[[quoteright:372:http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reaper_promob.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:372:Meet Satan's favorite tools.]]
Meet Sam Oliver. He's a college drop-out working at the [[strike:Home Depot]] Work Bench with his two best friends, Ben and Sock, and the woman who he's had a crush on since high school, Andi. Then he turns [[DangerousSixteenthBirthday twenty-one]] and learns that his parents [[DealWiththeDevil sold his soul to the Devil]] before he was born. Now he has to work for the Devil as a [[BountyHunter bounty hunter]] for [[GottaCatchEmAll escaped souls]].

Noted for [[TwinPeaks Ray Wise's]] sarcastic and sardonic portrayal of {{Satan}}.

One could call it a comedic spiritual successor to ''{{Brimstone}}''.

The show has now been renewed for a second season. [[CaveStory Huzzah!]] ...But [[TooGoodToLast not for a third]]. Un-Huzzah.

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!!This series provides examples of:

* AcceptableTargets - There's a portal to Hell in the DMV. What do you mean that's not normal?
* ActionSurvivor - Pretty much every mortal in the cast.
* AffablyEvil - TheDevil seems to treat Sam like a son, giving him advice on dating, although he can be mean, too.
* BlandNameProduct - Work Bench, the Home Depot FictionalCounterpart.
* BrotherChuck - Sam's little brother, whatshisname. Seen in the first two episodes, never mentioned again. Thank God.
* BrotherSisterIncest - Sock and his ''step''sister.
* BuryYourGays - Steve
** But [[IGotBetter he gets better]]
* CassandraTruth - Sprong. Though he [[{{jerkass}} deserves it]].
* ChekhovsGun - the "[[GetOutOfJailFreeCard Get Out of Hell Free]]" card [[spoiler:used in "Greg, Schmeg" to null and void Greg's deal with the Devil]].
* TheChosenOne - Sam is special even for a Reaper - Satan regularly talks to him. [[spoiler:He might even be the Devil's son.]]
* ClingyMacGuffin - The vessels.
* ComedicSociopathy - Sock!
* CrazyAwesome - Sock
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming - "You make me want to be a better demon."
** "Heaven is better than Cancun."
* DeadpanSnarker - sometimes Sock and Ben, always the Devil. Occasionally Gladys and Andi.
* DepravedBisexual - The Devil admits to "swinging both ways".
* DevilInPlainSight - The Devil, appropriately (or strangely) enough, who apparently sets off no alarm bells when he's interacting with humans other than Sam.
* DiabolusExMachina - [[spoiler:In the season 2 finale, there is a perfectly logical opportunity to end the series -- Sam will win the contest, he and Andi go free, and the devil is sad. Presumably in order to make way for Season 3, the Diabolus is employed: picking up on some rather vague hanging plot threads, ''an angel'' comes out of nowhere and ''ruins everything'' by breaking Sam's hand. And then the show got canceled.]]
* DiscriminateAndSwitch
* DoorstopBaby - sorta, a baby was left over after Sam reaped a soul. BabyCarriage also comes into play.
* DownerEnding - [[spoiler: The Devil owns Sam's soul, as well as Andi's.]]
** ...[[GainaxEnding May]][[WMG/{{Reaper}} be]].
* EstablishingShot - [[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: epartment of Motor Vehicles ]]

