I saw a tweet from Netflix announcing a new original animated series called Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld, and roughly 90% of the replies were, "This looks really cool; too bad Netflix will kill it after one season." I'll watch it just to support original shows (which are becoming rare these days), but I don't expect it to last. Netflix has betrayed their userbase way too many times. Inside Job was a really popular animated series they killed way too soon, so a lot of people don't trust Netflix anymore.
The worst case you didn’t discuss was the ironically titled, “I’m not ok with this” - the show ends right as she discovers she has powers, we didn’t get to find out what happened afterwards
This was the cancellation that made me write off all Netflix shows. Sure, there were other shows I liked that got cancelled but this one infuuuuuriated me.
It's just weird that Netflix doesn't seem to be looking at its own data. Because the shows that get the most consistently high streaming numbers are the long running one like The Office, Friends, 30 Rock, Parks & Rec, etc. Even more niche shows like Stargate, Babylon 5, Star Trek get good consistent viewership despite not being huge hits. Heck, Netflix paid like $500 million to get the streaming rights to Seinfeld. It's so disappointing that Netflix isn't preparing itself for the long term. If they can make a long running show that consistently gets high viewership like The Office, then they wouldn't have to pay hundreds of millions to license them out from other studios.
They don't want that steady, but long term success. They want that big, breakout hit that dominates the conversation NOW. Which is short sighted and stupid, but I have no way else to explain why they do what they do.
That's the thing, they don't care about the data or long term gains. The only metric they care about is new subscribers and if a show doesn't bring in enough new subscribers then they can it.
I've been angry at Netflix for cancelling shows earlier, but the cancellation of 1899 this January made me furious. They KNEW they had competent showrunners and writers who previously hade made (according to me) one of, if not the best, shows ever, Dark, and the butcherd 1899 after one season. They knew these were people who had planned out a longer story in the same sense they made Dark, three seasons, planned out in advanced, and we did not get the whole story. That was the last drop for me.
I think the worst part is that in the same month, they decided to renew this show called Mo. Now let me get this clear (or to fill in if you haven't watched the show yet), Mo is actually amazing. It's co-created by Ramy Youssef and is definitely one of the best shows in Netflix's catalogue but what was frustrating is that it got renewed five months after it's release. Meanwhile, 1899 got canned a month and a half after it's release that coincided with both the FIFA World Cup as well as the releases of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever _and_ Wednesday. Bo and Jantje literally got fucking hoed in every possible way with how Netlfix treated 1899. 😭
Exactly. I didn't find Dark until about a year after it was released and loved it. Watched all three seasons. Expecting people to immediately watch new shows or they get cancelled is so shortsighted.
100% agreed. Another thing is that even with the binge model, a show needs to have time to gain traction. It needs time for people to discover it and start watching. Netflix has a problem with discoverability too, something I feel is a huge factor into why so many shows get cancelled. There are just so many shows vying for attention, and often I'll be watching one of their own shows while they already want me to watch another, then announcing cancellation. Streaming also used to mean being able to watch anytime, but slowly Netflix has started to guilt-tripping into wanting viewers to 'watch now'. Cancelling a show before it gains traction is like calling a race before many have even left the starting line.
Their cancelling of Inside Job is what did it for me. A popular show they actually DID renew, then for some reason known only to them, changed their mind about. My favorite new show, and one of their few good adult-oriented animated shows. Instead, they decided to spend their money on season 7 of Big Mouth... ugh.
I still like Big Mouth, and they gave it a many year renewal a while ago before a lot of this, but this is glaring example. Inside Job can NOT have been an expensive show and still got the ax.
Inside Job is what broke me. I got invested in the characters and was looking forward to how the relationship between characters was going to evolve only to have the rug snatched from under the fans.
Netflix is very much the epitome of the saying "can't see the forest for the trees". They are so beholden to their algorithm. They want a big network/forest, so they want big shows/trees. But their algorithm keeps telling them to cut down their trees because they won't be big enough, but you can't have a forest if you cut down all but the 3 or 4 big trees.
I’m still disappointed how Netflix treated their animation department like nothing lately. Animation is one the most important and unique art forms in the entertainment industry. It’s a beautiful medium with so much potential. And Netflix simply doesn’t care. We lost Jeff Smith’s Bone, Lauren Faust’s Toil and Trouble, Wings of Fire, Boons and Curses, Ember (From the creators of Klaus) and Inside Job. And for what? For more reality shows, movies like 365 Days and shows like Big Mouth?
Not getting bone is tragic. It is so unbelievably perfect for a cartoon just get a bunch of animators copies of the book and give them as much time as they need and it could be huge. That atmosphere and world and charm of bone is so endearing it really would make for a perfect cartoon
The first time a Netflix cancellation really hurt was Sense8 but at least we were given some sort of conclusion there even if it was incredibly rushed. The one that just felt pointless and unjustified was Julie and the Phantoms. It was a cute tween sitcom that definitely didn't cost much to produce yet they cancelled it despite incredibly enthusiastic audience reception and critical acclaim.
So true. It was at this Time (sense8 annulation then last Season because of all the social pression) that i lost any trust in their decision too. Julie ATP was a waste of good ideas... It still has everything to be a futur must (like HSM back in time) :x
They canceled it because of poor viewer numbers - because viewers weren't interested in a show that might be canceled, leading it to be canceled. Netflix are their own worst enemy.
1899 was the big neon sign that something is wrong with the Netflix model. Take creators of a hit, know that its 3 arcs across 3 seasons, produce a great first season, and then cancel it out of no where.
@@manicdan481 It's not just a problem with the audience. If I were a showrunner, why would I trust Netflix after I've seen what they've done with 1899?
The "8 hour movie" point is what really gets me with a lot of these shows. There are shows I liked but never watched again after the initial pass through, because they didn't stand up in isolation. Whereas I'll rewatch episodes of others every now and again, even things like The Good Place which were quite serialised, because episodes could stand on their own amongst the broader plot progression.
Honestly don’t think I could have worded it better than Drew did. I now refuse to start a show on Netflix until I see that it’s already in its final season or it’s confirmed to be in production 😂
@@robertwild9447 Glow was forgivable because it was cancelled due to COVID (and a show based around wrestling is the absolute worst case scenario for it), though Inside Job's second season did get canned mid production, so there's that.
I remember when Netflix first started OITNB was confirmed for Season 2 before Season 1 was even airing. And then later, I think House of Cards was renewed for like 2 seasons at once. There was a time where Netflix committed to longer time investments with projects. I think back then, they also had less shows to promote and track (and original content was so rare and popular!)>
@@severeerror52 inside job was the first animated show I enjoyed In years... I was actually mad about it getting canned. Especially because a lot of people liked it. Makes no sense... Fuck netflix lol
Santa Clarita Diet is one that still gets me. Right as Joel became a zombie, the romance started to pay off and we just started to get answers as to what the hell was going on. They canned the shows.
I genuinely never understood why Netflix kept sticking with the binge model for new releases. Weekly releases are a great way to keep sustained interest and discussion around your show, whereas releasing everything in a big chunk will make it so a sizable chunk of your viewers actively stay away from discussions because they haven’t finished watching it yet.
honestly i agree, although it’s quite annoying waiting for a new episode of the mandalorian once a week, it’s so good for staying in the conversation and talking to friends who are watching as well
I think their attitude is that "discourse" is over-rated and that the vast majority of their viewers aren't reading weekly re-caps and the like and would rather just have all the episodes conveniently ready to watch at their own pace.
Netflix is digging their own grave. If we get the password sharing ban in my country and my sisters (different) country, we’ll definitely cancel right away.
We have agreed the same thing here in the UK with our family. We use our daughter’s subscription and she lives in a different town. In return she shares our passwords for a couple of others. We all decided, if Netflix tries that crap on us, they’re gone and I’ll set up a Disney subscription for my daughters to share. Netflix’s movie quality is uniformly terrible, when it comes to franchises from outside their own stable. Has a movie just been released that got panned by the critics and flopped at the box office? THAT is what Netflix will be screening in two weeks, GUARANTEED. Invested in a TV series and want to see how it ends? CANCELLED! Want to share your pain with family members? PAY MORE OR WATCH ADVERTS! Wait? Watch ads? That’s why we PAY for streaming services in the first place! To get away from adverts! It is clear that Netflix has no respect for their customers, and no care for the quality of their output. They DO love MONEY and they WORSHIP their f*cking ALGORITHM like a god! And in their blind rush to get inside your wallet, they’ve abandoned any relationship with the public, all attempts at positive PR and any pretence of artistic integrity or quality control. I actually HATE Netflix now, and I used to like them. I think a lot of people in the wealthier western countries will abandon Netflix if they try this now. We only use it very occasionally now, but it’s more a case of not bothering to delete the app than caring whether they up and vanished into a puff of smoke one day. Wow! . . . That was a bit of rant, wasn’t it? I feel better now. Thanks for your patience. ✌️
Yup. The price point is completely unwarranted, considering they throw away money on big stars to make stupid action movies literally no one asked for while also cancelling any show before they even get any traction.
