The Grim Reaper is fed up. He’s tired of killing people. The job has lost its spark. Turns out being a supernatural being is not all that it’s cracked up to be, as Cupid struggles with unfettered flatulence, and God looks like he could use another drink. Day In The Life of Death finds Bob, a.k.a. the Grim Reaper, putting in his resignation, dropping his sickle and running free – and completely naked through the streets of Toronto.
Bob, aka the Grim Reaper, delivers his resignation in a trendy Toronto bar.
DITLoD is (quite a mouth full!) ultra high concept, it features seven short episodes, all at or under four minutes, and all centered around one main joke. This is a classic web comedy structure that has defined a lot of great and successful series in the past. Episodes in this format are easily consumed and primed for social sharing. Oddly enough though, this show has yet to take off.
The web is complicated – the show is well made, it’s funny, and it’s new. Perhaps the later has a lot to do with it, maybe a year from now I’ll look back at this article and feel dumb. But maybe web audiences are fickle, unpredictable and dynamic. YouTube itself seems to have little ability to drive audiences to content outside of partner channels, and simply putting something out there doesn’t guarantee that anyone will watch.
The show is looking forward to creating a second season but the team will need to find their audience first – and that is a bigger challenge than creating a show in the first place. Creators need to continue to work at cultivating their audience, sometimes just one person at a time. My guess is, if the show can find a group of potential fans the series will spread through them like wild fire.
Day In The Life of Death is short, so there is a lot more room to grow should the group of recent Humber college graduates get a second crack at the show, which can be found on their YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/DayintheLifeofDeath
