Netflix has just cancelled Santa Clarita Diet, this article goes some way towards explaining why

[frelling_tralk]

‘Feeling The Churn: Why Netflix Cancels Shows After A Couple Of Seasons & Why They Can’t Move To New Homes”Honestly they’re just shooting themselves in the foot because I was planning on checking Santa Clarita Diet out after season 3 seemed to get really great reviews, and I heard people on my flist were really enjoying it, but hearing that it has

Comments

[molly_may]

I guess their business model is to only care about new subscribers. They probably looked at how many people signed up in the week or so after S3 of Santa Clarita Diet dropped and decided that it didn't have enough buzz to bring brand new viewers in. And they figure that the fans of that show who are disappointed are also hooked on Sabrina or Stranger Things or whatever, so they're not going to lose subscribers. It doesn't seem to me like a very sustainable business model in the long term, especially if they do more and more originals and have a smaller catalog of older, long-running network shows. The reason shows like Friends, Supernatural, Gilmore Girls, etc. are the most popular is because there's so much content that viewers have relationships with those characters and enjoy returning to them again and again. But a three season series of 8-10 episodes? There's not enough content to go back to over and over, and not enough time put in for viewers to feel like the characters are old friends that they want to re-visit.

It seems

[frelling_tralk]

:nods: I feel like that’s the case with a lot of Netflix shows, that they’re an entertaining distraction for a weekend, but also almost being treated as disposable tv, just there to distract us until the next big hit comes along. And generally they’re not the shows that you want to sit down and rewatch over and over again like you would with say Friends or Gilmore Girls. It baffles me that nobody at Netflix seems to have figured that out yet, considering they have the clues right there when it comes to how few of their heavily serialised and designed for binge-watching originals are in the top 20 of their most watched shows

[molly_may]

And that’s going to be an issue for them for sure once more and more new streaming sites spring up and no longer want to license their content to Netflix, because their own originals just don’t have the same amount of choice for casual tv watchers

Yeah, where I really feel like I get my money's worth from Netflix is the ability to catch up on network shows that I missed out on - iZombie, Legends of Tomorrow, Person of Interest, The Magicians, etc. - or rewatching old favorites like 30 Rock (which is now on Hulu instead) and Parks & Rec. I don't know if Netflix is going to be worth keeping for me if most of the network shows are lost to different streaming services.

[frelling_tralk]

That’s how I mostly feel with Amazon Prime and Netflix as well quite honestly, I’m generally way more excited and interested in regular network content. There’s the latest seasons of Supernatural and The Americans that I want to watch with Prime, or The Good Place being on Netflix right after the American airing, as well as the cheesy CW shows that I enjoy lol. I generally just don’t care as much about their originals, especially when the hype for them dies down so fast. With Umbrella Academy for example that was a huge new show for Netflix supposedly and a lot of people were watching it, but it’s not like you even hear all that much discussion for their originals once the show has been out for longer than a month. I did very much enjoy Sex Education and Russian Doll back in January, and The Haunting Of Hill House last October I think it was, but at the end of the day those were still shows with very limited runs, so that once you’ve watched them then there’s really not so much to stay hyped and talking about, it’s more a case of

[mazephoenix]

Oh dear. I wonder if Lucifer is doomed. One season and then over maybe?
I'm still mad about Daredevil. They had such a good buildup for another season..

[frelling_tralk]

Same :( I’ve seen the argument that it didn’t technically end on a cliffhanger as everything was resolved with Matt and his friends, but meh it’s very frustrating to end it on the teaser for bullseye in season 4, and then just have the show cancelled

[geekslave]

After season 3 of SCD dropped, I started to fear it wouldn't get a 4th season, especially after what happened with One Day at A Time and am so bummed that my fears were founded. I loved SCD's second season and was looking forward to the third. I totally get why you don't want to start it now. Like I said, I loved the second season but even I'm wary of starting the third season, especially hearing it ended on a cliffhanger

[frelling_tralk]

I think the backlash is already starting! People weren’t happy about some of the previous cancellations, but there was also a general acceptance that well Disney+ does make it more complicated to own the Marvel shows, and perhaps One a Day At A Time really did have horribly low views, but now more people seem aware of Netflix just having a policy of generally not letting shows run for too long because they can’t do what the networks do and make back the money in syndication. And having three seasons or less works for some shows sure, but it seems very uncreative to force that limitation on nearly all of your shows, especially comedies which can at least run for five seasons surely, especially when Netflix already have a standard of shorter seasons with 6-10 episodes

[ragnarok_08]

I agree with you here :)

[frelling_tralk]

:)

[malicat]

I'm grateful that Netflix saved Lucifer but other than that I'm getting more and more pissed off with them. Granted,they have a lot of awesome shows but what's the point when they never make it past a third season,if the even make it that far???

If Netflix wants to keep shows down to three seasons or less then I suppose that I have no strong objections to that, just as long as they tell the creative people involved that this is going to be your final season, we want to give you a chance to wrap it up. Don’t just leave the story half finished ffs!

THIS! Although,at this point I feel like showrunners/writers should have realized now what's up and plan their season 3 finale accordingly ^^

[frelling_tralk]

And it’s not that Netflix aren’t bringing out fun and interesting shows, but in 20 years time I wonder how many people are still going to be watching and re-watching all ten episodes of Manic or The Umbrella Academy, or all 8 episodes of Russian Doll, in the way that viewers today are still re-watching shows that have stood the test of time like Friends, Supernatural, Gilmore Girls etc?

And I’m not necessarily saying that those particular Netflix shows need more seasons, but for Netflix to decide that hardly any of their shows need more than three seasons just on general cost saving grounds is just baffling to me, the shows with longevity are generally the shows that really draw viewers in and have you watching them on repeat