Drop Dead Diva (season 1)

Drop Dead Diva (season 1)
DVD box cover art
Country of origin	USA
No. of episodes	13
Release
Original network	Lifetime
Original release	July 12, 2009 – October 11, 2009

Drop Dead Diva season one premiered on July 12, 2009 and concluded October 11, 2009 on Lifetime. Season one aired on Sundays at 9:00 pm ET for the entire season and consisted of 13 episodes.

Storylines

Jane/Deb

After Deb dies in a car accident and Jane dies from being shot, Deb ascends to heaven where she meets Fred and pushes the return button on his desk so she could return to earth but unknowingly she returns in the body of Jane, a brilliant, thoughtful and plus-size attorney. Deb wrestles with this new life. She has Jane's legal smarts but not her memories and brushes off odd behavior as aftereffects of Jane being shot. Her lack of Jane's memories does hurt at times such as when she sues a diet guru unaware until the trial that Jane did a commercial endorsing the product. In addition, Deb learned at Jane's Class of 1994 reunion that Jane was very unnoticed at high school and her prom date was gay. Deb also handles the sudden urge for treats and snacks she denied herself before as well as realizing how self-absorbed she used to be. When her mother comes to the firm to get a divorce, Deb assumes that it's because of her death but soon discovers her parents were unhappy for years and just staying together for Deb's sake. She handles that but is later jarred when her birthday comes along and she discovers Jane is eight years older. At Jane's birthday party, Deb is pleasantly surprised to find that while she had been tone-deaf, Jane has a great singing voice.

Deb wanted to tell Grayson who she actually was, but was devastated when he fell for fellow lawyer Kim Kaswell. Deb would later come to accept what had happen and told Grayson that she saw no problem about the two kissing, although Kim had decided already to tell Grayson that she did not want to start a relationship with him. She also was the one who warned her guardian angel Fred about falling for her best friend Stacy that would lead to memories of his existence being erased. When Jane's mother came to town to visit, Deb did her best to handle it, realizing the distance the mother and daughter had and deciding that if she couldn't be with her own mother again, she could at least have Jane's. Sparks also seem to fly between Jane and another lawyer, Tony as they embark on a relationship.

In the first season finale, Deb/Jane helped a ballplayer win a lawsuit against a doctor who botched an operation on his arm but then discovered that the two had been in cahoots to rip off the insurance company. Warned that telling anyone would put her career in jeopardy, as she later learned that Jane could lose her license and be disbarred, Deb went ahead and filed evidence to the district attorney while also resigning from the firm. She was beginning to believe Grayson was interested in her as Jane but was jarred when a man named Ethan arrived at her home claiming to be Jane's husband.

Kim & Grayson

Grayson is still mourning Deb and when Deb is reborn in Jane, she recognizes how Kim is jealous of Jane's success and smarts. Kim is interested in Grayson, and they eventually kiss, only to have Kim end it there because she believes that Grayson wasn't ready to start a relationship. Grayson later pursues Kim and they date for a while but when Grayson can't seem to let Kim into the house he and Deb shared, Kim realizes Grayson is not yet ready to move on from Deb and breaks the relationship off.

Fred & Stacy

Fred meets Deb when she dies, and when he goes to cross her over she presses the return button on his desk and is sent back but into Jane's body. After Deb returns to earth in Jane's body she goes to Stacy and tells her that she is Deb, at first Stacy is suspicious but then after some convincing she believes that Jane is Deb. Fred is then sent to earth to look after Deb/Jane as her guardian angel and he gets a job as a mail clerk in the firm she works at. When Fred meets Stacy he falls in love with her and he ends up kissing her and they seem to go out together but the next day, but Stacy claims to have no idea who he is. He leaves a note to Deb explaining that he ended up breaking rules with the kiss and was thus reassigned with all memories of him erased, except from Deb's mind. He returns later in season one, revealing he couldn't maintain his job because of his feelings for Stacy and thus gave up being an angel and took human form to return to Earth. However, he realized he was too focused on Stacy and told Deb/Jane he was leaving to learn more about being human. Unfortunately, Fred can still be recalled to Heaven even if he is human because he still has to keep an eye on Deb/Jane. He returned, claiming to have been traveling the world but later admitted he'd never left Los Angeles as he's been assigned back to looking over Deb/Jane.

