What I’m Watching: Not Dead Yet

Not Dead Yet: Season 1, Episode 4 “Not Dating Yet” (B-)

I can appreciate that this show is evolving slightly and not spending quite as much time on its obituary subjects, instead focusing on Nell’s personal life related to the living. I was still very pleased to see Don Lake, a standout comedic member of the ensemble of the sadly-canceled and underrated Netflix series “Space Force,” as the mathematician who encouraged Nell not to tip as generously and was just about to solve his equation when Nell hit send on his obituary and he promptly disappeared. The invasive efforts of Sam, Dennis, and Lexi to set her up with someone felt quite forced, and you’d think they could have done a slightly better job of picking the right people. Sam was fawning over the devoted dad she brought for him but then got turned off when he was way too into his kids and nothing else, while Dennis’ pick was all about the love languages and Lexi’s was apparently a good match for the office salad fiend who makes salads with other people in mind as gifts for them (not loving that character). And Dennis did win out somewhat in that he gave Edward a brief playmate who could have been a great friend for him but served his purpose before being summarily dismissed at the end of the game. Nell’s meet-cute at the end of the episode did feel too good to be true, and I wonder whether she can manage to keep him around for a while by not writing his obituary or if that would just be too painful and sad.