls. A vessel will only work on the particular soul it is intended for, and has no effect on any other escaped souls. The only known exception is a Nerf gun created by a demon named Dennis (in "Greg, Schmeg"). Although technically a vessel, the Nerf gun can send any person or object to Hell.

In "The Good Soil", it is revealed that vessels can capture other objects besides souls (e.g. a corpse).

The Ender edit

Introduced in "The Good Soil", the Ender is the Devil's backup plan. When Sam refused to capture the soul and return it to hell, the Ender was summoned to seek out and destroy the soul. As a result, the soul would be sent to neither heaven nor hell. The Ender took on the form of a cloaked phantom and could destroy anything with one touch. It was never actually confirmed whether the Devil was lying to Sam or the Ender could actually annihilate a soul.

Season 3 plans edit

In February 2010, the show's creators gave an interview that detailed some of their ideas for season three.[33] Included were plans to have Andi work in the DMV with Gladys and the possibility of bringing in the Archangel Michael, though they had no plans to introduce God as a character. They also revealed the truth about Sam's parentage.

Basically, the whole premise that never actually had the chance to come out was the idea that Dad was a demon, who made a deal with the Devil. He fell in love with Sam's mom and wanted to marry her. So the deal was, fine, you're not a demon anymore. He was never fully human, either, which is why you can't kill him... And this is the reason why Sam is special: Sam is part human, part demon.

Episodes edit

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
118September 25, 2007 (2007-09-25)May 20, 2008 (2008-05-20)
213March 3, 2009 (2009-03-03)May 26, 2009 (2009-05-26)

DVD releases edit

On November 4, 2008, Lionsgate Home Entertainment (under license from ABC Studios) released season 1 of Reaper on DVD in region 1. On June 9, 2009, season 2 of Reaper was released on DVD.

DVD Name Release dates Ep # Additional Information
Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
Reaper: Season 1 November 4, 2008 TBA TBA 18 The five disc box set includes all 18 episodes. Bonus features include deleted scenes, commentary track on the pilot episode, selections from the season's gag reel. Running Time 800 minutes.
Reaper: Season 2 June 9, 2009 TBA TBA 13 The four disc box set includes all 13 episodes. Bonus features include "The Devil Made Me Do It" - A Look Back at the Making of Reaper, gag reel, deleted scenes. Running Time 585 minutes.

Reception edit

The series, as shown on Metacritic, has been dubbed as having "universal acclaim" with a rating of 81 out of 100, out of 27 reviews.

Critics have compared Reaper to the NBC spy comedy Chuck, which follows the story of another seemingly unremarkable, post-adolescent "big box" store employee (in Chuck's case it's a "Buy More") who also leads a secret double-life trying to save the world.[34][35]

Weekly ratings edit

Season 1 edit

As of May 12, 2008, Reaper has averaged 2.70 million American-based viewers for each new episode for its first season. Viewing figures from other countries are inconclusive so far.

No. Episode Air Date Timeslot Rating[36] Share[36] 18–49 (Rating/Share)[36] Viewers (m)[36] Rank (#)
1 "Pilot" 2007-09-25September 25, 2007 Tuesday 9/8c 2.1 3 1.5/3 3.28 85
2 "Charged" 2007-10-02October 2, 2007 1.8 3 1.3/3 2.86 93
3 "All Mine" 2007-10-09October 9, 2007 1.8 3 1.3/3 2.65 90
4 "Magic" 2007-10-16October 16, 2007 2.2 3 1.5/3 3.27 86
5 "What About Blob" 2007-10-23October 23, 2007 1.8 3 1.2/3 2.61 88
6 "Leon" 2007-10-30October 30, 2007 1.7 3 1.1/3 2.60 89
7 "Love, Bullets and Blacktop" 2007-11-06November 6, 2007 1.6 2 1.0/2 2.42 94[37]
8 "The Cop" 2007-11-13November 13, 2007 1.6 2 1.2/2 2.46 93[38]
9 "Ashes to Ashes" 2007-11-27November 27, 2007 1.5 2 1.1/2 2.26 91[39]
10 "Cash Out" 2007-12-04December 4, 2007 1.7 3 1.3/3 2.64 89[40]
11 "Hungry for Fame" 2008-03-13March 13, 2008 Thursday 9/8c 1.7 3 1.2/3 2.81 88
12 "Unseen" 2008-03-20March 20, 2008 1.9 3 1.2/3 2.94 79
13 "Acid Queen" 2008-03-27March 27, 2008 1.8 3 1.2/2 2.76 81
14 "Rebellion" 2008-04-22April 22, 2008 Tuesday 9/8c 1.6 2 1.1/3 2.60 93
15 "Coming to Grips" 2008-04-29April 29, 2008 1.7 3 1.1/3 2.51 86
16 "Greg Schmeg" 2008-05-06May 6, 2008 1.6 2 1.0/3 2.47 TBA
17 "The Leak" 2008-05-13May 13, 2008 1.5 2 0.9/2 1.99 TBA
18 "Cancun" 2008-05-20May 20, 2008 1.7 3 1.2/3 2.69 TBA

Season 2 edit

Reaper averaged 2.16 million American-based viewers for each new episode for its second season. Viewing figures from other countries are inconclusive so far.

No. Episode Air Date Timeslot Rating[36] Share[36] 18–49 (Rating/Share)[36] Viewers (m)[36] Rank (#)
19 "A New Hope" March 3, 2009 Tuesday 8/7c 8.5 9 0.9/2 2.35 TBA
20 "Dirty Sexy Mongol" March 10, 2009 1.4 2 0.8/2 2.17 90
21 "The Sweet Science" March 17, 2009 1.2 2 0.9/3 1.88 TBA
22 "The Favorite" March 24, 2009 9.5 2 1.0/3 2.47 TBA
23 "I Want My Baby Back" March 31, 2009 10.0 3 1.0/3 2.37[41] TBA
24 "Underbelly" April 7, 2009 0.9 2 0.8/3 2.28 TBA
25 "The Good Soil" April 14, 2009 0.9 3 0.9/2 2.05 TBA
26 "The Home Stretch" April 21, 2009 1.0 3 0.9/3 2.45[42] TBA
27 "No Reaper Left Behind" April 28, 2009 0.7 2 0.6/2 1.82 TBA
28 "My Brother's Reaper" May 5, 2009 1.2 2 0.8/2 2.22 TBA
29 "To Sprong, With Love" May 12, 2009 1.33 2 0.9/3 1.99 TBA
30 "Business Casualty" May 19, 2009 TBA TBA TBA 1.79 TBA
31 "The Devil & Sam Oliver" May 26, 2009 TBA TBA TBA 2.22[43] TBA