@@Zeppelinschaffner22 : Ah yes, I’d almost forgotten their squandering mountains of cash on forgettable action movies that literally no one wants for their collections, or can even remember the title of. You’re just left asking, “Why?” Tax dodging maybe? But the very reason I’d forgotten these movies is because they’re SO forgettable.
@@ashroskell Don't also forget they are wasting resources developing games. Those things costs money to make right? Why not focus on the reason why they exists: Streaming tv and movie!
The fact that everyone has at least one show that they were upset to see got cancelled says a lot. For me, I Am Not Okay With This, The Society, Santa Clarita Diet, Daybreak, and Inside Out were shows that I actually enjoyed a lot, and it sucked to see them just end unceremoniously.
I would love to see a Netflix ad that was apologetically self aware, like: “…here comes another cringey adult animated comedy you won’t watch!”, “…another terrible rom com we will make a trilogy out of!”, “…enjoy a mystery show we’ll cancel before you even get a chance to know it existed!”
I’m super grateful Castlevania was able to do a full run. It’s a miracle it turned out so well to begin with, let alone being able to complete the story without getting axed.
It’s for this very reason that I prefer shows that are of a limited series nature. There’s no room to cancel a show like that, plus I get the full story and don’t have to wait a year to see how the story progresses. I’ve been burnt by Netflix enough to get too invested in shows they put out.
I’m not into week to week personally. But I am tired of Netflix canceling everything. I agree and prefer that they just make less shows so they would have a better chance of some longevity instead of what they’re doing now. I was literally having this conversation with my dad the other day. About the irony of them canceling everything when they used to be known as the police to go save shows. 😅
To this day, I still haven't forgiven Netflix for canceling Bone, the books are great and they deserved a series after going through so many companies and development hell
I heard the reason why it was cancelled was similar to why it was cancelled over at Nickeleodean and Warner Bros. So its less of a netflix problem with why Bone cant find a home and more of an industry issue
I'm mad at them about that too. I cancelled Netflix in 2020 since I watched everything there I was interested in and I wanted to start a Hulu subscription since the reboot of Animaniacs was about to start. It's 2023 and I'm still happy with Hulu. I had been planning to go back to Netflix after a few years but as soon as I heard they canceled Bone, I changed my plans. Hulu has enough cartoons and anime for me to be happy. Cartoons and anime are all I watched on Netflix. Besides a couple seasons of Stranger Things. I started losing interest during the third season.
As a massive fan of Netflix's Dark, I was so pissed that they canceled 1899 within 2 weeks of its release. I loved the multilingual elements and I had full faith in the directors to tie up all loose ends like they did in Dark. Sadly it now looks like we'll never know.
I Couldn’t have said this better. I have stopped watching new shows and wait and let the seasons build up and to see if there is an actual ending. I’m fed up investing my time in a show only to find I’m left without the ending. After all I wouldn’t buy a book if the last two chapters were missing. it’s the same with shows. If production companies have to cancel a show at least and I believe they owe it to fans of the show to end it probably not just leave us hanging. Unfortunately it is not just Netflix that does this other streaming services do it to as does terrestrial TV.
the thing about other streaming service and tv they do cancel shows but there shows don't always end at a cliffhanger that's why it doesn't hurt to watch on other platforms where as 90% of Netflix cancelled shows always end on a cliffhanger.
09:32 "Not every show is gonna be a Stranger Things or Squid Game level hit"... funny you say that, because The OA or even Glow were big hits in their first season... awesome video, I thought about all this for a while, the amount of shows they've canceled in the last few years is staggering and the recent Archive 81 really left me with a sour taste... all those clues and details in a mistery box show were for nothing... but then I also think a few years back when they canceled something like Sense8, or Mindhunter... that excitement we had around Netflix shows is totally gone, it's only very low bar content now, I think it has also something to do with the fact that when you kick out great directors/authors like The Wachowskys, David Fincher... these artists will think twice before doing a multi season level story with you. In fact, there's no big directors on the platform anymore... and it shows.
Great video, I remember being outraged by ‘Friends from College’ - two seasons with a big cliff hanger at the end of season 2 then cancelled. I agree with other commenters about not watching a show unless someone’s confirmed that it has an actual ending
That library metaphor is extremely apt. So many people have been burned and the competition is too fierce now for them to turn the ship around, IMO. Too many people have lost faith & the company’s name is not really thought of when you’re talking about quality product.
I will always mourn Sense8 and Daredevil. And technically, Bojack Horseman was also cancelled. They just had the luxury of being told in advance so they could figure out how to wrap up the show.
Would love to get your take on the strengths and weaknesses of more serialized vs more episodic shows, and which shows used each structure best. For example, you mentioned the X-files, which I always felt did much better with stand-alone episodes rather than ones that tied into the overarching plot.
I think this is one of the reason's Wednesday and The Sandman did so well. It told a single contained story that worked so well. Yes, they had great stories, but they work as single contained seasons, that can be rewatched and enjoyed.
Could not agree more. I just can't be bothered with Netflix anymore, not only does it suck to have your new favourite show be cancelled, but, there is so much on there it's difficult, no impossible to keep up. Also I'm still feeling the sting from The OA cancellation. 😢
Yeah, the cancellation of The OA still hurts. I rewatch it sometimes, trying to understand why. I can't see it. This show was amazing, so well written. Netflix should give it at least another season.
I heard people were crushed by the cancellation of FIREFLY.... mine was FLASH FORWARD... it had potential!!!! SENSE 8 was said to be good, I need to watch that! Flash Forward was serialized... so it really preceded the modern netflix trend
@@WithScienceAsMySheperd Did you ever read the novel FlashForward? It didn't end on a cliffhanger like the show and had a proper bonkers conclusion. I liked it a lot. Highly recommend. It was pretty short too.
The whole ‘no stand out single episode’ thing had occurred to me before but one thing I’m seeing now is that, with television, you had to grab the attention of folks who had stumbled across the channel. Whereas, with Netflix, you have to keep people clicking ‘next episode’.
I really will never understand why Julie and the Phantoms got canceled. It had a decent fan base, people were making merch for the show on Etsy, tiktok accounts and cosplays, etc. I know if they had done a concert tour like they planned for I believe after season 2. And they would not sell Kenny Ortega the rights which just did not make any sense to me at all (like if you don’t want the show anyway then why would you not want to sell it).
The OA was one of the most intriguing and fresh ideas for a show I had seen in a long time. Gutted it was canceled after the huge cliff hanger in season 2. What a waste.
I didn't like OA at first but watching season 2 made watching season one worth it. They were taking the show Into some truly Interesting directions. I really wanted to know what they were going to do next.
One of the other issues with the serialized, mystery-box, multi-season show that never gets past Season 1 (this issue goes toward the writers as opposed to Netflix) is that the writers are hoping they'll improve enough as a writer over the course of multiple seasons to write a decent ending to their story. It's far easier to end on a cliffhanger than it is to satisfyingly answer all the questions and end the story. The writers of these shows often start out as simply being not talented enough to pull that off. As an author myself (deep in writing a multibook series), I can completely relate to this issue, it's very real.
I’m actually in the same situation. The series of books I’m writing feed off one another but what’s crucial in my planning is each book needs to tell a complete story even though there are returning elements and sequel hooks in each. If I stopped writing after the first tale then the characters I initially presented still had an enjoyable arc. The second one had new characters but also familiar elements from the first tale and so forth. The fourth one did require some knowledge from the third but otherwise I have endeavored to keep them largely self-contained with a complete story told in each book. This model I used was very much informed by what I dislike about the current state of over serialized television and film.
I think this isn't a writer-specific problem since current executives are so utterly obssessed with franchise potential that even Glass Onion had to be branded as "A Knives Out Mystery", they couldn't even go for a more subdued "A Benoit Blanc Mystery", no, they had to jam the title of another movie right onto the new one... Writers may have to inflate their own story instead of commiting to it as it stands due to the fear of being passed by these executives, food for thought, but just how many Mini-series are launched per year and how many of them have already established names within their teams? An example would be HBO's Watchmen, the show just finished telling the story it wanted, but without Damon Lindelof or even the legacy of the Comic Book it sort of it's a sequel to, I doubt they would've allowed such a thing. Of course, this doesn't apply to everyone and there are very real cases of the obviously planned as multi-season shows that end within one season, like 2019's Swamp Thing, for some reason the writers couldn't control themselves and kept jamming new characters onto the last chapters merely to build hype into expanding the universe despite undermining the narrative at play...
