“I Think You Should Draw the Line at Capes.”
After completely enjoying the movie that served as the pilot for Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I was anxious to jump into the TV series. It was pretty much what I was expecting – charming with a heavy dose of quirky characters.
The series features the four-person team of the Denver Dead Letter Office. They are headed by Oliver O’Toole (Eric Mabius), a very by the book postal employee. The newest member is Shane McInerney (Kristin Booth), an expert at searching for information on the computer. She’s also the most likely to bend the rules a little. Rounding out the team are Norman (Geoff Gustafson), an expert is all the reference books in the office, and Rita (Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe), whose photographic memory comes in handy.
Over the course of these ten episodes, the team race to deliver a love letter in time to break up a wedding. They find a demo CD from a musician who has vanished. And Shane and Oliver get trapped in a bank vault while following up on a mysterious package.
Even before we get to the disclaimer at the end of each episode, pointing out that the characters go far beyond what is allowed by the post office, it is obvious the show stretches credibility. But you know what? I don’t care. I don’t care that no postal worker would get that involved in anyone’s lives. The results are absolutely fabulous. The show is from Martha Williamson, the woman behind Touched by an Angel. I never watched that show, but this is easily what I imagine that show would be. I think every episode made me tear up if not outright cry. Most of the time, the ending was happy, although there are a couple of episodes in the middle that are bittersweet. One even a little more bitter than sweet. But most of them? So wonderful.
Of course, we also get to know the four characters better. Lovers of slow burn romance will be enticed with not one but two potential pairings. One thing I appreciated about the show is that, while all of the characters can give us comedic moments, they are also all respected. No one is the butt of jokes just to mock them. Considering how quirky they can be, that’s impressive.
And make no mistake, these characters are quirky. They threw me a little during the pilot movie, but as I watched the episodes here, the characters quickly grew on me, and now I love them all.
For a Hallmark show, there are an impressive roster of guest stars. The episode of the week rarely features anyone I recognize, but some of the other storylines centered around the post office feature such actresses as Della Reese, Valeria Harper, Valerie Bertinelli, and Marliu Henner. Okay, so it’s more for those of us who are fans of classic TV, but still, I enjoyed seeing them all again.
The main cast does a great job of finding the balance between quirky and annoying for their characters. And the guest stars are perfect at making us sympathize with their characters.
As I said, there are only ten episodes of this series, and we get all of them in a DVD release, which is how I watched them. The set also includes the movie that introduced the characters. There aren’t any other extras.
While these are the only episodes of the TV series, we are fortunate that Hallmark has made twelve follow up movies with these characters. I can’t wait to dive in and see what happens to them next. You’ll fall in love with the characters and be just as anxious to follow their lives.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered isn’t for everyone. But if you enjoy touching, heart-warming dramas, you’ll be glad you watched this series.
I'm quite fond of this series. Still have many movies to go!
ReplyDeleteI think I watched the movie, and a couple of episodes. It was cute.
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