References edit

  1. ^ "Reaper 2 Seasons 2008". Amazon.com. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
  2. ^ The CW Kicks Off Its Second Season With Six New Series at The Futon Critic; Retrieved on June 4, 2007.
  3. ^ After the WGA Strike: When Will Your Favorite TV Shows Return? - Ausiello Report| TVGuide.com 2008-05-20 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ . Archived from the original on 2008-05-17. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
  5. ^ . Cwtv.com. Archived from the original on 2009-07-30. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
  6. ^ , Variety.com, May 19, 2009
  7. ^ Reaper May Live On, The Hollywood Reporter, May 13, 2009
  8. ^ "News & Info On The CW's Reaper". ReaperSite. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
  9. ^ "Development Update: September 25–29 (Weekly Round-Up)". The Futon Critic. 2006-09-26.
  10. ^ "Development Update: Thursday, January 25". The Futon Critic. 2007-01-25.
  11. ^ "Development Update: Friday, February 16". The Futon Critic. 2007-02-16.
  12. ^ CBS, The CW Confirm Renewals, Cancellations; Fox Extends 24 at The Futon Critic; Retrieved on June 4, 2007
  13. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (2007-10-26). "CW sows more 'Reaper' scripts". The Hollywood Reporter.
  14. ^ McDuffee, Keith (2010-02-01). "How Reaper would have ended, straight from the creators". CliqueClack TV. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
  15. ^ "Development Update: Wednesday, February 21". The Futon Critic. 2007-02-21.
  16. ^ "Development Update: Monday, February 26". The Futon Critic. 2007-02-26.
  17. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (2007-06-25). ""Heroes" co-star morphs into "Reaper" TV role". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-06-25.[dead link]
  18. ^ "Development Update: Friday, March 9". The Futon Critic. 2007-03-09.
  19. ^ "Development Update: Thursday, March 15". The Futon Critic. 2007-03-15.
  20. ^ McDuffee, Keith (1 Feb 2010). "How Reaper would have ended, straight from the creators". CliqueClack. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  21. ^ "Development Update: Friday, March 16". The Futon Critic. 2007-03-16.
  22. ^ "Exclusive: Reaper (Casting) Madness!". TV Guide. 2008-07-24.
  23. ^ Ward, Julia (2007-07-29). "Comic-Con: Reaper Panel Report". TV Squad.
  24. ^ "Reaper: CW Cancels Supernatural Series, Still Hope for Season Three?". TV Series Finale. 2009-05-20.
  25. ^ "Reaper: Could the TV Show Continue in Syndication? Without Tyler Labine?". TV Series Finale. 2009-05-14.
  26. ^ "Reaper" May Live On, The Hollywood Reporter, May 13, 2009
  27. ^ CW to say goodbye to Sundays, Variety, May 4, 2009
  28. ^ "Reape: Syndication Plans Fall Through, Show Stays Cancelled". TV Series Finale. 2009-06-09.
  29. ^ "Reaper" Will Not Have Third Season 2012-04-26 at the Wayback Machine, Reaper Site, June 17, 2009
  30. ^ "Kevin (Probably) Saves the World: Get a sneak peek at the Reaper reunion". Entertainment Weekly. 2018-02-20.
  31. ^ "FearNet Picks Up Off-Net Rights To Cult Dramedy 'Reaper', Sets Reunion Special". Deadline Hollywood. 9 April 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
  32. ^ "Not Even The Devil Can Guess What The Future Of The Reaper TV Show Will Be". Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  33. ^ Keith McDuffee. An Interview with the Creators. February 1, 2010. Cliqueclack.com. Referenced April 4, 2011.
  34. ^ Sheffield, Rob (September 20, 2007), "We Like to Watch". Rolling Stone (1035):44
  35. ^ Pastorek, Whitney (December 7, 2007), "BATTLE OF THE BOX STORES". Entertainment Weekly. (968):69
  36. ^ a b c d e f g h "Your Entertainment Now Blog". Word Press.
  37. ^ . Archived from the original on 2008-06-18. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
  38. ^ . Archived from the original on 2008-05-02. Retrieved 2007-11-20.
  39. ^ . Archived from the original on 2008-06-18. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
  40. ^ . Archived from the original on 2008-06-18. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
  41. ^ . TVbytheNumbers.com. 2009-04-01. Archived from the original on 2009-04-18. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
  42. ^ . TVbytheNumbers.com. 2009-04-22. Archived from the original on 2009-04-25. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
  43. ^ . TVbytheNumbers.com. 2009-05-27. Archived from the original on 2009-05-30. Retrieved 2010-03-25.