This is true, but then you have to be careful not to lose track of the themes, mood, and direction you were going with in the earlier installments lest the audience be left with a feeling of; “How the heck did we get to where we are?” It’s good to have an ending in mind for your story to work towards, even if it’s not very specific at first.
Weekly releases work so much better, as it allows those water cooler moments where anticipation is built, fan theorise online, and new viewers have a chance to jump in and catch up before a season finale. When it’s all dumped out in one go, it really stifles talk around them, and leave viewers in a ‘I’ll get round to it’ mentality. A few of my friends are into Stranger Things, but our conversations were either ‘I haven’t watched it all yet’, or ‘yeah it was good’ and that’s all they have to offer because it’s hard to remember more than a few standout moments when you’ve slammed 8 hours in one go. On the other hand, we were all less so into Westworld, but would talk continuously about each episode and what we thought was happening. Essentially, weekly releases keep hype and buzz going for a good couple of months, rather than a couple of weeks, and surely Netflix would benefit from people staying subbed for longer...
@@PtrkHrnk Torchwood’s (the Dr Who spinoff) 3rd season back in 2010, was a 5 episode mini-series that aired at 9pm Monday through Friday, and was billed as a week long event. Everyone got into it, and the episodes are the highest rated of the entire 4 seasons. Imagine if Stranger Things dropped its first episode on on a Saturday or Sunday, then one each day ending on the following Sunday? Spaced out enough for people to keep up, but condensed enough for people not to loose interest, but you could also save them and binge on the finale weekend if you wanted. Easier to avoid spoilers for a week than a couple of months 👍
Santa Clarita Diet is what did it for me. Absolutely loved the show, and got partway through what turned out to be the final season when I learned it had been canceled. I stopped watching the remainder at that point and never finished it, knowing that it ends on an unresolved cliffhanger.
The weird thing is Netflix was built on the high success of just a few hits. Breaking Bad, House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, The Office, etc. It was very strange to me when they decided to create a huge amount of new shows. Once all the studios started to call back their original shows, I was sure their strategy going forward would be to craft a few high quality gems that drum up attention. It’s weird how they’re still chasing the high of their early success by doing the complete opposite strategy
I would be happy if they gave every show that reached e.g. 85% of what was needed for a revival one last half-season and those that'd reach 70% a final special episode or something. It's honestly getting stressful becoming invested in these shows you half-expect will end on a cliffhanger that'll haunt you for eternity.
You showed a lot of the one that broke me, Archive 81. That was it, I had enough. It was not only great but ends on the kind of cliffhanger that reminded me of HBO's Carnival. The other one I will never, ever forgive. I refuse to watch any series on Netflix anymore, it's not worth the heartbreak.
We've come up against financial issues, like thousands of other people, and when looking for things to cut Netflix was top of the list. It's crazy that what used to be our personal number 1, the service we kept through everything else, was the first to go.
it's agonizing at this point. Netflix took a full summer to decide whether they were going to renew The Sandman, and it almost made me regret watching it in fear that a show I loved so much was going to be cancelled.
OMG! The wait for that announcement was slow torture. I stopped watching Netflix original series because I don't want to invest the time and energy into something they're going to cancel. I feared for Sandman's future.
I'll never forgive Netflix for canceling The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, and right after it won an Emmy too!. The care and artistry that went into it had me feeling as spellbound as I was watching the original.
truly!! especially them making a behind the scenes about the creation of all the puppets. citing budget issues is so bullshit, how many new puppets and sets do you really need?? you've made 70% of your work already!!
Netflix should focus on limited series. The Queen’s Gambit was a great limited series. Limited series would prevent the outrage from cancellations, and would force them to have a complete story fit within the limited series’ episodes.
What really gets me about the Archive 81 cancellation was that the show reportedly did quite well when it aired and yet Netflix cancelled it a couple months after the first season dropped
I think you're right about shows that have an episodic "backbone". You can still have a serialized story but with tons of smaller adventures as well, allowing for individual episodes to work as satisfying narratives. This way years after a show was released people can go back and watch these episodes, even if the show was cancelled and the main story didn't get an ending. With these eight hour movies, however, because it's entirely serialized the only way to watch the show is to view it all the way from start to finish. Because of this you have to have an ending for the show, or else there's no point in watching it.
I’ve realized I’m a fan of a 2-3 Episode premiere drop and then weekly after. Enough to grab my interest and watch week to week. However, I was so upset when they cancelled Warrior Nun. Netflix dumped it in the middle of Wednesday and The Crown knowing it was going to be cancelled. That hurt even more. Archive 81 was a solid hit and they cancelled it on a massive cliffhanger! It was gaining viewers every week.
I was excited to see 1899 but knew I would not get around to it right away. I loved Dark and was very interested in this new show and it has been canceled before I could even start the show.
Scrolling through Netflix now feels like scrolling through an endless sea of sludge. I've recently found HBO Max to just feel so much better and offer much better choices, so to hear that they're merging with Discovery+ to turn Max into another Netflix-like sea of sludge was incredibly disappointing.
Dayseekers, Archive 81, and (even though i didn't think I'd like it) Warrior Nun were all such great shows! I was so excited to see what was going to happen in the next season. How naïve i was at the time.
I think one of the issues, which you touched upon, was the binge model. With an 8+ episode binge model, you're incentivized to make one long movie that is roughly cut up into chapters rather than 8+ narratives that have some beginning, middle, and end while still maintaining an overall narrative. One potential problem is that this model encourages bloated, mystery box shows that can be poorly paced or introduce exposition at an incorrect rate. When you have a serialized TV show, you generally have to make sure that your episode ending has an actual ending. It's not to say that you can't have cliff hangers but that not every episode is a cliff hanger. Of course, you can have binge TV that does this model really well, in the same way that you can have serial television that is overly episodic. But the more that one explores only one type of release strategy, the more than these flaws come to light. When you're watching a binge Netflix show, then you have to commit to the whole season, or else you'll like miss a good chunk of the narrative. Contrast this to some of the better serial television, and the pilot episode usually has to have enough narrative sustenance to make you interested in the show while keeping you filled until the next episode.
The fact that I haven't even heard of most of the shows mentioned here, says something. Unless I'm actively seeking things out, I have no idea these shows exist. People binge them in a week or two, then they get canceled.
The cancellation of Glow and Mindhunter made me give up on Netflix. I don't even try new Netflix originals anymore because I don't expect them to go anywhere other than the garbage bin.
I quit after they canceled Dark Crystal, which I'd waited so long to get made. They're going to be screwed big time once Stranger Things ends, and I don't think any amount of spinoffs will bring people back, at least not in the numbers the main series has. They'd probably be in even worse trouble if they weren't slapping the ST logo on everything too, that merch money is a big piggybank.
Also, the best part about TV is watching an episode and talking to your friends the next day about it, or live tweeting the finale. There are so many shows, most people have never seen. It’s hard to watch a good show and have no one to geek out over it with.
Jupiter’s Legacy. It was actually the number one show on Netflix and they canceled it on the season ending cliffhanger. I read the comic book so I knew what was going to happen in the story. I just wanted to see how they would adapt to television. I was really enjoying it.
I get the bad feeling that instead of going the problem is we are upsetting too many fans they will blame some other factor when number head the wrong way.
Yeah, Netflix really shooting themselves in the foot. After getting burned by the cancelation of I'm not okay with this, I gave up. Why waste my time on a show that's got a 90% chance of getting canceled before seeing resolution. And they just keep canceling shows an expecting people to watch their shit? It's madness
Maaaan... I logged off netflix shows after JUPITER'S LEGACY. Each comic arc resolves in their own volume, and netflix decided to end the season of the first arc on a cliffhanger, to inmediately cancel the show. Compared to THE NIGHT AGENT, a sony tv/netflix prod that ended their main arc and opened the door to another type of story, if they continue. Is baffling to me in a model so unstable, they decide to not do complete arcs per season. Saludos desde Panamá.
When it comes to streaming shows, Netflix may be the worst at continuing shows that people liked. They just cancel at the shows with cliffhanger endings of Story Driven Animated Series. RIP Inside Job and Dead End Paranormal Park.
I love how Dark Crystal won a ton of awards and got canned after only a single season. Like obviously the show didn't pop off in the first season, but word of mouth started spreading. I think it had potential of being a huge show. Idk how Netflix uses the excuse of "not enough viewership, so not worth the money spent." Because cancelling a show just to create 10 other shows that suck even harder is totally worth the money.
Hey man. Thanks for continuing to make these smallish digestible pop culture essays. I find your style pleasant to listen to and your topics fun to think on.
