The concept of a misguided fool selling his soul to the devil is as old as the 15th-century legend "Faust." Recently, a few films and TV shows have tried to rework this tale by placing a prototypical '90s slacker in the role of the soul-loser.

The latest result of this is CW's new show "Reaper," which has all the characteristics of "Idle Hands" but none of its macabre originality.

Sam (Bret Harrison, "The Loop") is that brand of lazy-but-you-can't-hate-him misdirected youth who is a suspiciously prime candidate for a life-altering event. He runs the cash register at "Work Bench" (it's Home Depot, folks), harbors an intense crush on fellow salesgirl Andi (Missy Peregrym, "Stick It") and wastes his nights chasing shots with porky sidekick Sock Wysoski (Tyler Labine, "Boston Legal"). The only life change Sam expects on his 21st birthday is the ability to drink legally, but his parents have something else in store for him: Before he was born, they sold his soul to the devil to save his father's life, assuming they would never have a child. Unfortunately, Sam became their little accident, and now he's doomed to toil for Beezlebub himself. Lucky for him, hell is not his immediate destination; Lucifer (Ray Wise, "24") wants our boy to spend the remainder of his life capturing "escape souls" with a demonically possessed Dirt Devil.

The soul-catching process is less funny than one would think - most of the chuckles come from Seth Rogen-esque Sock, who keeps momentum going with non sequiturs and duct-tape gags. The show would likely be doomed to TV's lake of fire without him, because the second-funniest character is Sam, who is reminiscent of Nate on "Free Ride" - and that show got cancelled. The congeniality of the "insurance salesman" Devil is amusing; he's the most original devil character since Ned Flanders.

"Reaper" tries to be a dramedy, but the drama and comedy are too disparate to be taken as a whole. The show would be better off sticking to one side of the fence. Ten minutes of deadpan dialogue followed by ten minutes of slow-paced action are just confusing and show a lack of overall focus. "Reaper" should inject more humor into its action, before it ends up becoming a supernatural drama in the same vein as network-partner "Smallville" and "Charmed."

Kevin Smith, who directed the pilot episode of "Reaper" - as well as slacker comedies "Clerks" and "Mallrats" - should have know better than to try to mine more gold out of the rapidly aging "Generation X" demographic. The humor is updated for contemporary slackers as well as the sudden Judd Apatow fanatics, but Smith knows in his heart "Reaper" is just "Mallrats" meets "Hellraiser," without Jay or Silent Bob.

If the year was 1997, and I had never seen "Dead Like Me," and the concept of a ne'er-do-well who can barely work his television remote getting otherwordly powers was still novel, this could have been a good show. Unfortunately, Doc Brown's time machine was not available, so it's hard to pretend this show, though funny, is unique in any way.

The stock characters recycled from past renditions of this concept do little to distinguish or elevate the material. "Reaper" is a cute show, but it smacks of unoriginality. Watching it may make long for the old days of Seth Green with a bottle stuck in his head.

Reaper

2.5 out of 5 stars

Tuesdays at 9 p.m.

CW