Not Dead Yet: Grade Gina Rodriguez’s Ghostly New ABC Comedy
Ghosts‘ Sam isn’t the only who can see the dead on broadcast TV.
The series premiere of ABC‘s Not Dead Yet on Wednesday introduced viewers to Nell (played by Jane the Virgin‘s Gina Rodriguez), a 37-year-old journalist who gave up her promising career and moved to London for a man five years ago. Now, the engagement is off, and Nell is back at her old job, but not in her former position. She thought she’d pick up where she left off, but instead, Nell is assigned to the obituary beat by her boss/friend Dennis (Upload‘s Joshua Banday).
Perhaps the worst change is that, in the time that Nell’s been gone, her best gal pal Sam (New Girl‘s Hannah Simone) has become good friends with their former work nemesis Lexi (Superstore‘s Lauren Ash), whom they used to call Scotch Tape because she’s stuck up and believes things like that Old Navy is a branch of the military. Not only did Lexi become close with Sam, but she’s also a nepo baby who is now everyone’s boss because her dad owns the paper. So when Lexi crashes Nell’s birthday drinks, Nell gets pretty drunk and spills the beans to Lexi about her unflattering nickname, which visibly hurts Lexi’s feelings.
Back at home, Nell is shocked when Monty (guest star Martin Mull) appears in the apartment she shares with her roommate Edward (As We See It‘s Rick Glassman), an environmental lawyer with autism spectrum disorder. Turns out Monty is the bubble gum jingle creator that Nell’s been writing an obit for, meaning he’s very much dead. Nell freaks out and refuses to believe what she’s seeing, but Monty is still there the next morning, with no idea why, as Nell points a handheld vacuum at him. All her attempts to flee his presence fail, so she’s forced to confront him. When Nell basically says he was a loser, Monty responds that she’s no catch herself: She drinks too much, is jealous of other people’s happiness and runs away from any difficulty.
Meanwhile, Sam suggests that Nell apologize to Lexi since she’s the big boss. But instead of a sincere apology, Nell ends up telling Lexi that she’s not good enough to be friends with Sam, after which Lexi reveals that she only hired Nell back because Sam pleaded her case. So one mistake, and she’s out.
Nell goes to dinner by herself at a fancy restaurant with Monty by her side. He shares his story and dreams with her and how he, too, was a mess until he met his wife Cricket (On My Block‘s Angela Gibbs)… who is sitting alone at a nearby table. Nell approaches the woman and tells her she looks beautiful, like Monty wishes he could do. Even though it is a little weird, the two women end up having drinks and becoming friends. That seems to be the closure Monty needs to move on as Nell submits her thoughtfully written obit and the ghostly subject of her next obit appears.
What did you think of Not Dead Yet? Grade it below, then hit the comments!
I enjoyed the first episode alot. Martin Mull was great as usual, and I like the concept of the show.
Annoying, unlikeable characters. Not very funny. The ghost was the best part.
Ghosts are in vogue these days
Gina Rodriguez does comedy so well. I’m happy for her to be on another show.
happy Gina and Hannah are back on tv
I don’t understand where the show is going with this
A twist on the case of the week but with an overbearing earnestness with a dash of comedy?
Enjoyed the first episode-thought the writing was pretty good. I loved Superstore so I was happy to see Lauren Ash on TV. I watched the second episode too & found it to be funny. I prefer Home Economics but this is an enjoyable midseason replacement.
cute show and good performance by Rodriguez (and terrific guests Martin Mull and Mo Collins) but very hard to get past these writers depicting their “bustling newspaper” newsroom as something straight out of 1998, or ’78.
Most newsrooms today are threadbare operations, with many reporters working from home or Starbucks. Worse, the sports guys tossing nerf footballs and basketballs is straight from the trope factory. Not a thing.
Though the lifestyle editor getting ready to attend a meeting about “sandals” was spot on.
I’ll give it a few episodes.
You should…critics say the tone of the show changes for the better around episode 5.
Yes, that hot off the presses newsroom would have been more believable back in the day. Definitely not in 2023.
About the only thing I disliked of the first two episodes is the obvious use of empty paper coffee cups. Come on, at least fill them with water to give them some heft.
Did the coffee cups trigger you?
OMG, they always trigger me. It’s such a simple fix for such a stupid and lazy problem. Acting 101 and make the actors look incompetent and the production cheap.
Law & Order last year had an episode in which someone, I think it was Camryn Manheim, was actually shown pouring coffee into a cup. The scene cut to a different angle, and when it cut back the cup was empty.
I totally agree. Such a simple thing to get right and so obvious when it’s not. Empty boxes are another pet peeve of mine.
Did the criticism of coffee cups trigger you?
I almost quit when they got their coffee and then were moving those coffee cups around with every hand gesture. I’m just watching now and only continuing because I like Martin Mull. But if the blatant coffee cups continue I’m gone.
I HATE that too!
This show is based on a novel with a very similar premise… except for the ghost part. I actually enjoyed element, but I wonder what that meeting was like for the author? “The network loved your main character of a vivacious woman starting over in life, and they want to base a sitcom around her. In fact, they only had one note… they think she should talk to ghosts. Okay, sign here!”
Missed the first episode but saw the second. It was OK, not great. Didn’t laugh and maybe smirked once or twice. Interesting premise which will turn out to be “ghost of the week” helps Gina solve a problem. Not into it. Probably won’t watch again.
Would be a better show if Martin Mull was a regular.
I thought the same thing and I’m a huge Gina Rodriquez fan.
I felt the same way about Mull. I thought he grounded that ep. But if he continued, the show would basically be Ghosts.
I don’t normally watch any ABC comedies, but I thought Not Dead Yet was very cute
I will come back Gina Rodriguez does comedy really well. Her Martin Mull were funny.
I watched both. I love Gina Hannah and Lauren for their better known roles so I really want to like this show. I think the dialogue is a little unnatural and the best acting can’t fix that.
I’ll keep watching to support my ladies and hopefully it finds its stride.
I’d have gone with B+ if you allowed it. I usually need two episodes to decide (nice of ABC to help out with that); think I was able to say yes after one.
This is a wonderful show, and I laughed throughout the whole thing. Please keep on do not take it off.! It’s very refreshing and Gina Rodriguez is funny!
I’m liking the personal friends Cricket and Edward. Disliking the entire work group.
I will give it a couple more episodes to see how it fleshes out.
I like the premise of the show. I love Gina Rodriguez. This is an excellent vehicle to display her acting chops.
I liked it.
Cute but not funny though comedies on ABC aren’t
Very rushed trying too hard to push the comedy which bored me. Didn’t bother watching to the end and will not view further episodes. I had high hopes for this show as there is a real shortage of quality comedy shows airing today.
“Not Yet Dead” is dead to me.
As a retired newspaper journalist I had hoped to see something … anything … that looked like life at a newspaper. Instead we just get “the-ghost-of-the week” motif like in “”Ghost Whisperer” or in many similar series.
Sorry. I meant “Not Dead Yet.'”
Did anyone else get annoyed by this “snooty rich person” accent they have Lauren Ash doing? She’s fantastic but it’s just terrible. I get she’s supposed to be a bit rich and snooty but changing her voice like that just makes her almost unwatchable in every scene, which sucks, because she’s great.
This show is so cute! Love the cast.
This is a well-written, well-acted show. So don’t get attached to it…it’s doomed.