In Drop Dead Diva, a Lifetime series that airs on Sundays, a ditzy, self-centered, aspiring model named Deb (Brooke D’Orsay) dies in a car crash. Through some mangled divine intervention, Deb’s soul ends up transported into the body of Jane, (Brooke Elliott) a recently deceased lawyer who is intelligent, sweet, and most important to the story: FAT.
Along with the fuller body, Deb also adopts Jane’s quick mind and legal expertise. Deb finds she now loves a good, controversial legal case and lending her own sassy spin to the mix. If it sounds a little like Legally Blonde, you’re right, except Jane doesn’t match her legal pads to her shoes.
We all know its hard for a overweight woman to be the main character of a show and still pull in an audience, but Elliott’s character is hard not to love. She’s quirky, funny, a little spacey at times, and brilliant. And while weight is definitely the underlying theme of the show, its got the courtroom drama just like any other lawyer show: interesting cases, ethical dilemmas and office politics. The buzz around the show and its rating so far show that maybe we are ready to welcome a plus sized character into our DVRs, without the reality TV premise we are used to surrounding it.
This show is the typical brains vs. beauty debate (why can’t it ever be both?) but its done in such a charming and amusing way that it feels new. There’s no transformation moment where once the true beauty is found on the inside, magically that person becomes beautiful on the outside because that’s the only way we as viewers can recognize it. Not that Elliott isn’t beautiful, just not by the soul-inhabiting-her-body’s definition. Yeah, that part takes a while to get used to.
I think that’s perhaps the most refreshing part of this show- that there is no slimming in sight. Jane (hopefully) will never lose weight and finally merge body and soul. On the contrary; there is more hope for Deb’s personality to continue to learn and grow and accept her new body for what it is: a shell. A soft shell, with legal smarts, that makes her crave cheese dip, but just a shell all the same. Everyone, thick and thin, take note.
If the charecter “Jane” is not going to slim down then I don’t want to watch the show anymore after this weekend. I love her personality but she has no real will power for her self, no disclipline,she eats doughnuts?! She’ll have a heart attack before she wins anyone’s heart in real life…I’m not sure you are sending the right message with this show to women…but its your show! Wish you guys the best!
Hi “Jane”, real people eat doughnuts sometimes. I’m sure the show will do fine without a “perfect” person like you (with so much discipline and will power you never have a doughnut??) watching. Buh bye!
“Jane”… what is your problem? are you just upset that you can’t eat doughnuts because you are afraid of getting “fat”, oops! excuse me, I meant to say “dying” people like you who says fat people have no dicipline makes me so sad, because it shows that some just have time for a gym but nothing else. it doesn’t matter if you have MA or DR degree as long as you are fat you have no will power. right, jane?
slimming in “sight” not “site”…..
Abviously you guys don’t watch the show. She has had doughnuts, and she doesn’t need to lose weight. She’s beautiful the way she is. This show was not created to motivate us fat lazy people looking for a motivator. It’s a show, if you want to lose weight stop blaming Jane and call Jenny Craig or something!!!