Outraged about ‘Insatiable’? That might be exactly what Netflix wanted
When was the last time you signed a good petition? Was it to protest a social injustice? Police brutality? State signed acts of transphobia? Children being ripped away from their parents? Or was it to stop a TV show you’ve never seen because you didn’t like the trailer? Less than a week after Netflix unveiled the first full length trailer for its new teen comedy Insatiable, a little over 160,000 people had signed a petition to prevent its release. The official Netflix synopsis described the dark comedy as being about Patty (Debby Ryan) – a bullied teenager who turns to beauty pageants as a way to exact her revenge on the bullies who have continuously tormented her. The trailer revealed a little more depth to the narrative: Patty is a former “fatty” who is enacting said vengeance after being punched by a dude, having her jaw wired shut, and subsequently losing a whole lot of weight.
Series Outcome and Cancellation
Insatiable premiered on Netflix on August 10, 2018. The show ran for two seasons, with the second arriving in October 2019. In February 2020, Netflix pulled the plug. Alyssa Milano, who appeared in the series, confirmed the cancellation on social media. The decision closed the book on a project that had drawn loud objections before anyone had watched a single episode.
Critical Reception and Ratings
Critics were not kind. The series landed an 11 percent Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic gave it a 25 out of 100, a number that placed it firmly in the generally unfavorable range. Reviewers pointed to offensive stereotypes and a tone that never quite landed its satirical aims. The early petition had warned that the show would be a problem; the finished product gave those critics plenty of ammunition.
Long-Term Cultural Legacy
Years later, the conversation has not entirely disappeared. Online communities still debate whether Insatiable was a clumsy satire or an outright endorsement of fat-shaming. Some viewers maintain that the show was misunderstood from the start. Others continue to see it as a cautionary example of how weight-loss revenge plots can reinforce the very attitudes they claim to mock. The argument persists in scattered threads and comment sections, even as newer series have taken different approaches to body image stories.
Debby Ryan's Career Trajectory
Debby Ryan moved on after the series ended. She appeared in the vampire film Night Teeth and the comedy Spin Me Round. Both projects let her step away from the character that had defined so much of the earlier controversy. Her post-Insatiable work has stayed within the same mix of genre and indie projects that marked her earlier career, without another role attracting the same volume of pre-release scrutiny.
The initial petition framed Insatiable as a show that should never exist. The completed run, the scores, and the later fan calls for revival show that the story played out in ways the earliest signatories could not have predicted. Some viewers still defend the series as misunderstood satire. Others treat its cancellation as the correct ending. The numbers from 2018 remain a snapshot of one moment in a longer debate about how television handles weight, revenge, and the line between commentary and cruelty.
