Netflix’s way of canceling shows makes it impossible to get into them

Kaos has been “kanceled” by Netflix and fans aren’t happy. Netflix has a very nasty habit of doing this, producing high-concept shows and then canceling them before they had a chance to find an audience. Sadly, I was one of the audience it never had a chance to find.

I kept meaning to watch Kaos. I really did! I was impressed by the fact it featured so much trans representation. I saw Suzy Eddie Izzard in the trailer, and later I learned that Misia Butler was playing Caeneus, who I have always been interested in. (Greek mythology FTW!)

Oh, and Jeff Goldblum was playing Zeus and everyone likes Jeff Goldblum. I was totally and utterly ready to watch Kaos. Maybe it could be a show I’d fall long-term in love with and watch for years!

Then it was canceled.

Wait, I thought, when I saw news of the cancellation. Didn’t it just come out? Like… Mere months ago? I checked and I was right: it was released at the end of August 2024. It had only been out for seven weeks!

Netflix has an absolutely bizarre attitude to viewership. If a show is to survive, it needs to be a hit right away, and guess what? That’s just not how it works. People have busy lives, they can’t start watching a show the moment it comes out and keep up the pace. TV preferences just aren’t the most important things to people! We have to consider work, family life, childcare, hobbies, and countless other things before considering how many hours we need to watch a TV show to grant it a season two.

What were the numbers on Kaos?

Kaos seemed to be doing pretty well before it was canceled. It got a score of 74% on RottenTomatoes, indicating the show was positively received by critics. And it made it to Netflix’s worldwide top ten straight away, racking up millions of views.

Unfortunately, it seems it didn’t hit the top ten in the USA specifically, and I guess that’s what Netflix cared the most about. Bye-bye, Kaos.

This is just a terrible way to go about producing television. According to Forbes, Netflix only counts a show as successful if it achieves high viewership in the first 28 days. But think of all those shows that had a weak first season and went on to be mega-hits, like The Office and Parks and Recreation. Under Netflix’s model, they wouldn’t have been able to eventually thrive.

And what happened to Kaos has happened to so many good shows. Think of Shadow and Bone or Dead Boy Detectives or 1899. (Me personally, I’m still livid over the loss of The Baby-Sitters Club.) It’s become such a problem it has its own hashtag, #NetflixCancels.

And yet Netflix just keeps on doing it: hyping up a series, spending tons of money on it and then canceling. People have been asking what the point is of watching a new Netflix show anyway, since it won’t stick around. And I agree with them. It’s incredibly frustrating, and it feels so anti-art.