Cast

Main cast Brooke Elliott as Jane Bingum (13 episodes) Margaret Cho as Teri Lee (13 episodes) April Bowlby as Stacy Barrett (13 episodes) Kate Levering as Kim Kaswell (13 episodes) Jackson Hurst as Grayson Kent (13 episodes) Josh Stamberg as Jay Parker (13 episodes)

Recurring cast Ben Feldman as Fred (9 episodes) Brooke D'Orsay as Deb Dobkins (5 episodes) David Denman as Tony Nicastro (4 episodes) Gregory Alan Williams as Judge Warren Libby (3 episodes) Vickie Eng as Judge Rita Mayson (3 episodes)

Guest cast Paula Abdul as Judge Paula Abdul (2 episodes) Rosie O'Donnell as Judge Madeline Summers (2 episodes) Rhoda Griffis as Paula Dewey (2 episodes) Sharon Lawrence as Bobbi Dobkins (1 episode) Faith Prince as Elaine Bingum (1 episode)

Episodes

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.S. Viewers (millions)
1	1	"Pilot"	James Hayman	Josh Berman	July 12, 2009	2.81[1]
Jane Bingum, a plus-sized lawyer, gets shot by a cuckolded man aiming for her boss at her law firm. Deb Dobkins is a slim model and living the good life when she is killed in a car crash. Deb goes to Heaven but is accidentally sent back to Earth just as Jane dies in the hospital. Deb's soul ends up in Jane's heavyset body and now Deb (with Jane's knowledge of law) must play the role of the lawyer. She finds herself conflicted between her superficial past and her new responsibility-ridden life. To make matters more difficult, Deb's grieving boyfriend, Grayson Kent, is now working at the same law firm. Deb's Guardian Angel, named Fred, watches over her but only he and Deb's friend, Stacy, know who Jane really is on the inside.
2	2	"The F Word"	Ron Underwood	Carla Kettner & Josh Berman	July 19, 2009	2.46[2]
Jane takes on the case of a waitress who was fired from her job after gaining 50 pounds. Jane/Deb is not doing too good withe the case, so her boss suggests that he play the disability card. That infuriates her client and she tells him that she thought Jane/Deb was better than that. Jane then goes to the bar and investigates and finds that other people "altered" their appearances but were not fired. In the end, Deb/Jane wins the case. Grayson and Kim work on the case of a man who's getting divorce from his wife and want his kidney back.
3	3	"Do Over"	Michael Lange	Alex Taub	July 26, 2009	2.80[3]
Jane/Deb learns that Jane's past has caught up with her when a case from the previous year is up for retrial. During the retrial a key surprise witness changes his story. Rosie O'Donnell plays the judge trying the case. She holds Jane/Deb in contempt of court and then goes to talk to her in her cell. That's when she has an idea and sends Stacy to the company they are suing. When they see Stacy at the trial, the company decides to settle. Kim and Grayson sue a psychiatrist who "cured" their client's husband of his multiple personalities, but got rid of the wrong one. At the trial, it is uncovered that the psychiatrist has been sleeping with her client. Then the old personality reappears. Rosie O'Donnell guest stars as a judge.
4	4	"The Chinese Wall"	Lawrence Trilling	Thania St. John	August 2, 2009	2.64[4]
Jane/Deb represents Deb's mother, Bobbi, in divorce proceedings. Bobbi originally asked Grayson to represent her, but he represents Deb's dad. Jane/Deb have a very hard time dealing with the fact that one, her parents' marriage was a sham and two, that Grayson lied to her. Jane/Deb goes to her parents home and she has a moment with her father. She realizes that they should divorce. Meanwhile, Jane and Kim defend a dog-owner who believes a pet cloning company did not give the dog owner a prize-winning dog like the dog from which it was supposedly cloned. Kim and Grayson hit a wall trying to figure out the case. Kim then hires the assistants to find a loop hole, which incidentally Jane/Deb does. Featuring guest stars Sharon Lawrence, Mark Moses and Diedrich Bader.
5	5	"Lost and Found"	David Petrarca	Jeanette Collins & Mimi Friedman	August 9, 2009	2.44[5]
Twenty-four-year-old Deb celebrates Jane's 32nd birthday while defending a client who was wrongfully imprisoned and freed a decade later. Kim and Grayson take on the case of a man who developed a web site that offers married men a way to cheat on their wives.
6	6	"Second Chances"	Michael Schultz	Jeffrey Lippman	August 16, 2009	3.06[6]
