10 Reasons to Watch "Deadbeat"

- by Kazekun, 22 May 2014

TV is changing guys, what were once simple online streaming websites for your favorite shows are now using their own hard earned billions to make original shows for your consumption. Adding to that, these same sites are dropping their entire seasons online all at once for the new “binge-friendly” approach: which is to watch the entire series in one great chunk. The two most prominent offenders being Netflix and Hulu.

Deadbeat is the latest in Hulu’s Originals line of shows; much like Netflix’s own House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. It’s a supernatural comedy about a guy who can see ghosts and decides to help them finish their unfinished business so that they may move on to their afterlife, but the name Deadbeat is also a double-entendre. The main character, Kevin Pacalioglu (Tyler Labine) is an adult male who doesn’t have a stable job and is barely making ends meat to pay his bills. He is, in other words, a deadbeat. Here are 10 reasons, besides what the show is about, why you should be watching it.

1. THE BOLD HUMOR

This may be a strange starting point, but from the get-go in episode 1, The Sexorcism, this show wastes no time in establishing the type of humor we’ll be dealing with. Racial, sexual, and stoner humor fly all through the house as Kevin fails to grasp to basic construct of the human language. He switches his L’s and R’s when talking to Asians, he discusses his semi-sexual experience with an Angus burger and his best friend just also happens to be his drug dealer.

Kevin Pacalioglu is a deadbeat.

2. THE GHOSTS, IN ALL THEIR SELFISH GLORY

The ghosts are just as much a-holes as human beings. This is a fact, because all these ghosts were once humans and as humans they were all a-holes. But Kevin needs work to get paid to keep his somewhat resemblance of a life together, so this usually puts him at the whims of the ghosts and their unfinished business; even if it means attempting the impossible. In episode 2, The Hot God Contest, Kevin must convince a Hasidic Jew, who’s inherited a dead hot dog contest winner’s iron stomach, to enter a hot dog eating contest and beat the ghost’s arch-rival. Clearly, you can see where this would be a problem but the ghost doesn’t care.

Trying to get a Hasidic Jew to eat pork is hard work.

3. TURNING CLICHES ON THEIR EARS

In episode 3, The Knockoff, Kevin unwittingly comes up against the new Swedish Mafia after a ghost he is helping witnesses a murder. We go through all the clichés of mobster movies, from Kevin bartering for his life, to digging his own grave, to reveals galore when we find out at least 1 person is undercover and you’ll never guess what happens next. It’s just silly, fun, and a great spoof on the general clichés of modern mobster story telling.

4. KEVIN'S UNUSUAL WAYS OF HELPING GHOSTS FIND THEIR WAY

Sometimes ghosts, just like people, tend to not want your help even when you wish to. Kevin hasn’t met too many ghosts who haven’t wanted his help; much like his lack of people skills he can have a tendency to lack ghost skills as well. When the stand-up comedian ghost from episode 4, The Comedium, tells Kevin over and over that he doesn’t want his help moving on, Kevin must come up with a very unorthodox way of getting him off the stage. Even if it includes a male stripper, a few bachelorettes, and a tender moment about one’s long lost love.

5. THE RIDICULOUSNESS OF IT ALL

Imagine having to carry a lifeless body around town, get the spa treatment with it, model it, and have some of those images you took of it plastered all over a clothing store JUST so the ghost of that body can move on and you too can move on with your life without even getting paid. It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Even when you stop to think that at some point someone has to ask “is that a dead body?” Add to it a man who gets physically sick at the sight and sound of anyone overweight and you get episode 5, Out of Body Issues. And a damn fun romp of an episode.

6. PLENTY OF TENDER MOMENTS

Kevin may not be able to get his life together, and even his love life has gone south in the most pathetic of ways, but that doesn’t mean he can’t try something new or even leave his tender-hearted self behind. Kevin is just a big, loveable softy, he may get so many things wrong but they’re usually done in the pursuit of doing something oh, so right. When episode 6, Raising the Dead, rolls around Kevin finds himself with the hots for the famous Bloody Mary. He also has to keep a little girl from killing his arch-nemesis, another medium Camomile White (we’ll get to her). His life at odds is on full display here and culminates in an incredibly selfless, tender moment that I feel is a highlight of the entire series.

Bloody Mary is bloody hot.

7. ROOFIE

Oh Roofie (Brandon T. Jackson), you loveable sidekick. One could easily forgive you for trying desperately not to be the stereotypical black man afraid in a haunted house after you find yourself chased around by a slew of possessed, and creepy, dolls. Episode 7, The Calamityville Horror, Roofie (the best friend drug dealer) and Kevin find themselves in such luck after Roofie purchases a haunted house that is home to a dysfunctional family of ghosts. While Kevin has to deal with the unfinished business of the ghosts, it’s Roofie who comes out of this the most violated, and yet, most experienced of the two. I just love seeing Roofie and Kevin’s relationship evolve.

8. SOME FAMOUS FACES

Ever heard of Rube Goldberg? Of course you haven’t, you’re on the internet. Go read a book, or better yet, go watch episode episode 8, The Ghost in the Machine. Where you’ll get to see the man, as Kevin must face the mechanical complexes of life in order to perform the simple task of bringing Goldberg’s family together. He must engineer life to work in exactly the way he needs, even if it means coincidences must fly in the face of logic. It’s a pretty astounding piece of work, I must say. 

9. CAMOMILE WHITE

Camomile White (Cat Deeley) is a grade A selfish, pompous, dastardly, and downright bile human being. And that’s only a step in the right direction as to why she’s so gosh-darned fascinating to watch. A professional medium and the villain of our story, she assembles a hatred for Kevin that comes to its absolute peak in the penultimate episode 9, Sixty Feet Under. This woman goes to great lengths to keep this nobody medium out of a job and ruin his start-up career, to the point where it is more of an unhealthy obsession than an actual bomb diffusion.

The despicable Camomile White.

10. THERE'S STILL MORE TO COME

If you’re anything like me and was sad to see the show end with episode 10, Pieces of Sue, then you’ll be happy to know that a season 2 has been green lit by Hulu. There’s a lot of, heh, unfinished business with show and I’d hate to see it become a ghost that can never entirely move on into the afterlife without its mission complete. And to know there’s more on the way already fills my heart with joy and excitement.

HONORABLE MENTION: THE LOW-BUDGET EFFECTS

Because I wanted to highlight something from each of the episodes, this is something that encompasses the wholes series that also I wanted to touch on. The effects are very low-quality, almost laughably so, but I feel adds a genuine charm to the series. Kevin is a deadbeat, he’s living a low-quality world so it only makes sense that not everything would be a CGI masterpiece. Also the ghosts are ghosts, it’s not like they can solidly connect to the world in the exact same way a human can.  If you can get past the special effects, you’re in for a real treat.

The Comedium is a perfect example of low-budget effects.

And that’s 10 reasons why you should watch Deadbeat, it’s still new out so you don’t have to feel like you’re behind on the curb. It’s fun, raunchy, full of heart and just a blast when it comes to the comedy. You can binge-watch it easy and fast, with every episode being only 30 minutes long. It’s become one of my personal favorite new shows, and I’d love to hear what any of you who’ve seen it think. Or if you haven’t, I hope this list has compelled you to seek it out. It’s all on Hulu Plus now, happy haunting!


Convinced? Already watching the show? Let us know in the comments!

Tagged: movies & TV.

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