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Dead' still lives on Showtime sked
Pay cabler orders 15 segs for second season
By DENISE MARTIN

Showtime will breathe new life into "Dead Like Me."
Pay cabler has ordered 15 episodes of the offbeat drama for a second season.
No premiere date has been set for the new segs but production on season
two will begin in early 2004.
MGM TV Entertainment-produced "Dead" bowed to mostly strong reviews in
June, and has fared modestly in the Nielsens. Show debut netted 1.1
total million viewers and ratings remain 45% higher than the network's
primetime average.
Mandy Patinkin, Ellen Muth, Rebecca Gayheart and Jasmine Guy star.
John Masius execs produces the skein created by Bryan Fuller.

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Showtime has renewed "Dead Like Me," a primetime series set in the afterlife, for a second season.

"Dead," which premiered in June, stars Mandy Patinkin (news) and Ellen
Muth as deceased humans-turned-angels who serve as "reapers" escorting the newly dead to the afterlife.
Although Showtime would not divulge specific numbers, "Dead" has
improved over previous inhabitants of its Friday night time slot to date
by 60% and performs 45% better than Showtime's primetime average.
"I think it's really struck a chord," said Robert Greenblatt, who the
premium cable channel's president of entertainment. "It's an interesting
mix of humor and pathos."
The order of 15 more episodes of "Dead" represents the first major
programing decision made by Greenblatt, who joined Showtime in June.
Producer MGM will return "Dead" to production with its original cast and
crew in February or March with an eye toward putting it back on air
sometime in the summer.
With "Dead" joining other Showtime series ranging from "Queer as Folk"
to "Street Time" worthy of earning a second season, Greenblatt's next
major programing decision will likely come in figuring which of several
pilots being shot will get episode orders. Among the series
considerations are Spike Lee (news)'s two-hour pilot "SFC," the
televangelist drama "Paradise" and the comedy "Huff," starring Hank
Azaria (news).
Another item high on Greenblatt's agenda is a second-season renewal
decision on "Freshman Diaries," the R.J. Cutler-produced reality series
about dormitory life that has been a solid addition to the Showtime
schedule.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

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