Grayson tries to get an obituary removed from the tabloids that prematurely reports the death of his client. But as Grayson hopes that will make his client happy, he discovers that his client may need to be satisfied in some other way. Meanwhile, Jane/Deb represents a mother who goes to court for a crime committed twenty years earlier. Also, Fred reads an article about playing hard-to-get. Stacy realizes that she likes Fred and at the end of the episode, Fred shows up at Stacy and Jane's doorstep. Stacy kisses him and they go off on a date.[7]
7	7	"The Magic Bullet"	Jamie Babbit	Shawn Schepps	August 23, 2009	2.90[8]
Fred is sent back to Heaven after kissing Stacy. That makes Jane/Deb really miss him. Since, Fred broke a bunch of rules, Stacy's memory is completely erased and she can't remember him. In cases, Jane/Deb represents a mother who believes her daughter became ill while following a diet, and is suing diet guru Jillian Ford. Jane/Deb find out that Jane actually did a commercial for the product. Jane/Deb go to see Jane's doctor and find that she stopped the diet after three weeks because that's how long her body could take being starved. Also, one of the meal supplements contains something that the guru can't eat herself because she had a gastric bypass. That means she's a fraud and Jane/Deb win the case. Kim is hit with a sexual harassment suit by her former assistant; Grayson and Terri come to her assistance in disposing of the case.Terri does some digging around and they find that the guy suing Kim, worked as an assistant on a case with the similar details. Grayson uses that info to win the case. Terri tells Jane/Deb that her doctor called and wants to know if she was able to confess the secret that had been making her anxious. As she goes in to see Grayson, she sees Kim and Grayson kiss. .[9]
8	8	"Crazy"	Melanie Mayron	Maurissa Tancharoen	August 30, 2009	3.41[10]
Jane/Deb must attend Jane’s high school reunion. Also, she (as Jane) has to prove that her client is competent enough to go to trial. During the trial, Jane/Deb's client wears bunny ears, takes off all his clothes, and asks a witness to marry him. Stacy helps Jane/Deb get ready for the reunion. No one seems to recognize Jane/Deb at all. Jane/Deb's date shows up and she learns that he is gay. When they talk, he gives her an idea on how to save the case. During Deb/Jane's closing her client collapses on the floor. At the hospital,Jane/Deb helps her client reconcile with her son. Grayson and Kim represent a client that caught her fiance in bed with her maid of honor. Ultimately, the bride forgives her fiancé and takes him back. Kim, hurt by Grayson's rejection rejects him when he asks her for dinner.[11]
9	9	"The Dress"	David Petrarca	Josh Berman	September 13, 2009	3.08[12]
Kim represents Jane on the case of a boutique store that doesn't sell plus sized clothing. Grayson represents the daughter of Parker's friend who agreed to appear in a porn video.
10	10	"Make Me a Match"	Matt Hastings	Thania St. John	September 20, 2009	3.06[13]
Judge Madeline Stone has been looking for some romance with the help of a match-making service, but Jane/Deb soon discovers that they are also committing fraud. Meanwhile, Kim and Grayson must see if they can figure out why two sisters who are both psychics wouldn't want to share in the family business. Fred returns from heaven and becomes human so that he could still see Stacey.
11	11	"What If"	Bethany Rooney	Jeanette Collins & Mimi Friedman	September 27, 2009	2.52[14]
Jane/Deb takes on an interesting case of a woman who feels she was switched at birth as her mom hopes to straighten out some of these issues and figure out why the client was led to believe she was switched at birth. Parker is about to go back in the court room again for the first as a lawyer for one of his oldest friends but before doing so he will need help in not being so nervous.
12	12	"Dead Model Walking"	Ron Underwood	Amy Engelberg & Wendy Engelberg	October 4, 2009	2.79[15]
Jane represent Deb's favorite model, Christy Talbot, when she's held at a department store for assaulting a salesclerk. But the case gets more complicated after Christy is accused of murdering her husband. Grayson and Kim take a pro bono case for a widow who won't sell her house because there are too many memories of her late husband. However, the women may have something to hide.
13	13	"Grayson's Anatomy"	David Petrarca	Alex Taub & Jeffrey Lippman	October 11, 2009	2.79[16]
Jane risks her place at the firm after she learns that her new case, about an athlete who was injured in his surgery, is actually a fraud. Lastly, Jane finds a surprising visitor in her doorstep.

