Netflix Just Canceled A 97% Rotten Tomatoes Scored Show

The Boroughs. Alice Kremelberg as Anneliese Shaw in The Boroughs.

COURTESY OF NETFLIX

Netflix continues to frustrate many fans with its frequent and often surprising cancellations. That is especially true when a series is highly rated and seemingly well-watched, which is the case today with the news it has canceled a series with a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score.

That would be The Boroughs, which, in addition to that score, stayed on Netflix’s top 10 list for close to a month after its debut, after previously hitting #1. This is also in the wake of its creators, Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, saying that the plan was for three seasons. A writer’s room for season 2 was already in motion, an indication that just because that step has been taken for a series, that doesn’t mean it’s safe.

The Boroughs also made headlines because it was one of the last projects on Netflix that was going to involve Stranger Things’ Duffer brothers, who are leaving the service for Paramount soon. There’s nothing to say that had anything to do with it, and as ever, it is probably some sort of cost-to-viewership ratio, combined with the infamous Netflix metric of seeing how many people make it to the end of a series. This is often why these shows end up canceled, despite it making little sense from the outside. In this case, the data said that it had a stellar 9.5 million views, but in week 2, had dropped to 3.7 million, a data point that growth may have been unlikely.

Once again, however, The Boroughs seemed like it needed time to find an audience. The series was a sort of reverse Stranger Things where retirees investigate a monster infestation in their community, and starred bigger names like Alfre Woodard, Alfred Molina and Geena Davis. And as you may guess from the reviews, it was quite good, a blend of comedy, adventure and occasionally horror that was certainly better than say, the last season of Stranger Things.

Netflix has left many sci-fi series hanging over time, from Altered Carbon to 1899 from the creators of Dark. The Boroughs can be added to the list, but it is hard to remember the last time a show this highly rated was canceled this abruptly.

All this said, I still think The Boroughs is worth watching. Yes, the end shows how easily it could have continued, but I think it’s self-contained enough that you can watch and still be satisfied with the conclusion, even if you do end up wanting more. At this point, I think it’s wise for most freshman Netflix shows not to end on some huge cliffhanger, but I know some do as a way to try to encourage renewal and get fans to rally to say they want to see the answers. In this case, The Boroughs just didn’t cut it to avoid a “Netflix math” death.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.