Plot Synopsis

This half-hour reality series follows John Beckwith Jr. and his staff at the Dallas-based Golden Gate Funeral Home, as they organize the most unique funerals in the country for people to honor their loved ones and celebrate their lives with non-traditional services. Starting with the deceased's occupation or passion in life, the Golden Gate staff works with the families to create a central theme for a memorial and then elevates it to an unforgettable party. The end goal is to create a celebration as unique as the person they loved with an equally unique party. Each 30-minute episode of BEST FUNERAL EVER features homegoings for two different people, such as: a former bowler whose family sends her casket down the lane for one final strike; a husband and wife, who die within a year of each other and their lives are celebrated with a wedding/funeral combination; a young man who ate breakfast three times a day and whose service includes mourners flipping flapjacks all at once; Olympic Gold Medalist Ronnie Ray Smith, who receives a track and field-themed funeral with the coffin getting a 100-meter dash; a man who loved candy so much that his casket is dipped in chocolate for the whole town to eat; a mother whose funeral is fit for a movie star; a former horror enthusiast who gets a zombie-themed service; one client who receives a game show-themed homegoing, with the deceased being spun on a wheel of funeral; Rafael Valenzuela, whose family sends the super fan off with one last field goal; a pastor whose funeral has a Western movie theme; welterweight champion Tyrone 'Showboat' Cotton, who gets one more round in the ring as his friends and family cheer him on to heaven; and many other elaborate home-going services. The staff at Golden Gate includes: John 'Mr. B' Beckwith Jr., the owner and CEO, who ensures that his employees create first-class, one-of-a-kind homegoing services for families; John 'B3' Beckwith III, Mr. B's son and heir to the Golden Gate throne, who faces any challenge head-on, which comes in handy when catering to even the most obscure requests; Shondrea Alexander, a funeral planner, who is one of Golden Gate's more opinionated planners and isn't afraid to make sure her ideas are heard; Deborah Davis, a funeral planner, who is often skeptical of Loretta's wild and complicated ideas, but goes along for the ride as long as it's what's best for families and loved ones; Loretta Pope, a funeral planner and Deborah's best friend, who always goes out of her way to make homegoings extra special; Trendnard Blanks, a funeral planner, who is known for his flamboyant, shoot-for-the-moon ideas; and Eplunus 'E' Brooks-Colvin, a funeral planner, who takes the funeral planning business very seriously because she cares deeply about the families. TLC first aired BEST FUNERAL EVER's pilot as one-hour special on Sunday, January 6, 2013 at 10pm ET/PT, and then 11 months later the cable channel showed back-to-back half-hour episodes for the official series premiere on Monday, December 2, 2013 at 10pm ET/PT.
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After a five-month break, BEST FUNERAL EVER returned for its Spring premiere on Monday, May 19, 2014 at 10pm ET/PT, as TLC aired back-to-back new episodes. In the night's first episode, Rafael becomes a part of football history when his family sends the super fan off with one last field-goal kick, and the family of a prominent pastor enlists Golden Gate to throw a Western-movie-themed funeral.