“Reaper”, which premieres at 9:00 PM tonight on the CW with the Kevin-directed pilot, is our favorite new show of the Fall TV season. The show stars Bret Harrison (of FOX’s fun but cancelled “The Loop”) in the titular role, as Sam, a kid whose parents have unfortunately sold his soul to the devil (Ray Wise, the most pitch-perfect casting of the year). When ‘ol satan comes to collect what’s due on Sam’s 21st birthday, he learns that he’ll pay the debt by collecting escaped souls and sending them back to hell.

Harrison’s a likeable lead, with his everyman charm allowing us to instantly empathize and cheer for his “Sam”. The show’s target demographic of young adults should identify easily with his laid back attitude (all the way down to his shyness with the ladies). However, the scene stealer (at least of this pilot episode) is our boy’s right-hand man “Sock”, played by Tyler Labine – (ABC’s one-season-wonder “Invasion”). Labine here not only shoots and scores with practically every line of every scene he appears in, but gives the word from the page an even bigger comedic punch with some pitch-perfect delivery. We hear Kevin encouraged on-set improvisation and had a big hand in the tone and delivery of quite a bit of the pilot, much to its benefit.

Rounding out the cast, Missy Peregrym (seen last season as reality-bender Candice on NBC’s “Heroes”) plays love interest Andi, though our pilot screener featured Nikki Reed in the same role. The most exciting casting for us on this one, though, has to be Ray Wise, who so memorably took on the persona of Leland Palmer on one of the best shows of all-time, “Twin Peaks”. To see Wise playing the devil with such playful menace and glee has us wanting to shake the hand of the casting agent who came up with this pairing. There couldn’t have been a better choice. While it’s obvious that the young cast will be the stars of the show, you can’t help but perk up when Wise shows up for a scene. It’s a real treat.

So that’s the casting…But what about Kevin’s direction? First off, Kevin brought longtime DP Dave Klein to shoot the thing to ease into the TV world. The result? Way cool. As we know, Kevin can shoot the heck out of actors doing zippy dialogue and knows how to pull the funny out in just the right way. The big surprise here amounts to the amount of camera movement and action that happens here, though. The pilot features a bunch of laugh-out-loud moments, and makes for a fun communal watching experience, but the centerpiece of the program are the action sequences. Not only are they well staged and directed, but the visual effects go beyond what you’d normally expect to see on a TV program. When Sam and Sock suit up to do battle, you can’t help but notice that “Reaper” resembles the classic “Ghostbusters” – Just updated for the slacker generation.

The pilot sets the stage for quite a few subplots, so we’re looking forward to seeing where this goes. While it would be simple for the program to fall into a “monster of the week” type of scenario, we’ve hoping to see it move further into a larger story arc, rewarding viewers for coming back week after week. Rumor has it that Kevin would love to come back to the program in some capacity as well, though a lot of that will depend on scheduling – The guy’s got two movies to prep for this year, as well as a directing gig on “Heroes: Origins”, after all.

With a perfect mix of humor, action, romance, and drama, “Reaper” is poised to be the first breakout hit of the new Fall TV season.

Can’t wait until tonight? Yahoo is presenting the show’s complete first act, streaming live via their website.

“Reaper” premieres TONIGHT on the CW at 9:00 PM.

A historial first-ever David Letterman appearance will kick off the television leg of the book tour tonight, and we’re way stoked to see what Kevin brings to Letterman. We’re huge “Late Night” fans here, and know that Dave’s brand of humor should be a fantastic fit for Kevin’s stage presence. Expect big laughs tonight, and expect to see Kevin getting an invite back. Tune into CBS tonight — Do not miss this piece of View Askew history!

If you’re going, don’t forget your camera — Send us a few photos and your line reports from any of the signing events you attend. It’s not every day (or even YEAR) that Kevin’s got a new book out, and Comic-Con signings have been rare lately, so don’t miss these. With a busy year of movie-making ahead, this is your big chance.

Kevin was a call-in guest on popular NPR talk show titled “Wait…Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” this weekend — The program quizzes its guests on current news and entertainment-related events. Not only was he charming as ever, he also fared quite well. You can listen to the entire program as well as take the quiz along with Kevin and the panel as you do so. NPR’s excellent site will also allow you to skip right to Kev’s segment if you like. Good stuff.

And finally, the man himself was an in-studio guest on XM’s Opie & Anthony program today. As usual, we’ll have audio online as part of the archives shortly. Kev was in studio to promote both his new book and tomorrow’s appearance on Letterman. The biggest revelation, however, came at the end of the show – Yes, Kevin might be getting his own show on XM Radio’s Virus channel! They may also rebroadcast SModcast as part of the deal. You can bet that we’ll keep on top of this exciting breaking news.