Netflix has a unique oversaturation problem with their original content. Or maybe it’s just my problem.
Because of their ability to produce content as much as they want whenever they want, there are going to be casualties. Obviously, like any network, some of its shows just won’t survive after a year or two. But with Netflix having the ability to constantly pour money into content, I feel as though they will never understand the power of what one show can do for a network. For HBO, it was The Sopranos and now it’s Game of Thrones. NBC had Seinfeld and Friends, ABC had Lost, FOX had 24 and so on and so forth. With Netflix, they certainly have their hits and you could argue that House of Cards is their Sopranos as the one that started it all. But with the recent news of HBO focusing on quality over quantity, I can’t help but wonder if the little show that could that was Everything Sucks would have become something of that classic caliber. Instead, it won’t go past its now final first season.
Netflix is spending over $8 billion in 2018 on content. You’re telling me they couldn’t throw a fraction of that to finish the story of Everything Sucks that ended its first season on a literal cliffhanger? Imagine the ending of The Matrix Reloaded without The Matrix Revolutions that followed it. Never mind that’s a bad example (that third entry was so bad), because Everything Sucks is one of the best adaptations of 90’s nostalgia that I have been looking for. Sure, we can always watch The Wackness or The Sandlot, but there was something so warm-hearted about Everything Sucks that was truly needed in 2018. The pre-9/11 innocence, the show’s incredible music soundtrack and on a selfish level, watching a show about high school video production and drama club (two things that are very close to my heart). But the ultimate sadness of this cancellation is that we’ll never see the character of Kate Messner grow up.
Kate is a teenaged girl, still scarred by a family tragedy and entering in the years of adolescent confusion. She’s conflicted by her sexuality and empowered by her ability to withstand trauma. I don’t want to give the plot away. Even with just one season to watch, it’s truly worth the time to watch Kate’s story arc of going from shy camera girl to the popular kid. It is the perfect antidote to the heaviness of Netflix’s other show, 13 Reasons Why. While I appreciated the latter’s ability to focus on serious issues, its melodramatic take on the subject got old rather fast. Netflix will look at the media buzz and viewership of 13 Reasons Why and decide to continue on with that show, but Everything Sucks had the ability to be timeless as it continued. Perhaps now with only one season to relive, it will become even more timeless.
Watch out Freaks and Geeks, you have a new cult classic to contend with. So much so that there’s a https://www.change.org/p/netflix-netflix-renew-everything-sucks petition to save it. Look for my name.
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