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| Courtesy of Amazon |
After I had binged the first few seasons of Sweet Magnolias, I was interested in seeing Brooke Elliott in Drop Dead Diva. At the time, I couldn't find it streaming anywhere. Then, this past summer, I noticed it was streaming on the CW and decided that this was the time to finally check it out. I'm so glad I did, as I really loved this series and am now going through withdrawal.
I honestly had no idea what Drop Dead Diva was really about. I thought it might have been about someone who was possessed, but wasn't sure what the whole premise was. So I was pleasantly surprised about everything. This was totally the perfect show for me. I call it a mix of Legally Blonde and Freaky Friday. There's even a bit of Ally McBeal mixed in. I love surreal storylines, so this was my jam.
Short synopsis that won't give much away:
Deb Dobkins, an aspiring model who is engaged to hot attorney Grayson, gets into a car accident on her way to work and dies. At the same time, Jane Bingum, an attorney, gets shot by a man who is going after her boss. Deb gets to purgatory where she meets Fred. While he's trying to tell her what comes next, she hits the return button on his computer and gets sent back to earth...in Jane's body. Now she has to live life as Jane, which includes being a lawyer equipped with Jane's knowledge, and Fred is sent back to earth as her guardian angel to make sure she doesn't tell Grayson who she really is. The complicated part...Grayson now works with Jane. And Jane looks the complete opposite of what Deb looked like.
Why you should watch Drop Dead Diva:
1. If you like rom-coms, this is six seasons of rom-com goodness.
2. If you like mysteries, think of Jane as Nancy Drew. Trying to resolve court cases involves a lot of detective work.
3. The law cases are so interesting and some are actually relevant to 2025, almost like someone predicted the future.
4. There's some singing and dancing involved.
5. The supporting characters are so great. Even Kim Kaswell, who is not always that nice.
6. Lots of celebrity appearances by actors you may have seen on other shows, as well as some big names like Paula Abdul, Rosie O'Donnell, and John Ratzenberger. Kim Kardashian is even on a few episodes. Margaret Cho is one of the main supporting characters. There are many other faces you will recognize throughout the six seasons!
7. There is a decent amount of humor, which balances out some of the heavier subject matter (such as the court cases).
8. Even though each episode is 45 minutes, they go by fast and are easily bingeable.
9. Easy to get emotionally attached to the characters and storyline.
10. A nice distraction from real life, even when some of the court cases hit close to home.
Check out the trailer. If you have seen this series, keep scrolling after the trailer for my thoughts with SPOILERS.
Thoughts with SPOILERS:
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I have so many thoughts about this series. And watching the trailer reminds me of how much has happened in just the first season that I forgot about.
First I want to talk about the characters.
Jane/Deb: She's a very likable main character. It became hard to separate Jane from Deb after a while because they just became one unit: Jane's brains with Deb's personality. It was a fun combination. Deb definitely reminded me of Elle Woods when she was in court. However, it got to this point where I was able to take her seriously as a lawyer because she developed a passion for it that she might not have had if she had not died and become Jane. It was like they complemented each other. I also love how she had these connections with both Jane and Deb's moms. Deb was just so natural as Jane after a while and I love how she gave her so much flair.
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| Courtesy of TV Guide |
Stacy: I totally adore Stacy. Even the couple of times she was awful, I still found it hard to stay angry at her. So I can imagine it must have been a lot harder for Jane, since she was the one being wronged. I had never seen April Bowlby in anything before but I just really loved her as Stacy. Her different hairstyles, the way she talked, her smile, how she would give really good advice, etc. She initially reminded me of Audrey Landers, who played Val in the movie of A Chorus Line (the one who sings about T&A). Anyway, my favorite bit of Stacy's was when she started the pakery. It was so fitting for her personality and I was actually sad when she sold it. She also provided a decent amount of comic relief on the show. Also, she looked better without bangs.
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| Courtesy of TVRuckus |
Grayson: At first, I wasn't sure if I liked Grayson. He seemed too perfect. However, I warmed to him pretty quickly and really wanted him and Jane to be together, even though Fred (and later Cam) was making that impossible. He was really attractive and I wished I watched this show back when it was first on so I could cast the actor who plays him (Jackson Hurst) as the love interest in the books I was reading at the time. I picture him in some books I'm currently reading, even though the actor is older now (still younger than me though and still handsome). I was so annoyed that they killed him off a few episodes before the end of the series, even though they brought him back in someone else's body. (That guy was attractive too, but it felt so odd.)
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| Courtesy of Hallmark Channel |
Kim: Kim is technically the mean girl in the office, but I also liked her a lot. When she was not on the show for a while, I missed her. Beneath her acerbic barbs is a vulnerable woman looking for love and getting screwed over in that department. I love how becoming a mother softened her up even more and she was suddenly helping people she might not have helped before. And even though she didn't always see eye-to-eye with Jane, there were times that she had some really good moments with her.
