Why Are So Many Netflix Shows Canceled After Two Seasons?

Back in 2011 I watched a show called Terra Nova that I thought was great. And it was canceled after one season. After that, I became reluctant to jump into any new show. Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, The 100, and This Is Us are all shows that I only started watching after I knew there was a Season 3 filmed.

I know I’m not alone in this behaviour. There is a downside to this type of risk-averse consumption of entertainment, though. It makes it harder for great shows to survive if they don’t get a large enough audience fast enough. Netflix is notorious for ruthlessly killing shows that don’t succeed quickly. But not every show can or will be a quick hit. So what’s the solution?

Maybe I should give more shows a shot earlier and risk “wasting” my time if it’s canceled and just deal with the downside of not being able to binge-watch multiple seasons. Or maybe Netflix should integrate more curation from studio professionals who have experience picking great shows and trust their judgement instead of relying mainly on short-term data. Both solutions seem equally good ... and equally unlikely. It’s not an easy question.