Matt KamenJan 3, 2023

With the news that Netflix's latest casualty is 1899 (cf: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm7H-IbIn22/), I think a lot of people are wondering:

What is the point of Netflix anymore? Why invest the time in watching anything, if everything gets canned? Nothing gets time to grow or develop before cancellation, and shows now get such minuscule episode counts in the first place that seasons feel rushed.

baranboodar 🜃 on Instagram: "Sad but true… @netflixde @netflix1899"

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Show threadMatt KamenJan 3, 2023

Yes, 1899 was slower & not as immediately engaging as Dark, from the same creators. Yet it was still the top ranking show on Netflix (at least per the "top 10" view - who knows what algorithmic nonsense underpins that) for weeks, displaced only by the phenomenon of Wednesday, and yet it still gets the boot.

But this isn't about any single show - it's the pattern Netflix has created for itself of commissioning then almost immediately cancelling… well, it seems like everything, at this point.

Show threadMatt Kamen

Again, why should viewers bother with anything on Netflix if chances are, it's already gone by the time they start watching?

Why should - no, *how can* - creators plan for longer arcs or narrative payoff if the streaming platform is more likely to cancel than recommission a show? Why even bother taking a show to Netflix at this point?

It gets worse - the uncertainty over pick-ups and the meager episode counts are already harming the shows that DO get made.

Jan 3, 2023 at 3:27pmWeb
Show threadMatt KamenJan 3, 2023
Take Wednesday, for instance - fun as it was, the pacing was all over the place. Crackstone, the big bad the season had been building up to, is dispatched with barely a thought. Enid, whose inability to transform into her werewolf form had been her main character arc, finally shifts after the stress from a mild fall, the change happening because it NEEDED to for the finale, not because it made sense to occur then.
Show threadMatt KamenJan 3, 2023

If Wednesday had more time to breathe as a show - even 10-13 episodes, not necessarily the old, bloated syndicated standard of 22-26 - those story beats would have had more impact than they do in Netflix's heavily truncated, but seemingly now standard eight episodes.

And despite the flaws of the format and the miserly 8 eps, Wednesday was a stone cold HIT - and Netflix STILL* hasn't renewed even THAT!

Show threadMatt KamenJan 3, 2023

So, really, what is the point of audiences bothering to watch any show on Netflix now? Why get invested if everything is as good as gone?

(*I realise there's some uncertainty over Wednesday given the MGM/Amazon deal that might mean it moves service, but even so, Netflix's silence on the show's future can't fill audiences with confidence…)