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Stranger-things-season-3.jpg

Netflix Ain't All That

By Dustin Rowles | Streaming | April 9, 2019 |

By Dustin Rowles | Streaming | April 9, 2019 |


Stranger-things-season-3.jpg

I have absolutely no idea what I’m trying to say here, but in looking over the list of officially continuing Netflix series (i.e., aired at least one season, and has been officially renewed), I found it fairly remarkable that after a slew of cancellations in recent months that Netflix has actually pared its number of scripted series down to a manageable level. There’s about 31 current scripted series on the streaming network, although that doesn’t include a couple of pending but likely renewals (like Santa Clarita Diet and, potentially Russian Doll).

Looking over the list of continuing series, however, I’m struck by how underwhelming its current roster of shows is. Here’s a full list of the 31 shows currently airing on Netflix.

Drama
Orange Is the New Black (for one more season)
Stranger Things
The Crown
13 Reasons Why
Ozark
Mindhunter
Altered Carbon
Insatiable
Lost in Space
The Haunting of Hill House
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Narcos: Mexico
Umbrella Academy
The Order
Black Mirror

Comedy
Grace and Frankie
Fuller House (for one more season)
The Ranch
Easy (for one more season)
Dear White People
GLOW
Atypical
She’s Gotta Have It
The Kominskey Method
Sex Education
After Life

Animation
Bojack Horseman
F is for Family
Big Mouth
Disenchantment
Paradise PD

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Like, which of those shows could we not live without? Which of those shows would you be genuinely upset by if it was canceled? For me, it’s like GLOW, Big Mouth, Bojack, and Stranger Things, I guess (season two wasn’t really all that great, and meanwhile, while I loved Sex Education, I am also OK if it’s only one season).

Interestingly, while we don’t have ratings for Netflix programming, a new poll shows that a lot of what still drives Netflix subscriptions is licensed content, like Friends and The Office. However, viewers asked to identify their favorite shows on Netflix cite seven original Netflix series among the top ten, in this order: Stranger Things, Orange is the New Black, Grace and Frankie, Ozark, Black Mirror, Fuller House, Umbrella Academy and The Crown.

Huh.

Thirty-one scripted programs, of course, is a lot (in addition to all the new shows that seem to roll out on a weekly basis, plus the movies, stand-up specials, and reality programming), but it’s manageable. For comparison’s sake, I also looked at the number of currently airing scripted programs on other networks that have officially been renewed:

HBO: 18
FX: 15
AMC: 12
Showtime: 9
Amazon: 8
USA: 6
Hulu: 4

Huh.

Again, I don’t have much of a point here, except to say that, if viewers just kind of wait around to see what floats to the top, there’s not that much programming with which to contend. I am a huge television viewer, but I only count 11 continues series that I still with on Netflix and 10 on HBO, which is to say: If I had to choose between the two, I’d probably go with HBO’s quality over Netflix’s quantity.



Header Image Source: Netflix