The Society. Teenage Bounty Hunters. One Day At A Time. Atypical. I Am Not Okay With This. AJ And The Queen. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Trinkets. Insatiable. (May contain spoilers for these shows.)
What do all of these Netflix original shows have in common? I’ll give you a clue, there are two things: one good, one bad.
The good thing is that each of these shows have positive, healthy LGBTQ representation. For example: Sam and Grizz (The Society), Sterling and April (Teenage Bounty Hunters), Elena and Syd (One Day At A Time), Casey and Izzy (Atypical), Sydney and Dina (IANOWT), drag queen representation (AJ and The Queen), Theo and Ambrose (CAOS), Elodie (Trinkets), and Julie (Insatiable). Recently, the portrayal of LGBTQ characters has become a lot more common in media, with Netflix seemingly making leaps and bounds in the world of representation, which takes us to the second aspect that all of these wonderful shows have in common:
Every single one has been cancelled by Netflix.
These cancellations were announced and set into place despite fan protests in the form of social media outcries, petitions, trending hashtags, and hundreds of thousands of angry comments on Netflix posts. We can assume that the number of views/streams has nothing to do with Netflix’s decision then, as many of these shows were extremely popular and met with great reviews. So, why were they all cancelled?
There are multiple reasons why these shows could have been dropped off of the streaming platform. LGBTQ characters are not often as accepted by fans as opposed to their cishet counterparts, although recently the idea of same sex couples has gradually become more welcomed. These characters used to be comic relief, side characters, the “Gay Best Friend”, and extras that showed up for maybe one second in the series. Now, members of the LGBTQ community are becoming the face of these shows; heroes, heroines, and main characters, as they have always been in the real world. The change in dynamics within the roles they played then and now has caused animosity in some viewers due to the stereotyping and stigmas around LGBTQ identities.
Another reason for these cancellations could be the fear of using ‘diversity’ as simply just a buzzword, without any support. A claim to have variety in showrunner’s cast of characters, but only so they don’t get backlash for not having any queer people in their roles. Showrunners have been called out before about portraying LGBTQ characters in harmful ways (ie. making all bisexuals seem promiscuous, making gay characters predatory, and using damaging language when referring to transgender individuals). A lot of LGBTQ representation can also seem last minute, like the writers weren’t going to add in a gay character until fans had something to say, at which point they throw in a new character with no build up or even change a preexisting character with no reason as to why. This type of representation can be just as bad as none at all.
But none of these reasons explain why these shows were cancelled for innocuous reasons such as “COVID interference” and “low ratings.” They continue to film shows such as Riverdale and movie franchises like The Kissing Booth throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and have lower viewership on other shows that haven’t been cancelled, so what is different about this group of productions?
Netflix has yet to speak on this through social media or otherwise, but just making a comment or sending out a formal message is not enough for most viewers and fans of these shows. Real change—the revival of fan favorites or the creation and sustaining of new ones— is what can really pull the streaming service out of the hole they’ve dug themselves into. Don’t believe me? Go check their Instagram comments!
The good news is the outpouring of love and support that fans have shown for these shows. There are dozens of petitions available on sites such as Change.org for shows to be revived. Some shows have even been saved; POPTV picked up One Day At A Time and now runs new episodes of the fan favorite sitcom about the Alvarez family on their channel and website. These fans will not be quiet about their defense of these productions, and in the past, this outroar has gotten shows to be rescued. Let’s just cross our fingers that Netflix wakes up to their insensitivity soon and brings back The Society, because that cliffhanger…
Featured image by Thibault Penin via Unsplash
