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It just so happens that the majority of television shows that I happen to embrace are typically well- written, witty and intelligent.

You can say that most of what’s on TV rarely includes one of these attributes let alone all three of them. What we have today, aside from the newly charted dramas, are the same old lifeless, unfunny sitcoms and reality shows.

While dramatic shows like Lost and the recent NBC hit Heroes have effectively captured the 1950’s serialized format (”Stay tuned next time to see what happens…”), they, like the the old serial dramas that they mimic are hard to follow if you don’t stay committed week to week.

Therein lies a critical flaw in this kind of serialized format, that the episodes themselves are rarely self contained so you better make sure Tivo is in sync and you’re paying attention. Yet, that’s also the fun of it all because it really is about what lurks behind the corner, the twists, turns and character clashing.

One of the great things about the Sci-Fi channel — and The Cartoon Network — is that they breathe life into shows that have long since been canceled, although I’m still waiting on a Brisco County marathon, even if it finally got it’s own DVD set.

One such show, Dead Like Me had an interesting premise — before Showtime axed it prematurely — that didn’t follow conventional television plot lines. Rather it focused on a group of Grim Reapers (yes, of the cloak and scythe variety) that were assigned a new victim each week, via a scrawled upon post-it note. The interesting aspect is that each of these individuals are unique in their own way and they each share a different point in time that they originally occupied.

There’s a starlet from Gone with the Wind (on-set mishap), a rugged cop played by A Different World’s Jasmine and a smarmy, witty and yet sympathetic English chap, and that’s just to name a few. Each in the group looks as they once did when they were alive to one another, but to the outside world they look different in appearance so as to not spook the living.

Their boss, the “Head Grim”, is played by Mandy Patinkin (Inigo Montoya from the Princess Bride) and he basically notifies them of whom to reap while passing out post-it’s in their official meeting place, a regular Mom and Pop cafe. However, they do not take the life of their victim, no, that gruesome task is delegated to these creatures — which look like a cross between a Gremlin and a porcupine — called “gravelings”.

While it all sounds a bit off kilter it makes way for brilliant writing and character development, even if the subject matter is a bit on the “grim” side. It’s just unfortunate that Showtime’s executives gave it the boot before it could really flourish as an original series that could have stood on its own.

If you’re interested in checking out something new (or old, depending on how you look at it), I’d recommend watching the pilot, snatching the set from Netflix or Best Buy, or tuning in to the Sci-Fi network to catch the series before it’s 2-season offering wears thin.