Summer literally kicks off this week, marking a new beginning and a brand new time of year. For the first time in a long time we have a lot of cool movies about to hit the upcoming movie schedule and plenty of new TV projects in the works. However, over at Netflix the streaming service is really in need of that new beginning as spring was a bloodbath for its schedule. Following Jupiter’s Legacy and a slew of other series, recently Netflix’s cancelation list just grew by one more: Jamie Foxx’s Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!
As Netflix continues to roll out new content at a pretty high rate, it’s become harder and harder for shows to make it past the one-season mark. We’ll get into the why later, but it is worth noting that Netflix has cancelled a slew of shows recently. This week, it said goodbye to Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!, Jamie Foxx’s comedic take on his real-life relationship with his daughter, Corinne Foxx.
The show, which also starred David Alan Grier and Kyla-Drew, had nabbed an eight-episode first season, with Foxx even serving as an executive producer on a few episodes. Foxx is generally active on social media and has heavily promoted projects like Soul and Dad Stop Embarrassing Me! over the past year. In this case, Deadline says he was involved with the decision to end the Netflix series, though it’s unclear what happened exactly.
The report doesn’t say why the show was cancelled, but it does mention some changes on the creative run during the series’ initial run, with Bentley Kyle Evans having taken over as showrunner as the show was coming together. Creative changes can sometimes make or break a show, but Dad Stop Embarrassing Me! Was also not particularly well-liked by critics, as it’s running at a 27% on Rotten Tomatoes. (It’s audience score is only at 49%, also a splat.)
Meanwhile, Jamie Foxx has a busy schedule ahead, with numerous producing and acting projects in the works, including the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home and playing Mike Tyson in an upcoming biopic--a role he's also been heavily hyping. It was cool to see Foxx take on a TV comedy (and to see Foxx on streaming), but the actor doesn’t necessarily need the work.
I’m sure Dad Stop Embarrassing Me! will be missed by its fans on Netflix, but the larger point to take from this announcement I think is that Netflix is cancelling a lot of shows right now and that’s unlikely to really slow down. Jupiter’s Legacy was the biggest news on that front this month, but recently Netflix also cancelled The Last Kingdom, The Irregulars and The Duchess. All but The Last Kingdom have been first season shows and there's a big reason for that.
Why this keeps happening is simply because Netflix will order a season of a series to house on its streaming service rather than signing on for the traditional pilot episode that networks have asked for in the past. This means that more shows are getting the chance to see the light of day on Netflix (cool), but that fewer shows are making it past the Season 1 mark (less cool). It also means that more first season shows are likely to continue to be cancelled in the future.
In the case of Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!, it was nice to see Jamie Foxx get back to his comedy roots, but he’s got plenty of other irons in the fire. For some of these other Netflix cancellations, the decisions hurt quite a bit more.
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