I would argue most tv show now only need to be 1 season long but they either pad them out so much it's insufferable OR create needless drama that i do not care about to keep the show going
this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2026
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company known for cancelling shows after 1 season is surprised to discover their viewers are dropping shows after 1 season
The time between seasons is sometimes way too long, people move on eventually.
Netflix started it.
A whole story in 3 words.
Probably because Netflix has a habit of often cancelling shows after a season or two. Why should viewers get invested in a shot if there's a good chance they will be cancelled?
Also, too many Netflix shows are pretty shit these days.
Its not just Netflix these days. Every new show seems to start their life on the chopping block. If the first season doesn't get enough views in the first few days its out then season two doesn't even get made. If it does do okay then they get to start writing a second season, which means another 2 years before we get a second season and by then we have completely forgotten the show until you read about it getting cancelled 2 weeks after season 2 came out because nobody tuned in.
Yup I've decide I won't watch a show that isn't finished at this point. I've fallen in love with too many just to watch them get canceled.
The OA was so good and they fucking canceled it, I'll never subscribe to their service ever again for that.
Saaame. I got so angry when they canceled it. It broke my trust in them to deliver an end to any shows. Then they kept doing it. Left quite a long time ago and will not go back. There's just nothing worth the money on Neflix.
Yup they just aren't willing to allow a show to take time to establish themselves, many people won't discover a show until its a few seasons in or even finished yet they can't stand it if a show doesn't get lots of views in season one.
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I can't view the article, so I have a perfectly valid excuse for living my life like a Redditor -- making a comment based on the headline only.
I don't know if I'm one of those netflix viewers who has abandoned shows after one season. I'm not even sure how I could know. Netflix is by far the worst of the major streaming platforms in terms of obscuring their library. Their user experience choices are so heavily focused on making sure everybody's watching the same 20 or 30 movies/shows that they tune literally everything else out. I'm not on Netflix 24/7 and I don't tend to keep up with showbiz news. I know lots of people rotate streaming services. It's very easy to see why folks would not be aware of additional seasons of a show being out.
The other issues that stifle my interest in shows applies to other services as well. The modern era's long-ass gaps between seasons kills the inertia. Sure, I liked the season that came out 2 years ago, but I hardly remember it and I just don't have time to try and go back to catch up. Of course there are recaps, but those by nature leave stuff out. Most likely unless that first season was really damn good, I just won't bother.
Even so, it seems like a lot of these shows peak in their first season, lose the plot in the second, and then by the fourth or fifth season you're essentially watching a headless male mantis clinging to life just long enough to finish the job. So, a lot of times if the first season isn't absolutely stellar, I end up putting the show on my abyss of a watch list, likely never to return.
It’s kind of interesting you say this. When I go on my Netflix account, I see the same 20-30 things. Gets old and I can never find anything I want to watch. When I’m at my friends and open her Netflix, it’s like a completely different service. I see a ton of things that look interesting that I’ve never seen on my own account. It’s quite strange.
I cancelled all my streaming subscriptions when they all started pulling price shenanigans.
Now I either use Stremio, properly "Arrified", or sail the high seas with qbitorrent, which, by the way, has a very good search function not enabled by default, and which many people don't know about. (Google qbitorrent search jackett)
To look for things I usually go to rotten tomatoes.
Also, there are frequent posts here or on other sites where people post their favorite shows/movies, which are often great for discovering less known shows.
Their new UI made it godawful to find anything. It's got to be one of the worst UI updates I've ever seen in a modern service.
You can only see 4 things at once on my large screen TV. Then if you have the audacity to scroll down to see more, you're almost always greeted with one of the same ones in that group of 4. Then they throw games in there to just fuck up your attempt to find anything, and then because you watched one thing 10 years ago, it decides to still show you this category of show you don't like "because you watched xyz show".
I hate it so much.
Absolutely, all of this. I cancelled Netflix, in part because it had become impossible to navigate, it's a junk box. You could be scrolling for hours looking for something inspiring you to watch it, nothing. Everything they make is bland, basic and sanitised, like what Disney did to family movies, it's torture to watch, so unengaging. (Plus all the evil, and price rises, so it was easy to leave).
I'm not sure if I am one who has abandoned a show after one season. I'm not even sure how I could know
You can't remember what you watched? You don't add shows you are interested in watching in your watch list, so they appear right at the top of the main page (literally the only QOL function they have that's useful)?
No, and he’s not the only one. So much shit can happen in a season of a show and then you get season 2 over a year later when you’ve watched like 10-20 other shows and you can’t remember side characters, side plots, or even finales.
As they said, many times the recaps leave a lot of stuff out that would actually be beneficial to a user. I wish I could recount an example, but I notice it as I watch the recap and sometimes it triggers a memory. I have these discussions with my wife who doesn’t remember what I do and vice versa.
Edit: I recently experienced this with both Vox Machina and Invincible.
...I'm not really sure why they care. In 99% of cases, there's only one extra season to watch anyway because Netflix cancelled the fucking show.
Yes, I'm still salty about Santa Clarita Diet, why do you ask?
