Streaming has become one of the primary ways that people watch television, and many of the original shows that the various platforms produce can become incredibly popular. However, it seems that many are not popular enough as cancellation after only one season is far from uncommon. And now Prime Video has added more falling dominoes to the trail of cancelations, as Amazon has ended three shows at once two of them after only one season.
Variety reports that The Horror of Dolores Roach and Harlan Coben’s Shelter have both been canceled after their first season. With Love, which saw its second season arrive this past summer, will be joining them. The only thing these series had in common was getting canceled at once, as they were all very different in terms of genre, and subject matter. If there was any sort of pattern to the decision, it’s far from clear.
These three shows join a laundry list from every major streamer, including Netflix and Disney+, who have so many shows end after a season or two it is legitimately difficult to keep track of them all. Even series that seem to have strong buzz, like Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop or Amazon’s A League of Their Own end up getting the axe.
Any show getting canceled is frustrating for fans of that show, but with streaming it seems to have become an epidemic. Streamers clearly believe that original content is what they need to keep and retain subscribers, and as a result, a lot of shows get the green light initially, but most of them don’t make it too far.
This results in shows like Disney+’s Willow which ended after one season, or Netflix’s Shadow and Bone, which only survived for two, that are designed with a multi-season story to tell, but then end before they’re able to tell the whole story. It leaves fans in the lurch, and when it happens more than once it could lead viewers to become gunshy when it comes to starting a new series, which could impact that show’s ability to survive.
It’s just as frustrating to the creators of these series as it is to the fans. Celeste Barber, star and producer of Wellmania that got the one-season death on Netflix earlier this month called the situation “bullshit.” The writers of Paramount’s iCarly sent out heartfelt messages to fans when that show ended.
Part of the problem is that there isn’t any sort of visibility to how streaming content is actually doing. There are no official ratings systems the way there are for traditional television. We only get viewing numbers when the streamers decide to release them, and those numbers don't actually translate directly to dollars in the same way anyway. Netflix's CEO has said no successful show has ever been canceled, but it's basically impossible to know how they define success.
Streaming visibility was a major component of the recent WGA strike, and it was something the union won, so perhaps going forward we will begin to get some sort of an idea of what’s going on with these shows. It won’t prevent all the cancelations, but it might at least prepare fans for them.
