#SHADOW AND BONE WAS POPULAR

[msclaritea]

Netflix’s Viewership Data On ‘Shadow And Bone’ & Other Cancellations – Deadline

Netflix’s Viewership Data Provides Glimpse Into Renewal Decisions: ‘Shadow And Bone’ Was Most Watched Canceled Series In First Half Of 2023

Nellie Andreeva

December 12, 2023

Streaming giant Netflix has always said that the decisions whether to renew a show or not are based on performance vs. cost. The release today of What We Watched, a Netflix report on global viewed hours for 18,000 titles — original and licensed — from January to June of 2023 provides context on the calls the streamer made for seasons that debuted during that period.

It won’t come as much of a consolation to Shadow and Bone fans, who are still reeling from the fantasy drama’s cancellation after two seasons, but it was the most watched English-language scripted series from that period to get the axe, amassing 192.9M hours viewed from its March 16 debut through end of June to rank #26.

Headshots of (L-R) Ranada Shepard, JB Smoove, Yvette Nicole Brown & Jay Pharoah

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Shadow and Bone was one of five series Netflix opted not to continue in November, along with Glamorous and adult animated comedies Agent Elvis, Farzar and Captain Fall. The decision came on the heels of the double Hollywood strikes, which scrambled networks and streamers’ scheduling plans, with shows missing their projected launches to create long gaps between seasons and a pipeline logjam for late 2024 and 2025.

Strike-related delays and the high price tag of Shadow and Bone likely played a role in its demise, despite it also spawning a video game franchise for Netflix.

And while there are other factors beyond performance determining each show’s fate, including cost and awards attention, the streamer’s report reveals Shadow and Bone‘s viewership levels as an approximate threshold for hourlong English-language series from that period to get renewed. (Because data is based on hours viewed, comedies can draw half as many hours for a similar level of performance.)

All series above Shadow and Bone eligible for renewal have been picked up for another season, including Vikings: Valhalla (#22, 205.5M), whose upcoming third season will be its last.

The first new season below Shadow and Bone S2, Sweet Tooth (S2, #28) which posted 182.3M hours, has been renewed for a third and final season. The next English-language scripted series, Sex/Life S2 (#31, 175.5M) has been canceled, as were other dramas lower on the list whose seasons launched within the January-June window.

Data for Glamorous is skewed as it premiered in late June, drawing 36.6M hours (#484) for the first nine days of viewing within the measured period.

Netflix has been more lenient with its comedy renewals.

While That ’90s Show S1 ranked #100 with a respectable 95.1M hours viewed for a half-hour show, fellow multi-camera sitcom The Upshaws Part 3, which consisted of 8 episodes vs. 10 for the That ’70s Show sequel, ranked just below #1000 with 21.6M hours. Both have been renewed for additional installments, as has the Rob Lowe’s single-camera comedy Unstable, whose first season ranked #511 with 35.3M hours across 8 episodes.

For comparison, fellow freshman half-hour XO, Kitty (10 eps) logged 200.7M hours to rank #24, the highest for an ongoing comedy to drop a new season from Jan-June 2023.

As for Agent Elvis, featuring Matthew McConaughey as the voice of Elvis Presley, the first season of the animated comedy, which premiered in March, ranked #3306 with a paltry 5.5M hours viewed.

I knew it. Netflix lied. They said Shadow and Bone was unpopular, just to make a play at replacing it with the Queer-centered Six of Crows. I suppose it's for the best. I still enjoy the series, but after all of this, have come to notice that not one couple on that show was allowed to be happy EXCEPT the Queer one.

[agentoffangirling]

Creator: Wow, look at how well my show is doing! Critics love it, audiences love it, it spent two weeks consecutively on the top ten, everyone's talking about it

Netflix: Awww, how cute

Creator: I guess so! Since it's having a good time, do you think it's possible we get that second season we were discussing a week ago? I'm sure the crew would love to get back together

Netflix:

Creator:

Netflix:

Creator: ...is that a yes

Netflix: CANCELLED!!

[lilisouless]

Zoya: Why are you watching Nina´s friends? Did Brekker stole something again

Tamar: No, is just that we were having an argument , we know that they are three couples

Tolya: But we never know who is dating who

Zoya: How could you not know?

Tamar: Just watch them!

Jesper: i have a zit on my back i can't reach , can someone pop it out for me?

Nina: Right on! , it better be a big one

Inej: you can't be mad at me forever

Matthias: If i am not enought for you, you should just say it instead of double timing,i thought we got something special

Inej: You were too sick for the gym and she was avaliable. I never said we were exclusive partners

Matthias: Is she prettier than me? Was she better?

Wylan: Is it so hard to bend and pick up the clothing? i am not even asking you to do your laundry, just not leaving your socks spreading all over my floor

Kaz: Nobody is asking you to pick it up

Wylan: See? you don't get the point, you are an unconsiderate slob...

Tolya: This happens everytime, when we are sure which ones are the couples they pull that

Inej: "stands up"

Jesper: Where are you going?!

Inej: Just the bathroom

Jesper: oh, come back soon, i am missing you already baby

Wylan picking up a yellow flower: you take it, it matches your hair

Matthias: Thanks, speaking of which , did you like the bouquet i sent you? your mom said you needed blue ones

Kaz: Nina, my love, go and get me a coffee

Nina: What if i poison you and dance on your grave?

Kaz: As long as the poison is on my coffee , i won't have a problem

Tamar: they are crazy!

Kuwei passing by: oh yeah, if it helps; i kissed three of them

Tolya: No! it doesn't help at all!

