| Creator: | Lauren Gussis |
| Composer: | Julian Wass |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 2 |
| Num Episodes: | 22 |
| Executive Producer: |
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| Cinematography: |
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| Runtime: | 40–55 minutes |
| Company: |
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| Channel: | Netflix |
Insatiable is an American black comedy drama television series created by Lauren Gussis, starring Dallas Roberts and Debby Ryan.[1] It is based on Jeff Chu's article "The Pageant King of Alabama", published in July 2014 in The New York Times Magazine.[2] [3] The first season premiered on Netflix on August 10, 2018. In September 2018, the series was renewed for a second season,[4] which premiered on October 11, 2019.[5] On February 17, 2020, Netflix cancelled the series after two seasons.
The series received negative reviews from critics who called the show "offensive" and "insulting", with some praise being directed towards the performances and dark humor. While critics have not favored the show, the audience response, on the contrary, was generally positive.[6]
Set in the fictional town of Masonwood, Georgia, a former fat girl, 17-year-old Patty Bladell, is violently assaulted by a homeless man and loses a lot of weight as a result before her senior year, is taken under the wing of Bob Armstrong, a disgraced lawyer and beauty pageant coach, which quickly becomes a recipe for disaster as he slowly realizes how deep her rage runs and how far she will go to exact revenge on those she believes have wronged her.
A pilot for the series was ordered by The CW, but passed on before Netflix picked up the series.[1] The series was filmed in Newnan, Georgia and Atlanta, Georgia. Season 2 was filmed from early-March 2019 to late-June 2019. Season 2 only consisted of 10 episodes, compared to 12 episodes in the first season.[13] On February 14, 2020, the series was cancelled after two seasons.[14]
On July 19, 2018, the trailer for the series was released. The first season of Insatiable premiered on Netflix on August 10, 2018.[15]
On July 10, 2018, Netflix released the first teaser and the first images from the series.[16]
Prior to the show's release, The Guardian reported on July 24, 2018, that over 100,000 people had signed an online petition on Change.org started on July 20, 2018, calling for Netflix to cancel Insatiable, accusing it of "fat shaming".[17] Lauren Gussis, the show's creator, defended the show, saying it was based on her own experiences as a teenager.[18] Alyssa Milano stated on Twitter, "We are not shaming Patty .. We are addressing (through comedy) the damage that occurs from fat-shaming."[19] As of August 27, 2018, the petition had over 230,000 signatures.[20]
The series has an approval rating of 11% based on 56 reviews from critics, with an average rating of 2.68/10 on Rotten Tomatoes. The site's critic consensus reads: "Broad stereotypes, clumsy social commentary, and a failed attempt at wokeness make Insatiable hard to swallow."[21] Metacritic reported a score of 25 out of 100 for the series, based on reviews from 15 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[22]
In negative reviews, Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter called the series "trite", "unfunny", and "a hot bloated mess",[23] while Jen Chaney from Vulture called it "an equal opportunity trainwreck" replete with bad jokes about rape and pedophilia, and offensive stereotypes of African-Americans, Christians, Southerners and gay people.[24]
Reviewer Linda Holmes of NPR said the show willfully misunderstood the realities of fat-shaming and the concerns of fat people like herself; arguing that being fat should be respected and treated with kindness: "Let me assure you: It is not satire. Insatiable is satire in the same way someone who screams profanities out a car window is a spoken-word poet."[25]
Writer Roxane Gay called the show "lazy" and "insulting" in a Refinery29 piece, saying "Insatiable's greatest sin is that it suffers from a profound lack of imagination. The show cannot imagine that a straight man could truly love pageants and mentoring young women and be secure in his masculinity, or that a young lesbian could love herself enough to not fall in love with her straight best friend, or that a fat girl could be happy, healthy, and thriving without losing weight. Never does this show dare to imagine that maybe it was everyone else who had the problem when Patty was fat, not Patty herself. The show cannot imagine that perhaps, the most profound way Patty could seek vengeance would be to love herself at any size, to be seen by a love interest as lovable at any size, to see herself as beautiful because of, rather than despite, her fat body."[26]
In an interview with Variety, star Debby Ryan stated that she listened to the body-positive podcast "She's All Fat" in preparation for the role.[27] Responding via their Twitter account, hosts of the podcast Sophia Carter-Kahn and April K. Quioh stated: "We're not sure how our show could inspire a thin actress to don a fat suit as we've discussed at length how this very act is incredibly harmful to the fat community."[28]