A promising show with a sky high Rotten Tomatoes score isn’t getting a Season 2 over at Netflix. Some fans are going to be really surprised.
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It’s not often that frequent Netflix collaborators don’t see their projects at least get two seasons on the popular streaming service. But that’s the case for the Duffer Brothers’ latest mystery series as producers. And, this decision around The Boroughs is just as puzzling as some of the other moves lately.
The Boroughs came along as the latest highly-touted TV entry from the folks that brought us the Stranger Things saga. In the tradition you would expect from the Duffer Brothers, the Burroughs was a sci-fi thriller.
Alfa Molina, Alfre Woodard, Geena Davis, Denis O’Hare, Clarke Peters, and Bill Pullman all star in the highly-touted series. There were designs on this thing running for multiple seasons. And, that makes this choice all the more surprising.
The Rotten Tomatoes critics score for the show sits at 97%! That is usually a good sign. But, in this fractured information environment, no dice.
Pair all of that with The Duffer Brothers’ pedigree, especially on this service and it quickly becomes a strange case. Jeffrey Addis and Will Matthews put together a series that really charmed critics and welcomed in the new fans curious about all the hubbub.
But, there just wasn’t enough viewership to justify moving forward at Netflix. And, that’s always a bummer. After all, it’s basically a meme at this point for a promising Netflix series to get cut down before there’s even a Season 2 to look forward to.
What Happened With The Boroughs?
Honestly, the same thing that happens to a lot of promising programs on Netflix. If you can’t crack that top 10 and stay there for an extended period of time, don’t expect to get multiple seasons on this streaming platform.
There have been multiple examples of this phenomenon in recent years. Things that managed to capture the attention of their global audience get second seasons as soon as week 2 on Netflix. However, if there’s a lingering bit of doubt, it’s a tall order to get more episodes made.
For all intents and purposes, Netflix invites this kind of production style due to the unique way their platform works. Subscriptions are how they make money. Not a lot of the movies make it to the big screen, so people have to keep coming back to pay that monthly fee.
A lot of deep dives into the numbers over at Netflix indicate that big event series like Stranger Things, Bridgerton, Wednesday, and other massive franchises drive new viewership and recurring viewership to come back to the grid.
If you have the data that indicates those are what move the needle, why are we betting on smaller shows that aren’t going to have the same impact? Well, in essence, you run out of big event series at some point.
Just this year, Stranger Things ended, and you’re gonna have to replace that slot. Other mainstays like Emily in Paris are calling it quits, and other shows grow closer to their ends than their beginnings! You need to keep the bench deep in the event that one of your big shows ends.
(Photo Credit: Netflix)
