OK, it's confession time. Last year I became a pretty regular viewer of Showtime's "Dead Like Me," a quirky drama with dark comedy about a group of grim reapers who escort the souls of the newly deceased to their next plane of existence. It was quirky and funny and featured a top-notch cast, led by Mandy Patinkin as the boss of the reapers, Rube.

	"Dead Like Me" When: 10 tonight on Showtime. Starring: Ellen Muth, Mandy Patinkin.

In fact, I liked the show so much, I intended to put it on my year-end "best-of" list. But then I forgot. Oops. I can only remember so much, and when a show ceases to air original episodes, it tends to be a case of "out of sight, out of mind."

Now "Dead Like Me" is back, and I have another opportunity to make up for my oversight and sing its praises. The second season premieres tonight at 10 on Showtime and continues the story of 18-year-old Georgia "George" Lass (Ellen Muth), who died after getting hit by a falling piece of a space station and was assigned to a team of grim reapers.

In addition to the boss, Rube, George makes regular visits to a waffle house to hang with the other reapers: Mason (Callum Blue), who died of a drug overdose in 1966 and even in the afterlife has a drinking problem; Roxy (Jasmine Guy), a meter maid-turned police academy cadet; and Daisy (Laura Harris), a Hollywood actress who died in 1938.

That's right, just because they have grim reaper duties, these after-lifers are corporeal and require a paycheck to survive (although some seem to work a lot more than others). Perpetual sourpuss George works at a temp agency called Happy Time, and she's anything but happy there. Her interactions with her caring but oddball boss Dolores (Christine Willes) give the show much of its comic bite.

George also keeps tabs on her family, which has begun to unravel since her death. As season two begins, her joyless mother, Joy (Cynthia Stevenson, playing nicely against type), agrees to divorce George's unfaithful father, Clancy (Greg Kean), as sister Reggie (Brett McKillip) stares wide-eyed, taking it all in.

"I swear to God, when he's eating a salad, I want to take my own life," Joy complains about Clancy to the couple's therapist.

Given George's moping, it would be easy to see "Dead Like Me" as a downer, but more often the themes are about the joys of living and appreciating what you have while you have it and worrying less about what's missing.

Others have claimed it's a knock-off of HBO's "Six Feet Under," which also features creative deaths and similar themes. But "Dead Like Me" is a lot more fun than "Six Feet Under" and it's much less of a bad soap opera too.

It's the dark humor and kooky characters that give life to "Dead," whether it's the dialogue, delivery or sparkling performances, most notably Patinkin and Harris. In tonight's episode, George must claim the soul of a woman who sells flowers when a gas line explodes.

"Bodies everywhere and a flower girl in the middle," George narrates. "It was like a [messed-up] wedding."

The deaths in "Dead Like Me" can be pretty [messed-up], but its observations on living are right on the money.