External links edit

reaper, series, reaper, american, comedy, television, series, that, focuses, oliver, reaper, works, devil, retrieving, souls, that, have, escaped, from, hell, reapergenresupernatural, comedy, dark, humorcreated, bymichele, fazekas, tara, buttersstarringbret, h. Reaper is an American comedy television series that focuses on Sam Oliver a reaper who works for the Devil by retrieving souls that have escaped from Hell ReaperGenreSupernatural Comedy Dark humorCreated byMichele Fazekas Tara ButtersStarringBret Harrison Tyler Labine Missy Peregrym Ray Wise Rick Gonzalez Jenny Wade Valarie Rae Miller Donavon Stinson Andrew AirlieCountry of originUnited StatesOriginal languageEnglishNo of seasons2No of episodes31 list of episodes ProductionExecutive producersMichele Fazekas Tara Butters Tom Spezialy Mark Gordon Deborah SperaProduction locationsVancouver British Columbia CanadaRunning time40 43 minutes 1 Production companiesDark Baby Productions The Mark Gordon Company ABC Studios Fazekas amp ButtersOriginal releaseNetworkThe CWReleaseSeptember 25 2007 2007 09 25 May 26 2009 2009 05 26 The series ran from September 25 2007 to May 26 2009 airing on Tuesday nights at 8 00 p m Eastern 7 00 p m Central on The CW The series was produced by ABC Studios and The Mark Gordon Company The rights for the show have been sold to Fox for its broadcast in Asia Contents 1 Premise 2 Development and production 2 1 Conception 2 2 Casting 2 3 Broadcast history 2 4 Cancellation 2 5 Syndication 3 Cast and characters 3 1 Main characters 3 1 1 Samuel Sam Oliver 3 1 2 Bert Sock Wysocki 3 1 3 Benjamin Ben Gonzalez 3 1 4 Andi Prendergast 3 1 5 Josie Miller 3 1 6 John Oliver 3 1 7 The Devil 3 1 8 Ted Gallagher 3 2 Supporting characters 3 3 Minor characters 3 4 Demons 3 5 Reapers 3 6 Escaped souls 3 7 Vessels 3 8 The Ender 4 Season 3 plans 5 Episodes 6 DVD releases 7 Reception 7 1 Weekly ratings 7 1 1 Season 1 7 1 2 Season 2 8 References 9 External linksPremise editSam Oliver Bret Harrison lives at home with his parents Andrew Airlie and Allison Hossack in the Seattle area Sam dropped out of college It made him sleepy his Mom explains and took a dead end job at the Work Bench a home repair superstore He spent the rest of his time hanging out playing video games and pining for his co worker Andi Missy Peregrym On Sam s 21st birthday his parents behave very strangely and Sam himself sees hellish visions and experiences odd events His father eventually claims that many years ago he was very sick and in return for restoring his health he and his wife promised their firstborn child to the Devil Ray Wise Although the couple intended to cheat the Devil by not having children this plan went awry when Satan persuaded their doctor to lie and tell the couple that they couldn t conceive in exchange for wiping his gambling debts clean Sam was born shortly thereafter After informing him of his fate the Devil explains to Sam that he must serve as his bounty hunter or Reaper tracking down souls that have escaped from Hell and sending them back using his new powers which include telekinesis and vessels varied objects said to have been hand made in the bowels of perdition by the iniquitous and the vile Vessels appear inside a long wooden box sent for Sam to open with the Italian inscription Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch entrate Abandon all hope ye who enter here as was written on the entrance to Hell in Dante s Inferno and are specially designed for each job Examples throughout the series have included a Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner a Taser gun and a cigarette lighter Although Sam initially balks Satan tells him that should he refuse Sam s mother s soul is forfeit Unwilling to sacrifice his mother and convinced that he is doing good in the world by tracking down evil souls Sam accepts his fate With the help of his slacker friends Sock Tyler Labine and Ben Rick Gonzalez he begins his new life tracking down the corrupted souls trying to escape their own eternal punishment Development and production editReaper premiered on September 25 2007 in the U S airing on Tuesday nights at 9 00PM Eastern 8 00PM Central on the CW following Beauty and the Geek 2 The series had a full 18 episode order for the 2007 2008 season with 13 pre strike episodes and 5 post strike episodes 3 Reaper stopped airing new episodes after the tenth episode due to the industry wide 2007 2008 Writers Guild of America strike It resumed new pre strike episodes for three weeks on Thursdays in March and began airing post strike episodes on April 22 2008 On May 12 2008 Reaper was officially renewed for a 13 episode second and final season 4 which premiered on March 3 2009 5 On May 19 2009 Reaper was officially cancelled by The CW 6 However ABC Studios was still in negotiations with CW affiliates to syndicate the show or sell it to cable 7 Tyler Labine who plays Sock posted on his Facebook account that Reaper is officially cancelled and will not be returning 8 Conception edit The pilot script which was written by creators executive producers Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters received a script commitment by The CW in September 2006 Mark Gordon and Deborah Spera also joined the project as executive producers under the former s production banner at Touchstone Television The Mark Gordon Company 9 The network green lighted a pilot order for the script in January 2007 and writer director Kevin Smith agreed to direct the first hour of the series in February 2007 10 11 The CW gave the series an early pick up and a 13 episode order on May 15 2007 12 While initially not making a full season order The CW eventually ordered an additional 3 episodes citing a high percentage of audience retention between Reaper and Beauty and the Geek 13 Additional episodes were ordered to fill in the first season after the writer s strike was resolved and a second season of 13 episodes was later ordered as well In a February 1 2010 interview with CliqueClack TV creators Fazekas and Butters revealed many of the unresolved plots from the series 14 Casting edit Casting began in February 2007 when Bret Harrison won the lead role of Sam Oliver At the time his commitment to the series came second to his show at Fox The Loop which had yet to air its second season on the network The show was later canceled leaving Harrison free to fully concentrate on Reaper 15 Canadian actor Tyler Labine formerly of the fan favorite sci fi series Invasion was cast in the same month in the role of Bert Sock Wysocki Sam s best friend and sidekick 16 Nikki Reed actress and co writer of the award winning film Thirteen was originally cast as Sam s love interest Andi in March 2007 but she was replaced by Missy Peregrym who was fresh off a high profile recurring role on Heroes in June 2007 17 Actors for the roles of Ben Sam and Sock s co worker and friend and Josie Sock s ex girlfriend were found in the same month when Rick Gonzalez and Valarie Rae Miller were cast 18 19 Anthony Head and James Marsters auditioned for the role of the devil 20 before Ray Wise was cast in the part in mid March 21 Kyle Switzer was cast as Sam s younger brother Keith Keith s name would later be changed to Kyle and was written out of the show after two episodes Donovan Stinson and Andrew Airlie rounded out the cast as Ted Gallagher and John Oliver Sam s boss and father respectively In July 2008 it was announced that Eriko Tamura had been cast as a season 2 recurring character playing Sock s new stepsister and love interest 22 Broadcast history edit The first telecast of the pilot occurred on July 27 2007 at Comic Con International in San Diego It received mostly positive responses from critics and audience members alike 23 The series premiered on The CW on September 25 2007 and ran on Tuesdays but moved in late February 2008 to Thursdays after Smallville After the restart following the writers strike Reaper returned to being broadcast on Tuesday nights on The CW as original releases Cancellation edit The CW canceled the show near the end of the second season airing the final episode on May 26 2009 24 ABC Studios was initially in talks with CW affiliates to get a syndicated version of Reaper run on Sunday nights 25 26 27 It was later reported that syndication talks with CW affiliates fell through as well as attempts to sell the series to Sci Fi Channel as part of its change over to Syfy after news that both Bret Harrison Sam and Tyler Labine Sock would not be returning for season three even if the syndication plan proved viable 28 The official Reaper website confirmed that there will be no third season but there will be a comic book series and possibly a cartoon 29 In February 2018 Bret Harrison and Tyler Labine reprised their roles from the show on an episode of Kevin Probably Saves the World 30 Syndication edit In 2013 FEARnet made a syndication deal to air the entire series It is FEARnet s first off network series meaning that it is the first third party show they air that they didn t make for the network The series premiered on June 4 2013 but on May 28 FEARnet aired a 30 minute reunion special that they produced which featured discussion with some of the cast 31 During