Featured TV on DVD Review: Deadbeat: Season One

August 25, 2014

Deadbeat: Season One - Buy from Amazon

Deadbeat is an original show made for Hulu. This week it is coming out on DVD as a Target exclusive. (Although I couldn't find the link to buy it online.) So what is the show about? And is the DVD worth picking up, when you can watch it online?

The Show

Tyler Labine stars as Kevin Pacalioglu, the titular deadbeat. He is a medium and can talk to ghosts; however, he spends most of his time smoking pot with his only friend, Roofie, who is also his drug dealer. In the first episode, he meets his idol, Camomile White, who is a world famous medium, only as Kevin learns, she has no abilities. Soon Camomile and Sue, her assistant, are trying to take him down. Each episode usually has Kevin attempting to get money to pay for pot by helping someone deal with a ghost problem.

For the most part, Deadbeat is a funny show, for the most part. A lot of the humor is lowbrow, which isn't a huge problem. In fact, for stoner humor, this is an added bonus. However, its humor can also be lazy, which is a much bigger problem. Ethnic stereotypes are dragged out for easy laughs and this can be a problem. Admittedly I did laugh at some of them. Kevin has to deal with the Swedish Mafia at one point and there were jokes that poked fun at Swedish stereotypes for cheap laughs. But even when I was laughing at the show, I kept thinking that I would rather watch Dead Last instead. It is a really similar show and it is much better.

The Extras

The there are three short featurettes on the DVD, the first is a two-minute look at the show. The last two look at the four main characters and are a combined 5 minutes long.

The Verdict

I really want Dead Last to come out on DVD. I would buy it in a second. In the meantime, Deadbeat is worth checking out either on DVD or on Hulu. There are not enough extras on the DVD to make it a must have, especially if you can already watch it on Hulu.


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Filed under: Video Review, Brandon T. Jackson, Tyler Labine, Cat Deeley, Lucy DeVito