In its first season, Drop Dead Diva won over quite a few fans, and on June 6th the Lifetime show is returning to pick up where the cliffhanger-ish first season left off, and feature a lot more guest stars - (Rosie O'Donnell, Ricki Lake, Vivica A Fox, Chad Lowe, Nancy Grace, Kellie Martin, Faith Prince, Sharon Lawrence, Devon Gummersall and David Denman).
The series, which garnered critical acclaim throughout its first season, follows a beautiful-but-vapid model wannabe, Deb, who finds herself relegated to the body of a plus-size attorney, Jane (Brooke Elliott), following their deaths. While the placement was accidental, it just might be divine intervention if it can help self-centered Deb learn to use her brain, rather than her looks to get by in life - with a little help from her loyal assistant Teri Lee (Margaret Cho).
The show is a lot of fun, and just the sort of quirky, light, life-lesson series that fits into an overall television viewing mix well. It reminds me a bit of Being Erica, which is one of the best shows on television.
The critics are raving, and with good reason. Brooke Elliott is fantastic, and frankly would be worth watching even if the show overall weren't that strong.
Check out a quick Season Two Promo below, and get a glimpse of some of the people talking up the show.
Celebrate the return of Drop Dead Diva in style!
Get ready to unleash your inner diva! Drop Dead Diva is coming back to Lifetime with all new episodes. Don’t miss Paula Abdul guest-starring in the Season 2 premiere – airing Sunday, June 6 at 9/8c on Lifetime.
The series will be released on DVD beginning Tuesday, June 1st, but is available for giveaway here as part of our “How to Host a Party like a Diva” prize pack!
“Host a Party like a Diva” Prize Pack Includes:
- Martini glasses (2)
- Acrylic Martini Shaker
- Pomegranate Rim Sugar
- Pomegranate drink mix (2)
- The Little Pink Book of Entertaining
- Platter
- Set of 4 Wine Charms
- Season 1 DVD of Drop Dead Diva
Enter To Win!
While I know this show has a lot of fans, I also think it's the kind of thing that too many people just don't realize they would love it, so I'm going to offer up two chances to enter. Leave a comment below and you'll be entered, but Facebook Fans (or Likers, I guess) of Are You Screening? will also be entered. U.S. only. Winner will be selected June 15th.
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As an additional bonus to get you hyped for the show's return, I have some of a recent interview with Margaret Cho.
How did Teri get so snarky?
M. Cho I think that the character was written – sometimes I think a lot of the characters developed between my conversations just with Josh Berman and hanging out and things that I've said and done, they wind up in script. I don't find her particularly snarky. She's kind of like, you know, in a sense what she reminds me of is kind of like an old, like an office crone. It's real like kind of a character out of a Nine to Five or something, you know. She is just a fun gal who has been around that place forever, and she knows everything, and so I'm kind of the source for information, but I guess it comes with a price.
What keeps challenging you about this role?
M. Cho Well, I keep finding out new things about the character as things develop. So this year, I find out that my character is a singer, which I open the second season with a big music and dance number which is a lot of fun. I also have a soundtrack song. I made a record this year called Cho Dependent which will be out in August, and one of the songs that I wrote that didn't make it on the album I put on the soundtrack record. So I made part of the soundtrack as well so that's a lot of fun, too.
What can you tell us about Teri's journey in season two? Are we going to see maybe any love interests for her?
M. Cho Well, we are about halfway through the season filming it. I haven't seen a love interest so far, but there is still time. We never find out about our characters much like farther than another episode in, so I don't know. Now we're shooting I guess the ninth episode, so I can't tell. We have about four more to go. I haven't seen a love interest so far. There's been a lot of talk about, but I’ve not seen it. So I can't answer that.
What are the main similarities and differences between you and the character, Teri?
M. Cho I think the main similarities I think that she has, well she's the oldest one, that I feel for sure. I'm the oldest one in the whole cast and the oldest character. I think, you know, we probably have the same sensibility here, the same sense of humor, and this season you get to meet my family.
So you get to see my mother, who is also in my real life a very strong presence, so that's really, really fun … into my character's life. The differences are I don't work in an office. I've never worked in an office. I don't even know how to work in an office, although my character and myself we both type very, very quickly. So that I can say we both share that trait.
What has been your most memorable experience meeting a fan of Drop Dead Diva?
M. Cho I think what's so remarkable about the fans of the show they really, really identify with the character of Jane, and they really are in love with the story. I think my favorite experience so far with meeting fans and talking about the show was that we did a big screening of it and a Q&A for the Paley Center in Los Angeles, and it was a very prestigious event where they talked about the show and broke it down.
The audience was all fans and it was so great to see people so excited to meet the cast and so excited about the show and hear Josh Berman, who is the show’s creator, talk about the genesis of the show, how he thought about it, and how he created it, and that. They were excited, you know, that was really, really cool. So I was really thrilled to be a part of that.
What drew you to taking the role on the show and how you even heard about Drop Dead Diva in the first place?
M. Cho Well, I was working on my album doing music stuff. I've been working on it for a couple of years now. One of the songwriters that I write with, his name is Jay Brannon, and I went to go see him after we had a long writing session. I went to go see him and he was performing. Josh Berman was in the audience.
Josh Berman came up to me at the show and was telling me about his project Drop Dead Diva. I like Josh a lot and I wasn't sure about the project. I hadn't heard anything about it, and the next day my agent called me and sent me the script. Then I went in to meet with Josh the next day. I was immediately cast in the role of Teri. I was the first person cast in the show. He had envisioned the role for me in the first place, so it was kind of an amazing coincidence that we ran into at the show that night.
So it was a really great thing. So I made the pilot. I was just really in love with the whole project. I thought it was such a great show. I really thought Brooke was an incredible actor. So it just all kind of came together. It all happened because I was working on my album.
RU?
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About Marc Eastman
Marc Eastman is the owner and operator of Are You Screening? and has been writing film reviews for over a decade, and several branches of the internet's film review world have seen his name. His reviews have brought him personal praise from the director of a major motion picture, and have been used as required reading in a course at a major University. These priceless rewards, along with just bags of cash, keep him from straying from freelance writing. He is also a member of The Broadcast Film Critics Association and The Broadcast Television Journalists Association.
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