[mieczyhale]

LET'S GO, CROWS

[sabrinaacarpenters]

not to join the sab disk horse but it’s really weird to me that i saw a lot of people emerge out of nowhere saying they hate how the crows are included in the show and that they take time away from the trilogy story, like i’m sorry to be the one to tell you this but without the crows this show probably wouldn’t have even gotten a second season lmao

[bonefall]

hi! just discovered this blog from your hearing loss post, which i ADORE. throughout it you mentioned pawspeak, and i was wondering if you had any sources/posts about it, or could describe its fundamentals very simply? sorry if youve already answered this!!! youre very cool

There's not too many fundamentals to share, really! Pawspeak is just the fandom term for a Clan cat sign language. Most people have their own takes on it.

Some people like to make it use two paws, other like to do a single paw in tandem with ear flicks and tail movements, some have omitted paw movements entirely and just use ear and tail signs. Most people aren't my queer ass who worked with a friend to ACTUALLY create a full Clan cat language with its own grammatical structure; so likewise, they're just making a cat approximation of a sign language.

So there's no rules! Do as you please! You can just adapt ASL or BSL for cat paws if you want, the same way no one bats an eye when people animate the cats lipsynching to English.

I would just try to remind you, and recommend, that your sign languages evolve from deaf people.

It's both a misconception, and insultingly common for media to show hearing people inventing sign language for the benefit of their deaf friends and family, when that's not how that happens. Deaf people have agency, theyre not just waiting for an abled person to bestow language on them. Deaf communities, and communities with high rates of hearing impaired people, come up with unique sign languages if they don't already have one!

These languages are often studied by linguists as examples of "isolate" language families, which mean they evolved without ANY genetic 'relation' to another language. Nicaraguan Sign Language is a neat example of that!

(The "hearing people invent sign" thing is perpetuated by the myth that Francosign, the language family containing ASL, was invented by one really nice philanthropist. It wasn't. The man took a bunch of words from an existing deaf community in Paris, which was likely a language under the BANZSL family, didn't care to record or learn what they were ALREADY speaking, and made up his own clunky system called "methodical signs" to make a "signed version" of French. This was practically useless for casual use. Actual deaf people mixed this with the languages they were ALREADY using to talk to each other to make new ones; one famous example of this is actually ASL.)

For BB I actually plan to show Pawspeak evolving as an isolate language after the Clan's move to the Lake. It's going to be born out of Gatherings and Aftergatherings-- while Clan cooperation has actually lead to a period so peaceful that it's allowed a proper community to form. Now with a stable population of hearing-impaired cats of all Clans, each of them bringing new signs and phrases home, it can standardize into a true language around the lake.

So then I can show how most of the signs come from RiverClan, mix with the signals WindClan uses to communicate across the moor, show how violent signs tend to be tail-based because they come from battle commands, etc.

It fits the themes of BB, and gives me a chance to show how fascinating sign languages really are. Even though it'd make sense for them to already have one, tbh, I think it's worth it. (Or maybe have Lake Pawspeak basically be a language that combined the several 'pawspeaks' of the various clans.)

[fandomestuff]

Oh would you look at that?

Shadow and Bone won RottenTomatoes??

Hah! It's good that it was never canceled because that would clearly be a fucking dumb decision

Right Netflix?

[nepttunnee]

i feel like one of the biggest signs of actually well written straight couples is if it is popular on tumblr dot com bc this website will go through layers of hell to explain why its wlw ship is superior to the obviously set up from the beginning straight couple which is admirable but also is a good means to determine how well written ur straight ppl r. actually i correct myself bc maybe tumblr should not be the gauge for literary criticism

[achillyscomedown]

okay but here me out - i have a new fancast for wylan and jesper

fabian penje as wylan, archie madekwe as jesper

[arainbowmess]

When the ship is so good but nobody else knows it or thought about it

[wakingupnexttoyou]

Just finished these two and OMG why do I not hear more about these???? This series was sooooo amazing. Much better than the shadow and bone series!!! I don't understand how they haven't been made into big movies yet!!

5⭐ for both of them!

I fell in love with the characters. I literally cried over them. Jesper and Wylan deserve happiness forever because they are sweet babies ❤️

The actual story was so great. All the elements that go into a big heist with a lit of moving parts. The political aspect of the story. The risks of working with other people. It was just absolutely amazing!! 10/10 would read again.

[greeen-bean]

Love going I to waterstones and seeing books that I've already read and loved and having a fan girl moment as if I don't see it every time I come in in the exact same place

[lesbicosmos]

another day, another example of why i really fucking hate netflix

[dogwaterpoopyboy]

ive finished all requests and let all the polls run out to give people time.

[kazz-brekker]

my fellow kaz brekker fans while waiting for sab renewal/soc spinoff announcement i IMPLORE you to go read the rook & rose trilogy by m.a. carrick. the first book is called the mask of mirrors and among other things (swashbuckling masked vigilantes, secret societies up to no good, long cons to infiltrate the rich and steal all their money) it also features my other favorite crime lord, derossi vargo, well-dressed possessor of both a sword cane and a pet spider, who is literally always scheming and double-crossing people and is also very tightly wound and secretive and has hidden childhood trauma around disease

[xmascritter]

Well guys, with the cancellation of SaB and SoC, I think its time to pitch my entirely new show idea, Nine of Magpies, a show featuring 6 characters who are all in the seedy criminal underworld for their own reasons. There's Cas Forklift, Inej Jr., Jasper McMagus, Matt Wulfson, Girl Zinc, and Dylan Von *agressive wretching* noises. I plan to hire writer and author Leigh Bardugo on this who definitely hasnt worked on any similar film or television projects like this that may or may not have had a script written. It will be entirely free on youtube, the starting kickstarter goal is $50 million-