Netflix Canceling One Of Its Greatest Series
Netflix is canceling one of its most critically-acclaimed series. This is a crushing blow for fans of a very different kind of program.
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These days, it can seem like some shows run on forever and ever even if the content is a bit suspect while other great programs can be canceled without much rhyme or reason. Such is the day and age of streaming wars and analytics with the bottom line often (only) being what the program was doing in terms of audience tracking. That can mean a beloved, creative, and funny show is here one minute and gone the next. Such is the case with The Midnight Gospel which has now been canceled by Netflix after only one season. It’s a brutal blow for fans of the series who were treated to something wholly different with this program.
As is often the case with these cancellations, the news of the show’s demise didn’t come from Netflix itself, but rather from creator Duncan Trussell who took to Twitter (via MovieWeb) to let fans in on the bad news. And it actually wasn’t even a formal announcement by the writer and comedian but rather in response to a fan query about what might be happening with The Midnight Gospel season 2. You can see his response below which is short and sweet and tells basically the whole story about what’s happening (or not happening) with the animated series going forward. Check it out:
Duncan Trussell did go on to give an “explanation” of what he thinks happened with The Midnight Gospel where Netflix was concerned, though spelled it out by using language from the series which focuses on interdimensional travel and the multiverse. Trussel said that the “sentient glass ‘deciding’ cube they keep in their catacombs vibrate ‘No more.’ And it’s hard to argue with the cube.” This is meant to convey some of the intergalactic feel of the show itself while also mostly just saying that the numbers from the Netflix side weren’t good enough. The powers that be making the decisions about what shows to keep or ditch didn’t decide in favor of The Midnight Gospel. In the end, Trussell was complimentary of Netflix and the support the streamer showed them for a very different kind of program.
The Midnight Gospel was an animated series on Netflix that told the story of Clancy Gilroy who is able to travel to different planets in different universes via a simulator. In each place, he speaks to those he encounters for his “space cast”. This was a meta adaptation of The Duncan Trussell Family Hour podcast which saw the comedian (in real life) interviewing a whole host of celebrities and comedians about a range of topics. He and Pendleton Ward turned these conversations into actual animated episodes that dealt with various topics. The audio from the show is taken from the actual podcast.
The Midnight Gospel had received fantastic critical marks with the Rotten Tomatoes score sitting at 91% for its first season. And the 88% Audience Score wasn’t far behind. The show was able to nail it on a couple of different levels, making for a pretty unique experience. But, as with most things Netflix, the real story was whether folks were actually tuning in on the streamer. And that doesn’t appear to have been the case. Though the official numbers weren’t released, it doesn’t take much to figure out that the deciding cube wasn’t reading a strong printout for the viewing analytics.