the reunion cast members left open the possibility that a Kickstarter campaign could help finance the production of a season 3 of Reaper 32 Cast and characters editThis article describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in universe style Please help rewrite it to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non fictional perspective November 2009 Learn how and when to remove this template message Main characters edit Samuel Sam Oliver edit Sam Oliver played by Bret Harrison the protagonist of the show is a dropout and all around slacker who due to a deal that his parents made to save his father s life is coerced into becoming a bounty hunter for the Devil after turning 21 years old According to the terms of the contract Sam would serve the Devil by using various tools called vessels to recapture souls who have escaped from Hell After capturing an escaped soul with a vessel he would then drop the vessel and soul at a portal to Hell which was the local Department of Motor Vehicles in the show Also the Devil would grant Sam a unique power to aid in a particular soul s capture the type of power ranged from telekinesis to a tattoo hinting the soul s location Sam despite being an inherent quitter surrendered to his fate as a bounty hunter for the Devil in an endeavor to prevent the escaped souls from endangering innocent lives and to protect his mother s soul He enlists the help of his best friends Sock and Ben to capture these dangerous souls Since the beginning of the show Sam had romantic feelings for his co worker Andi and the two entered a relationship by the end of the first season At the end of season one the demon Tony tells Sam that he believes Sam s parents were paid by the Devil to carry his the Devil s baby though Sam s mother denied this and the Devil admits that he would probably not answer Sam honestly if asked about it Later the Devil indicates that Sam is his son although the father who raised Sam Mr Oliver tells Sam that the deal with the Devil will not allow him to tell Sam the truth of the matter All other characters who know about the claim assume that Sam though kindhearted is indeed the Devil s son During season 2 Sam discovers an escaped soul Alan who can t be sent back to Hell because he claims he escaped the Devil Sam continues throughout the season hunting down Alan trying to get information on how to escape his contract In Underbelly the Devil hints that Sam is invulnerable In The Home Stretch Sam inadvertently wins a competition with his half brother Morgan and is appointed the Devil s right hand man In the words of the Devil he is my right hand man my human representative in this realm serving at my side as we create Hell on Earth In No Reaper Left Behind the Devil tells Sam I expect you to rise to the heights of political power here on Earth seize control of the planet and hasten the Apocalypse Andi breaks up with Sam once Morgan gives her the idea that Sam is the son of the Devil She stated she recognized evil within him and she couldn t deal with it Even though she ended the relationship Andi continues to assist Sam in capturing souls In The Devil amp Sam Oliver Andi ends up with him again united by the fact that both of their souls are owned by the Devil In the series finale Sam gains information that can help him regain his soul Sam challenges the Devil to a game but a wingless angel named Steve intentionally breaks Sam s hand causing Sam to lose to the Devil But at the end of the episode Steve reveals to the then dating pair Sam and Andi that he helped Sam by breaking his hand and that he was acting from a higher authority Bert Sock Wysocki edit The lowest performing salesperson at the Work Bench Bert Sock Wysocki played by Tyler Labine spends most of his time sleeping on the stock shelves planning his topless home supply store and other time wasting activities He won the Dog of the Month award the opposite of Employee of the Month nine months in a row He also regularly steals supplies from the Work Bench both to aid Sam in capturing souls and for fun like making a mechanical bull from paint mixers and lumber Fortunately he is braver and more athletic than his slacker personality suggests and often provides the muscle of Sam s group Sock assists Sam with collecting souls Sock lived with his mother for the majority of the first season but had to move out after she remarried in Las Vegas After being kicked out he first lives in the Work Bench but then he finds an apartment and forges Sam s and Ben s signatures on the lease and they live there for the rest of the season At the start of the show Sock and Josie have just broken their relationship off but they get back together in the 14th episode and break off again in the final episode with Josie saying that Sock is a bad boyfriend In the last episode of the first season Sock kisses the succubus Marlena multiple times losing one year from his life for each kiss he estimates he has three years left At the beginning of the second season it is revealed that Sock has a beautiful Asian stepsister whom he finds sexually appealing and considers asking out He continues down this path even with his new sister continually viewing him as a big brother Sock eventually manipulates her to have sex with him which they do in the second season episode Underbelly She leaves for Japan shortly after Sock is also one of five characters other than Sam who have captured a soul the others being Andi Ben Mr Sprong and Morgan He captured the blob soul in episode five What About Blob with the sweater vessel and in the season finale Cancun he caught the fortune teller soul by throwing the baseball vessel through her car window after the fortune teller tried to run over both Sam and himself In the first episode of season 2 Episode IV A New Hope he captured one of the 40 fight club souls with the cattle prod vessel In the final episode The Devil amp Sam Oliver he severs the toad tongue of an escaped soul with a machete and sends it back to Hell Benjamin Ben Gonzalez edit One of Sam and Sock s co workers and friends Benjamin Casper Perez Gonzalez played by Rick Gonzalez knows Sam is working for Satan and helps him out He seems to have a tendency to get hurt when assisting Sam in capturing escaped souls though this tendency diminished as the series progressed partially because he doesn t go soul hunting along with Sam as extensively as Sock does In the series pilot he is sent to the hospital by the fire soul and consumed by the blob monster in episode 5 What about Blob is held hostage in episode 10 Cash Out and hit by a 2x4 along with his friends while fighting two of the 40 fight club souls Episode IV A New Hope However in Dirty Sexy Mongol Ben shows a rare side of bravery by fending off a demon with a tiki torch thereby saving Sam from the would be assassin Ben is initially seen as the brains of the trio as he is usually the one responsible for coming up with tactics and strategies in aiding Sam capture escaped souls and is not above recommending and taking advantage of the Work Bench s merchandise as makeshift hunting gear whenever the three conduct a hunt he initially sought training as a priest and has extensive knowledge of the Bible and often raises theological questions about the nature of their missions and the Devil s involvement Ben appears far less competent when he agrees to a green card marriage with his British co worker Sara He had just given up on his search for the perfect girl who happens to be independently wealthy enjoys mixed martial arts and reads Sue Grafton novels Once married Ben immediately meets Cassidy while chasing a soul and she fits every criteria for his perfect girl Sara far crueler and more shrewd than she initially lets on forbids Ben to see Cassidy though she has no qualms about her own extramarital affairs that she keeps secret from Ben Ben is eventually able to negotiate a compromise with Sara after discovering she is pregnant with her married boyfriend Esteban s child When Ben s sham marriage is discovered by an INS agent he is told he is going to jail He gets money together to pay a fine in lieu of jail time but Sara tricks him into giving her the money so that she can go on the lam At the end of the episode The Leak Cassidy drives Ben to jail telling Sock When this is all over my boyfriend will no longer be married Early in the next episode Cancun Ben arrives at the Work Bench disappointed that his friends forgot to pick him up after serving his eight day sentence It is revealed later that Cassidy broke up with him during the jail sentence Ben is one of five people who have captured a soul for Sam the others are Morgan Mr Sprong Sock and Andi he captured the tentacle soul in episode 24 Underbelly with Sam s grenade vessel In season two he begins dating Nina a demon In The Home Stretch he breaks up with her at the insistence of his domineering grandmother but gets back together with her in No Reaper Left Behind He has shown that he has grown out of his nature by going against his psychic grandmother in order to remain together with Nina which means he has gone against his family since his grandmother is in control of the entire family It was later revealed he only followed