We may be used to seeing TV shows - whether they be comedies or dramas - based in newspaper offices. But none, as far as I recall, has ever centred on the obituaries desk.
So a proposed US series, called Circling the Drain, is certainly breaking new ground. It involves a 25-year-old reporter (played by Caprica's Alessandra Torresani) who is reassigned from a paper's style section to its obits desk.
Circling the drain, a slang euphemism for clinging on to life, is being developed by the production company, Tornante, owned by former Disney chief Michael Eisner.
Tornante's head of development Steve Cohen says Eisner "loved the idea of a young girl who is starting out life writing about death against the backdrop of an industry that may also be circling the drain."
Heavyweight contributors have been recruited for the project, including writer Josh Brand (Northern Exposure) and director Tucker Gates (Lost).
