Drop Dead Diva

Drop Dead Diva Information

Drop Dead Diva is an American legal comedy-drama/fantasy television series that debuted on Lifetime on July 12, 2009. The hour-long series, which was created by Josh Berman, is produced by Sony Pictures Television. The series stars Brooke Elliott as Jane, a plus size lawyer whose body is inhabited by the soul of a fashion model.

On January 15, 2013, Lifetime canceled Drop Dead Diva after four seasons. However, on March 1, 2013, a month and a half after Lifetime canceled the dramedy series, the cable network inked a deal with producer Sony Pictures TV to bring the show back for a fifth season.

Plot

The series revolves around a vapid blonde aspiring model, Deborah "Deb" Dobkins (played by Brooke D'Orsay), who is killed in a car crash on the way to an audition for The Price Is Right. As her soul enters the gates of Heaven she finds herself being judged by a gatekeeper named Fred (Ben Feldman). He declared her a "zero-zero", she has performed zero good deeds and zero bad acts during her time on earth due to her shallowness.

Deb tries to argue this and sees a note on Fred's computer precautioning angels from pressing the "return" key. Deb presses the return key on Fred's keyboard before he can stop her in hopes of going back to Earth. Deb gets her wish, but is brought back to life in the body of a recently deceased lawyer named Jane Bingum (Brooke Elliott), who died protecting her boss, Jay Parker (Josh Stamberg).

Jane is the complete opposite of Deb; she is brilliant, hard-working, charitable, and overweight. Deb finds that Jane also works in the same law firm, Harrison-Parker, as Deb's boyfriend Grayson Kent (Jackson Hurst). She immediately tells her best friend Stacy (April Bowlby) of her predicament, and prepares herself to tell Grayson, but Fred appears and stops her. He tells Deb that as punishment for allowing her to press the return button, he is forced to become her guardian angel on Earth and he cannot allow her to tell anybody else that she is Deb in Jane's body.

The show is centered on the concept of Deb learning valuable lessons about personal acceptance and inner beauty as she finds out more about her inherited life. This includes now working around the former love of her life as he tries to grieve and move on from Deb's passing, and contending with her professional rival at the firm, Kim Kaswell (Kate Levering).

Cast

Main article: List of Drop Dead Diva characters

Main cast

Brooke Elliott as Jane Bingum (inhabited by Deb Dobkins), a brilliant, hardworking attorney with a flair for fashion.
Margaret Cho as Teri Lee, Jane's sassy assistant.
April Bowlby as Stacy Barrett, Jane's/Deb's longtime best friend and roommate, and the only human who knows that Jane is inhabited by Deb.
Kate Levering as Kim Kaswell, Jane's coworker and rival.
Jackson Hurst as Grayson Kent, Jane's closest colleague and Deb's former boyfriend.
Josh Stamberg as Jay Parker, Jane's boss. Managing partner of Harrison and Parker.
Ben Feldman as Fred (Season 2-3, recurring Season 1 & 4), Jane/Deb's original guardian angel.
Lex Medlin as Judge Owen French (Season 4, recurring previously), Jane's fiancé. As of the season 4 finale, French's body is inhabited by the original Jane Bingum.
Carter MacIntyre as Luke Daniels (Season 4), Jane/Deb's new guardian angel.

Recurring cast

Brooke D'Orsay as the original Deb Dobkins (season 1-present)
Jaime Ray Newman as Vanessa Hemmings (season 2-3)
Paula Abdul as herself (season 1-present)
Rosie O'Donnell as Judge Madeline Summers (season 1-present)
Sharon Lawrence as Bobbi Dobkins (season 1-present)
Faith Prince as Elaine Bingum (season 1-present)
Brandy Norwood as Elisa Shayne (season 3-present)
Kim Kardashian as Nikki LePree (season 4-present)