Kaos for me. Will be pissed about that show being cancelled until I fucking die
Sense8 here
It had such a unique concept and they did a great job at executing it
~~So what if it was horny that was part of the charm~~
Agreed. I would happily fight in a fierce battle with each Netflix executive, akin to Street Fighter II, to make them to pay.
That show was fresh. I still seethe for it being cancelled.
The biggest issue is they take years between seasons. People lose interest.
The first two shows they mention coming out with a season 2 recently had their season 1 release in 2023!
Yeah two years for six episodes and I just don't give a shit anymore.
I refuse to start watching a show until it's finished. I get to watch the entire series at my own pace (no waiting a week between episodes or years between seasons), I avoid stewing in my opinions and reading public opinion during the hiatus and having that affect my enjoyment of the next season, and I don't have to worry about the abrupt emotional disturbance of a premature cancelation. The only downside is having to avoid spoilers and not being able to join in conversation with others who are actually watching it while it originally airs.
I agree. Other people are referencing how Netflix cancels shows after one season, but that doesn't seem relevant here. We're talking about people who do watch season 1 but not season 2.
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Our family's policy is that we don't start a Netflix show until it has run its course and is over. We've had too many disappointments watching a show we like, only to have it get abruptly cancelled. There are too many other things to watch that won't pull the rug out from under us.
I'm sure Netflix hates this, but it's their own fault. We are only responding to their irresponsible programming nonsense.
Netflix couldn’t even finish Altered Carbon respectfully. Got a season 2 and some poor anime to finish it off.
Can’t trust em with any series really.
Did we get a season 2?
Sure, in the show's universe, switching actors made complete sense. They literally can put their consciousness in another body, it's the entire premise, yes. Anthony Mackie isn't a bad actor whatsoever. I liked him in The Banker, Pain & Gain and some other shit he's done. Yet, to me, the show went to shit as soon as he became Kovacs. Just seemed like a huge tonal shift the show didn't need. And it's been a while, but if I remember correctly, the character felt like a completely different person, not same guy in new body.
Yeah, the only similarity between them was the name of the character. They didn't sound or act similar. It would have been neat if you could recognize the character despite the different appearance.
The first season had flashbacks of his old body, and it felt like it made more sense. The change in accent was a bit offputting, but can be reasonably explained away. Mackie just felt like a completely different character.
Yeah they got the Firefly experience there
Maybe because netflix cancels show a week after season 1 drops?
People got burnt too many times, best case scenario it's a huge hit and in 3 years we get a 8 hour season 2.
Why would viewers get invested?
Seems like a positive feedback loop:
- Netflix creates show that's pretty good
- People watch it
- Netflix takes too long to release season 2
- People forget show exists, stop watching
- Netflix drops a season years later
- No one watches it because they forgot what happened in season 1 and Netflix shows are so serial that you have to know what happened
- Netflix cancels show due to low viewership
- Fans of the show feel jilted and slam Netflix on social media
- Rinse and repeat
Don't forget the step in between 4 and 5 where Netflix recalculates the interest in season 2 and drastically changes the scope and pacing, making it more jarring for returning viewers or turning them off before the season drops
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Avatar has been pretty much a let down just like cowboy bebop. I really wanted it to be good, but they did this really strange with changing the characters personalities and corrupting the flow of the story.
One piece has been good so far but I got the impression it might be pulling back on the main character.
The problem with One Piece is that it's huge, its so effing long that it's guaranteed to get ended at some point, it depends on how cleanly.
Long anime series are treated a bit differently than North American live action productions. One Piece will most likely continue being made as long as there's manga to adapt. (Whether the mangaka will finish the story, drop it abruptly to do something else, or die of old age with it still incomplete is another question.) The only other thing that might kill it is if the studio making it folds, but as far as I know Toei is relatively healthy.
At ~1170 episodes, One Piece isn't even close to being the longest-running anime series airing in Japan today. I don't think it's even in the top five.
Honestly I thought Avatar was a pretty good show. The biggest flaw it has is poor pacing. Trying to tell a full season's story in only 10 episodes is just a bad plan
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Why should viewers be interested, when Netflix treats its shows like draft ideas that more often than not get scrapped after one season?
My experience with Netflix shows tends to go like this: I hear about a new show from people at work (or maybe here). I watch and enjoy season 1. I never hear about the show again until someone mentions that there sad it was cancelled after additional seasons I never heard about.
Personally, I find it hard to watch things when I don't know they exist.
They had a good run for a few years but id say in the last 5 years or longer...for seasons with several after about S3 they start to get sillier to the point of unbelievable. Id say now it has even started to happen around S2 recently.
Secondly a lot of stuff is very...the samey and TBH boring, if something is good they try to repeat it over and over. Generally now i see the N sighn and i am like nah, its likely to be average.
Netflix, where the medium of storytelling goes to die.
Second-screen content intensifies
That's usually all they make
Shows are lucky to last even one season on Netfucks, let alone two. Inside Job should NOT have been cancelled.
Netflix killed Inside Job but made 8 seasons of Big Mouth. They deserve what they're getting.
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