Netflix's Weird Era Comes to an End with the 1899 Cancellation
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Earlier this week, Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, the creators behind the Netflix cult hit Her Dark, took to Instagram to share the sad news.
Her new series, 1899, debuted in late 2022 and was well received, making it into the top 10 list of streamers, but was not renewed for a second season. "We wanted the second and third seasons to complete this incredible journey, just as we did with Dark," the couple wrote.
Plans are an interesting thing in the streaming business. Obscure shows like Squid Game can find an audience, become a cultural juggernaut, and get extra seasons. but not enough to stay alive.As the streaming landscape expands, each show's chances of survival feel like the squid game itself. And everyone stands on tiptoe to the roar of "red light" and "green light".
Netflix has gone through a lot of changes over the past few months.
Loss of subscribers, new price tiers to support advertising. The recent spate of his Nixed shows has made people wonder what's written on the walls. Some have suggested that the decline in 1899 was due to its "completion rate" (percentage of viewers who actually finished watching the show) was less than 50% of hers. Others noted that the show was expensive, with some suggesting it was simply lost on the shuffle. The fact of the matter is, as Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos once said, "It's 70% intuition and 30% data." There is no metric that determines what a streamer kills and what doesn't. More than ever, Netflix needs to focus on making money. Expensive shows that don't become blockbusters are dangerous. But giving the show the ax before it finds followers feels shortsighted. At a time when the streaming giant needs to retain subscribers, experts will say that becoming a forgotten graveyard of unfinished programs isn't the best way to gain loyal followers
To be honest, that explanation doesn't seem right. Shows are getting canceled all the time, and people who are passionate about television, especially genre television, know that what they love may never come to life the way its creators hoped. , the possibilities are literally endless... Sometimes shows like Firefly and The OA come too soon, but their cancellations add to their cult stats..us.
Will it happen in 1899? Or Warrior Well? Um, maybe. But maybe that's not the point. Netflix was once a place where weirder, obscure shows were given space and time to thrive. But its 1899 demise, like other streamers, meant the company could now operate in the same way as its previous television network. When cable, and especially cable original programming, came along, the big networks saw a sharp decline in audience engagement. Streaming has reached this tipping point. The good news is that services like Netflix are creating all sorts of lost gems for people to discover later. The bad news is that companies don't always want these shows to go on.
