Netflix CEO ' We've Never Cancelled A Successful Show'

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos says the streamer has never cancelled a successful show, which is a pretty bizarre spin. Co-CEO Greg Peters says they're going to create a Squid Game level hit 'literally every week' which is an equally bold statement. Let's talk about why these guys are just absolutely full of crap.

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[tadlambert]

To me, the worst cancellation of all time was Firefly.

[arberreka]

"We've Never Cancelled A Successful Show" Yeah... riiiight...

[HarukoZ]

The unintended result are viewers like me, who watch movies on Netflix, but hesitate to watch any series unless it has finished it's run. New shows? Nope. It will likely be cancelled after a cliffhanger. There are some very, very few exceptions, but overall I avoid Netflix original television shows.

[TheCouchPotatoWatchesTV]

Bojack Horseman’s first season was panned by critics because they only watched the first few episodes. Can you imagine if that show was made today and Netflix has cancelled it in its first season? We would have missed out on one from the best written shows ever!

I’m with you Erik, I’m also still super salty they cancelled Dark Crystal Age of Resistance.

[LadyBern]

This is breeding the worst cycle. I see shows on Netflix that I actually want to watch but then I go "oh it's a Netflix series. I don't want to get invested in this only for them to cancel the 3rd season." And they do end up cancelling claiming it doesn't get enough views unaware that it's their practices of canceling that's discouraging people from watching and giving the watch time they are looking for.

[aludrenknight]

I really don't get why they would green light a show that's planned for three seasons but they don't green light a 3 season budget.

[boba]

Seinfeld, the legendary sitcom, was nearly cancelled during its first 2 seasons; Buffy the Vampire Slayer after its 1st; Parks and Recreation after its 1st, (it only started to build an audience in season 2); Breaking Bad had a rough start and there was talk of cancelling it; the Wire faced cancellation because of the dense plot and a ton of characters/storylines. However, none were cancelled. Enough creative people in executive positions understood that great shows need time to build an audience; if it had been up to Netflix all these shows would have been cancelled after season 1.

[MajNightmare]

The reason I cancelled my subscription to Netflix was because of them cancelling The Dark Crystal.

[Chronox]

I couldn't agree more. I can't tell you how many shows I didn't bother to start watching because I found out they got cancelled.

[boba]

Netflix's cancellation policy is like a scene from Parks and Rec with a Venezuelan diplomat (Fred Armisen): "You're playing music too loud, right to jail; driving too fast, jail; too slow, jail; under-cook fish, jail; overcook chicken, also jail, make an appointment with a dentist and don’t show up, jail, we have the best patients in the world because of Jail." Netflix: "You have a show that isn't huge week 1, Cancel; Have a show that's huge week 1 but isn't bigger week 2, Cancel; Have a show that's brilliant but uses puppets, Cancel. We have the best shows in the world because of Cancel!"

[Argyle]

Hahahahahahaha they've never cancelled a successful show. I'm just SO HAPPY Breaking Bad wasn't a Netflix original, it would have been cancelled after the first season. I have cancelled my Netflix subscription because everything I liked last year was axed.

[MrDedGuy]

Netflix cancels 1899 and Inside Job while The Circle and Too Hot to Handle are on their fourth or fifth seasons. Entertainment doesn’t make sense anymore.

[alanansara]

Good point. Shows like Parks and Rec, the US version of the Office, and Arrested Development may not have survived past S1. All 3 got mediocre ratings but the networks stuck with them and they ended up being very successful in the end.

[torq]

I'm in the busy lives group. It takes a long time for me to get around to watching a show. I am most likely not going to invest my time into a show that has been canceled.

[boba]

"You have a graveyard of unfinished shows". "People keep getting ambushed." "Was it really big in it's first week, if not it's cancelled." 100% correct, terrible if you want to watch a show to a conclusion. Netflix doesn't even give cliffhangers for most of these, they cut them off in the middle of a sentence. I found out about Dark Crystal Age of Resistance, started watching it, only to learn it was just cancelled; I watched the OA and found out it was cancelled; I watched The Punisher with its brilliant performance by Jon Bernthal only to wait for season 3 when Netflix cancelled it. So Netflix's Sarandos saying that "We've Never Cancelled A Successful Show" is ridiculous. If you are Netflix how do you build a following for a show? Answer: You Don't!

[pheebsbee]

Cancelling a series should not be left to execs. Why don't they conduct polls or referendums with the viewers?

[infinitelybanta]

The problem is that streaming has made success much more nebulous. It’s easy to tell a big hit, cultural phenomenon, but anything less than that, the streaming services are grasping at straws. It was much easier when broadcast TV could just look at ratings and correlate that to advertising revenue. I mean, as much as I would think that cancelling shows after one season would hurt subscriptions, there’s a counter argument that you’re increasing your diversity and keeping production costs lower (as you aren’t giving out raises). I would think, however, that Netflix can’t do this forever and it will reach a point where creators just wouldn’t want to work with them… but on the other hand, is going anywhere else any better (if you aren’t a pre-existing IP)?

Scripted shows are heading for serious problems, if they aren’t already mostly there. It’s far more profitable to have a comedy special or reality show and those attract enough eyeballs that traditional programming is becoming a complete afterthought. We may look back in ten years and be glad that something like 1899 even got one season. I sure hope not, but I wonder if that isn’t that’s the thinking that leads to statements like this… unless you’re the absolute talk of social media and set records with week one viewing, you’re not successful relative to the money and effort expended or at least to justify spending even more for another season.

[RoyKoopaling]

It’s funny, because Breaking Bad is a good show to talk about on this subject. Breaking Bad took three seasons to find its audience (ironically finding its audience not in a small part thanks to Netflix), and it turned into a global phenomenon. Had that been a Netflix show premiering in 2023, I think there’s a real probability it would never have got to season 2.

[andyprice]

I agree with everything you say on this Erik. Relying on content to be as massive as Squid Game each time seems unrealistic to me. If this continues then I feel there could be a danger of the public losing faith in the platform. Not to mention content creators not having the confidence to place new releases there.

[dirtyfunkymonkey]

Mindhunter immediately springs to mind (agree about Dark Crystal, thought that was excellent)...