I think that having literally a dumpster filled with murdered kids in a school,tanked the chances of the show being renewed. Excellent idea,great concept for an apocalypse show but, not much interest in keep it going. #AngelicaRuledThatShow
I agree about binging. It can be fun but I feel taking one episode can be a little more beneficial. And that is something I noticed about Netflix's serialized shows. Because they're said by fans to be less TV shows and more 8 to 13 hour movies, it seems less like the episodes can work as stand-alone and more as chapters of a whole. The issue I've had with it is that it makes discussions of individual episodes rare. There are some exceptions like say Bojack Horseman and even recently the newest season of Stranger Things. Speaking of the latter, that shows does really have episodes that work as stand-alone but the issue is that individual episodes don't get discussed as much as seasons as a show.
For me, it depends on the show. I like Ted Lasso for example, but i really enjoyed binging it when I was catching up on it, but I don't love watching it weekly. I'm not always a fan of a weekly show being a two month long commitment. I get that the weekly format is better in the long run, I just wish there was a middle ground where you could air 3 episodes a week, or something like that.
Netflix: "Got it. So we'll keep making Love is Blind spinoffs, sports docs, and true crime series that have enough content to be a 10 minute TH-cam video. Oh, while raising prices and disallowing sharing 😊"
Every time I like a show they cancel it... every... single... time... I'm not watching anything they do ever again until the show has run its course of full 5-6 seasons with a proper ending.
The Last Kingdom was very smart in it's "season finale" approach, as the last episode of each season closed all of the main storylines started at that season, without much of a cliffhanger. Of course some bits were here and there, but as something you could foresee, so if the show got suddenly canceled, at the least the conclusion would be satisfactory
The Last Kingdom is genuinely a Netflix miracle. The fact that the show completed a 5 season run along with a movie finale blows my mind given how it was barely marketed. One of my favorite shows of all time. So glad it got a complete story and finished Cornwell's saga.
They need to revise their animations, shows or create new ones that fans like! They could create DreamWork Rise of the Guardians series,Reboot Ralph Banshee Cool World,Captain Planet,Freakazoid,Gen 13,Magic Tree House,Alice Madness return or Kid icarus like they did with Carmen San Diego, Castlevania, blood of Zeus, and even She-Ra! They also should put a new anime!
If renewing is that risky for them (right now) why don't they focus on producing more limited series? Increase the episodes from 10 to 20 maybe and make a well written, properly paced show with a good start & ending. It worked for the queens gambit and it was incredibly popular too.
It broke my heart when years back Marco Polo released and Netflix did barley any effort to sell the show. It was supposed to be their big thing to compete with Vikings and game of thrones but it seems like they just didn’t care about it. Despite that, with it’s 2 seasons I think it’s still one of their best shows.
I really enjoyed 1899, but wasn't terribly surprised that it was cancelled. Both HBO and Netflix seem to have contempt for scripted dramas now. I know it has a lot to do with the changes in company leadership and the frantic desire to generate profits over maintaining customer loyalty and quality productions.
I am still dumbfounded and utterly speechless that it was even considered, much less actually decided, to cancel Dark Crystal. With the years of hype, production cost, and following that the original had, it feels like an extremely moronic move that I have never forgiven Netflix for.
Heck, even Nikelodeons' old model is much superior. No show would get MORE than 3 seasons. So at least you knew what you had to work with in order to complete your story. An upward bound for when you needed to wrap it up. I think that would have been much more effective at building up a catalogue of shows people would care about.
You should make a video about Dirk Gently, one Netflix's most underrated shows. As most shows it was canceled prematurely and very rarely gets talked about
Tbh, the weekly model is only beneficial to really good shows like BCS. Weekly releases give time to dive deep into the Details of the episode, which BCS offered, but shows like The Mandalorian Season 3, TBOBF, or Kenobi all suffer under the weekly release schedule because it reveals their pacing issues and story loopholes on a silverplate. Binge Watching sth like BCS might make you miss some great details and subtext, but binge watching shows like the Disney+ ones would make them seem less bad
Another reason I hate the binge format is that you can wait years for a new season to drop and then when it does it's over in single week leaving you waiting another year for the next season. Plus with weekly basis shows discussion circulates a lot more and it's fun to experience alongside everyone instead of in a bubble on your own time
Dude even weekly shows come back for eight episodes every two or three years if you're lucky. The binge model is not the issue here. Production values in television are higher and more expensive to produce, so they just make less. Plus, I theorize, a bit of good old fashioned laziness.
Excellent points, glad to see attention being brought to this! A series that is canceled has absolutely zero chance of being watched by potential new fans. No one wants to be left hanging. GLOW was a major stab in the back being the only show to get UN-renewed. (I hear everyone got paid so that was nice) but seriously, they should make movie enders to some of these properties to show they care. This would at least make the content evergreen instead of dead on the vine. Netflix needs to flat out commit to a minimum of two seasons, the second being the end if the first one doesn't get anywhere near the ratings they want. Netflix is so bad now that a lot of people I know (and other comments I see) wont even pick up a series until they know it has a proper ending. Which again, feeds the problem. We need official commitment.
Netflix is just the modern day blockbuster. You spend hours looking for something and end up grabbing some crap that’s usually crap but you hope it’s a gem but it never is.
I gave up on Netflix last year, and it certainly didn't help that they consistently cancel shows I'm a big fan of such as OA and Altered Carbon. The the difference with Fox was that while the channel continually frustrated viewers with their cancellations (don't even get me started on Briscoe County Jr, Firefly or The Terminator Chronicles) no one was paying to access their channel specifically, they were just part of a broader cable package. So you could always go back to them and give a new show a shot since there was no additional monetary investment in doing so.
Netflix should release their original shows one episode per week, but upload their bought and finished shows like Community, Parks and Rec, New Girl all at once
As someone who’s not big on shows id say Netflix cancelling everything sucks but if you’re a big movie watcher Netflix is still the best option especially for international stuff and indie films
I saw a tweet from Netflix announcing a new original animated series called Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld, and roughly 90% of the replies were, "This looks really cool; too bad Netflix will kill it after one season." I'll watch it just to support original shows (which are becoming rare these days), but I don't expect it to last. Netflix has betrayed their userbase way too many times. Inside Job was a really popular animated series they killed way too soon, so a lot of people don't trust Netflix anymore.
The worst case you didn’t discuss was the ironically titled, “I’m not ok with this” - the show ends right as she discovers she has powers, we didn’t get to find out what happened afterwards
I loved that show! Was heartbroken when I found out it got cancelled 😢
That one really hurt especially because it was initially renewed for a second season and then they changed their mind and cancelled it
This was the cancellation that made me write off all Netflix shows. Sure, there were other shows I liked that got cancelled but this one infuuuuuriated me.
Yep one of the most disastrous cancellations and such a great show while it lasted.
That was a damn good show
It's just weird that Netflix doesn't seem to be looking at its own data. Because the shows that get the most consistently high streaming numbers are the long running one like The Office, Friends, 30 Rock, Parks & Rec, etc. Even more niche shows like Stargate, Babylon 5, Star Trek get good consistent viewership despite not being huge hits. Heck, Netflix paid like $500 million to get the streaming rights to Seinfeld.
It's so disappointing that Netflix isn't preparing itself for the long term. If they can make a long running show that consistently gets high viewership like The Office, then they wouldn't have to pay hundreds of millions to license them out from other studios.
They don't want that steady, but long term success. They want that big, breakout hit that dominates the conversation NOW.
Which is short sighted and stupid, but I have no way else to explain why they do what they do.
@@stephaniewozny3852 Because capitalism is short sighted and their investors want to see a boost in subscribers now.
Getting the rights to Seinfeld was probably a better investment than the equivalent cost of however many failed shows it would take to match that.
"Just make several new the office's. Its simple as that 😃"
That's the thing, they don't care about the data or long term gains. The only metric they care about is new subscribers and if a show doesn't bring in enough new subscribers then they can it.
I've been angry at Netflix for cancelling shows earlier, but the cancellation of 1899 this January made me furious. They KNEW they had competent showrunners and writers who previously hade made (according to me) one of, if not the best, shows ever, Dark, and the butcherd 1899 after one season. They knew these were people who had planned out a longer story in the same sense they made Dark, three seasons, planned out in advanced, and we did not get the whole story. That was the last drop for me.
I think the worst part is that in the same month, they decided to renew this show called Mo.
Now let me get this clear (or to fill in if you haven't watched the show yet), Mo is actually amazing. It's co-created by Ramy Youssef and is definitely one of the best shows in Netflix's catalogue but what was frustrating is that it got renewed five months after it's release. Meanwhile, 1899 got canned a month and a half after it's release that coincided with both the FIFA World Cup as well as the releases of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever _and_ Wednesday. Bo and Jantje literally got fucking hoed in every possible way with how Netlfix treated 1899. 😭
Exactly. I didn't find Dark until about a year after it was released and loved it. Watched all three seasons. Expecting people to immediately watch new shows or they get cancelled is so shortsighted.
