The ratings dance

[sholio]

Interesting article found via umadoshi: Why Netflix Cancels Shows After A Couple Of Seasons.

This is a little bit heartbreaking, especially for that part of me that is really not over losing the Marvel TV universe, but it's also fascinating from a business standpoint. I'm not sure how much of this is certain and how much is merely speculation, but if they're right, it looks like the current evolution of Netflix's business model makes it very unlikely for Netflix to continue to renew their original shows beyond their second or at absolute maximum their third season, unless they're not just a runaway hit, but a particular kind of runaway hit (the kind that brings in award nominations).

It's comforting in a way, because it makes the cancellation of my particular shows feel a little less arbitrary and unfair, a little more like the grit-your-teeth-and-bear-it inevitability of quirky or unusual shows falling victim to TV's endless money-focused ratings dance. It looks like Netflix's brief era of being more creatively driven has started to roll into their own version of the ratings dance, with perhaps even less likelihood of shows surviving beyond their first couple of seasons (or, at least, a different kind of odds).

The article also talks about why it's now much less likely to borderline impossible for shows cancelled by one streaming service to jump to another ... but let's face it, the whole idea of cancelled shows being "saved" by cable or Netflix is pretty recent; that never used to be a thing.

So yeah, it's an interesting article, and it simultaneously salves some of my hurt feelings over certain recent show cancellations while also hurting in whole new ways. I also feel like this is useful information to know about Netflix original series going forward - a second season is likely if the show is a success, but beyond that, things get extremely dicey, and the odds of Netflix shows going on for four or more seasons are really low these days, no matter how well they're doing.

Comments

[sovay]

Hey hey! Would tonight be a good night for 10K of drug withdrawal fic?

It's an excellent night! Thank you!

(I do not mind it being gifted, if that is a thing you do; I will not feel guilt-tripped. I might just at this stage of exhaustion leave comments like "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!")

But I know you've had a rough time lately and I hope this will make things a little better. Read and enjoy.

*hugs*

[sholio]

*hugs back* I'll go ahead and gift it, then! Outside of exchanges, I tend to be a bit circumspect about that to avoid putting anyone on the spot, but I happily gift when I have reason to think gifting would be appreciated. (ETA: Comments of the "AAAAHHHH!" variety are also loved. <3)

Oh, by the way, inspired by this comment thread, I went ahead and rewatched the last 2 episodes of S1 myself a couple of nights ago - I had meant to come back and reply to this anyway. In addition to the things you pointed out above, about the show (as well as the characters) essentially choosing a direction here, I also really appreciate how much thematic weight this show gives to characters explicitly defeating and overcoming the characters who belittle and abuse them. It's most obvious with Ward shooting Harold at the end, but I had forgotten how much of a thematic motif that also was with Colleen and Bakuto, and (to a lesser degree) Danny and Davos. And okay, sure, it's a power fantasy of sorts, but it's one that really resonates with me.

I particularly appreciate that it's developed in a way that makes it explicitly not a revenge fantasy; it's about overcoming your past and your abuse, not about hurting others. Ward's first attempt to kill Harold is a purely reactive act born of fury and resentment and pain, but in the end, when it finally "takes", he's not trying to hurt Harold or even to protect himself, but to save Danny. And Colleen is only trying to end her fight with Bakuto, not to end him; she specifically makes the choice not to be like him (even if that choice is taken out of her hands in a bit of narrative convenience).

I just really like this show's moral and thematic underpinnings, even if some of the narrative choices along the way are kind of odd.

[sovay]

(ETA: Comments of the "AAAAHHHH!" variety are also loved. <3)

Hee. Already on it!

It's most obvious with Ward shooting Harold at the end, but I had forgotten how much of a thematic motif that also was with Colleen and Bakuto, and (to a lesser degree) Danny and Davos.

Yes! I agree very much that the point is growth, not revenge, and I love the two different killings of Harold Meachum for exactly that reason. Just the clarity with which he shoots Harold shows how much Ward has changed as a person since the midpoint of the season. It's protective and it's also unhesitating and it's a break with the previous pattern of his life, whereas the stabbing just felt like part of it. Still in the same loop. That the murder didn't even last was just insult to injury.

Davos' own history of parental abuse made me wonder what the show would have done with him in a third season: if he would have continued to be the negative exemplar to Ward/Colleen or if he could have managed to pull himself into some kind of antihero, if never exactly an ally. He wasn't dead, and he was important to Danny, which meant the possibility of rapprochement was on the table, even if I feel it might also have been narratively useful for Danny not to reconnect successfully with someone from his emotionally complicated family past. Plus I just like Sacha Dhawan, so in the timeline where Netflix didn't cancel all its shows for opaque reasons of digital planned obsolescence I would have liked to see him again.

I really enjoyed how many different ways this show had to reflect its characters off one another while still maintaining them as distinct and idiosyncratic people. It made their relationships feel thematically rich as well as fun to watch.

I just really like this show's moral and thematic underpinnings, even if some of the narrative choices along the way are kind of odd.

Agreed.

[sholio]

Oh yes! Clarity is a great word for it, I think. I love that scene on the rooftop, and that's a big part of why, that intensity of purpose and the way Ward just walks up there and ends it, especially after Harold openly dismissing him as a threat all episode. And such a contrast to the first murder scene, which I agree with you was very much in keeping with the pattern of his life so far. Harold acts; Ward reacts. He's a simmering cauldron of rage and misery under a tightly controlled surface veneer of calm. He's never really in control - of himself, of his addictions, of his life. When he finally erupts at Harold, he's still not in control, it's just a different way of not being in control. And the fact that it literally changes nothing (Harold comes back, worse than before) thematically underscores that.

But in the scene on the roof, he is in control, maybe for the first time ever - he's mastered himself, he's on top of the situation (finally), and he's found something other than himself that's worth fighting for.

I really enjoyed how many different ways this show had to reflect its characters off one another while still maintaining them as distinct and idiosyncratic people. It made their relationships feel thematically rich as well as fun to watch.

Yes, same! I too wonder what they would have done with Davos if they'd had a third season to explore him further. I agree about Sacha Dhawan being a pleasure to watch. I'd have loved to see him finding his way toward his own form of self-determination away from the toxic fallout of his family and society, whatever shape that ended up taking.

And Joy, too. One thing I really love about Joy in season 2 is that she ends up having her own epiphany and seeking redemption in her own way, but she does it without being nice, or kind, or conciliatory, or any of the things women are supposed to be. She's still a total asshole, interpersonally. But she's trying to do the right thing and fix the things she broke. Like all of them, she's still feeling her way toward who she wants to be.

I love how the show is, at heart, about a bunch of broken children trying to learn how to be adults - in different ways, and some with more success at it than others. We get a pretty good idea of where Danny, Colleen, and Ward are headed by the end (future seasons would likely not have changed that too much, though I would still have loved to see them) but Joy and Davos remain a question mark.