Television series
Reaper
A twenty-something discovers his parents sold his soul to the devil and now he's Hell's bounty hunter. Reaper is funny first, supernatural second—a show about ordinary people doing impossible jobs while navigating rent, relationships and terrible bosses. It's *Supernatural* for people who find dark mythology funny, and *Working Stiffs* for people who like their comedies with real stakes.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you enjoy supernatural tales that stay light on their feet, where a demonic errand keeps tipping into comedy and the bickering between hero and sidekick does as much work as the monsters.
Skip it if the episodes run on a case-of-the-week rhythm, so if you want serialized dread or a story that tightens steadily, the loose wandering may frustrate you.
What it asks of you: Roughly an hour an episode across thirty-one installments, it asks you to settle in for a hangout rather than a binge of cliffhangers, and to tolerate a tonal wobble between laughs and heavier moments.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Supernatural2005
Two brothers hunt monsters across America for fifteen seasons. If you loved Reaper's tone—funny-sad-scary-weird all at once—this is the deep end of that exact pool, with angels, demons, and an ending that actually means something.
But It's 327 episodes long and occasionally loses the plot in the middle seasons. Committing to Supernatural is a lifestyle choice, not a show recommendation.
The Good Place2016
A woman wakes up in the afterlife and has to reckon with cosmic bureaucracy. Smart, kind, genuinely funny, with the same energy of 'ordinary people in impossible circumstances' and a willingness to let the supernatural stakes matter.
But The fourth season flattens some of what made the first three special. And it requires you to actually think about philosophy, which is fine but not everyone's idea of fun.
Grimm2011
A detective discovers he can see supernatural creatures living among humans and must solve crimes nobody else understands. Same casebook energy as Reaper, same blend of humor and genuine darkness, same working-class vibe.
But Grimm gets repetitive when it's not firing. Too many episodes of 'there's a creature, detective solves it' without enough character momentum underneath.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Reaper
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Carnivàle2003
Both see the supernatural as intrusion into mundane life, but where Reaper laughs at the absurdity, Carnivàle mourns it. Two sides of how the impossible breaks into the real.
A carnival conjures something dark and impossible. A preacher confronts his guilt. Evil moves through Depression-era America like a fog. This is Reaper's opposite number—serious, gorgeous, haunted—but it's asking the same question: what do you do when cosmic forces won't let you be ordinary?
But It's slow, painterly, deliberately obscure. You have to sit with dread. And it was cancelled on a cliffhanger that was never resolved, which some people find unforgivable.
More like this (8)
Dead Like Me2003
A girl dies and gets recruited to stop accidents by making sure people die instead. It's the closest spiritual cousin to Reaper—dark comedy about the indignity of afterlife work, with heart underneath the chaos and a genuinely great ensemble.
But Only lasted two seasons and ends before it wants to. The cancellation stings, and some viewers find the tone changes jarring across the run.
Pushing Daisies2007
A pie-maker discovers he can revive dead things and solves murders with his reanimated dog. Impossibly charming and visually gorgeous. Different vibe than Reaper but that same magic: taking a ridiculous premise and making it matter.
But It's so whimsical it can feel slight, and the narrative threads feel deliberately unresolved. Some people find the archness exhausting.
Constantine2014
A chain-smoking occultist hunts demons and angels in contemporary DC. It doesn't take itself seriously enough to be pretentious, but seriously enough that evil actually feels evil. Matt Ryan nails the swagger.
But One season isn't enough time to find its footing, and the show feels unfinished. There's promise here that doesn't quite land.
The Midnight Club2022
Horror anthology from Mike Flanagan about guests trapped in a mysterious hotel. Each episode is a story within the frame, and the whole thing escalates into something genuinely beautiful. Proof that supernatural drama can be genuinely eerie.
But It's slow-burn, very talky, and deeply melancholic. If you want action-horror, this is the opposite. The final episode is polarizing.
Lucifer2016
The Devil takes a vacation in LA and becomes a nightclub owner, then a cop consultant. Pure fun, charismatic lead, genuinely inventive. Doesn't ask you to think too hard, but does pull off some excellent character work underneath.
But The show trades on its premise rather than developing it some seasons. And it gets very into serialized mythology near the end when it started as a procedural.
The Witcher2019
A monster hunter takes jobs in a high-fantasy world. Scratches the same 'regular person doing dangerous gigs in a weird world' itch as Reaper, with production value and a huge mythology to explore.
But The first season is genuinely confusing—timelines, character names, logic jumps. It gets better, but some people check out before it does.
Severance2022
Reaper plays hell-as-job comedy; Severance plays corporate control as body horror. Both are really about: what happens to your soul when someone else owns your work?
Workers have their memories surgically split so they don't remember their outside life at work. Science fiction, but it's really about the indignity of labor and what you owe to powers bigger than yourself. Visually extraordinary, morally complicated, genuinely unnerving.
But It's a slow mystery and very deliberately paced. Season two took years. If you need resolution quickly, the glacial reveal will frustrate you.
Midnight Mass2021
Reaper uses its religious premise as backdrop for character comedy. Midnight Mass takes the same bones and asks: what if you actually believed it? What if God's promise was real and terrible? Same mythology, inverted emotion.
A priest returns to a small island town with a secret. Mike Flanagan's best work—beautiful, devastating, genuinely faithful to its supernatural premise while being completely terrifying. Watches like a novel. The last episode is extraordinary.
But It's four hours of mounting dread before things actually happen. Slow-build horror isn't for everyone. And it ends with real loss, not rescue.
People
Cast
Writing
- Michele FazekasCreator
- Tara ButtersCreator
Production
- Jason ParksAssociate Producer
- John BlairAssociate Producer
- Chris DingessCo-Executive Producer
- David BabcockCo-Executive Producer
- Thomas SchnauzCo-Producer
- Deborah SperaExecutive Producer
- Mark GordonExecutive Producer
- Michele FazekasExecutive Producer
- Tara ButtersExecutive Producer
- Tom SpezialyExecutive Producer
- JP FinnProducer
- Jeff VlamingSupervising Producer
- Kevin EttenSupervising Producer