100% agreed. Another thing is that even with the binge model, a show needs to have time to gain traction. It needs time for people to discover it and start watching. Netflix has a problem with discoverability too, something I feel is a huge factor into why so many shows get cancelled. There are just so many shows vying for attention, and often I'll be watching one of their own shows while they already want me to watch another, then announcing cancellation. Streaming also used to mean being able to watch anytime, but slowly Netflix has started to guilt-tripping into wanting viewers to 'watch now'. Cancelling a show before it gains traction is like calling a race before many have even left the starting line.
Their cancelling of Inside Job is what did it for me. A popular show they actually DID renew, then for some reason known only to them, changed their mind about. My favorite new show, and one of their few good adult-oriented animated shows. Instead, they decided to spend their money on season 7 of Big Mouth... ugh.
I still like Big Mouth, and they gave it a many year renewal a while ago before a lot of this, but this is glaring example. Inside Job can NOT have been an expensive show and still got the ax.
Inside Job is what broke me. I got invested in the characters and was looking forward to how the relationship between characters was going to evolve only to have the rug snatched from under the fans.
I was going to watch Inside Job too, but since it's canceled, I'm not going to be bothered.
And it was so fucking funny!
THIS ONE ☝🏾
Netflix is very much the epitome of the saying "can't see the forest for the trees".
They are so beholden to their algorithm. They want a big network/forest, so they want big shows/trees. But their algorithm keeps telling them to cut down their trees because they won't be big enough, but you can't have a forest if you cut down all but the 3 or 4 big trees.
I’m still disappointed how Netflix treated their animation department like nothing lately. Animation is one the most important and unique art forms in the entertainment industry. It’s a beautiful medium with so much potential. And Netflix simply doesn’t care.
We lost Jeff Smith’s Bone, Lauren Faust’s Toil and Trouble, Wings of Fire, Boons and Curses, Ember (From the creators of Klaus) and Inside Job. And for what? For more reality shows, movies like 365 Days and shows like Big Mouth?
Not getting bone is tragic. It is so unbelievably perfect for a cartoon just get a bunch of animators copies of the book and give them as much time as they need and it could be huge. That atmosphere and world and charm of bone is so endearing it really would make for a perfect cartoon
The first time a Netflix cancellation really hurt was Sense8 but at least we were given some sort of conclusion there even if it was incredibly rushed. The one that just felt pointless and unjustified was Julie and the Phantoms. It was a cute tween sitcom that definitely didn't cost much to produce yet they cancelled it despite incredibly enthusiastic audience reception and critical acclaim.
So true. It was at this Time (sense8 annulation then last Season because of all the social pression) that i lost any trust in their decision too.
Julie ATP was a waste of good ideas... It still has everything to be a futur must (like HSM back in time) :x
My sister & her friend was upset that Julie & the phantoms got cancelled
That they canceled 1899 was offensive... It's even sad to think that if Dark was released on current Netflix, it would probably also be cancelled.
It looked good... but I didn't watch it because I wanted to know a second season was coming.
They canceled it because of poor viewer numbers - because viewers weren't interested in a show that might be canceled, leading it to be canceled. Netflix are their own worst enemy.
1899 was overhyped nonsense that felt it didn't go anywhere. One of the rare occasions cancellation was right.
1899 was the big neon sign that something is wrong with the Netflix model. Take creators of a hit, know that its 3 arcs across 3 seasons, produce a great first season, and then cancel it out of no where.
@@manicdan481 It's not just a problem with the audience. If I were a showrunner, why would I trust Netflix after I've seen what they've done with 1899?
The "8 hour movie" point is what really gets me with a lot of these shows. There are shows I liked but never watched again after the initial pass through, because they didn't stand up in isolation. Whereas I'll rewatch episodes of others every now and again, even things like The Good Place which were quite serialised, because episodes could stand on their own amongst the broader plot progression.
Yes and Crazy Ex Girlfriend. These are like the few I rewatch
Honestly don’t think I could have worded it better than Drew did. I now refuse to start a show on Netflix until I see that it’s already in its final season or it’s confirmed to be in production 😂
You can't even trust that. They canceled the final season of Glow mid production, and never aired what they shot.
@@robertwild9447 wow, I never got into Glow but that’d have been the final straw I’d something like that happened to a show I liked
@@robertwild9447 Glow was forgivable because it was cancelled due to COVID (and a show based around wrestling is the absolute worst case scenario for it), though Inside Job's second season did get canned mid production, so there's that.
I remember when Netflix first started OITNB was confirmed for Season 2 before Season 1 was even airing.
And then later, I think House of Cards was renewed for like 2 seasons at once.
There was a time where Netflix committed to longer time investments with projects. I think back then, they also had less shows to promote and track (and original content was so rare and popular!)>
@@severeerror52 inside job was the first animated show I enjoyed In years... I was actually mad about it getting canned. Especially because a lot of people liked it. Makes no sense... Fuck netflix lol
Santa Clarita Diet is one that still gets me. Right as Joel became a zombie, the romance started to pay off and we just started to get answers as to what the hell was going on. They canned the shows.
I stopped trusting Netflix originals after getting burned by SCD.
This
Yep, this is the one that really burned me
yeah that was my turning point for not trusting Netflix anymore too 😢
I bawled my eyes out cuz s4 was set up to be the best yet.
After they cancelled 1899 knowing the people who make Dark take three seasons to tell their stories, i definitely agree with the title of this video
Me, after they cancelled 1899: "Hastings, I'm in your walls."
I genuinely never understood why Netflix kept sticking with the binge model for new releases. Weekly releases are a great way to keep sustained interest and discussion around your show, whereas releasing everything in a big chunk will make it so a sizable chunk of your viewers actively stay away from discussions because they haven’t finished watching it yet.
Nah they are very articial and just feel like they're dragging things out. Besides binging works for shows that are more serialiezed.
Binging is their motto..always will be
honestly i agree, although it’s quite annoying waiting for a new episode of the mandalorian once a week, it’s so good for staying in the conversation and talking to friends who are watching as well
I think their attitude is that "discourse" is over-rated and that the vast majority of their viewers aren't reading weekly re-caps and the like and would rather just have all the episodes conveniently ready to watch at their own pace.
Their shows aren't strong enough for it. The draw isn't there to make effort and return, just to passively remain.
Netflix is digging their own grave. If we get the password sharing ban in my country and my sisters (different) country, we’ll definitely cancel right away.
We have agreed the same thing here in the UK with our family. We use our daughter’s subscription and she lives in a different town. In return she shares our passwords for a couple of others. We all decided, if Netflix tries that crap on us, they’re gone and I’ll set up a Disney subscription for my daughters to share. Netflix’s movie quality is uniformly terrible, when it comes to franchises from outside their own stable. Has a movie just been released that got panned by the critics and flopped at the box office? THAT is what Netflix will be screening in two weeks, GUARANTEED. Invested in a TV series and want to see how it ends? CANCELLED! Want to share your pain with family members? PAY MORE OR WATCH ADVERTS! Wait? Watch ads? That’s why we PAY for streaming services in the first place! To get away from adverts!
It is clear that Netflix has no respect for their customers, and no care for the quality of their output. They DO love MONEY and they WORSHIP their f*cking ALGORITHM like a god! And in their blind rush to get inside your wallet, they’ve abandoned any relationship with the public, all attempts at positive PR and any pretence of artistic integrity or quality control. I actually HATE Netflix now, and I used to like them.
I think a lot of people in the wealthier western countries will abandon Netflix if they try this now. We only use it very occasionally now, but it’s more a case of not bothering to delete the app than caring whether they up and vanished into a puff of smoke one day.
Wow! . . . That was a bit of rant, wasn’t it? I feel better now. Thanks for your patience. ✌️
Yup.
The price point is completely unwarranted, considering they throw away money on big stars to make stupid action movies literally no one asked for while also cancelling any show before they even get any traction.
@@Zeppelinschaffner22 : Ah yes, I’d almost forgotten their squandering mountains of cash on forgettable action movies that literally no one wants for their collections, or can even remember the title of. You’re just left asking, “Why?” Tax dodging maybe? But the very reason I’d forgotten these movies is because they’re SO forgettable.
Yeah, I'll go back to torrents for any netflix show that's worth watching if they do that
@@ashroskell Don't also forget they are wasting resources developing games. Those things costs money to make right? Why not focus on the reason why they exists: Streaming tv and movie!
The fact that everyone has at least one show that they were upset to see got cancelled says a lot. For me, I Am Not Okay With This, The Society, Santa Clarita Diet, Daybreak, and Inside Out were shows that I actually enjoyed a lot, and it sucked to see them just end unceremoniously.
The Society for me :(
@@mystic0screams what is wrong with cable tv and video stores to watch movies ?
