Series out after just one season? Netflix, it sucks!

The first days of the new year are a wonderful time: Everything still feels so new and relaxed, 2023 has to really get going. One or the other might even be on vacation. So the ideal time to watch all the series titles on Netflix and Co. that I otherwise never had time for. It's always better than making resolutions for the coming year that I can't keep anyway.

But I probably got excited too early: Because simply choosing a series and preparing for a long series marathon over several days is becoming increasingly difficult on the streaming services. According to the online film magazine "film.at", at least eight series titles were canceled by the former industry leader Netflix after just one season in 2022 - regardless of open storylines.

In total, more than 50 Netflix series have already met this fate - and there could be even more in the future.

This makes the series penned by Baran bo Odar and Jantje Freise, who also created the German Netflix hit “Dark” together, the latest victim of the scam. The eight episodes tell the story of a group of migrants who travel on a steamboat from London to New York - and the season ended, of course, on a real cliffhanger. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the series creators even said there were plans for a second and third season.

The success of "1899" actually also spoke for it: After the start on November 22, 2022, the series was in the global top ten of the platform for around a month. According to Netflix, it had been streamed for almost 88 million hours by early December, making it one of the most popular titles. The reason for the unexpected end could have been the high production costs.

Okay, so Netflix seems to prefer to produce cheap content and forego series that have been praised by critics and loved by fans in the future. This is also understandable: since the launch of various competitors such as Disney Plus or Paramount Plus, the former streaming favorite has been continuously losing subscribers. But does that really have to come at the expense of content?

At least I'm more than annoyed by the fact that I'm looking forward to a series at first and I really like it, only to be told a few weeks or months later that unfortunately it won't be continued for a second season - and just too many questions remain unanswered. This is frustrating! And in the end, it might be more likely to ensure that I will cancel my subscription at some point.

Of course, the concept of serial storytelling is geared towards a TV format eventually coming to an end. That's okay - and let's be honest: Endless series like "Grey's Anatomy" don't necessarily get better in 19 seasons. But how about Netflix getting its writers to write their scripts for shows whose future is still uncertain in a way that, as a fan, makes me feel good about them ending after a season?

So the end of "Dark" after three seasons was not a clear cut, since the last episode still left a certain amount of room for interpretation - but it formed a coherent conclusion. That would also be a real option for the first seasons of many other series. Might make the fans and creators happier.

A vivid example of this is the series “Girlboss”, based on the autobiography of the entrepreneur Sophia Amorusos. After one season it was over here too – which was a shame, because the series could have been told again. At the same time, the exit from season one was also designed in such a way that you could simply see it as a completed story of a phase of life.

Instead, Netflix artificially lengthens formats such as "Emily in Paris", which is actually a successful, entertaining series, by integrating one product sponsorship after the next into the plot of the current season. When the fast-food chain McDonalds suddenly becomes the main actor in an opening episode, I ask myself whether I'm actually still getting innovative series and films for my money or whether I've subscribed to a product placement.

Until then I liked "Emily in Paris" and enjoyed watching the series. But that was, as they say these days, a little cringe.

So Netflix: Please give more thought to your own productions. If subscription and cost pressures mean there will be more miniseries in the future, please do. At least they are designed in such a way that I don't think afterwards: What the hell is this all supposed to be?!

Fortunately, there are also series that you and I will stay with for longer than one season: