As platforms like Netflix try to reign in spending, more and more shows are getting canned before they have the time or push to achieve their full potential. As a result, shows that could be “the next big thing” – like 1899 or The OA – are discarded without any real, satisfying reason. Now that the streaming graveyard has grown significantly in number, has the bubble burst? Fans are already taking to social media to claim these platforms are ruining their reputation by canceling shows with loyal, dedicated supporters. Here’s our take on the growing list of shows getting axed, and why Netflix, HBO Max, and other streaming services may need to keep their fingers off the trigger for a few seasons longer if they want to keep subscribers.
TRANSCRIPT
The streaming revolution has given audiences immediate access to a larger catalog of shows than ever before, but what good is that if they keep getting canceled midway through narrative arcs?
As platforms like Netflix try to reign in spending, more and more shows are getting canned before they have the time or push to achieve their full potential. As a result, shows that could be “the next big thing” – like 1899 or The OA – are discarded without any real, satisfying reason. It’s frustrating to think that we may have already lost the next Stranger Things, Money Heist, Succession, or Game of Thrones Now that the streaming graveyard has grown significantly in number, has the bubble burst? Fans are already taking to social media to claim these platforms are ruining their reputation by canceling shows with loyal, dedicated supporters.
Jordan The Stallion: “There is no other streaming service that is self sabotaged as much as netflix.” – TikTok
They’re asking a very valid question – why would new subscribers join if there was no trust that their favorite shows would be allowed to run their course? Here’s our take on the growing list of shows getting axed, and why Netflix, HBO Max, and other streaming services may need to keep their fingers off the trigger for a few seasons longer if they want to keep subscribers.
It’s one thing for a beloved show to get canceled with advance warning so it can lead to a satisfying conclusion. It’s another when it gets canceled on a cliffhanger, or in the middle of a narrative, with no promise that these storylines will ever get resolved.
With its recent sci-fi thriller, 1899, it felt like Netflix was firmly committing to a show that would allow its mystery to play out over a few seasons. The creator’s previous series, Dark, was a complicated yet captivating time-travel odyssey that didn’t completely knit everything together until its climactic moments. But that ending was all the more satisfying because of the commitment that had been put in. And Dark was an international success for the streaming platform.
So, given that the creator had a promising history – and that 1899 was financially well supported — being the most expensive German TV series of all time — you’d think it would have been given the same chance. But not long after the season dropped, with the audience just beginning to unravel the truth behind the main character’s story – the plug was pulled.
Maura: “Where is my brother, he was on the Prometheus, I’ll find out what you’re doing on these ships. Why don’t I remember. What have you done to my memory?!” – 1899
Similarly with Santa Clarita Diet – the zombie-rom-com was just starting to pick up steam in the third season before it was canceled for costing Netflix too much to make.
The central tension of the show had always been how Joel and Sheila were able to keep their relationship together and continue being this stable nuclear family – all while Sheila was craving human flesh and they were uncovering mysterious, dangerous, European folklore. Season three ended with a huge turn for the series — spoiler alert — Joel potentially turning into a zombie. But we never got to see what happened with them, or with Abby and Eric, whose own romance was just about to start.
Maybe the biggest fan meltdown came from when Netflix canceled sci-fi series The OA. In 2018, Netflix’s VP Cindy Holland confirmed the show was scheduled for a five season arc, but the following year it was pulled after its second. The #SaveTheOA movement that sprung up included a 100,000 signature-strong petition, a flash mob outside Netflix’s offices, and even a crowdfunded billboard in Times Square. But still, there was no changing the show’s fate.
If you’re noticing a trend with one particular streaming service…you’re not wrong. Netflix seems to be the biggest offender when it comes to pulling the plug. Paul Tassi of Forbes notes that the company is actually creating a “self-fulfilling cancellation loop” for itself. Because they’ve become known for canceling so many shows after a season or two – sometimes on cliffhangers – people won’t watch a show until it’s over with the guarantee that it’s complete…leading to lower viewership and more cancellations.
Televisionhub: “I just started watching 1899 a few days ago, which I guess I’m not gonna finish watching watching now.” – TikTok
The creators of Tuca and Bertie – which was first canceled by Netflix and then again by Adult Swim – despite garnering a dedicated fanbase and critical acclaim – were recently joined by the creators of The Gordita Chronicles in calling out the media conglomerate responsible for their cancellations: Warner Brothers Discovery. Both brought up valid concerns that when platforms make the choice to end shows like this – they directly harm the communities that they represent.
Laura Blum-Smith, the Writer’s Guild’s director of research and public policy, said, “Almost immediately after closing, Warner Bros. Discovery broke the hollow promises it had made of merger benefits. As a result, writers – including many women and people of color – have lost opportunities and future income, while consumers are left with reduced variety and choice of content.”
Not only do these cancellations take us backwards in terms of representation on and off-screen – but these streaming companies are employing an extremely short-sighted strategy. They seem to be ignoring a very recent history, where some of the best shows of the past couple of decades took time to find their footing, and their audiences.
