by Austen Terry, Contributing Writer
How many people can accurately say they have followed their partners to another country, only to break up and have to move back home? That is the basic starting plot of ABC’s newest show, Not Dead Yet. Gina Rodriguez stars as Nell Serrano, who returns to Pasadena, California to re-restart her life after moving to London with her ex. She returns to her old job as a journalist, only this time she is writing obituaries instead of big-time news. Helping Nell restart her life are friends Sam (Hannah Simone) and Dennis (Josh Banday); also joining to help is her boss Lexi (Lauren Ash). Nell must navigate her new life with her new roommate Edward (Rick Glassman), and the fact she can see the ghosts of the people she is writing obituaries for. They tend to help by giving her life lessons and stories that she can write about for their obituaries, which helps them move on.
If this plot sounds similar, it is because Ghost Whisperer was a show that tried to do almost this exact thing, only it was an hourlong drama instead of a 30-minute sitcom. That doesn’t really help the show at all, as I have seen almost every one of these main stars in another show I liked better. I know how good actors Rodriguez, Stone, Banday, and Ash are, and Not Dead Yet just made me want to go watch their previous work, and skip this one. Their chemistry is good, but it feels more like everyone is reading their lines from cue cards, and is just trying to move through the episodes.
The writing and the story feels like they are trying to appeal to every generation at once, while not really understanding their target audience. The characters are elder millennials who try to act like they are from Gen Z, while their lives fit Gen X more than anything. Casey Johnson created the show for TV, based on the Alexandra Potter book Confessions of a Forty Something F**k Up, and the show definitely feels like a mashup of better ones. They even have guest stars like Brittany Snow, Ed Begley Jr., Rhea Pearlman, and Martin Mull, who aren’t enough to save it. Again, it makes me want to seek out their work I like better, rather than sticking with the show.
I stuck it out until the end, though. Not Dead Yet does seem somewhat relatable, as Rodriguez’s character is in her late 30s, isn’t married with kids, and doesn’t have her life together, which is all too real with my generation. But the show can get real at times, dealing with past trauma. For example, Episode Three deals with high school bullies and the damage they leave.
Not Dead Yet tries to pull you in, and in some ways it does, but it mostly just falls flat. It seems like they are trying too hard to be a certain thing, without figuring out what that thing is. Others have enjoyed it, but it wasn’t my cup of tea, or in the show’s expertise, my glass of wine.
Score: 4/10
Not Dead Yet is currently streaming on Hulu
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