Granted, other services are starting to catch up, like the mass cullings HBO has started to make under WB Discovery leadership, but if so, that’s as big a problem for them as it is for Netflix. So for every show Amazon or HBO Max may cancel, it feels like Netflix probably has 5-6. They have more shows, and as such, more cancellations. This is also a fairly Netflix-specific problem, compared to other streaming service. It’s a much different situation in the streaming space. But browsing FOX in 2005, you weren’t just randomly going to come across them airing an episode of Firefly after a 2002 cancellation, and be sad there wasn’t more of it. The problem here is that in Netflix’s case, so many of those shows now lead to complete dead ends and aborted storylines. While new shows will be given top billing when you log into the app, even five seconds of browsing will likely lead you to a number of months/years-old series that may look interesting to you. While yes, they are constantly airing new programs, they are also focused on building up a library of shows as a back catalogue. You could buy the DVD box set eventually, but it would simply be replaced on that channel by a slate of new shows. On cable, when a show was cancelled, it would be mourned, but it would also simply.disappear. While sure, everyone can remember some famously good shows that were killed too soon, from Firefly to Freaks and Geeks, it really is different in the streaming era because of the nature of the platform. Update (1/17): Have been seeing at least some level of pushback here with some saying that this also describes beloved shows being cancelled in the pre-streaming era, and this is not a new problem. I don’t think even they understand what it’s doing to their brand or how they’re conditioning their own viewerbase with constant negative reinforcement like some demented behavioral experiment. This will happen countless times to millions of current and future subscribers. And viewers are afraid to commit to any show that isn’t a completely aired package lest they spend 10-30 hours on something that ends up unresolved, which has happened dozens and dozens of times, creating a vast “show graveyard” within Netflix, full of landmines viewers are going to be discovering for years (I just had a friend send me an angry text once he learned Warrior Nun was cancelled after committing to its first two seasons, which he loved). It’s now created a system where creators should be afraid to make a series that dares to end on a cliffhanger or save anything for future seasons, lest their story forever be left unfinished.
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