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| Courtesy of Medium |
Owen: I'm torn over what to think of Owen. At times he can be a jerk about anything and everything. Other times, he's so sweet and lovable. Did I think he was the right match for Jane? Not necessarily. I think that if things were different and someone else checked on Jane first when she didn't show up at the altar, Owen wouldn't have seen her kissing Grayson and the wedding would have happened, but then at some point later on, she'd realize they really weren't the right fit because Grayson was her soulmate. Anyway, I digress. I felt bad for Owen over what happened at the wedding and was also glad he and Stacy ended up together even though it initially felt wrong. I loved his vulnerability when it came to being with Stacy. However, I felt like he could have accepted that Jane was truly sorry and did want to be with him. He also had some unconventional ways of handling some of his court cases, like telling a family to secede from the US, for example.
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| Courtesy of IMDb |
Teri: Teri was really funny and quirky and provided the perfect balance for Jane. I love that she was played by Margaret Cho, who is really funny to begin with. I actually met her in 2001, when she must have been a teenager because she still looked really young in 2009. Anyway, Teri got herself into some interesting situations from time to time, but I also loved how efficient she was at her job and how helpful she was to Jane and sometimes the other lawyers, as well as to Stacy with her pakery. I actually love how she and Stacy formed a bond at one point.
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| Courtesy of TV Guide |
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| Meeting Margaret in 2001 |
Fred: Fred was such a sweetheart and my favorite of the guardian angels. I was sad when Stacy cheated on him and then he ended up leaving for the second time. I was glad when he came through for Grayson later on. I know Ben Feldman has been on other shows, but I associate him with Ghosts first after seeing him on one episode. I just started watching Superstore (perhaps to combat my Fred withdrawal). He does a voice on Long Story Short, as well.
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| Courtesy of MovieWeb |
Parker: I was back and forth on whether or not I liked Parker. He could be so difficult sometimes, especially when it came to the cases Jane was working on. He also had a sweet side when it came to Kim, and I appreciated his vulnerability after finding out he had a son, but I then hated that he just left Kim while she was pregnant and that was it.
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| Courtesy of Amazon |
Paul: I know there was a guardian angel after Fred and before Paul, but he was just on one season and kind of annoying, even though he did some nice things here and there. Paul, however, was a lot of fun. He took his role as guardian angel seriously, but nothing else besides that. He also played guardian angel to some of the other characters, without implicitly saying so. Overall, he was a nice guy and easy on the eyes. I found out through IMDb that he was also on the new 90210 for a while. I think that's why he looked familiar, but I can't remember his role on that show at all.
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| Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter |
Celebrity guest star appearances:
So, so many! Where do I even start?!?
Faith Prince as Elaine Bingum. I still think of her as Adelaide from Guys and Dolls because I used to listen to the cast recording from the early 90s revival all the time. She was so perfect as Jane's mom, who was always getting herself into trouble.
Sharon Lawrence as Bobbi Dobkins. She was a great fit as Deb's mom. I don't recall where else I've seen her, but I know she's been on other shows. And Deb's mom had to appear in court a few times too.
John Ratzenberger as Larry Kaswell (Kim's dad). He was a great fit for this part. Who doesn't recognize him from Cheers or as the voice of many Pixar characters?
Rosie O'Donnell and Paula Abdul were on a bunch of episodes. Rosie as a real life judge and Paula as a dream judge, who got to sing and dance.
Greg Germann, who I knew as Fish from Ally McBeal, played a judge on this show.
There was one episode that featured Betty's mom from Riverdale (Madchen Amick), Sam from Cobra Kai (Mary Mouser), and Christy Masters Christenson from Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (Julia Campbell).
Moira "Toe-pick" Kelly was on an episode. Her character wrote an erotic novel that was being plagiarized.
Jamie Ray Newman, who I just saw on Hunting Wives, was in a bunch of episodes as a love interest for Grayson. (The one who ditched him at the altar.)
David Denman from The Office played a love interest for Jane. That fell apart when he was transferred out of state.
Brandy Norwood (yes, the singer) played the mom of Parker's son, whom he eventually left Kim to be with.
Kim Kardashian played Stacy's supposed friend Nikki, who ended up scamming her and taking all her money.
Corbin Bleu from High School Musical played a guy who was in prison for something he didn't do and was being told to confess anyway in order to go free.
Ian Gomez, who played the beloved Javier on Felicity, was not such a nice character this time around and was actually a scam artist.
Joan Rivers and Valerie Harper were on a couple episodes.
Devon Gummersall from My So-Called Life and Felicity was Jane's husband whom Deb didn't know about.
Amanda Bearse from Married With Children played a judge.
Wynn Everett was on an episode, which is funny because she plays Dana Sue's sister-in-law on Sweet Magnolias.
Doug Savant, who played Tom on Desperate Housewives, was an Amish farmer.
