When I heard the TV show Drop Dead Diva had been picked up by Lifetime Television, I was uber excited to hear that someone, anyone, was planning to air it, because the always fabulous Margaret Cho co-stars in it. Creator Josh Berman originally sold it to FOX, but it fell by the wayside during the WGA strike. It’s now set to hit Lifetime this summer.
I say that I was excited because now that have read a little bit more about the premise, I’m skeptical: When ‘beautiful-but-vapid model wannabe Deb’ dies in a car wreck, her soul somehow ends up inside Jane, ‘a brilliant, thoughtful and plus-size attorney’ (Brooke Elliott) with a loyal assistant (Cho). According to Lifetime, ‘Jane has always lived in the shadow of her more comely colleagues whereas Deb has always relied on her external beauty. Now, by a twist of fate and a bolt of divine intervention, both personalities must learn to coexist in Jane’s plus-size frame in the ultimate showdown between brains and beauty.’
Oh, no you didn’t Josh Berman. The ultimate showdown between brains and beauty???!!! Can’t ya have both? Do all models have to be vapid? Do all smart girls have to lack ‘external beauty?’ And aren’t plus-size women beautiful, too?
But I still have faith that if Margaret Cho is involved, Drop Dead Diva has to somehow redeem itself in the end… maybe we learn a lesson about real beauty..? Please, Margaret, tell me it’s so. –Jax
Photo: Ron Jaffe for VH1
