There have got to be few things more frustrating to a TV viewer than the cancellation of a show you’re really into. With so many options for what to watch when you turn on the TV, and with streaming just continuing to grow (see Dancing With the Stars' upcoming move to Disney+), it can be downright maddening to devote time and invest emotions into a series that Netflix cancels after one season. This isn’t exactly a new trend for the streaming giant Netflix, but it does seem to be a regular-enough occurrence, as following the recent cancellation of the sci-fi horror series Archive 81, another show has quietly gotten the ax from Netflix.
On the Verge, a dramedy about four women exploring love, careers and midlife crises in L.A. was canceled after one season, its creator and star Julie Delpy confirmed. In an Instagram post reminiscing about her life in 1994, Delpy responded to a fan who asked for a status update on Season 2 of On the Verge, with her confirmation of the cancellation apparently coming as subtly as Netflix’s:
Cancelled, but they forgot to announce it was cancelled.
On the Verge, which along with Julie Delpy starred Sarah Jones, Elisabeth Shue and Alexia Landeau, is one of the latest show to go quietly into the streaming abyss, as Delpy said there’d been no public announcement regarding her series’ fate. It joins a list of series spanning multiple genres to suffer the single-season fate.
Archive 81 made a promising debut on Netflix, but despite a wild season finale that left us with plenty of questions, the series was canceled two months after its release. Cowboy Bebop was also quickly canceled — despite a seemingly built-in fanbase for a live-action version of the popular anime series — after the show suffered a significant drop between its first two episodes.
Not helping matters for fans is that we really don’t have any real indication of how well our favorite shows are performing on Netflix. A steady appearance in the Top 10 list is probably a good sign, but with no knowledge of how many viewers those Top 10 shows are getting or how long they’d need to hold a spot there to warrant a second season, we’re really just flying blind. Even Archive 81 held a spot in the list after its premiere, but in the end that didn’t matter.
Last year was a bloodbath for one- and two-season shows on Netflix, with the streaming service saying goodbye to series including Mr. Iglesias, The Crew with Kevin James, Bonding, and Country Comfort with Katharine McPhee (which was so short-lived, even McPhee blanked when the show came up as part of a clue on Jeopardy!).
This year the trend has continued with Cooking With Paris axed after one season and The Baby-Sitters Club, sci-fi drama Another Life, and the taco shop dramedy Gentefied ending after Season 2.
Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be much we can do to curb this frustrating practice, but we can at least enjoy what episodes we do get from the series. Check out our Netflix TV schedule to see which shows you want to throw your support behind next, and check out some of the best Netflix series available for streaming right now.
