‘Drop Dead Diva’ a delight

Body-switching heroine carries the show
for charming new body image comedy

Brooke Elliott is a revelation.

Lifetime’s “Drop Dead Diva” premiered this weekend and I was charmed to the middle of me by this fun little show about Deb, a stick-thin model whose inattention while driving landed her up at the Gates of Heaven -- which looked like nothing so much as a mall. Deb’s lack of any good or bad deeds in the course of her life led to her return to Earth and reincarnation as a lawyer -- the perfectly presentable if plain and a bit plus-sized Jane Bingum, played by Elliott.

Jane had landed up in the hospital, having taken a bullet for her boss, which explained her temporary amnesia and seeming mood swings. Deb, now in Jane’s body, is trying to cope with her new situation. Her boyfriend, Grant, had been about to propose to Deb. He’d recently gotten a job at Jane’s firm so Deb can see him all the time, but now through Jane’s eyes, inside Jane’s body -- while Jane’s younger, hotter colleagues make a play for him.

In that he was going to marry her, naturally she’s going to continue to feel that quite deeply, but for obvious reasons she can’t just tell him. He almost caught her when he noticed Jane had painted one pinkie fingernail blue -- that was Deb’s good-luck charm -- but it’s clear that if Jane is going to hold the place in his heart that Deb did, she’s going to need to re-approach the situation -- as Jane.

Meanwhile, she’s torn between giving him space he needs to grieve the loss of, well, her -- Deb, his fiancee -- and her horror that other women are climbing right over that social nicety to flirt with him -- right in front of her.

But that’s only one problem Deb’s dealing with as Jane. Jane’s body has cravings Deb finds irresistible, so if she wants to shed Jane’s weight, she’s going to need to find a way for Squeezy-Cheese to be less addictive than Xanax, and to be less drawn to those yummy chocolate doughnuts that seem to be everywhere in the office.

The right voice

The best part of this show is watching Elliott find exactly the right voice for her Deb persona.

Deb is a model. She’s in her 20s. She’s a pleasant person but she’s spent her whole life as a size 1 or size 2, tops, when she gained a “Freshman 15” in community college (for which reason she promptly quit). The world opens more doors for women like that than it does for Jane, who is in her 30s and is a little frumpy along with being a bit overweight -- in the world of television, perhaps. Just for a sense of perspective, Elliott has a perfectly healthy figure.

Jane -- and now, as it happens, Deb as well -- has got some metabolic issues that make her uncomfortable in her office. Also, she’s got the emotional issues with the boyfriend/fiance -- it’s harder to let him go and forget about him when he’s right in the office everyday with her.

She does have her best girlfriend, Stacy, to confide in. Stacy is the woman Deb was talking to on the cellphone when her car crashed into an orange truck and started this merry journey. While her guardian angel, Fred, warned her not to tell anyone, Stacy is her very best friend and besides, if she’s got all of Jane’s knowledge but none of her actual memories, Deb needs a few ties to her old life to get by.

Deb’s also got some compassion. She feels empowered to help people because along with her bubbly personality, she’s got Jane’s vast knowledge of the law. She’s continually surprised by the things she knows, as well as her ability to use them to make the arguments she needs to.

And along with her big brain, there are other perks to being Jane. For instance, Deb’s revelry in Jane’s Porsche was one of the most joyous moments in television.

So despite the setbacks, Deb feels she can do some good and redeem herself. In the pilot episode, she found a way to help a divorcee with low self-esteem stand up for herself -- both with a makeover and new look on the outside and more confidence on the inside -- and some strutting tips from Deb’s runway work to sell it -- revising a $100,000 settlement with the cheating ex to something closer to $5 million.

Not bad for a second chance at making a difference.

“Drop Dead Diva,” airing Sundays at 8 p.m. on Lifetime, is off to an excellent start.