Guest stars

Many celebrities have made guest appearances on the show. Among them are: Quinton Aaron, Candice Accola, Clay Aiken, Louis Van Amstel, Jake T. Austin, Diedrich Bader, Lance Bass, Amanda Bearse, Delta Burke, Danielle Campbell, Bruce Davison, David Denman, Patty Duke, Jorja Fox, Vivica A. Fox, Tony Goldwyn, Elliott Gould, Nancy Grace, Kathy Griffin, Tim Gunn, Deidre Hall, Valerie Harper, Gregory Harrison, Natasha Henstridge, Howard Hesseman, Star Jones, Kim Kardashian, Rami Kashou, Ricki Lake, Sharon Lawrence, Mario Lopez, Chad Lowe, MacKenzie Mauzy, Abby Lee Miller, Seamus Dever, Liza Minnelli, Tyler Jacob Moore, Mark Moses, Kathy Najimy, Jake Pavelka, Teri Polo, Susan May Pratt, John Ratzenberger, Crystal Reed, LeAnn Rimes, Romy Rosemont, Tony Sears, Cybill Shepherd, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Wanda Sykes, Jennifer Tilly, Gina Torres, Steve Valentine, Nia Vardalos, Dylan Walsh, Wendy Williams, Chuck Woolery, Nick Zano, Serena Williams, Maddie Ziegler, and Paula Abdul.

Production

This series, which is being shot in Peachtree City, Georgia, and Senoia, Georgia, even though its background setting is Los Angeles, California, was originally planned for Fox, but the studio passed after seeing the pilot. According to Berman, "It's a cross between Freaky Friday and Heaven Can Wait," calling it a "life-affirming dramedy". He adds that in Hollywood, "beauty has been defined as size 2 and under 25; hopefully we can help redefine the paradigm".

Cancellation and revival

On January 15, 2013, Lifetime announced that despite the cliffhanger at the end of Season 4 (that had already aired September 2012), Season 4 was the final season of Drop Dead Diva. Lifetime's decision to cancel the expensive drama came after the cable network approached producer Sony Pictures Television for cost-cutting options to continue with the series. Despite the cancelation, ratings for the season four finale marked a season high, with 2.76 million viewers.

A month and a half after Lifetime cancelled the dramedy series, the cable network has inked a deal with producer Sony Pictures TV to bring the show back for a fifth season. The news comes as a reversal after Lifetime cancelled the hour-long drama in January after talks with studio Sony Pictures Television for cost-cutting options to continue the series stalled. The decision to bring back the series suggests that the two sides have reached a new, more cost-effective agreement.

Possible network change

Show creator Josh Berman announced on January 17, 2013 that he has been speaking to Sony Pictures and other networks on the possibility of getting Drop Dead Diva to return for a fifth season on a new network. Berman has met with the show's studio, Sony, which he describes as extremely passionate about the series. "We've all been getting calls, both on the creative side and on the business side, from other possible homes", he says. He wouldn't say who, but adds, "Everything is in play. There are players that I never even expected that are expressing interest in the show. I'm not ruling anything out. I'm not even ruling out Lifetime and Sony reaching a new deal. Like, I'm open to anything that will save the show. My goal is to still have the show on the air this summer, no matter what". As of March 1, 2013, Lifetime has announced that Drop Dead Diva will return for a 5th season after reaching a deal with Sony. The fifth season is expected to air summer 2013.

Episodes

Main article: List of Drop Dead Diva episodes

Ratings

The show's premier episode scored a 1.6 overall and more than 2.8 million viewers tuning in.

"Drop Dead Diva" scored its highest ratings ever among women 18"49 (2.0), a 25% increase over its season-to-date average, and women 25"54 (2.3), a 28% increase over its season-to-date average.

The show aired on the Nine Network in Australia but failed to achieve high ratings for the channel and was subsequently dropped in early September, then the following week began airing the series starting with the first episode again on Nine's digital GO! channel and now on TV1 (Foxtel pay TV) 19h30 Wednesdays. In October 2011, the show came back onto Nine's digital GEM channel, but episodes have been shown sporadically, sometimes on one week and not the next.

In the UK, the show airs on Living and premiered on April 1, 2010, at 20h to 206,000 viewers, being the 7th most watched broadcast of the week on Living. An additional 129,000 viewers watched the premiere on Living's 1 hour timeshift service. The second series premiered on Tuesday 7 September at 21h. The third series started airing in September 2011 on the revamped Sky Living. With the DVD release of the second series, in Region 2 is to be released in November over a year after its airing.