his grandmother s orders for the purpose of being left in her will During the mating season for the demons Ben fought off a male demon determined to mate with Nina he did not want any demon to touch Nina In The Favorite Ben is shown to be the laughing stock of the group as Sam and Sock are always wanting to tease him Sam s zombie like father hides in the backseat of Sam s car while Sock and Sam tempt Ben into the car to see the look on his face when he is scared by Sam s father Andi Prendergast edit Andi Prendergast played by Missy Peregrym in the series and Nikki Reed in the unaired pilot is Sam s girlfriend and for a time manager Initially unaware of Sam s Reaper duties she is let down multiple times when Sam is called away from dates to capture souls Chancing to see him on duty Andi watches Sam behead an escaped soul from a distance and initially threatens to go to the police Sam is warned by the Devil to ensure she remains unaware of his activities but eventually he receives permission to let her know what he does With help from Sam s neighbor and demon Tony as well as from the escaped soul at the time Sam convinces Andi of his job Andi reacts poorly but eventually accepts Sam s fate and becomes his third assistant in hunting souls though her assistance seems more focused on research rather than actual confrontation In season 2 Andi was promoted to manager of the Work Bench when Ted was fired because of harassing a secret shopper She was later demoted in My Brother s Reaper for allowing the Work Bench to be used for a bachelor party Sam and Andi start dating near the end of season one but this ends abruptly in Underbelly She can t handle this and believes that evil is brewing within Sam Although they break up Andi continues to help Sam on his quest to get out of his deal with the Devil In the season two finale The Devil amp Sam Oliver she declares her love for Sam and offers her soul as a prize in a contest between Sam and the Devil and after Sam loses the contest ends up sharing his fate Andi is one of five people who have captured a soul for Sam the others are Ben Morgan Mr Sprong and Sock she captured the multiplying soul in episode 15 Coming to Grips with Sam s scythe vessel Josie Miller edit Josie Miller played by Valarie Rae Miller is Sock s ex girlfriend who works at the district attorney s office Despite her obvious dislike for Sock Josie remains friendly with Sam and agrees to provide information that helps him track down different souls unaware of his work for the Devil However after Sock used a share of stolen bank loot to buy duplicates of all the stuff lost in a fire at her apartment which he inadvertently caused she begins to suspect that something isn t quite on the up and up with the boys and is even more suspicious and upset when her lost I D is used to access the city morgue Toward the end of season one Josie got back together and subsequently broke up again with Sock due to his insecurity and his apathetic nature The character did not appear in the second season John Oliver edit John Oliver played by Andrew Airlie is Sam s father Though equally distressed by his son s predicament as his wife he in effect works against Sam for the protection of his family In one episode John is seen burning a page from the contract which binds Sam to the devil to hide information from Sam which he later admits to in the season finale In the season two premiere Episode IV A New Hope Sam is confident that the Devil is his true father not John After surviving being buried alive at the end of Season 1 John reappears as a zombie Sam sees him again in The Favorite when delivering a freezer to his mother s house John explains that he cannot die because of the deal with the Devil that cost Sam his soul As a zombie he cannot go out in public and needs to be kept cool His deceased status gives him plenty of free time which he attempts to spend rekindling his relationship with Sam At the end of I Want My Baby Back John moves into the garage of Sock s parents house and sleeps in a freezer In No Reaper Left Behind John attempts to regain some semblance of a normal life through the use of the internet only to be disappointed In an effort to find some purpose he asks Sam to send him to Hell in an attempt to locate Alan Townsend and help Sam get out of his deal Sam agrees and sends him to Hell with the Nerf gun vessel John subsequently contacts Sam by cell phone and tells him he s discovered a way for Sam to break the deal but he s trapped in the third circle of Hell it is unknown how he got there as the third level is inhabited by the gluttons Nina goes to Hell to get it and rescue him but he stays behind saying he has something important to do In the canonical but yet unmade season 3 it is revealed that John is in fact Sam s father John was a demon who made a deal with the Devil to become human Part of the deal was having his first born son become a reaper As a demon he couldn t die and therefore became a zombie The Devil edit Smooth talking and debonair known as Jerry Belvedere to those who have no idea of his true identity the Devil played by Ray Wise claims the rights to Sam s soul thanks to a deal he made with Sam s parents before Sam was even born Although he knows how it all ends God wins he is determined to do as much as he can to oppose God until the end He also convinces Sam that he Sam is doing good by clearing the world of the escaped evil souls Aside from Sam Morgan Cady and Andi at least once the Devil never appears before any of Sam s friends face to face despite the Devil knowing all about Sock and Ben and them being aware that they know Sam s secret job of being a reaper for the Devil In the finale of Season Two Andi sells her soul to the devil in an attempt to free Sam from his own deal While firm at times the Devil has never expressed outright anger in spite of Sam s frequent complaints incompetence and meddling however when Sam cheated him out of a deal with another human the Devil caused all of the surrounding racks in the Work Bench to collapse on Sam out of disappointment The Devil has a variety of supernatural powers and often teleports an unsuspecting Sam to locations that serve to exemplify whatever subject he wishes to speak with Sam about He also has a habit of providing Sam motivation in catching escaped souls usually by informing him that someone just died or is about to die due mainly to Sam s inaction a habit which generally gets acceptable results this habit became less displayed in later episodes however as Sam is beginning to adjust to his infernal fate The Devil is nearly indestructible and scoffs at the idea that he could be contained within a Solomon s cage which can confine the strongest demon He also has superhuman strength having tricked and placed Sam once in a painful arm hold to interrogate him However the Devil can be affected by angelic relics as he can be killed by the Sword of the Archangel Michael which he has in safekeeping and could be destroyed if the whole world were to turn to pacifism as Sam deduced after the Devil s near annihilation of a demon rebellion as if the Devil couldn t tempt others with sin he would cease to exist although the Devil notes that all humanity adopting complete pacifism would be nearly impossible In addition the Devil cannot see hear or appear within curves or circles although he can be summoned within a circle He holds no influence over true love which may be attributed to his belief that humans are incapable of experiencing it The Devil also confesses that even though he tried to overthrow God he still loved Him when Sam asked the Devil about love He confesses to Sam that God loves us all no matter what we are The Devil loves ice cream but cannot eat it as it melts as soon as he touches it This doesn t happen of his own volition but was apparently a curse given upon him by God shortly before he was cast out of Heaven knowing how much he loves ice cream It is later revealed that the devil opposes anthropogenic global warming as anyone who dies of it would be considered innocent and not be sent to hell The Devil is Sam s father according to the Devil throughout the second season He does many things throughout the series that imply this he never gets truly angry with Sam he only gets outwardly angry with him one time where he says that he is a disappointment He often offers guidance to Sam Plus he seems to have an extreme dislike of Sam s father Throughout the series he and Sam do things that could be considered father son activities such as going to hockey games eating ice cream and playing baseball together In The Home Stretch the Devil held a competition between Sam and his half brother Morgan Whoever captured a soul would be made his right hand man Sam inadvertently won even though he had intended for Morgan to win since the beginning while saving Morgan s life from the escaped soul In The Devil and Sam Oliver the Devil is forced to accept a challenge a game of Quarters from Sam to win his soul back and they end in a tie In the re match he is distracted by his face in the mirror and only manages to get one quarter into the shot glass When Sam s hand is broken by Steve and Sam can t score at all the Devil wins Andi