Riotaddams: “Netflix hates everyone and they have no soul.” – TikTok
To put these cancellations into context, it’s worth thinking about the shows that did take a while to get going. Parks and Recreation is considered one of the best comedies of the 2010s, but even its most die-hard fans admit that its first season was kind of a misfire. The show made significant changes after getting bad ratings – making Leslie Knope less of a female Michael Scott, and making the supporting cast less obnoxious, and more lovable and empathetic…which slowly led to the hit that we know and love today. Slow burners like this pick up audiences along the way. Forbes’ Erik Kain notes that The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, two huge prestige dramas, didn’t get their biggest audiences numbers until a few seasons had already passed.
Putting even more pressure on new shows to be “instant hits” is the fact that TV seasons are getting shorter by episode number. The Ringer’s Dan Kozikowski found that the median length for a US television season dropped from 22 to 13 between 2003 and 2016. So even if a new show does get picked up for one season, it won’t have as much time to do what it wants in that season than it perhaps would have even ten years ago.
Streaming has also completely changed the way we consume content – we no longer get one episode per week and anticipate the next. Now we expect whole seasons to be dropped at once – to be watched in one long binge. The problem with this model is that shows burn bright for a shorter amount of time – so if audiences don’t get caught in the first wave of watchers, it’s easy to get left behind. CNET’s Abrar Al-Heeti writes “just when I feel caught up on the latest craze, another show captures our collective attention. If I want to keep up, I need to dedicate several more hours to binging that show, too. Usually, the time commitment doesn’t feel worth it.”
And it’s telling that now, shows like WandaVision, Stranger Things, Money Heist and Only Murders In The Building have reverted to a more traditional episodic model in order to prolong the audience enjoyment, and allow for these shows to become bigger cultural moments.
Singers: “It was Agatha all along!”
Agatha: “And I killed Sparky too!” – WandaVision
Not every show will become an Emmy-laden, global phenomenon, overnight – or ever, no matter how many seasons you let it run. Some are simply destined for a more niche audience that grows incrementally, year on year as word of mouth spreads, and stories grow. These companies are ultimately ignoring and alienating those audiences that already exist, in order to pursue a larger audience that might not even be out there. Right now it feels like the level of acclaim a streaming show needs to hit to be safe is, for the most part, unrealistic…and it’s high time for a new strategy.
For streaming services, money talks, and money means subscribers. The reason a show like Stranger Things was in no danger of being canceled isn’t just about its quality. It’s about the fact that it brings people in, with the fourth season attracting 2.4million new subscribers to the platform after a period of stagnation.
The problem is, these unicorn shows are approaching the end of their runs. Stranger Things has one final season left as does The Crown. But Netflix can’t expect every new show to aim for their level of success…and neither can other streaming services that are banking on finding the next WandaVision or The Boys.
Ultimately, it comes down to money, and data. Forbes’ Paul Tassi explains that if a show’s completion rate on Netflix is lower than 50% — meaning less than half of those who started the show made it all the way through to the end — it’s likely to be canceled.
But this assumes that the right people are being served the show in the first place. When announcing Tuca and Bertie’s cancelation, creator Lisa Hanawalt complained that the Netflix algorithm wasn’t putting the show in front of enough eyeballs in the first place — including her own. Also the way Netflix structures deals means the longer a show goes on, the more vulnerable it actually ends up being. Analyst Tom Harrington explains “They have to give [a show] more money per series. Because of that, so many more shows are canceled after two series.”
The danger with this data driven strategy is that it will end up prioritizing shows that fit into a pre-existing box. And the irony of trying to find “the next big TV hit” is that it’s impossible to predict what that might be. Who’d have thought Squid Game – a gruesome, Korean language drama about capitalism and inequality would be a global hit? Or that Bojack Horseman – a dark comedy about a depressed horse from a creator nobody was familiar with would become a cultural touchstone. Who knows if “the next big hit that never was” is already sitting in the streaming graveyard.
Streaming has fundamentally changed the way we watch TV, but it hasn’t necessarily changed it all for the better. We have more content now than ever before, but we may be losing some of the best of it before it has the chance to make its mark. To see what works, companies have to try new things, and allow room for failures in their models. The subscribers and money the big shows bring in can float the smaller ones that might take a little more time to land, or that naturally have a smaller audience. Otherwise, it’s not just subscribers that will be dropping off – creators will surely start taking their stories elsewhere.
Something’s gotta give, and that should mean thinking less about the bottom line, and more about the artistic output these services are giving. Less about bringing in new audiences, and more about nurturing the current ones. It shouldn’t be a radical idea to suggest that stories need to be allowed to finish — because only then can they be properly judged.
Narrator: “Next time you’re watching a show but none of your friends are watching it, you’ll just have to hope the metrics are on your side.” – WIRED UK