Is it time to say farewell?
TELEVISION: Here are five Netflix shows getting past their ‘best before’ dates
Fans of the globe-trotting, brain-expanding Netflix series Sense8 are in a bad state of mind.
The ambitious and expensive sci-fi drama, which followed eight wildly different individuals who shared a psychic connection, is a rare failure in the realm of Netflix shows and was recently given the axe after just two seasons.
Since Netflix doesn’t share viewership data, it’s hard to know how big the following was for the Wachowski sisters-produced series, although one petition to save Sense8 accumulated nearly half a million signatures. If a show with a dedicated fan base like that can get turfed, is any Netflix series safe?
To be honest, the explosive growth of original programming on Netflix has been a double-edged sword. There’s almost too much choice now, and a little more pruning wouldn’t hurt.
As we bid farewell to Sense8, here are five more Netflix shows we think could be taken out behind the barn and put down. And you’re not going to like some of these choices.
Orange is the New Black
With the heartbreaking death of a certain character last year, the just-released fifth season of Orange is the New Black is the tensest one yet. But the new vibe doesn’t always work, and the result is a bit unfamiliar, a bit uneven. Kudos to the show’s creators for mixing things up, but OITNB doesn’t feel like the kind of show that needs to last indefinitely, and it would be nice to see it end on a high note. It won’t happen, of course — the show is too big a hit — so we’ll have to wait and watch as it slides into an inevitable decline.
Fuller House
The mere existence of this show still feels like something that was dreamed up as a joke, and the fact a third — THIRD! — season is in production makes us feel like we’re living in some kind of bizarro opposite world. Who is watching this zombie-like resurrection of a ’90s show that wasn’t all that great to begin with? And, why? The jokes aren’t funny, the studio audience is beyond grating and the sheen of nostalgia has worn off. Make it die.
Flaked
We love Will Arnett and hope he lends his pipes to Netflix’s Bojack Horseman indefinitely. But how his series, Flaked, got its recently released second season is an absolute mystery. Hardly anyone is even aware it exists, and it’s a true head-scratcher how anybody would seek this out over any of the thousands of other offerings available. If you’re watching Flaked and you haven’t watched Master of None, you’re no longer our friend.
Most of the Marvel shows
The first two seasons of Daredevil were pretty great. Jessica Jones was solid. Luke Cage was OK. Iron Fist was meh. See a pattern here? The upcoming teamup series, The Defenders, could be good, or it could — more likely — be a dog’s breakfast that brings together the weakest aspects of its individual elements. If we were in charge of Netflix’s Marvel strategy, we’d focus on just one of these shows (say, Daredevil) and triple the budget to make it look like a true small-screen sibling to the Marvel cinematic universe movies. Or we’d give each of these heroes a one-season shot, then aggressively negotiate rights to other Marvel characters, making sure the roster was always fresh.
Stranger Things
Yes, this tale of four friends and their encounter with a superpowered tween named Eleven is one of the best things on Netflix, full stop. And that’s precisely why it could have been a one-and-done bit of storytelling magic that would live in our hearts forever. We have no doubt the second season of Stranger Things, debuting this Halloween, will be good. But will there then be a third season? A fourth? Just how many times can one group of friends be menaced from monsters from another dimension before it starts to get silly? The first season was a perfect, self-contained piece of Stephen-King-meets-Steven-Spielberg wonder. It could — and should — have been enough. No?