s soul The Devil claims that he changes his suit three times a day despite all of his suits looking exactly the same In the canonical but yet unmade season 3 it is revealed that John is actually Sam s father but was unable to tell anyone as a part of the deal he made to become human Ted Gallagher edit Played by Donavon Stinson Ted was the Work Bench s pompous imperious manager and recovering gambling addict who gave his employees especially Sam Andi Ben and Sock a hard time In episode 20 Dirty Sexy Mongol Ted was fired from his job as manager at the Work Bench after sexually harassing a secret shopper sent from corporate Corporate appointed Andi as the new store manager She took pity on Ted and rehired him as a trainee for the Work Bench with Sock as his trainer When Andi is demoted in My Brother s Reaper Ted reclaims his spot as manager Supporting characters edit Gladys played by Christine Willes A demon who works at a DMV office which actually houses a portal to Hell Gladys collects the filled vessels from Sam and sends them back to Hell In The Leak when it was revealed that Gladys was the one repeatedly freeing home wrecking soul Mike Volta from his vessel the Devil transferred her to the home office She was later released at Sam s request She seems to have a sexual interest in humans as well making overtures to both Sock and Andi Like all demons she can project nightmares into human beings nightmares so convincing that they believe they re real Nina played by Jenny Wade A demon who tried to kill Sam but her assassination attempt was thwarted by Ben Enamored by his loyalty to his friend and love for his pet bunny Nina kidnaps Ben and takes him to her lair In The Sweet Science Nina is introduced to the group as Ben s girlfriend but Ben remains concerned that Nina is not really interested in him and still trying to kill Sam Nina reveals to Ben in The Favorite that she once had a physical relationship with a fellow demon named Brad When Ben tries to break up with Nina in a restaurant she cries tears of acid She tells how while she was still an angel she once fell in love with a human After her relationship with the human was discovered by God her human lover died shortly thereafter explaining her reluctance to get more involved with Ben In The Home Stretch Ben shows his reluctance to introduce Nina to his grandma who has the eye being able to see potential evil Nina strikes up a pleasant conversation with her about St Peter but is shocked into her demon form when scared by a barking dog which sends Ben s grandma into cardiac arrest Ben later breaks up with Nina at the Work Bench and Nina declares a vendetta However at the end of No Reaper left Behind they get back together Nina subsequently moves in with Ben Ben s grandmother later threatens to disinherit Ben unless Nina undergoes an exorcism The exorcism seemingly succeeds but Nina is in fact unaffected Tony played by Ken Marino Sam s former neighbor a demon and Steve s widower Tony was a leader of the anti Devil rebellion and was often plotting against the Devil He helps Sam and his friends in their quest to capture escaped souls As of the first season finale his whereabouts are unknown It is Tony who tells Sam that he is the son of the Devil In the Second Season he reappears and adopts the newborn daughter of an escaped soul whom he names Stevie after his deceased husband Steve Linda Oliver played by Allison Hossack Sam s guilt ridden mother Initially led to believe that Sam refused to do the Devil s work she now accepts her son s fate and actively supports him in his everyday life According to the Devil her soul is on the line if Sam should decide to quit his job as a Reaper At the end of episode 18 Cancun she is seen digging up the very much alive John despite the fact that when confronted by Sam about John s burial she claimed to be unaware of both the burial site and the fact that John was still alive In the second season she doesn t appear and John admits she blames him for the entire situation and doesn t want anything more to do with him Kristen played by Eriko Tamura Sock s new stepsister who adores Sock for being the older brother she s always wanted and wants to be involved in brother sister activities with him These put no end to Sock s frustrations as he s extremely attracted to her and wishes to sleep with her He eventually manipulates her that they should sleep together in Underbelly and as their new relationship began to develop their parents return home She leaves to return to Japan in The Good Soil after graduating with a degree in hotel management Steve played by Michael Ian Black A deceased former neighbor of Sam also a demon and Tony s deceased partner Prior to his death Steve was an active part of the rebellion against the Devil He chose the more passive path of rebellion over Tony s aggressive route but still stood by him regardless It is revealed in the first season finale that Steve is still alive and is now an angel again Subsequently other demons follow The Way of Steve in an attempt to emulate his path to Heaven Steve appears to a human being to convince him to abandon the path to Hell In The Devil and Sam Oliver he works as an unseen guardian angel to a klutzy Work Bench greeter He appears to Sam and helps him translate symbols necessary to summon the Devil but apparently misreads them In the season two finale when Sam appears ready to win a contest against the Devil Steve breaks his hand and claims he s acting on orders from Heaven and earns his wings as a full fledged angel as a result Morgan played by Armie Hammer He is the son of The Devil and Sam s alleged paternal half brother He first appears in The Favorite where the Devil bails him out of jail using Sam s lottery winnings He was arrested for stealing a limousine He drives a silver Maserati which was a gift from his ex Morgan is very self centered and lazy telling Sam that he has no qualms in fighting Sam to the death for The Devil s right hand seat and would wait for him to mess up to get his dad s favor Since The Devil feels that Morgan is unmotivated he orders Sam to take Morgan on a reap in the hopes that Sam s good work ethics rub off While Morgan is and always has been the Devil s favorite of the 2 sons so far introduced Sam and Morgan he is growing increasingly unsure of the situation because while Morgan behaves as the Devil would like he has little to no desire to work Sam in contrast though he regularly complains and defies the Devil always gets the job done In The Good Soil he attempts to bribe Sam with money into capturing a soul and giving him the credit He takes back his money after Sam turns in the dodgeball vessel with a corpse and later in the episode captures the soul himself with the vessel In The Home Stretch The Devil challenges Sam and Morgan to a contest in which whoever returned the soul back to Hell would become his right hand man When Sam accidentally wins the contest The Devil takes everything from Morgan and he swears revenge against Sam In a rage Morgan pulls a gun on Sam but is killed by Nina and other surrounding demons and sent straight to Hell The Devil has stated that he is repeatedly crying out Sam s name whilst being tortured Minor characters edit Alan Townsend played by Sean Patrick Thomas The man who reneged on his deal with the Devil Sam meets Alan first in the Season 2 premiere A New Hope during a reap to capture 40 fighting souls in a warehouse After being knocked unconscious by Alan Sam continues his hunt for him in Dirty Sexy Mongol and tracks him down to an apartment He tries to solicit Alan s help but two demons sent by The Devil attack Sam at the gate Scared that he ll return to Hell Alan leaves his apartment Sam and Andi find out that Alan s been trying to stay off The Devil s radar by avoiding all temptation Alan accepts a job offer as a gravedigger and takes refuge at a cemetery after being informed that the grounds have been consecrated and thus untouchable by the Devil and other demons Sam and the others corner him at the cemetery and since Alan was a gambling addict attempt to bribe him with horse racing tickets for the information Alan eventually buys into a trip to Vatican City and tells Sam that he needs to challenge and beat The Devil Alan beat The Devil in a game of poker He promises to tell Sam how to make The Devil agree to the challenge after landing As he is on a plane toward Vatican City the Devil diverts the plane to Las Vegas and gives him 100 dollars in casino chips Later the Devil tells Sam that he took Alan back to Hell after he started gambling again Alan s deal with the Devil was that if he sinned again he would return to Hell and gambling was a sin Cady Hansen played by Jessica Stroup Sam s ex girlfriend and possible daughter of the Devil Cady is the daughter of Mimi the Devil s ex girlfriend but her true father is unknown Although Sam is initially attracted to her he suspects that she may be the Devil s daughter a suspicion seemingly put to rest by Sock and Ben in Cash Out Despite his general calm to the situation Sam s suspicions re surface later on due to her reportedly strange behavior around Andi and the manifestation of strange phenomena around her such as breaking glass