DVD release

Drop Dead Diva: Season One
Set details: 13 episodes Region 1, 2 & 4 – 3-disc DVD set Features Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) Dolby Digital 5.1 English audio Subtitles English and French		Bonus features: Featurettes "Rosie's Rap" "Dropping in with Drop Dead Diva" "Cho and Tell" Dreamisodes Deleted Scenes
Release dates	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
	June 1, 2010	June 28, 2010	June 2, 2010

References

1. Crupi, Anthony (July 13, 2009). "Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva Draws Decently for Debut". AdWeek. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
2. Kissell, Rick (July 21, 2009). "FOX in TV ratings double play". Variety. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
3. Gorman, Bill (July 28, 2009). "Burn Notice, The Closer, NASCAR Top Week’s Cable Shows". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on July 31, 2009. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
4. Seidman, Robert (August 4, 2009). "Updated:The Closer, Burn Notice, Royal Pains Top Week's Cable Shows". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on June 27, 2011. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
5. Seidman, Robert (August 11, 2009). "iCarly, Burn Notice, The Closer, Royal Pains, WWE RAW and Monk top week's cable shows". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved July 28, 2011.
6. Weisman, Jon (August 17, 2009). "'Kourtney and Khloe' brings auds to E!". Variety. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
7. Full Video of Episode 6
8. Kissell, Rick (August 25, 2009). "'True Blood' has best-ever ratings". Variety. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
9. Full Video of Episode 7
10. Kissell, Rick (September 1, 2009). "Pigskin's kicking in". Variety. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
11. Full Video of Episode 8
12. Seidman, Robert (September 15, 2009). "Cable ratings: USC, VMAs, iCarly and True Blood finale...". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
13. Seidman, Robert (September 22, 2009). "Cable ratings: Monday Night Football, WWE RAW, Hannah Montana and Monk...". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
14. "Cable Ratings for Wee Ending Sept. 28, 2009". TV Aholics. October 8, 2009. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
15. "Cable Ratings for Week Ending October 4, 2009". TV Aholics. October 8, 2009. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
16. "Cable Ratings for Week Ending Oct. 11, 2009". Tv-aholic's. October 14, 2009. Retrieved July 8, 2013.

External links

• Drop Dead Diva on Lifetime
• Drop Dead Diva at the Internet Movie Database
• Drop Dead Diva at TV.com