Natasha Rothwell's ‘How to Die Alone’ Canceled After One Season on Hulu

Although Natasha Rothwell was shocked by her Hulu creation "How to Die Alone" being canceled after one season, I wasn't.

Don't get me wrong, I am a huge Natasha fan. Her take as Kelly on "Insecure" was legendary. It was important for us as a community to see a pretty black volumptious woman empowered and esteemed, which I'm sure creator Issa Rae was very intentional about. I also enjoyed Natasha's nuanced performance on HBO's "White Lotus". 

When I heard about Natasha's venture to produce her own show, I was very excited. I was hoping for a smart and sassy comedy with her as a character similar to Insecure's Kelly. 

That's not what we got. 

The show is described as "Mel (Natasha) is a broke JFK airport employee who has never experienced love until a near-death accident inspires her to dream and live life again." according to the entertainment database site IMDB. 

OK....I guess.

I did enjoy some moments of "How to Die Alone". I was put off by the title, which caused a pause before I began to watch it. It didn't seem like it would be something I'd be interested in, after all, considering the depressing choice. However, I was banking on the talent of Natasha to be redeeming. 

Was it? Well...

The show was fun. Well, maybe not always laugh out loud, but I found myself grinning often. The interactions of all the characters were entertaining enough. I think Natasha herself is a talented comedic actress... But the premise and set up of a heavy black chick codependent on her gay best friend (who's seemingly of an Asian background dating a black man) and chasing after her supervisor whom she sabotaged a relationship with previously after she has an epiphany after a freak accident where a dresser falls on her while she chokes on takeout food.... It's a lot and kind of felt a bit tone-deaf.

I mean come on y'all! At this point, isn't the downtrodden thick girl practically a stereotype? I myself come from a family of empowered larger women. I also believe that we are in an era where we don't want the lazy narrative of Miss Sophias and Effie Whites having to overcome challenges that mostly come from their size. This "Big Girl Blues" trope is tired, and I expected more from homegirl. I appreciated the foray of Natasha taking on a lot of physical comedy, but it came off buffoonish and slapstick at times, seeing the big girl subjected to all these weird accidents. (I'll delve into network television's tendency to pair black gay men with other men outside their race another day.)

Word has it that Natasha is shopping the series to another network. If it gets picked up, I'm hoping the plan was to flesh out the character to someone we can celebrate and not feel sorry for. 

Check out some episodes for yourself and see what you think while they are still streaming on Hulu.