spurred by a kiss and flowers wilting and dying several moments after she has touched them At the end of Unseen Cady upset by the fact that Sam still has been distant and in her eyes deceitful goes to New Mexico to stay with her mother and sort things out If the Devil truly were her biological father as well as Sam s that would make them paternal half siblings Taylor played by Pascale Hutton Taylor is Sam s one time fling she appeared in the episode Love Bullets and Blacktop when Sam is trying to capture the souls of a couple Judy Wysocki played by Marilyn Norry Sock s mom She went unseen until Hungry for Fame when she returned from Las Vegas and announced she had married an Asian cowboy named Morris Angry that his mother had married without his blessing Sock ran away from home when he finally returned his mother kicked him out of the house prompting him Sam and Ben to move in together Greg played by Colby Johannson Andi s college boyfriend He initially comes across as caring and sympathetic toward her needs but it becomes clear that he knows very little about her and is more concerned about himself and his feelings Greg and Sam end up fighting in The Cop and Andi breaks up with him Broken hearted Greg sold his soul to the Devil and returned in Greg Shmeg with a newfound influence over Andi Unfortunately as a result of his deal with the Devil his id began physically manifesting itself as a chainsaw wielding maniac that materializes from his body every time he got angry Greg eventually realized that no matter what deal he made Andi would never love him as the Devil cannot influence true love Sam used his Get Out of Hell Free card to undo Greg s deal Sara played by Lucy Davis Ben s ex wife a British national formerly employed at the Work Bench In Coming to Grips after Ben gives up on finding his perfect girl he agrees to a green card wedding with Sara in exchange for 1600 Ben eventually meets his perfect girl Cassidy later on while chasing a soul but Sara expects him to live up to their deal and refuses to let him go out with Cassidy When Ben threatens to report her to immigration Sara counters by threatening to report him for extorting money from her Ben considers just giving her the money back until he discovers that Sock spent it on tickets to the Blue Collar Comedy Tour In addition to being married to Ben Sara is also involved with a married Cirque du Soleil performer named Esteban When Sara reveals she s pregnant with Esteban s child Ben has the bargaining chip he needs and Sara eventually lets him date Cassidy After an immigration officer discovers their ruse Sara convinces Ben to give her 2 000 to help bribe the officer in actuality she takes the money and goes on the lam Cassidy played by Kandyse McClure Ben s ex girlfriend She is a nurse at St Vincent s Hospital who practices jiujitsu and enjoys Sue Grafton novels Cassidy and Ben met in the maternity ward of St Vincent s in Coming to Grips when Ben was pursuing prolific soul Jack King After a string of dates in the hospital cafeteria Cassidy began to ask questions specifically about Ben s wedding ring it was at that point that Ben came clean about his green card marriage to Sara The three of them came to an understanding although Cassidy would still get a little excited about being Ben s mistress When Immigration busted Ben and Sara Cassidy was the one who took Ben to jail excited at the prospect that he would be single again when he got out In The Sweet Science Ben explains to Nina that Cassidy ditched him while he was still in jail Kyle Oliver played by Kyle Switzer Sam s younger brother Much pressure has been put on him by his parents to be successful in life which he considers unfair compared to them letting Sam slide Kyle is the one member of the family unaware of Sam s debt to the Devil and does not realize how lucky he was to be born second It is indicated that he left for college early in the series He has only appeared in the pilot episode and Charged to date It is hinted that he may have left for college explaining his absence for the remainder of the series Pesi played by Pesi Daruwalla An older customer at the Work Bench he is first seen in the second season episode Dirty Sexy Mongol Andi subsequently hires him in The Home Stretch He seems to enjoy deliberately making inappropriate sexual and offensive comments to his co workers He also has criminal connections offering to sell his co worker s guns and Pontiacs Demons edit Demons in the Reaper universe are portrayed as seemingly neutral and non aggressive so far entities who are either in the direct service of the Devil or plotting to overthrow his rule It was stated that all demons were once angels who fell out of their place after joining up with the Devil s attempt to overthrow God and got banished along with him from Heaven Demons residing within the mortal realm exhibit the ability to assume near human forms that enable them to live along with real humans with the only thing distinguishing them from actual mortals besides their immortality being two small horns protruding from their foreheads which can be sanded down to create the complete illusion that they are human they are also capable of morphing into their true demonic forms as displayed by Tony which seem to grant an incredible boost of physical power in the process and also flight with demonic wings They are immune to mortal weapons in either form Types of Demons include standard and succubus Reapers edit Reapers are beings tasked by the Devil to apprehend souls that have escaped the depths of Hell Sam became one in the premiere episode of the series The word was first used in the episode Acid Queen which implies that there may be others like him with a similar obligation or predicament Currently it is not exactly known how many Reapers there are or if all of them are even human Sam does not like this status but begins to live with this fate though shows no surprise towards its utterance It is made clear by the demon Steve that Sam is perhaps the only person on Earth that the Devil talks with face to face which raises suspicion amongst Sam and his friends This suggestion is later disproved when the Devil introduces Morgan a young man the Devil claims is his son Escaped souls edit These are fugitives from Hell whom the Devil has entrusted Sam to recapture All of them were once mortals who committed various crimes or sold their souls that ultimately led to their damnation When they come back to Earth they are intent on finishing the jobs that they started After escaping Hell and returning to the earthly realm not only do they regain a corporeal body with which to interact with the living world once again but sometimes also exhibit supernatural powers that often reflect the nature of their crimes or punishments For example an arsonist imprisoned in Hell for 50 years being tortured by being burnt every day came back with pyrokinetic powers and could take on the appearance of a humanoid creature made of molten rock Leon Czolgosz the assassin of William McKinley gained the ability to turn his hands into guns Not all souls come back to Earth with a corporeal body as seen in Ashes to Ashes where the Mortician soul came back as a spirit since his body was cremated Vessels edit As the souls that Sam is sent to apprehend have already died once along with the fact that they have various paranormal abilities an attempt to capture or even kill them by a mere mortal could prove almost impossible The Devil provides Sam with vessels to help him do his work The vessel is usually sent for Sam to open in a wooden box which varies in shape per episode sometimes inappropriate for the vessel they hold e g a large box contained a Zippo lighter vessel and it s usually up to Sam to figure out how to use it to capture the escaped soul assigned for him to apprehend since the vessels don t usually come with an instruction manual All vessels are unique because each of them is intended to capture the escaped soul for whom they were created and intended to confine The vessel could even be a seemingly living thing e g a live dove Vessels often have the appearance of seemingly ordinary day to day accessories and can easily be mistaken for such Most escaped souls shown in the series seem to be aware whenever a vessel is brought to their presence especially if that particular vessel is the one intended for their capture thus alerting them of potentially being sent back to Hell by the one wielding the vessel Vessels don t always work for anyone though several characters in the show other than Sam have used vessels to capture souls A vessel will only work on the particular soul it is intended for and has no effect on any other escaped souls The only known exception is a Nerf gun created by a demon named Dennis in Greg Schmeg Although technically a vessel the Nerf gun can send any person or object to Hell In The Good Soil it is revealed that vessels can capture other objects besides souls e g a corpse The Ender edit Introduced in The Good Soil the Ender is the Devil s backup plan When Sam refused to capture the soul and return it to hell the Ender was summoned to seek out and destroy the soul As a result the soul would be sent to neither