Awards

Wins: GLAAD Media Award 2012 for Outstanding Individual Episode (in a series without a regular LGBT character) for the episode "Prom" in which Jane defends a same sex couple who want to attend their high school prom together. (They were awarded this as a part of tie with the episode "Beards" from Hot in Cleveland).

Nominations: Image Award 2012 for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series - Kevin Hooks - For episode "Mother's Day."

GLAAD Media Award 2011 for Outstanding Individual Episode (in a series without a regular LGBT character) for the episode "Queen of Mean."

Prism Awards 2011 for Performance in a Comedy Series - Brooke Elliott.

Prism Awards 2011 for Performance in a Comedy Series - Faith Prince.

Image Award 2010 for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series - Michael Schultz - For episode "Second Chances."

NAMIC Vision Awards 2010 for Best Performance Comedy - Margaret Cho.

Satellite Awards 2009 for Best Actress in a Series, Comedy or Musical - Brooke Elliott.

DVD releases

DVD Name	Region 1 Release Date	Region 2 Release Date	Region 4 Release Date	Ep #	Discs	Additional Information
Season 1	June 1, 2010	June 28, 2010	June 2, 2010	13	3	Dreamisodes, Deleted Scenes, Rosie's Rap, Dropping in with Drop Dead Diva and Cho in Tell.
Season 2	May 3, 2011	TBA	TBA	13	3	Drop Dead Dishing: The Cast and Crew on Season 2, A Look Ahead to Season 2, Is This Her Future?, It Wasn't a Meeting, Tell the Judge You Saw a Ghost, There's a Little Diva in all of Us!, Just Hear Us Out, Begin Again Music Video and Thunder From Down Under.
Season 3	May 29, 2012	TBA	TBA	13	3	TBA
Season 4	TBA	TBA	TBA	13	3	TBA

Soundtrack

See Drop Dead Diva (television soundtrack) for more information A soundtrack for Drop Dead Diva was released on June 1, 2010, by Madison Gate Records. It is titled Drop Dead Diva (Music from the Original Television Series). The tracklist includes music by Brooke Elliott, Margaret Cho, Ben Feldman, Scott Starrett, Confetti, Becca Jones, Platinum Pied Pipers, Lil' Wendy, Madi Diaz, Dri, Katie Herzig, Malbec and Joshua Morrison.

International broadcasts

The show airs on Sky Living in the UK & Ireland and Go! in Australia.

In Canada, the show's first two seasons aired on Showcase Diva, the third season appeared on Slice. Beginning September 2, 2012, the fourth season will air on Lifetime (a rebranded Showcase Diva).

In Bulgaria, the show`s first two seasons aired on bTV at 16:00. In the Philippines, the show is broadcasted in GMA News TV

The series airs in Poland on Polsat from fall 2010 (Saturdays around noon). Season 1 & 2 aired from Wednesday 9 February 2011 in New Zealand on TV 2. In Japan, the show airs on WOWOW and season 2 will start in Fall. In Mexico, the show airs on Sony Channel. In Brazil and Venezuela , the series airs on Sony Entertainment Television (cable TV) and TV Globo on the late night in Sunday. In France, the show airs on M6 and TEVA. In the Middle East, the shows airs on MBC 4. In Croatia, the show airs on Nova TV on Saturday afternoon, under the title "Divno novo ruho". Also, the first three seasons are available on Netflix.

Country/Region	Channel
	Showcase Diva Slice Lifetime (Canada)
	Sky Living (seasons 1-3) Netflix (season 4)
	Go!
Bulgaria	bTV
Poland	Polsat
New Zealand	TV2
	WOWOW
Ireland	RT"? Two & Sky Living
	HOT3
	Sony Channel
Brazil	Sony Entertainment Television TV Globo
France	M6 Téva
Arab World	MBC 4
Croatia	Nova TV
	GMA News TV
Germany	Fox
Hong Kong	TVB Pearl
	Lifetime
Southeast Asia	BeTV Sony Entertainment Television
	MediaCorp HD5
	RTB3
	Fem3
Finland	Nelonen
Iceland	Stöð 2 Extra
Portugal	SIC