* EvilIsCool - Dude, Ray Wise as TheDevil is the epitome of cool.
* EvilIsSexy - [[spoiler: In the second season, Ben starts dating Nina, a demon. When she's in human form, you have this. When she's not, you have FanDisservice.]]
** Ray Wise is very attractive.
* EvilMentor - The Devil wants to take Sam under his wing
* ExecutiveMeddling: The hyper-formulaic episodes that took up the first half of the first season were all mandated by higher ups, who were apparently worried that [[ViewersAreMorons audiences wouldn't get the point]].
* FiveManBand - Sam and his friends ''almost'' fit into this:
---> TheHero (Sam)
---> TheLancer / TheBigGuy (Sock)
---> TheSmartGuy (Ben)
---> TheChick (Andi [[spoiler:as of "Coming to Grips," since she learns Sam's secret]].)
* FlamboyantGay - Steve, though not as bad as some.
* {{Foreshadowing}} - the Devil's final scene in "My Brother's Reaper," delivered with all the grace, subtlety, and gentleness of a brick to the head.
** Or, since the show is canceled, not.
* FreakyIsCool - Sock tells Sam this about having Devil powers - Sam [[{{Wangst}} disagrees]]
* GainaxEnding - [[spoiler:Are Sam and Andi damned or not? Why on Earth would ''[[MoralDissonance Steve breaking Sam's hand]]'' be for the ''best''?]]
** This troper assumed that the point was [[spoiler:to send Sam to hell so he could overthrow the Devil.]]
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Combined with an IncrediblyLamePun: two of the escaped souls are bank robbers with [[MeaningfulName meaningful names]]: Johnson and Wang.
** Lets not forget the soul who was running a sperm bank. His name? Jack. Sock also appears to be wearing a shirt that, if it weren't obscured by his over shirt, would read "Stop the bus and let my brother Jack off.".
* GuiltTrip - Not so much an advertising thing here, but how the Devil keeps Sam at his job.
-->'''The Devil:''' You don't do your job, nice people die.
* HardGay - Tony in his deamon form. Seriously, he is super badass.
* HeroicSacrifice - Andi in the finale. [[spoiler: It doesn't go well.]]
* HoYay - Pick any two guys. Sam and the Devil? Sam and Sock? Sock and Ben? I don't think [[{{Aeiouna}} this troper]] needs to say more.
** Sock/Morgan.
** Also Ben/Morgan. Ben actually makes reference to "his (Morgan's) glorious pecs and glistening abs."
* HeterosexualLifePartners - Again, Sam/Sock/Ben anyone?
* IJustWantToBeNormal - Sam
* {{Kavorka Man}} - Sock verges on this from time to time.
* JustFriends - Andi wants to remain just friends with Sam, even when he wants more [[spoiler:until she decides to be his girlfriend]].
* {{Large Ham}} - Sock
* LikeABadAssOutOfHell: Played straight and subverted. Although all the souls are escapees from Hell, implying a certain amount of badass-ness, the fact that Hell is apparently extremely overcrowded means that pretty much anyone can get out if they set their mind to it.
* LockAndLoadMontage: Starting with the first episode when Sam and Sock suit up to face off against Schmecker, and to varying degrees afterward...''always'' using stuff that happens to be on sale in their place of work.
* MagicalQueer - Tony and Steve. Sam and his friends often goes to them for help, and sometimes Tony and Steve just help them because they feel like it.
* MagnificentBastard - The Devil, of course, often mingling with CrowningMomentOfAwesome. Consider, for instance, ''The Cop'': [[spoiler:he teleports Sam into a high-class restaurant and presents him with an expensive watch and a dinner of fresh lobster, supposedly as a reward for a job well done. Then vanishes a split-second before the check arrives, leaving Sam to pay for both meals. Oh, and the watch was taken from the corpse of a recent murder victim, which makes Sam the top suspect as soon as a cop notices it.]]
* MonsterOfTheWeek - practically all the escaped souls Sam catches are these.
* MoralEventHorizon - Steve. Overlaps with [[spoiler: [[MoralDissonance Dick Move God]]]]
* MushroomSamba - Sock gets one in the final. [[LemonWackyHello On accident.]]
* OhCrap - A Particularly well done moment when [[spoiler: The Devil confronts [[NobleDemon Gladys the DMV Demon]] about allowing souls to escape from hell, her face says it all]].
** Another one was done by Alan, when he realizes that, the plane he's in is landing in Las Vegas instead of the Vatican, and he's been given $100 in poker chips. And the Devil is right behind him.
* OmniscientMoralityLicense - Steve breaks Sam's hand to prevent him from winning his rematch with the Devil, citing an undefined greater good and orders from "upstairs".
* OurZombiesAreDifferent.
* PluckyComicRelief - Ben and Sock are often relegated to this role
* PointyHairedBoss - Ted, mild overlap with BunnyEarsLawyer. While Ted is a jerk that almost no one likes, he seems fairly good at his actual job.
* PutOnABus - Sam's Dad. Overlaps [[YourMilageMayVary (maybe)]] with HeroicSacrifice.
* RefusalOfTheCall - Sam, in the second episode, tries to leave the vessel behind. It follows him
* RelationshipUpgrade - [[spoiler:Sam and Andi]] and [[spoiler:Sock and Josie]] in the episode "Rebellion."
* {{Satan}} - self explanatory
* ScreamDiscretionShot - Subverted. The shot pulls back and you hear a scream, but the person doing the screaming is ''extremely happy.''
* ShirtlessScene - several. The most gratuitous was Ben in the second-to-last episode. Absolutely necessary for the plot.
* ShoutOut - The premise owes more than a bit to ''Ghost Rider'', but there's a lot of smaller nods as well, most blatantly to ''{{Ghostbusters}}'' in the first and third episodes.
** TheYearWithoutASantaClaus
--->'''Sock:''' ''Eat it,'' Heat miser!
*StealthPun - Episode 4: [[MonsterOfTheWeek The Monster Of The Work]] is a woman scorned, and controls a swarm of bees.
* StraightGay - Tony, sort of. He acts straight most of the time anyway.
* TedBaxter - Funnily enough, Ted, the former manager of the Work Bench.
* TooDumbToLive - Especially in the early episodes, Sam frequently decides it's a good idea to tell the Prince of Darkness off to his face. Then again, if you could do this and get away with it (as Sam obviously can), wouldn't you?
** He is also frequently shocked and offended that Satan, known as the Father of Lies, would ''lie'' to him.
** Not to mention how frequently Sam trusts Sock, of all people, with aspects of his job.
* TropaholicsAnonymous: the Devil runs an AA meeting to promote relapse.
* WeaponsThatSuck: the demonic Dirt Devil.
* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway - sometimes with a new escaped soul, the Devil gives Sam a power. Sometimes these powers are really, really lame, like to be magnetic or really slippery.
** Seems to have been forgotten in later episodes.
*** They've mentioned it a few times since then, and the telekinesis pops up here and there, so it's more like it's been phased out than forgotten.
* WhereEverybodyKnowsYourFlame - Sam meets the Devil here.
* WillTheyOrWontThey - Sam and Andi [[spoiler:until "Coming to Grips"]]
* XanatosGambit - The Devil, in "Rebellion," is revealed to have [[spoiler:set Sam, Sock, and Ben in their new apartment next door to two demons who happen to be members of a demonic underground dedicated to fighting the Devil with goodness. Because of Sam's special relationship with the Devil, the demons devise a plan to trap the Devil and kill him - which is just what the Devil wants. He kills all the demons in the rebellion (except for one), because the goodness plan would have eventually worked in about 400 years]].
** What's more - [[spoiler: The Devil left a series of clues that he easily could have avoided. Giving them gifts meant for the escaped soul that Sam is chasing, and putting his own name on the lease are the big ones. This allows Ben to figure out what's going on exactly one moment too late to stop it.]]
* ViewerStockPhrases: If you watch ''{{Reaper}}'', you might've said some of the following things once or twice....
**"Damn it, Sock!"
**"Yep, they're gonna die."
**"Why do they keep falling for that trick?"

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