Daybreak was so great
Final space
Santa Clarita was great
I would love to see a Netflix ad that was apologetically self aware, like: “…here comes another cringey adult animated comedy you won’t watch!”, “…another terrible rom com we will make a trilogy out of!”, “…enjoy a mystery show we’ll cancel before you even get a chance to know it existed!”
I’m super grateful Castlevania was able to do a full run. It’s a miracle it turned out so well to begin with, let alone being able to complete the story without getting axed.
It’s for this very reason that I prefer shows that are of a limited series nature. There’s no room to cancel a show like that, plus I get the full story and don’t have to wait a year to see how the story progresses. I’ve been burnt by Netflix enough to get too invested in shows they put out.
I’m not into week to week personally. But I am tired of Netflix canceling everything. I agree and prefer that they just make less shows so they would have a better chance of some longevity instead of what they’re doing now. I was literally having this conversation with my dad the other day. About the irony of them canceling everything when they used to be known as the police to go save shows. 😅
Now they're the police shooting all these young, innocent shows.
@@pressxtojason apologies for the typo. 😂 I was using my phone. I meant to say place. 😅
To this day, I still haven't forgiven Netflix for canceling Bone, the books are great and they deserved a series after going through so many companies and development hell
Bone is one of the few examples that made me mad... the author is well off, he does not 'need' a show, but all of us do.
I heard the reason why it was cancelled was similar to why it was cancelled over at Nickeleodean and Warner Bros. So its less of a netflix problem with why Bone cant find a home and more of an industry issue
I'm mad at them about that too. I cancelled Netflix in 2020 since I watched everything there I was interested
in and I wanted to start a Hulu subscription since the reboot of Animaniacs was about to start. It's 2023 and I'm
still happy with Hulu. I had been planning to go back to Netflix after a few years but as soon as I heard they canceled
Bone, I changed my plans. Hulu has enough cartoons and anime for me to be happy. Cartoons and anime are all I
watched on Netflix. Besides a couple seasons of Stranger Things. I started losing interest during the third season.
I was personally burned by Dark Crystal's cancelation. I will never forgive Netflix for that one.
You have my Dual Glaive, one of the very few times I've felt genuinely bummed.
That one and the OA are the two that really bummed me out
That show is an absolute spectacle in animation and fantasy, really hope they can continue telling stories in Thra sooner rather than later.
I was so hyped for that and fell off Did it end in a cliffhanger?!
It was expensive to produce, and nobody watched it. So, I get it. But Bone? Bojack Horseman? Sense8? *_Daredevil?!_*
As a massive fan of Netflix's Dark, I was so pissed that they canceled 1899 within 2 weeks of its release. I loved the multilingual elements and I had full faith in the directors to tie up all loose ends like they did in Dark. Sadly it now looks like we'll never know.
Seeing you give a shoutout to unknown TH-camrs like Drew Gooden warms my heart
😂
he has 3 million subscribers
With cinema and television dying
The streaming takes over
And even that is dying out
I Couldn’t have said this better. I have stopped watching new shows and wait and let the seasons build up and to see if there is an actual ending. I’m fed up investing my time in a show only to find I’m left without the ending. After all I wouldn’t buy a book if the last two chapters were missing. it’s the same with shows. If production companies have to cancel a show at least and I believe they owe it to fans of the show to end it probably not just leave us hanging. Unfortunately it is not just Netflix that does this other streaming services do it to as does terrestrial TV.
the thing about other streaming service and tv they do cancel shows but there shows don't always end at a cliffhanger that's why it doesn't hurt to watch on other platforms where as 90% of Netflix cancelled shows always end on a cliffhanger.
09:32 "Not every show is gonna be a Stranger Things or Squid Game level hit"... funny you say that, because The OA or even Glow were big hits in their first season... awesome video, I thought about all this for a while, the amount of shows they've canceled in the last few years is staggering and the recent Archive 81 really left me with a sour taste... all those clues and details in a mistery box show were for nothing... but then I also think a few years back when they canceled something like Sense8, or Mindhunter... that excitement we had around Netflix shows is totally gone, it's only very low bar content now, I think it has also something to do with the fact that when you kick out great directors/authors like The Wachowskys, David Fincher... these artists will think twice before doing a multi season level story with you. In fact, there's no big directors on the platform anymore... and it shows.
Great video, I remember being outraged by ‘Friends from College’ - two seasons with a big cliff hanger at the end of season 2 then cancelled. I agree with other commenters about not watching a show unless someone’s confirmed that it has an actual ending
Totally forgot about that show! I enjoyed it too.
That library metaphor is extremely apt. So many people have been burned and the competition is too fierce now for them to turn the ship around, IMO.
Too many people have lost faith & the company’s name is not really thought of when you’re talking about quality product.
I will always mourn Sense8 and Daredevil. And technically, Bojack Horseman was also cancelled. They just had the luxury of being told in advance so they could figure out how to wrap up the show.
Would love to get your take on the strengths and weaknesses of more serialized vs more episodic shows, and which shows used each structure best. For example, you mentioned the X-files, which I always felt did much better with stand-alone episodes rather than ones that tied into the overarching plot.
I think this is one of the reason's Wednesday and The Sandman did so well. It told a single contained story that worked so well. Yes, they had great stories, but they work as single contained seasons, that can be rewatched and enjoyed.
Could not agree more. I just can't be bothered with Netflix anymore, not only does it suck to have your new favourite show be cancelled, but, there is so much on there it's difficult, no impossible to keep up. Also I'm still feeling the sting from The OA cancellation. 😢
Yeah, the cancellation of The OA still hurts. I rewatch it sometimes, trying to understand why. I can't see it. This show was amazing, so well written. Netflix should give it at least another season.
Sense 8 being cancelled was the one that made me absolutely heartbroken I know we got the finale movie but it wasn't satisfying because it was rushed
It needed another true season to compete the arc, that movie felt incredibly rushed for the sake of just giving closure.
I heard people were crushed by the cancellation of FIREFLY....
mine was FLASH FORWARD... it had potential!!!! SENSE 8 was said to be good, I need to watch that!
Flash Forward was serialized... so it really preceded the modern netflix trend
@@WithScienceAsMySheperd flash forward had an amazing concept and never got the chance to fully gain traction.
@@WithScienceAsMySheperd
Did you ever read the novel FlashForward? It didn't end on a cliffhanger like the show and had a proper bonkers conclusion. I liked it a lot. Highly recommend. It was pretty short too.
The cancellation of Mindhunter was shocking. It was one of the best show they had on that platform.
It was woke bs
The whole ‘no stand out single episode’ thing had occurred to me before but one thing I’m seeing now is that, with television, you had to grab the attention of folks who had stumbled across the channel. Whereas, with Netflix, you have to keep people clicking ‘next episode’.
I really will never understand why Julie and the Phantoms got canceled. It had a decent fan base, people were making merch for the show on Etsy, tiktok accounts and cosplays, etc. I know if they had done a concert tour like they planned for I believe after season 2. And they would not sell Kenny Ortega the rights which just did not make any sense to me at all (like if you don’t want the show anyway then why would you not want to sell it).
The OA was one of the most intriguing and fresh ideas for a show I had seen in a long time. Gutted it was canceled after the huge cliff hanger in season 2. What a waste.
Same!
I truly can't agree more! I'll never stop being upset about this
I didn't like OA at first but watching season 2 made watching season one worth it. They were taking the show Into some truly Interesting directions. I really wanted to know what they were going to do next.
One of the other issues with the serialized, mystery-box, multi-season show that never gets past Season 1 (this issue goes toward the writers as opposed to Netflix) is that the writers are hoping they'll improve enough as a writer over the course of multiple seasons to write a decent ending to their story. It's far easier to end on a cliffhanger than it is to satisfyingly answer all the questions and end the story. The writers of these shows often start out as simply being not talented enough to pull that off.
As an author myself (deep in writing a multibook series), I can completely relate to this issue, it's very real.
I’m actually in the same situation. The series of books I’m writing feed off one another but what’s crucial in my planning is each book needs to tell a complete story even though there are returning elements and sequel hooks in each. If I stopped writing after the first tale then the characters I initially presented still had an enjoyable arc. The second one had new characters but also familiar elements from the first tale and so forth. The fourth one did require some knowledge from the third but otherwise I have endeavored to keep them largely self-contained with a complete story told in each book. This model I used was very much informed by what I dislike about the current state of over serialized television and film.
It's the Lost mentality, we'll think of something down the line.
I think this isn't a writer-specific problem since current executives are so utterly obssessed with franchise potential that even Glass Onion had to be branded as "A Knives Out Mystery", they couldn't even go for a more subdued "A Benoit Blanc Mystery", no, they had to jam the title of another movie right onto the new one...
Writers may have to inflate their own story instead of commiting to it as it stands due to the fear of being passed by these executives, food for thought, but just how many Mini-series are launched per year and how many of them have already established names within their teams?
