A vapid aspiring model named Deb killed in a car crash gets brought back to life as an intelligent, overweight lawyer named Jane. Now, by a twist of fate, Deb must come to terms with inhabiting Jane's curvier frame in an ultimate showdown between brains and beauty.
As it has wandered away from its core body-switch concept and allowed its characters to become more than caricatures, Drop Dead Diva has emerged as one of summer's unexpected pleasures.
The Lifetime press materials quote from a half-dozen women's groups, which heap praise on the network for creating a plus-size role model. But in truth, this show is filled with mixed messages about the links between appearance and self-esteem.
There's much to be said for a program featuring a smart, plus-sized heroine in today's rail-thin TV world, but Diva undernourishes its premise amid a sea of legal-procedural banalities.
Drop Dead Diva is a lot of fun to watch, with the added bonus of introducing TV audiences to Brooke Elliott, a stage actress with fabulous comic timing and enormous dramatic flexibility.
Drop Dead Diva relies too much on stereotypical characterizations of women - the dumb blonde, the homely intellectual, the vampy temptress, etc. - to be wholly fresh and original.
The cleverest thing about Drop Dead Diva is its title - and if, over its 13-week run, the writing rises to that level of droll wit, this could turn out to be the TV equivalent of a good old-fashioned summer beach read.
