Tonight Lifetime will premiere its latest series “Drop Dead Diva”, which follows the life of an aspiring game show model whose untimely death forces her to live a new life within the body of a plus-size lawyer. The show is an estrogen-laced hybrid of “Legally Blonde” and “Vice Versa”, a fish out of water in search of meaning tale.

Deb Dobson (Brooke D’Orsay) your typical “charmed life” blonde living in LA crashes her car into a truck of grapefruits and finds that her shallow, yet non-negative life, has left with her a zero zero good/bad deed ratio, making it impossible to pinpoint her next move in the after life. Deb grows impatient with the gate keeping process and throws herself back to earth with the assistance of the Mac’s return button. Unfortunately, her soul is redirected to the most recently vacated body, which happens to belong to Jane Bingham (Brooke D’Orsay), a plus-sized lawyer in search of self-esteem. Jane, who was shot at work after accidentally stepping in front of a bullet meant for her scummy boss, is the type of woman who has been looking for Deb’s type of confidence her entire life. “Drop Dead Diva” is not necessarily breaking new ground, but it is addressing a slew of issues that the modern woman, skinny or plus-sized, deals with on a daily basis.

While there was a ton of sub-plots throughout the series premiere, I find the most interesting story line Deb finding her voice and mourning the loss of her former self. And with help from the likes of Margaret Cho, as Jane’s assistant, April Bowlby, Deb’s bestie and a handful of side stories that go along with a legal practice based program, this program can evolve past the obvious fat and ditzy jokes. The TV show feels like a beach read come to the small screen and I will definitely be tuning in to see where Deb will be leading Jane in their next journey. Here’s the trailer….