An example would be HBO's Watchmen, the show just finished telling the story it wanted, but without Damon Lindelof or even the legacy of the Comic Book it sort of it's a sequel to, I doubt they would've allowed such a thing.
Of course, this doesn't apply to everyone and there are very real cases of the obviously planned as multi-season shows that end within one season, like 2019's Swamp Thing, for some reason the writers couldn't control themselves and kept jamming new characters onto the last chapters merely to build hype into expanding the universe despite undermining the narrative at play...
This is true, but then you have to be careful not to lose track of the themes, mood, and direction you were going with in the earlier installments lest the audience be left with a feeling of; “How the heck did we get to where we are?” It’s good to have an ending in mind for your story to work towards, even if it’s not very specific at first.
@@Natediggetydog the other thing is if things go on a long while the person with the original vision may move on or be over ruled.
Weekly releases work so much better, as it allows those water cooler moments where anticipation is built, fan theorise online, and new viewers have a chance to jump in and catch up before a season finale.
When it’s all dumped out in one go, it really stifles talk around them, and leave viewers in a ‘I’ll get round to it’ mentality.
A few of my friends are into Stranger Things, but our conversations were either ‘I haven’t watched it all yet’, or ‘yeah it was good’ and that’s all they have to offer because it’s hard to remember more than a few standout moments when you’ve slammed 8 hours in one go.
On the other hand, we were all less so into Westworld, but would talk continuously about each episode and what we thought was happening.
Essentially, weekly releases keep hype and buzz going for a good couple of months, rather than a couple of weeks, and surely Netflix would benefit from people staying subbed for longer...
I think daily release is the best. I've read it somewhere. Also that's how I like to watch.
@@PtrkHrnk Torchwood’s (the Dr Who spinoff) 3rd season back in 2010, was a 5 episode mini-series that aired at 9pm Monday through Friday, and was billed as a week long event. Everyone got into it, and the episodes are the highest rated of the entire 4 seasons.
Imagine if Stranger Things dropped its first episode on on a Saturday or Sunday, then one each day ending on the following Sunday? Spaced out enough for people to keep up, but condensed enough for people not to loose interest, but you could also save them and binge on the finale weekend if you wanted. Easier to avoid spoilers for a week than a couple of months 👍
Throw this line of thinking in the bin. Weekly releases are ancient cloying garbage.
Santa Clarita Diet is what did it for me. Absolutely loved the show, and got partway through what turned out to be the final season when I learned it had been canceled. I stopped watching the remainder at that point and never finished it, knowing that it ends on an unresolved cliffhanger.
The weird thing is Netflix was built on the high success of just a few hits. Breaking Bad, House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, The Office, etc. It was very strange to me when they decided to create a huge amount of new shows. Once all the studios started to call back their original shows, I was sure their strategy going forward would be to craft a few high quality gems that drum up attention. It’s weird how they’re still chasing the high of their early success by doing the complete opposite strategy
I would be happy if they gave every show that reached e.g. 85% of what was needed for a revival one last half-season and those that'd reach 70% a final special episode or something. It's honestly getting stressful becoming invested in these shows you half-expect will end on a cliffhanger that'll haunt you for eternity.
You showed a lot of the one that broke me, Archive 81. That was it, I had enough. It was not only great but ends on the kind of cliffhanger that reminded me of HBO's Carnival. The other one I will never, ever forgive. I refuse to watch any series on Netflix anymore, it's not worth the heartbreak.
same, Archive 81's cancellation really left me angry
We've come up against financial issues, like thousands of other people, and when looking for things to cut Netflix was top of the list. It's crazy that what used to be our personal number 1, the service we kept through everything else, was the first to go.
it's agonizing at this point. Netflix took a full summer to decide whether they were going to renew The Sandman, and it almost made me regret watching it in fear that a show I loved so much was going to be cancelled.
OMG! The wait for that announcement was slow torture. I stopped watching Netflix original series because I don't want to invest the time and energy into something they're going to cancel. I feared for Sandman's future.
I'll never forgive Netflix for canceling The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, and right after it won an Emmy too!. The care and artistry that went into it had me feeling as spellbound as I was watching the original.
truly!! especially them making a behind the scenes about the creation of all the puppets. citing budget issues is so bullshit, how many new puppets and sets do you really need?? you've made 70% of your work already!!
Age of Resistance was the best show on the service, in my opinion. Netflix paved paradise and put up a parking lot.
Netflix should focus on limited series. The Queen’s Gambit was a great limited series. Limited series would prevent the outrage from cancellations, and would force them to have a complete story fit within the limited series’ episodes.
What really gets me about the Archive 81 cancellation was that the show reportedly did quite well when it aired and yet Netflix cancelled it a couple months after the first season dropped
I think you're right about shows that have an episodic "backbone". You can still have a serialized story but with tons of smaller adventures as well, allowing for individual episodes to work as satisfying narratives. This way years after a show was released people can go back and watch these episodes, even if the show was cancelled and the main story didn't get an ending. With these eight hour movies, however, because it's entirely serialized the only way to watch the show is to view it all the way from start to finish. Because of this you have to have an ending for the show, or else there's no point in watching it.
I’ve realized I’m a fan of a 2-3
Episode premiere drop and then weekly after. Enough to grab my interest and watch week to week.
However, I was so upset when they cancelled Warrior Nun. Netflix dumped it in the middle of Wednesday and The Crown knowing it was going to be cancelled. That hurt even more.
Archive 81 was a solid hit and they cancelled it on a massive cliffhanger! It was gaining viewers every week.
I was excited to see 1899 but knew I would not get around to it right away. I loved Dark and was very interested in this new show and it has been canceled before I could even start the show.
yeah, they released it and like 2 weeks later cancelled 2nd season... Insane.
@@thenewkhan4781 I hate how Netflix constantly cancels their sci fi shows. The cancellation of The OA really hurt.
Scrolling through Netflix now feels like scrolling through an endless sea of sludge. I've recently found HBO Max to just feel so much better and offer much better choices, so to hear that they're merging with Discovery+ to turn Max into another Netflix-like sea of sludge was incredibly disappointing.
Dayseekers, Archive 81, and (even though i didn't think I'd like it) Warrior Nun were all such great shows! I was so excited to see what was going to happen in the next season. How naïve i was at the time.
I think one of the issues, which you touched upon, was the binge model.
With an 8+ episode binge model, you're incentivized to make one long movie that is roughly cut up into chapters rather than 8+ narratives that have some beginning, middle, and end while still maintaining an overall narrative.
One potential problem is that this model encourages bloated, mystery box shows that can be poorly paced or introduce exposition at an incorrect rate. When you have a serialized TV show, you generally have to make sure that your episode ending has an actual ending. It's not to say that you can't have cliff hangers but that not every episode is a cliff hanger.
Of course, you can have binge TV that does this model really well, in the same way that you can have serial television that is overly episodic. But the more that one explores only one type of release strategy, the more than these flaws come to light.
When you're watching a binge Netflix show, then you have to commit to the whole season, or else you'll like miss a good chunk of the narrative. Contrast this to some of the better serial television, and the pilot episode usually has to have enough narrative sustenance to make you interested in the show while keeping you filled until the next episode.
Agree either all except your arguments on the binge model . The binge model is a game changer and I wouldn't want it any other way.
The fact that I haven't even heard of most of the shows mentioned here, says something. Unless I'm actively seeking things out, I have no idea these shows exist. People binge them in a week or two, then they get canceled.
The cancellation of Glow and Mindhunter made me give up on Netflix. I don't even try new Netflix originals anymore because I don't expect them to go anywhere other than the garbage bin.
I quit after they canceled Dark Crystal, which I'd waited so long to get made. They're going to be screwed big time once Stranger Things ends, and I don't think any amount of spinoffs will bring people back, at least not in the numbers the main series has. They'd probably be in even worse trouble if they weren't slapping the ST logo on everything too, that merch money is a big piggybank.
Also, the best part about TV is watching an episode and talking to your friends the next day about it, or live tweeting the finale. There are so many shows, most people have never seen. It’s hard to watch a good show and have no one to geek out over it with.
Jupiter’s Legacy. It was actually the number one show on Netflix and they canceled it on the season ending cliffhanger. I read the comic book so I knew what was going to happen in the story. I just wanted to see how they would adapt to television. I was really enjoying it.
cancelling JL was a unanimous decision by the creator and NF
not surprised it was not renewed. it was kinda subpar as a superhero show against shows like the boys and loki.
Warrior nun and the Dark Crystal Age of Resistance is what did it for me. I called my netflix sub over age of resistance
I really hope Netflix takes your advice and steps up its game. It has so much potential that I'd rather not see wasted.
Nope, let them burn
I get the bad feeling that instead of going the problem is we are upsetting too many fans they will blame some other factor when number head the wrong way.