heaven nor hell The Ender took on the form of a cloaked phantom and could destroy anything with one touch It was never actually confirmed whether the Devil was lying to Sam or the Ender could actually annihilate a soul Season 3 plans editIn February 2010 the show s creators gave an interview that detailed some of their ideas for season three 33 Included were plans to have Andi work in the DMV with Gladys and the possibility of bringing in the Archangel Michael though they had no plans to introduce God as a character They also revealed the truth about Sam s parentage Basically the whole premise that never actually had the chance to come out was the idea that Dad was a demon who made a deal with the Devil He fell in love with Sam s mom and wanted to marry her So the deal was fine you re not a demon anymore He was never fully human either which is why you can t kill him And this is the reason why Sam is special Sam is part human part demon Episodes editMain article List of Reaper episodes SeasonEpisodesOriginally airedFirst airedLast aired118September 25 2007 2007 09 25 May 20 2008 2008 05 20 213March 3 2009 2009 03 03 May 26 2009 2009 05 26 DVD releases editOn November 4 2008 Lionsgate Home Entertainment under license from ABC Studios released season 1 of Reaper on DVD in region 1 On June 9 2009 season 2 of Reaper was released on DVD DVD Name Release dates Ep Additional InformationRegion 1 Region 2 Region 4Reaper Season 1 November 4 2008 TBA TBA 18 The five disc box set includes all 18 episodes Bonus features include deleted scenes commentary track on the pilot episode selections from the season s gag reel Running Time 800 minutes Reaper Season 2 June 9 2009 TBA TBA 13 The four disc box set includes all 13 episodes Bonus features include The Devil Made Me Do It A Look Back at the Making of Reaper gag reel deleted scenes Running Time 585 minutes Reception editThe series as shown on Metacritic has been dubbed as having universal acclaim with a rating of 81 out of 100 out of 27 reviews Critics have compared Reaper to the NBC spy comedy Chuck which follows the story of another seemingly unremarkable post adolescent big box store employee in Chuck s case it s a Buy More who also leads a secret double life trying to save the world 34 35 Weekly ratings edit Season 1 edit As of May 12 2008 Reaper has averaged 2 70 million American based viewers for each new episode for its first season Viewing figures from other countries are inconclusive so far No Episode Air Date Timeslot Rating 36 Share 36 18 49 Rating Share 36 Viewers m 36 Rank 1 Pilot 2007 09 25 September 25 2007 Tuesday 9 8c 2 1 3 1 5 3 3 28 852 Charged 2007 10 02 October 2 2007 1 8 3 1 3 3 2 86 933 All Mine 2007 10 09 October 9 2007 1 8 3 1 3 3 2 65 904 Magic 2007 10 16 October 16 2007 2 2 3 1 5 3 3 27 865 What About Blob 2007 10 23 October 23 2007 1 8 3 1 2 3 2 61 886 Leon 2007 10 30 October 30 2007 1 7 3 1 1 3 2 60 897 Love Bullets and Blacktop 2007 11 06 November 6 2007 1 6 2 1 0 2 2 42 94 37 8 The Cop 2007 11 13 November 13 2007 1 6 2 1 2 2 2 46 93 38 9 Ashes to Ashes 2007 11 27 November 27 2007 1 5 2 1 1 2 2 26 91 39 10 Cash Out 2007 12 04 December 4 2007 1 7 3 1 3 3 2 64 89 40 11 Hungry for Fame 2008 03 13 March 13 2008 Thursday 9 8c 1 7 3 1 2 3 2 81 8812 Unseen 2008 03 20 March 20 2008 1 9 3 1 2 3 2 94 7913 Acid Queen 2008 03 27 March 27 2008 1 8 3 1 2 2 2 76 8114 Rebellion 2008 04 22 April 22 2008 Tuesday 9 8c 1 6 2 1 1 3 2 60 9315 Coming to Grips 2008 04 29 April 29 2008 1 7 3 1 1 3 2 51 8616 Greg Schmeg 2008 05 06 May 6 2008 1 6 2 1 0 3 2 47 TBA17 The Leak 2008 05 13 May 13 2008 1 5 2 0 9 2 1 99 TBA18 Cancun 2008 05 20 May 20 2008 1 7 3 1 2 3 2 69 TBASeason 2 edit Reaper averaged 2 16 million American based viewers for each new episode for its second season Viewing figures from other countries are inconclusive so far No Episode Air Date Timeslot Rating 36 Share 36 18 49 Rating Share 36 Viewers m 36 Rank 19 A New Hope March 3 2009 Tuesday 8 7c 8 5 9 0 9 2 2 35 TBA20 Dirty Sexy Mongol March 10 2009 1 4 2 0 8 2 2 17 9021 The Sweet Science March 17 2009 1 2 2 0 9 3 1 88 TBA22 The Favorite March 24 2009 9 5 2 1 0 3 2 47 TBA23 I Want My Baby Back March 31 2009 10 0 3 1 0 3 2 37 41 TBA24 Underbelly April 7 2009 0 9 2 0 8 3 2 28 TBA25 The Good Soil April 14 2009 0 9 3 0 9 2 2 05 TBA26 The Home Stretch April 21 2009 1 0 3 0 9 3 2 45 42 TBA27 No Reaper Left Behind April 28 2009 0 7 2 0 6 2 1 82 TBA28 My Brother s Reaper May 5 2009 1 2 2 0 8 2 2 22 TBA29 To Sprong With Love May 12 2009 1 33 2 0 9 3 1 99 TBA30 Business Casualty May 19 2009 TBA TBA TBA 1 79 TBA31 The Devil amp Sam Oliver May 26 2009 TBA TBA TBA 2 22 43 TBAReferences edit Reaper 2 Seasons 2008 Amazon com Retrieved January 8 2017 The CW Kicks Off Its Second Season With Six New Series at The Futon Critic Retrieved on June 4 2007 After the WGA Strike When Will Your Favorite TV Shows Return Ausiello Report TVGuide com Archived 2008 05 20 at the Wayback Machine Ausiello Scoop Reaper renewed for another season Ausiello Report TVGuide com Archived from the original on 2008 05 17 Retrieved 2008 05 16 The CW Television Network Shows Cwtv com Archived from the original on 2009 07 30 Retrieved 2010 03 25 CW sets Melrose Place Vampire Variety com May 19 2009 Reaper May Live On The Hollywood Reporter May 13 2009 News amp Info On The CW s Reaper ReaperSite Retrieved 2010 03 25 Development Update September 25 29 Weekly Round Up The Futon Critic 2006 09 26 Development Update Thursday January 25 The Futon Critic 2007 01 25 Development Update Friday February 16 The Futon Critic 2007 02 16 CBS The CW Confirm Renewals Cancellations Fox Extends 24 at The Futon Critic Retrieved on June 4 2007 Andreeva Nellie 2007 10 26 CW sows more Reaper scripts The Hollywood Reporter McDuffee Keith 2010 02 01 How Reaper would have ended straight from the creators CliqueClack TV Retrieved 2010 02 01 Development Update Wednesday February 21 The Futon Critic 2007 02 21 Development Update Monday February 26 The Futon Critic 2007 02 26 Andreeva Nellie 2007 06 25 Heroes co star morphs into Reaper TV role The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved 2007 06 25 dead link Development Update Friday March 9 The Futon Critic 2007 03 09 Development Update Thursday March 15 The Futon Critic 2007 03 15 McDuffee Keith 1 Feb 2010 How Reaper would have ended straight from the creators CliqueClack Retrieved 10 December 2011 Development Update Friday March 16 The Futon Critic 2007 03 16 Exclusive Reaper Casting Madness TV Guide 2008 07 24 Ward Julia 2007 07 29 Comic Con Reaper Panel Report TV Squad Reaper CW Cancels Supernatural Series Still Hope for Season Three TV Series Finale 2009 05 20 Reaper Could the TV Show Continue in Syndication Without Tyler Labine TV Series Finale 2009 05 14 Reaper May Live On The Hollywood Reporter May 13 2009 CW to say goodbye to Sundays Variety May 4 2009 Reape Syndication Plans Fall Through Show Stays Cancelled TV Series Finale 2009 06 09 Reaper Will Not Have Third Season Archived 2012 04 26 at the Wayback Machine Reaper Site June 17 2009 Kevin Probably Saves the World Get a sneak peek at the Reaper reunion Entertainment Weekly 2018 02 20 FearNet Picks Up Off Net Rights To Cult Dramedy Reaper Sets Reunion Special Deadline Hollywood 9 April 2013 Retrieved 26 May 2013 Not Even The Devil Can Guess What The Future Of The Reaper TV Show Will Be Retrieved 6 June 2013 Keith McDuffee An Interview with the Creators February 1 2010 Cliqueclack com Referenced April 4 2011 Sheffield Rob September 20 2007 We Like to Watch Rolling Stone 1035 44 Pastorek Whitney December 7 2007 BATTLE OF THE BOX STORES Entertainment Weekly 968 69 a b c d e f g h Your Entertainment Now Blog Word Press ABC Medianet Archived from the original on 2008 06 18 Retrieved 2007 12 19 ABC Medianet Archived from the original on 2008 05 02 Retrieved 2007 11 20 ABC Medianet Archived from the original on 2008 06 18 Retrieved 2007 12 19 ABC Medianet Archived from the original on 2008 06 18 Retrieved 2007 12 19 Nielsen Ratings Overnight TV Ratings for Tuesday March 31 American Idol Osbournes Reloaded Dancing With The Stars Cupid Reaper NCIS The Biggest Loser The Mentalist 90210 TV Ratings Nielsen Ratings Television Show Ratings TVbytheNumbers com 2009 04 01 Archived from the original on 2009 04 18 Retrieved 2010 03 25 Overnight TV Ratings Nielsen Ratings Tuesday April 21 American Idol Fringe Dancing With The Stars The Unusuals Reaper NCIS The Biggest Loser The Mentalist According to Jim 90210 TV Ratings Nielsen Ratings Television Show Ratings TVbytheNumbers com 2009 04 22 Archived from the original on 2009 04 25 Retrieved 2010 03 25 Overnight TV Ratings Nielsen Ratings Tuesday May 26 Diamonds Hitched or Ditched Mental The Mentalist NCIS TV s Funniest Phrases Law amp Order SVU Without A Trace TV Ratings Nielsen Ratings Television Show Ratings TVbytheNumbers com 2009 05 27 Archived from the original on 2009 05 30 Retrieved 2010 03 25 External links edit nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Reaper TV series Reaper at IMDb nbsp Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Reaper TV series amp oldid 1204200398, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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