I woke up this morning to news that Hulu had canceled This Fool, a comedy vehicle starring Chris Estrada that made it for two seasons on the streaming service. The news comes just shortly after I learned some other Hulu favorites The Great and How I Met Your Father had also been canceled at the streamer after three and two seasons respectively. Unless you’re The Handmaid’s tale, your shelf life at Hulu seems to be rather short. Which is why I’m going to need people to jump on Death and Other Details immediately.
Death and other Details is a classic locked room mystery set on a luxurious ship and filled with complex and morally uninhibited characters. If you liked Knives Out, it’s giving major Knives Out vibes. Mandy Patinkin’s the detective in this equation and he’s a person who sees things that others do not, very much in the vein of Hercule Poirot, but an oft-drunk Hercule Poirot. Frequent Mike Flanagan collaborator Rahul Kohli and The Flash’s Violett Beane are also involved, as well as one of my favorite character actors of all time Jere Burns, whom Justified fans will know as Wynn Duffy. He’s delightful here, too.
Hulu’s dabbled in the murder mystery genre before. Its collaboration with FX for A Murder At The End Of The World was set up to really be a miniseries, but there’s potential for Death and Other Details to do so much more. I desperately want it to get that chance.
We so very rarely get American whodunnits of this pacing. Instead, crime dramas are more of the procedural type, both on network television and in the streaming realm -- unless you subscribe to BritBox. As much as I honestly love Jack Reacher threatening to "throw" a baddie off of a helicopter, what's great about Death and Other Details is it's a traditional detective story, with a bunch of twists and red herrings. I also love a setting where the rich people are simply pawns in a murderer's game and where the lush decor and ambiance has dangerous and destructive undertones.
Marc Webb even filmed the pilot. What's not to love? OK sure, there are a few things not to love. The plot is a little too over-the-top. Sometimes it's maybe a little too stylish for its own good, but there is a lot of good writing and real potential here for more mysteries with the lead detective.
We've been waiting as some splashy streaming staples like Stranger Things Season 5 and Bridgerton Season 3 have been coming together post strike. Meanwhile, there have actually been quite a few heavily pushed streaming shows filling up my plate lately. There was Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the sometimes spot-on and sometimes too fanciful romp with Maya Erskine and Donald Glover. Reacher pumped out a new season that had more radical one-liners than the first. Traitors Season 2 has been appointment TV. Unlike these other projects on other streaming services, however, Hulu seemingly very quietly pushed out Death and Other Details. This, understandably, makes me a little worried.
The show is only several weeks into its 10-episode run, with new episodes dropping on Tuesdays for those with a Hulu subscription. It will have officially wrapped in early March, after which Hulu will make a renewal decision, though creators Mike Weiss and Heidi Cole McAdams told Town and Country they had some "top secret hopes and dreams" about where the show could go next.
That is if Disney and Hulu opt to support a fun and exciting new series for Season 2. I'd love to see it. If you haven't yet, give it a chance.