Yeah, Netflix really shooting themselves in the foot. After getting burned by the cancelation of I'm not okay with this, I gave up. Why waste my time on a show that's got a 90% chance of getting canceled before seeing resolution. And they just keep canceling shows an expecting people to watch their shit? It's madness
Maaaan... I logged off netflix shows after JUPITER'S LEGACY. Each comic arc resolves in their own volume, and netflix decided to end the season of the first arc on a cliffhanger, to inmediately cancel the show. Compared to THE NIGHT AGENT, a sony tv/netflix prod that ended their main arc and opened the door to another type of story, if they continue.
Is baffling to me in a model so unstable, they decide to not do complete arcs per season.
Saludos desde Panamá.
Another great essay. Constructive criticism: there were a couple moments when you used the word “less” but meant “fewer.”
When it comes to streaming shows, Netflix may be the worst at continuing shows that people liked. They just cancel at the shows with cliffhanger endings of Story Driven Animated Series.
RIP Inside Job and Dead End Paranormal Park.
I love how Dark Crystal won a ton of awards and got canned after only a single season. Like obviously the show didn't pop off in the first season, but word of mouth started spreading. I think it had potential of being a huge show.
Idk how Netflix uses the excuse of "not enough viewership, so not worth the money spent." Because cancelling a show just to create 10 other shows that suck even harder is totally worth the money.
Hey man. Thanks for continuing to make these smallish digestible pop culture essays. I find your style pleasant to listen to and your topics fun to think on.
No mention of mindhunter either. My favorite show on netflix
Personally, it was daybreak. Phenomenal show. Got cancelled after one season.
I think that having literally a dumpster filled with murdered kids in a school,tanked the chances of the show being renewed. Excellent idea,great concept for an apocalypse show but, not much interest in keep it going.
#AngelicaRuledThatShow
SAME!! I loved that show, litterally still pisses me off that it got cancelled.
I don't think I'll ever stop yearning for a world in which Julie and the Phantoms never got cancelled
I agree about binging. It can be fun but I feel taking one episode can be a little more beneficial. And that is something I noticed about Netflix's serialized shows. Because they're said by fans to be less TV shows and more 8 to 13 hour movies, it seems less like the episodes can work as stand-alone and more as chapters of a whole. The issue I've had with it is that it makes discussions of individual episodes rare. There are some exceptions like say Bojack Horseman and even recently the newest season of Stranger Things. Speaking of the latter, that shows does really have episodes that work as stand-alone but the issue is that individual episodes don't get discussed as much as seasons as a show.
For me, it depends on the show. I like Ted Lasso for example, but i really enjoyed binging it when I was catching up on it, but I don't love watching it weekly. I'm not always a fan of a weekly show being a two month long commitment. I get that the weekly format is better in the long run, I just wish there was a middle ground where you could air 3 episodes a week, or something like that.
Netflix: "Got it. So we'll keep making Love is Blind spinoffs, sports docs, and true crime series that have enough content to be a 10 minute TH-cam video. Oh, while raising prices and disallowing sharing 😊"
I read an article not long ago that said Netflix cancels shows at the same rate as other streaming platforms. Would have to confirm that again though
Every time I like a show they cancel it... every... single... time...
I'm not watching anything they do ever again until the show has run its course of full 5-6 seasons with a proper ending.
The Last Kingdom was very smart in it's "season finale" approach, as the last episode of each season closed all of the main storylines started at that season, without much of a cliffhanger. Of course some bits were here and there, but as something you could foresee, so if the show got suddenly canceled, at the least the conclusion would be satisfactory
The Last Kingdom is genuinely a Netflix miracle. The fact that the show completed a 5 season run along with a movie finale blows my mind given how it was barely marketed. One of my favorite shows of all time. So glad it got a complete story and finished Cornwell's saga.
They need to revise their animations, shows or create new ones that fans like! They could create DreamWork Rise of the Guardians series,Reboot Ralph Banshee Cool World,Captain Planet,Freakazoid,Gen 13,Magic Tree House,Alice Madness return or Kid icarus like they did with Carmen San Diego, Castlevania, blood of Zeus, and even She-Ra! They also should put a new anime!
If renewing is that risky for them (right now) why don't they focus on producing more limited series? Increase the episodes from 10 to 20 maybe and make a well written, properly paced show with a good start & ending. It worked for the queens gambit and it was incredibly popular too.
It broke my heart when years back Marco Polo released and Netflix did barley any effort to sell the show. It was supposed to be their big thing to compete with Vikings and game of thrones but it seems like they just didn’t care about it. Despite that, with it’s 2 seasons I think it’s still one of their best shows.
I really enjoyed 1899, but wasn't terribly surprised that it was cancelled. Both HBO and Netflix seem to have contempt for scripted dramas now. I know it has a lot to do with the changes in company leadership and the frantic desire to generate profits over maintaining customer loyalty and quality productions.
I am still dumbfounded and utterly speechless that it was even considered, much less actually decided, to cancel Dark Crystal. With the years of hype, production cost, and following that the original had, it feels like an extremely moronic move that I have never forgiven Netflix for.
Heck, even Nikelodeons' old model is much superior. No show would get MORE than 3 seasons. So at least you knew what you had to work with in order to complete your story. An upward bound for when you needed to wrap it up. I think that would have been much more effective at building up a catalogue of shows people would care about.
Disney did the same model too. I think it was more because kids tv inherently
Has a short life span because their viewers grow up.
3-4 seasons is such a great pace to tell a story too. Barry is FANTASTIC and part of that is the zero filler, concise and gripping story THAT ENDS
Canceilling Santa Clarita Diet was it for me, I still miss that show :(
You should make a video about Dirk Gently, one Netflix's most underrated shows. As most shows it was canceled prematurely and very rarely gets talked about
Tbh, the weekly model is only beneficial to really good shows like BCS. Weekly releases give time to dive deep into the Details of the episode, which BCS offered, but shows like The Mandalorian Season 3, TBOBF, or Kenobi all suffer under the weekly release schedule because it reveals their pacing issues and story loopholes on a silverplate. Binge Watching sth like BCS might make you miss some great details and subtext, but binge watching shows like the Disney+ ones would make them seem less bad
Loved Dirk Gently. Clean ends to both seasons. Winona Earp was good too.
The cancelation of GLOW was criminal, I would have waited 10 years if it meant the show got the ending it deserved
Years of my calling out Netflix’s bullshit, it’s nice to see the rest of the world catching on!
Another reason I hate the binge format is that you can wait years for a new season to drop and then when it does it's over in single week leaving you waiting another year for the next season. Plus with weekly basis shows discussion circulates a lot more and it's fun to experience alongside everyone instead of in a bubble on your own time
Waiting only a year?!?!
Dude even weekly shows come back for eight episodes every two or three years if you're lucky. The binge model is not the issue here. Production values in television are higher and more expensive to produce, so they just make less. Plus, I theorize, a bit of good old fashioned laziness.
Excellent points, glad to see attention being brought to this! A series that is canceled has absolutely zero chance of being watched by potential new fans. No one wants to be left hanging. GLOW was a major stab in the back being the only show to get UN-renewed. (I hear everyone got paid so that was nice) but seriously, they should make movie enders to some of these properties to show they care. This would at least make the content evergreen instead of dead on the vine. Netflix needs to flat out commit to a minimum of two seasons, the second being the end if the first one doesn't get anywhere near the ratings they want. Netflix is so bad now that a lot of people I know (and other comments I see) wont even pick up a series until they know it has a proper ending. Which again, feeds the problem. We need official commitment.
Netflix is just the modern day blockbuster. You spend hours looking for something and end up grabbing some crap that’s usually crap but you hope it’s a gem but it never is.
Plus once Netflix cancels a show they’ll keep the rights. Then the creators can’t do anything with it
They should hire you as a consultant! I was burned by 1899 which I though would be fireproof given the success of Dark. 😅
I'll never forgive Netflix for cancelling Dark Crystal. They had a gem on their hands there.
I will die mad about Mindhunters.
I gave up on Netflix last year, and it certainly didn't help that they consistently cancel shows I'm a big fan of such as OA and Altered Carbon. The the difference with Fox was that while the channel continually frustrated viewers with their cancellations (don't even get me started on Briscoe County Jr, Firefly or The Terminator Chronicles) no one was paying to access their channel specifically, they were just part of a broader cable package. So you could always go back to them and give a new show a shot since there was no additional monetary investment in doing so.
Netflix should release their original shows one episode per week, but upload their bought and finished shows like Community, Parks and Rec, New Girl all at once
As someone who’s not big on shows id say Netflix cancelling everything sucks but if you’re a big movie watcher Netflix is still the best option especially for international stuff and indie films
International and indie films are still one category Netflix excels in
Mindhunter teased BTK like he was Thanos at the end of Avengers then disappeared.