There were also appearances from Kathy Najimy, Marla Sokoloff, Elliot Gould, Delta Burke, Sean Maher, Chuck Woolery, Cybil Shepherd, Ricki Lake, Leslie Grossman, Tony Goldwyn, Jennifer Tilly, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Howard Hesseman, Kathy Griffin, Lance Bass, Richard Kind, Rick Springfield, Liza Minelli, Vivica A. Fox, Clay Aiken, Sam Jaeger, Kellie Martin, LeAnn Rimes, Michael Gross, Deidre Hall, Teri Polo, Wanda Sykes, Jaleel White, Nia Vardalos, Riki Lindhome, Robin Givens, Mario Lopez, Patty Duke, and the list goes on.
Funny enough, I saw an actor from Diva in a movie recently. Kenny Alfonso, who frequently played this one obnoxious lawyer on opposing counsel, was in Jerry and Marge Go Large.
Court cases:
I don't know that I could pick a favorite episode, but there were some memorable court cases. Some were so relevant to 2025, such as the ones about immigration and LGBTQ+.
There's one court case that's the same as the situation in the musical The Prom. Diva came out before The Prom, but when I looked up more information, I found out that The Prom was based on a true story, which I assume was used for Diva too. So I have to wonder how many other cases were based on true stories.
A couple other court cases were centered on people who were transgender. In one case, a trans woman's wife passed away and her in-laws did not want her to have any access to her late wife's assets because she was trans. In another case, an adolescent trans boy was being discriminated against in school. The principal supported him but then she got fired for it. The head of the school board was such a jerk. The heartbreaking part was that the boy said he would go back to being a girl if it meant he could go to school, but then that was bad for his mental health and he ended up injuring himself.
I feel like it's been a while since I've seen the show, even though I only finished it recently. There were just so many interesting court cases and I'm trying to remember which ones stood out the most. Here are a few:
A custody battle over a chimpanzee. The man was more connected with the chimpanzee and the woman wanted to keep him out of spite. There were a lot of other custody cases too. One involved a man who had amnesia for nine years and was being kept from seeing his son. Another involved Parker when his ex-girlfriend wants to move with their son to Canada. There were also more cases involving animals, such as a camel, pedigreed dog, rat, etc.
There were some cases about bullying, such as a girl posting pictures of another girl who was partially clad online, as well as the one about the cheerleading squad, where it turned out the plaintiff was lying to get publicity. There's also the one where a girl gets accused of murdering her classmate because the classmate accused her of cheating on an exam.
There are some situations involving old Jane where Jane/Deb has to backtrack and figure out what really happened. Those had a Cold Case feel. Some cases were against Stacy and Teri, as well.
There were a bunch of cases about medical issues and kids potentially dying without treatment. I was relieved when they won those cases and the kids were able to live, but it's sad that anyone would choose money over someone's life.
There were also a lot of cases involving body image, as well as ageism. Those cases usually centered around models, although Jane had a case involving herself and a store that didn't have dresses in her size.
Some cases involved people changing their identity and having it catch up to them. A couple times was because they were fugitives.
Aside from the trans case, there were some others involving death and burial rights. Someone wanted custody over her late fiancee's ashes. Another wanted to bury his wife in his backyard, per her wishes.
There were quirky cases, such as the medieval battle and the pake-off.
A lot of divorce cases. Probably a few in every season.
A lot of cases were murder mysteries and Jane went into Nancy Drew mode to solve them.
The case that infuriated me the most was when the housewife was arrested for treason because of her Internet search history. Everyone was so unreasonable about it too. It could have taken place now, given how people are accused of being criminals when they've done nothing wrong.
I lost track of how many times someone said "We'll see you in court." 😂
Other thoughts:
There are little things on the show that I sometimes questioned. Like the way time worked. Jane had a birthday in the first season. Then she just stopped having birthdays while we know she was aging, thanks to some characters having babies. Like we knew that nine months had passed a couple times during the series. Also, the court cases would somehow last all day or maybe they'd go into the next day? It felt like each time there was a big court case, the day went very, very, very long.
There was one episode that paid tribute to Old Jane. And we got to see her go back to earth as Brittany. However, there wasn't much focus on Old Jane's life. I would have liked for there to be an episode that went back in time and showed us what things were like for Old Jane.
Stacy told Grayson that Jane was Deb and he was speculating on it for a while. Then in the final season, Stacy denied ever telling this to Grayson. Like it never happened.
How easy is it to just switch out the reason for being in court in such a short period of time? Like the original reason for being there didn't work, so they just jumped in and changed the entire reason.
Is it me or did the court building look phallic?
Why didn't they change the name to Kaswell and French after Kim and Owen took over the firm?
The series finale could have taken out the court case and just focused on Deb and Grayson being a couple in the bodies of new people, as well as more about Stacy's twins and then having her wedding at a different time. More characters should have been given closure, as well.
If you watched Drop Dead Diva, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
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