Dead Like Me

Series overview

Introduction

Main plot

Bryan Fuller's departure

Characters

Reapers

• Georgia "George" Lass : The show's protagonist, an 18-year-old college dropout. In addition to being a grim reaper she has a day job at Happy Time Temporary Services, under the assumed name "Millie Hagen". She was killed on June 27, 2003, when a toilet seat from the de-orbiting Mir space station fell on her. Because of this, she is known among the reapers as "Toilet Seat Girl", a fact which earns her instant recognition/respect for dying in such a bizarre way.
• Rube John Sofer : The head of the group of reapers. He is responsible for passing out reaping assignments, nearly always on yellow post-it notes. He becomes a father figure for George in her grim-reaping afterlife, and had a daughter named Rose, whom he had also called "Peanut". The manner of his death was not revealed, but in one episode his name and picture are seen on an old "Wanted" poster alleging that he was a bank robber. Because of this, it is believed that he died at the hands of the police.
• Mason : A British drug addict, alcoholic and thief, but a likable person. He acts as an "older brother" figure to George, and is attracted to Daisy, which Daisy begins to reciprocate later in the series. He is originally from London, and died in 1966 by drilling a hole in his head to achieve a "permanent high". He's considered the least responsible of "Rube's Post-it Crew" and often makes gaffes, cuts his reaps close, or is drunk or high much of the time.
• Roxy Harvey : A strong-willed, independent woman. Her day job is initially as a meter maid, but she later becomes a police officer. She was strangled to death by a jealous roommate in 1982 with leg warmers, which Roxy had invented. Although she is generally seen as tough and no-nonsense, she has a softer side, shown in "Reapercussions" after saving the life of J. H. Arnold.
• Betty Rhomer : A confident, well-adjusted reaper in the first five episodes. She keeps Polaroids of each of the souls she reaps, in department store shopping bags organized by personality type. She refers to this as her signature, as a way to separate herself from "the whole cloak and sickle thing." George begins to bond with her early in the first season, but she "hitches a ride" into the afterlife with one of the souls George had reaped and is never seen again. She died in 1926 while cliff-diving with her fiancé. In a similar fashion to the reaping of George, though Rube did not personally reap Betty, he did collect her soul, as shown in the season 1 episode "Reaping Havoc".
• Daisy Adair : A spoiled actress who often tells stories about her sexual escapades with classic film stars. She died on December 13, 1938, of asphyxiation/smoke inhalation in Marietta, Georgia, though she originally claimed this occurred on the set of Gone with the Wind. Her last thought before she died was, "Why has no one ever loved me?" Daisy is sent from New York City to Seattle in episode six as a replacement for Betty. She is traumatically affected by the violent deaths of defenseless women by abusive men, and although Roxy yelled at her for tampering with a crime scene after such a reap, Daisy explained to Mason that she had a sister who died that way. At the end of the second season, Ray - a criminal mortal Daisy begins a relationship with - believes her to be "bad luck charm" after witnessing several people die around her. Ray himself is later killed in self defense by Mason and his soul is transformed into a graveling as he was not a planned reap. Daisy states that she has "seen it before" and that it's "happening again." Daisy is recognized in the last episode by an elderly man in Der Waffle Haus while she is dressed as a police officer for Halloween; as stated in that episode, on Halloween, all reapers look as they did when alive.

  George's family

• Reggie Lass : George's younger sister. Though George ignored her while she was alive, Reggie is very much affected by the death of her sister. She believes that George's ghost still roams about the city and visits their home from time to time – technically, she is right. Due to her eccentric, seemingly pathological way of grieving her sister's death, Reggie is placed in psychiatric therapy.
• Joy Lass : George's mother has a pathological fear of balloons and who hates the word 'moist' because she thinks "it sounds pornographic". She likes to have order, rules, and control in her life. Other characters in the show, such as Joy's own mother, believe that her obsession with control is how she copes with denial of her own out-of-control life, her daughter George's death, her younger daughter's rather unconventional style of grieving over George's death, and her divorce from her husband. In the episode where her mother comes to visit, however, it becomes clear Joy's problems stem more from the chaotic lifestyle and abandonment issues of her own childhood.
• Clancy Lass : George's father. He is an English professor at the University of Washington. His relationship with Joy begins to deteriorate seriously after George's death. He has an affair with one of his Shakespeare-class students, which becomes the final death knell to the marriage. In the pilot it was suggested, by an overly-long hug, that his affair was with a young man but this homosexual thread was dropped and the student confirmed to be female in later episodes.

  Happy Time Temporary Services

• Delores Herbig, as in, as she says, "her big brown eyes" : George's boss. Delores disliked George, but becomes friends with "Millie", for whom she becomes something of a maternal figure, offering advice and support, and on one occasion bailing "Millie" out of jail. Delores is optimistic, dynamic, and motivated; she has an active Internet presence through various social and dating sites, and runs a website called 'Getting Things Done With Delores'. Occasionally, Delores will try to empathize with George by revealing startling facts about her past – including a cocaine habit, tattoos, and "all those restraining orders". She has a very elderly cat named Murray.
• Crystal Smith : Happy Time's mysterious receptionist whose Happy Time record indicates that she speaks several languages and previously served as a special forces operative in Southeast Asia. Crystal once helped the reapers organize into computer files a collection of souls' last thoughts. She also dressed as a grim reaper for Halloween. She is also seen to steal great amounts of Post-it notes from Happy Time.